Digicel Halts Maintenance Charge of $50

Kingston, Jamaica (Mckoy’s News) – Digicel Halts Maintenance Charge:  After several complaints by its customers, Digicel informed the Office of Utilities Regulations, the OUR that it has indefinitely halted the recent charge of a Prepaid Maintenance Fee, PMF to customers.

The fee was added to monthly bills of less than $50.

This action follows the OUR’s intervention in response to Digicel’s implementation of the PMF on June 22.

In a letter to the company, the OUR asked that it provide evidence that customers had been given sufficient advance notice, the exact amount to be charged and the basis for such a charge.

In its initial response to the OUR, Digicel indicated it had issued a public notice on June 22 to its customers via the Digicel website.

However, in response to the OUR’s correspondence, the company subsequently acknowledged that the implementation of the PMF may not have been customer centric and that it had not in fact provided sufficient notice of the change to its customers.

As a result, Digicel has decided to withdraw the fee at this time.

It says any decision to resume charging the PMF, will be preceded by proper notification to customers and the OUR.  Persons who were charged the PMF since 2017 have already received rebates of the amounts charged.

Contributed by Dr Colin O Jarrett