MANY local service providers are keen on helping their consumers by providing efficient assistance through their customer service department.Unfortunately, there are many service providers who are encumbering their consumers by charging them for using their 1300 toll-free number.Toll-free number 1800 is free for both landline and mobile. But, many service providers are offering toll-free number 1300 where consumers are charged for using the services.

This is unfair as service providers should provide customer service and assistance free of charge. Some consumers find it difficult to contact the service provider’s landline number, hence use the toll-free number 1300 on matters related to the service provider.Consumers are not aware that they are being charged for using the 1300 toll-free number.Service providers should provide alternatives for the consumers to call if they have any queries or matters to clarify. They can provide more landlines for consumers to contact.Please note that if you want to use the toll-free 1300, you have to pay for the call. It is utterly unfair to charge consumers when it is supposed to be toll-“FREE”.

S. BASKARAN,

Senior Manager,National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC)

LANDLORDS can check if their tenants are paying the electricity bill on time via the myTNB app or portal.Responding to StarMetro’s article “Change name in TNB account so tenants will be liable for bills” on Oct 21, national utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd said landlords who fear being saddled with massive unpaid bills by errant tenants had several options.Besides changing the name on the TNB account for the rental properties, landlords who did not want to do so had the option of using the myTNB app or portal to scrutinise the bills and payment records, it said in a statement.

“In the event the overdue amount for a particular account has surpassed the security deposit that the landlord has collected from the tenant, the landlord can request for disconnection of electricity supply by contacting TNB CareLine at 1-300-88-5454, ” it said.The article highlighted cases where landlords were left owing a huge sum of money to TNB because of their tenants, who had run off or disappeared without paying the electricity bills, which in some cases ran up to several hundred thousand ringgit. The landlords were reminded to change the name in the TNB account of their rental properties, so that the tenants will be responsible for the charges owing.

 

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/11/13/monitor-electricity-usage-in-rental-properties-via-mobile-app#7tEApO9eBX022wdl.99

MANY elderly couples, families, as well as the younger generation, opt for timesharing when they travel to places of interest to cut costs, especially on accommodation.Timesharing is defined as a purchase of the right of use of holiday accommodation for a period of time each year for a specific number of years.Since it was introduced in 1983, the number of timesharing vacation companies has surged.Many consumers are investing in it. This has led to some agents cheating Complaints have been lodged with the National Consumer Complaints Centre.These agents entice consumers via phone calls. They promise people free stay at renowned hotels after their 45-minute presentations. At the end of the sale pitch, customers are given vouchers for the stay.

In reality, consumers are duped into signing up for the timesharing packages without understanding the terms and conditions.Consumers must ensure their full details are recorded in a form.They must also read the fine print in an agreement before they accept an offer.Those who have doubts are entitled to terminate the agreement within the cooling-off period of 10 days.Unfortunately, the agreement usually takes a month to reach consumers via mail.The right procedure is for the companies to send the proposal via email and give the consumers time to read and understand the terms and conditions before accepting the offer.One consumer complained that he was not informed that he could use the holiday package only every alternate year.

Pandangan En Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman (Naib Presiden FOMCA) atas keputusan Touch n Go untuk menutup perkhidmatan tambah nilai di semua lorong keluar plaza tol lebuh raya.

HOW much does it cost a fresh graduate to own a car in Australia and in Malaysia?On an average income of A$55,000 per year (RM155,375), a fresh graduate in Australia can easily buy a Honda Civic worth A$25,000 (RM70,625) with half a year of his salary.When I first started to work as an assistant architect in the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Architect Department in the 1960s, earning RM628 per month, I was able to buy my first car, a Peugeot 404 which cost RM7,724 with one year of my salary. It was a big car, way too big for a fresh graduate! So it became my reliable companion for 14 years.Those were the good old days in Malaysia when a car could be bought with just one year’s salary of a fresh graduate.

Today, our fresh graduates earn an average of RM30,000 per year (RM2,500 per month). It would cost them four years’ salary to purchase a Honda Civic of around RM120,000. Myvi, our local car, would still cost them around two years’ salary.For our graduates, the cost of purchasing a car today is without a doubt much higher than their counterparts in Australia. Imagine if the selling prices of our medium and higher-range cars were to be increased in order to subsidise the lower-range cars, how would this impact the overall costs of cars in our country?You may find this idea ridiculous. Yet this is exactly what is happening in our housing industry.All private housing developers are required to pay compliance cost including statutory contributions (contribution to build roads, drainage, electricity, water, and sewerage system, etc), processing fee, land matters and others.

