GP fined for false offer

A government agency on Sunday fined Grameenphone Tk 2.50 lakh for duping a customer with an offer.

The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection slapped the penalty on the operator after the hearing on a customer's complaint.

The Directorate's Deputy Director Shaheen Ara Mamataz said the mobile operator agreed to pay the fine within five days.

In October 2015, Abdullah Shibli Sadiq filed a complaint over an Eid offer that promised to give 2GB free data with 1GB at a cost of Tk 275, which would have to be used up in the next 28 days.

When Sadiq accepted the offer on October 3 that year, Grameenphone charged him Tk 325.74, including VAT and other duties, instead of the promised Tk 275. Later, the customer was informed through a text message that the bonus data would expire within seven days and could only be used in between 2am and 12pm, not the entire 28 days.

He had contacted Grameenphone's customer care centre then, but they did not give any solution, Mamataz said.

Sadiq wrote in the complaint to the director general of the directorate that Grameenphone lured him with false advertisement and by concealing information. The complainant, Sadiq, will receive 25 percent of the fined amount, in line with the law.

When contracted, Grameenphone's Head of External Communications Sayed Talat Kamal said, “We are in the process of assessing the rule and we reserve all comments till then.”

Officials of the telecom regulator said they did not receive any complaint from Sadiq.