I go a slight shock when I received my handphone bill recently. My usage is usually does not exceed what is provided for in my subscription plan. Thus every month, I will just look at the final sum to be paid. This month, the figures looked alien to me and I did a quick check. Among them was this line which charged me a humble sum of $4.20 for a certain “Colour-Me-Tones” service.

This is very odd as I have not altered my subscription plan ever since I signed on with my Telco provider since 1999. A quick check with my wife shone some light to the whole issue. Recently, she would hear this nice Christmas song as my ring tone whenever she called me. It has been like this since sometime in December.

After reading some online forums, I solved the mystery. My dear service provider had kindly activated this additional service for me. I was given a free one month usage and thereafter, I would have to pay for this service. Apparently, a sms was sent to all users who received this “goodwill” activation telling them if they did not want to continue using this service, they had to call a hotline or send an sms to a special number to opt-out. Seems like a wonderful service from my provider..or is it so?

I do not exactly remember getting the sms from the provider and some netizens had the same complain. In the first place, I question the logic of the “opt-out” system which my telco employed. Imagine this, as you shop around a supermarket, promoters eagerly place various products which you never knew existed into your shopping trolley. In doing so, they also tell you, “If you do not want to purchase this product, please return it to the shelf.” In essence, I am given something that I do not really need in the first place yet the incidence of responsibility to reject this unnecessary item.

Coming back to my telco issue, this is essentially some sort of underhanded marketing ploy. Should I not do the necessary action to opt-out of the “Colour-Me-Tones”, I will be paying the subscription yet underutilize this service. No doubt the deactivation process is just a phone call or one sms away however why should I even need to go through this hassle since I did not even sign up for it in the first place. Why activate this service for me even though I did not sign up for it?

In essence, I would assert that the telco is capitalizing on the fact that people will forget or overlook the process of opting out. Opting out service is not unique to Singapore. In fact, mobile phone subscribers also have various opt out functions overseas. These are mainly for not allowing their service providers to sell their data for marketing purposes. However, the opt out issue I experience was for a paying service where any oversight of not opting out meant a benefit to the telco.

It is a personal judgment if this entire opt out system is a form of opportunistic cheat. I believe there are better methods of marketing to promote awareness of certain products or services which consumers will possibly need. Force activating services and asking the consumer to subsequently opt out does not seem logical to be from the consumer fairness point of view.