On top of that, other hidden compliance costs such as the low-cost housing quota and surrender of land for utilities are absorbed by housing developers.Since 1982, private developers have been required to allocate a 30% quota for low-cost housing when they develop new projects. The controlled selling prices of these houses ranged from RM25,000 to RM42,000.Based on a study “The Impact of Capital Contributions and Compliance Costs on Housing Affordability” by Dr Foo Chee Hung of MKH Bhd,compliance costs made up the bulk of the development cost. They ranged from 2.8% to 19.9% of the gross development value (GDV) of a condominium development; and 9.5% to 35.1% for a terrace house development.

JOHOR BARU: Efforts to reduce fossil fuel usage by 20% and green house gasses by 45% has got the government looking to the sun for clean, green and renewable energy solutions.The government hopes to meet these numbers by 2025 through the use of readily available renewable energy sources, like wind and the ever-abundant solar energy.Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry’s under-secretary Wong Tin Song said this was a significant increase from the previous renewable energy target.“In 2017, the government set a target to the power sector to utilise 2% of renewable energy, ” he said in his speech at the Conference on Energy Efficiency held at Berjaya Waterfront Hotel Johor Baru.“To achieve this, we need to increase the amount of solar energy in our total electricity generated, ” he said, adding that currently solar power makes up 6.6% of the total energy supply.

Wong also mentioned that energy efficiency plays an important role in transforming the energy system in Malaysia.“Reducing the demand for electricity is the least expensive approach to meet our goals, ” he said, adding that the government was working together with NGO’s like the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association (Fomca).

Johor Bahru: Efforts to reduce fossil fuel usage by 20% and green houses gasses by 45% has got the government looking to the sun for clean, green and renewable energy solutions. Energy Conservation towards a new era.

VVIP:  En Wong Ting Song (Setiausaha Bahagian Kecekapan Tenaga MESTECC), Tuan Haji Meraj (Presiden Persatuan Kebajikan Johor), Tenaga Nasional Berhad representatives and Dato Paul Selvaraj (CEO FOMCA).

For Budget 2020, the total of RM30.6 billion as compared to RM28.7 billion under 2019, has been allocated for healthcare; an increase of 6.6%.  FOMCA fully supports the increasing investment in public healthcare. Further, it fully supports the continuing strengthening of public healthcare.  With this increasing investment, more hospitals can be built as well as health and dental clinics can be upgraded.  Currently, the public hospitals have about 16,000 bed shortages. The increase in allocation could help to reduce the bed shortages in government hospitals, enabling more patients who need critical treatment to be warded.

However, one of the greatest limitations in public hospitals is the shortage of specialists. Currently about 30% of specialists and 45% of doctors serve 65% of the population in public hospitals.  The rest of the specialists and doctors serve about 25% of the patients in private hospitals.  Certainly it is more lucrative to serve in private rather than the public service.  Further, there are some specialised areas in which there is an acute shortage of specialists in public hospitals for example in areas of nephrology and neurology.  Thus it is proposed that government should take active measures to train and recruit specialists for the public sector. More importantly, there needs to be better measures to ensure that trained and specialised doctors continue to serve in the public service. Healthcare is an essential service, special measures to keep specialists in the public service should be supported.

In addition, to ease the burden of the public healthcare services, government should play a robust role in regulating the private sector.  Private healthcare is exorbitantly expensive.  Prices are not regulated, thus consumers end up paying a hefty sum they can ill-afford for treatment. What is worse, many consumers do not have medical insurance. In fact, 38% of consumers pay their hospital bills by out-of-pocket expenses, considered the most risky form of payment. Out of pocket payments have risen from RM 2.93 billion in 1997 to RM 17.44 billion in 2013, a rise of about 29% per year. Further, medical insurance premiums have been skyrocketing, making it unaffordable to low and middle income consumers. For a start, FOMCA suggests greater transparency in pricing by the private hospitals so that consumer make an informed decision when choosing private treatment as well as be well aware of the potential costs.

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