Pelephone announced today (Sunday) that it will compensate the company's customers following the huge outage on Monday last week that caused disruptions in calls, sending text messages, and surfing the Internet.
Following the malfunction caused by a fire in the company's switch in Petah Tikva, the company announced that customers will be able to choose one of three benefits, free of charge:
1. 20 GB of browsing in Israel in addition to the existing browsing package - the benefit is valid for one month from the date of registration.
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2. Musix and Super TV – Pelephone's music and television apps. The benefit is for six months from the date of registration. At the end of the benefit, the service will be disconnected, with no further billing.
3. 500 minutes of calls from Israel to abroad – calls dialed via 014 to dozens of landline destinations including: USA, France, Germany, Canada, England, Belgium, Australia, Argentina, Greece, Thailand, Singapore, China, Peru, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. It will also be possible to call mobile devices to the USA and Canada.
The benefit is from the date of registration until April 30 (after Passover).
The benefit will be given to every subscriber who registers on the website, in the Pelephone application or by calling *4141. Joining the benefit will be possible until April 3rd at midnight.
Ultra-Orthodox customers who use the company's kosher service will not be able to enjoy the first two benefits, since they do not surf the Internet.
However, it already seems that not only those benefits will not really be enough. Indeed, many customers are already expressing outrage on the company's Facebook page.
""What is this benefit?!?!? It's a shame it's not relevant to everyone I have 10 GB of browsing what do I need 20??? I don't need TV and music everyone has the ability to connect to wifi.... I offer an exemption from paying an invoice every month for every day we were down a customer was down for 4 days so 4 invoices that he won't pay. What is this compensation... You caused us all financial damage and heartache and we still remain your customers, compensate accordingly!!!", wrote one of the users.
Another wrote: "Simply shameful. You're making fun of the customer. After we gave you a chance, it's time to look for deals with other cell phone companies. None of the benefits are useful or relevant to me as your customer, so from my perspective, I was screwed by your mistake, and you didn't know how to take responsibility.".
Another surfer wrote: "With all due respect to the goodwill, it's worth thinking about an additional benefit that is also relevant to those who don't surf the Internet that much, talk abroad, or use the TV package you offer, like my parents, for whom nothing is really useful.".
Consumer Council CEO, Attorney Ehud Peleg: "The Pelephone malfunction affected a wide range of the company's services to which consumers subscribe. The compensation for consumers should be in the same interface where each consumer was harmed, because otherwise the compensation is not enough to compensate the specific consumer for the damage and emotional distress caused to him.".
""The three types of compensation offered by Pelephone are not services that necessarily serve all consumers and therefore will not be considered compensation for them.
""It would have been appropriate for Pelephone to choose to compensate its customers in a way that would actually allow for real compensation for the customer, rather than a service that is unnecessary for them.".
