DOHA: The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) yesterday marked World Consumer Rights Day by launching its official Twitter account — @CRAqatar — as an additional channel to receive complaints from customers about the two telecom service providers in the country.
It also announced plans to conduct regular audits about the status of complaints being handled by it and share results of unresolved complaints with the public.
While registering complaints or concerns about service providers, consumers will be able to tweet directly to CRA’s Consumer Affairs Department. This will enhance the current channels which include 24/7 telecom hotline 103, email, fax, website, and CRA’s mobile app – Arsel, CRA said yesterday.
“As we have seen with the consistent usage of Arsel, social media seems to be the preferred communication channel for consumers. By creating a Twitter account, consumers will hopefully find it more convenient to contact us to help resolve their pending complaints,” said Amel Salem Al Hanawi, Manager, Consumer Affairs.
On average, the complaints section receives about 100 complaints a month against both service providers. Ranging from disconnections, billing, network coverage and other issues, each complaint is investigated and a mutually acceptable resolution obtained, working with the concerned service provider.
“Service providers are usually cooperative in resolving pending complaints, however, to make the process transparent to the rest of the telecom consumers and industry stakeholders, we plan to publish the trends of complaints received on the CRA website annually,” said Al Hanawi.
CRA also plans to launch a new satisfaction survey for business consumers. An industry consultation is slated to be unveiled in the coming few days to ensure stakeholders are engaged to make this document more comprehensive and forward-looking.
“We are compiling results of the recent consumer satisfaction survey and will share them in the next few weeks. Soon we will launch a satisfaction survey for business consumers. Together, the findings of both surveys will help us adjust our strategies accordingly,” she added.
The CRA booth at Landmark Mall to mark World Consumer Rights Day featured awareness activities for consumers and activities for children.
Young visitors to the booth were enthralled by the star attraction – an eight-foot robot – while parents discussed their concerns and compliments related to their service providers. The CRA team also conducted awareness sessions and workshops at the booth to make consumers more aware about their rights and obligations and provide tips on interesting topics such as how to reduce roaming charges.
Consumer Affairs is finalising updates to Arsel, launched during World Consumer Rights Day last year, to make the app more user-friendly and provide a new experience to users. Arsel will soon have its own website.
The Peninsula
