How do we equip a megaphone

    image
    For the triumph of evil, only one condition
    is necessary - that good people are idle. (c) Edmund Burke

    After reading an article by LMonoceros “How Megafon slept on mobile subscriptions”, I was upset and annoyed by the prevailing practice when the largest mobile operator in Russia allows itself similar schemes of earnings.

    This did not affect me directly - personally, Megafon has not yet written off money from me. Just, in recent years, living in Russia, I feel less and less protected. I am sure that many of Habr's readers share my feelings.

    Is there really nothing we can do? I asked myself, is there really no way to fix everything and we are doomed to slide into a totalitarian dystopia? Or is our destiny not predetermined - and we still have a chance?

    It seemed to me that I know the answer. Like all of us, I guess. Therefore, preparing to move to Thailand.

    Literary activity forced me to change my mind. When every day, in addition to your life, you live the life of a fictional character, it is difficult not to succumb to its influence. The hero’s confidence that a way out of any situation can be found was gradually passed on to me. And I decided to try to fix the world. Even if not all, not all at once. But at least that I can.

    “One desire is not enough,” the meticulous reader will say. “A working plan is needed.” Do you have it?

    - Do I have a plan? Do I have a plan? Yes, I have as many as three plans! - I will repeat after the well-known private investigator, I - let's discuss them!

    Before proceeding to discuss the actual plans, I want to share my bewilderment and ask lawyers for advice.

    As a subscriber of Megaphone, I concluded an agreement with them, which, I repent, did not immediately read. Including because I did not see the point: the reality is that I can either conclude an agreement on the terms of the operator, or do without mobile services.

    Deciding to figure out what exactly I signed, I went to the mobile phone salon and asked for a copy of the contract I signed. And he was extremely surprised: the “Agreement on the provision of services” was extremely concise and consisted of only a couple of proposals:

    I, the subscriber, confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of the provision of MegaFon communication services, the terms of the selected tariff plan and other parts of the agreement. (clause 2.1.13 of the Terms).

    I was surprised that the contract, in fact, does not contain anything. Terms of communication services - can be changed by Megaphone in their favor at any time. Or they have already been changed - the document lying on the site is called: “usloviya_01.07.2018” - that is, this version of the document is not the version that I agreed with when signing the contract in 2013.

    The conditions themselves, however, are extremely incorrect. Even such a crucial moment: can the operator drive me into a loan, they are omitted:

    The subscriber pays for the Services through an advance payment system (advance payment), if the Agreement, the Tariff plan, the conditions for the provision of individual Services or an additional agreement to the Agreement do not establish the conditions and application procedure credit payment system (deferred payment) or a combination of these payment systems (payments).

    In fact, this means that, due to a device malfunction, for example, I can owe a million rubles to Megafon. And this is not a joke or speculation:

    On February 22, 2011, the Leninsky District Court of Vladimir rejected the claim of the Megafon operator against its subscriber, Galina Pustynskaya, to recover a debt for roaming in the amount of 1 million rubles.

    In the summer of 2011, Roman Simonov and his wife purchased a 3G modem with a SIM card from Megafon, having drawn up an agreement for a mother-in-law, and went on a honeymoon to Greece. There, they discovered that the modem was working on a local 3G network. With its help, the newlyweds went to the Megafon website and tried to find out the tariffs for 3G roaming in Greece there, but did not find such information (the site has prices only for GPRS roaming).

    Then the couple decided that they can use the Internet until the end of the funds in the account, which amounted to about 700 rubles, and began to download the series to the computer.

    The next day, a representative of the Megafon security service called Galina Pustynskaya and said that her debt for communication services exceeds 1 million rubles. Megafon explained that they could not disconnect the modem immediately after leaving in minus, as information about Internet roaming is received by the operator with a delay of several days. However, the newlyweds refused to pay the bill, citing the fact that they are subscribers of the advance tariff plan, and the maximum amount of “credit of trust”, for which Megafon subscribers can go to minus, is 900 rubles.

    The information about the features of Internet roaming charging is not in the contract, but in the supplementary agreement to it, which is posted on the operator’s website, and whose existence is not warned when concluding the contract, Simonov adds.

    As a result, Megafon filed a lawsuit against Pustynskaya to collect the debt, demanding, in view of its insolvency, to seize her apartment and garage.

    In relation to the court decision, Megafon stated that they did not agree with him and would appeal it. “No one doubted that Megafon would sue us further,” said Roman Simonov in response.

    A source:
    And now I have a question for lawyers: is such a situation legal when I, in conclusion of an agreement, essentially buy a pig in a poke? According to Clause 1, Article 423 of the Civil Code, in order for the contract to be concluded, it is necessary that an agreement is reached between the parties on all material conditions.

    How can there be a contract in which, in fact, there are no essential conditions and which can be changed by one of the parties at any time? Using the services of Megaphone I do not know how much they will cost and if I will have to sell an apartment, in which case.

    Well, and funny: “Terms of the provision of communication services” contain the following clause: The operator provides communication services on the basis of licenses for the provision of the corresponding type of services issued by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications. Copies of these licenses are provided by the operator on the site www.megafon.ru.

    But, having decided to get acquainted with the licenses, I found that all the licenses I found on the site expired. The most recent ended on 08/01/2017. I sincerely hope that licenses exist, and their absence on the site is explained by the laziness of the administration, and not by the provision of unlicensed services.

    But back to mobile subscriptions. How does Megaphone explain their existence? As I understand it, mobile subscriptions are regulated in Megafon by a document called "Terms of Service Using" Short "Numbers."

    These conditions for the provision of services using "short" numbers (hereinafter referred to as the Terms) in accordance with Article 435 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation are an offer addressed to MegaFon Subscribers.

    Let's look at how this is true. As you know, the usual practice of Megaphone is when a subscriber, against his will, is connected to a paid (with a free period) service. Some time passes, the free period ends, and money begins to be debited from the subscriber.

    How does this compare with the statement that these services are an offer? But no way. The concept of an offer is detailed in the Civil Code. And it contains, among other things, such a concept as acceptance - that is, the response of the person to whom the offer is addressed about its acceptance.

    The civil code specifically stipulates that: "Silence is not an acceptance." That is, if a service is connected to me, the fact that I ignored it does not mean that I agreed with it.

    But suppose that Megafon does provide subscription services and other paid access to the “Services organized by the partners of the Content Provider” based on the provisions of the Civil Code related to the offer. On this basis my first plan works:

    Plan No. 1. Revocation of Acceptance

    Article 439 of the Civil Code: Withdrawal of Acceptance. If the notice of withdrawal of acceptance was received by the person who sent the offer, earlier than the acceptance or simultaneously with it, the acceptance shall be considered not received.

    Thus, if I notify Megafon in writing that I refuse in advance all the services for the sale of content that he offers now and intends to offer in the future, this should be sufficient so that all my further actions are not perceived by Megafon as acceptance.

    Since the law indicates the validity of the withdrawal of acceptance, I can indicate the end of the century by the end of the withdrawal of acceptance. Now I do not have to send SMS every three months to refuse to impose services:

    УСТЗАПРЕТСП
    УСТЗАПРЕТ1
    УСТЗАПРЕТВП
    ВЫКЛЭРО
    НЕТКЛИК1
    УСТПБК1
    ЖУЛИК_НЕ_ВОРУЙ
    ВЕРНИТЕ_ДЕНЬГИ


    How effective is this? I dont know. As for me, the whole situation when the regulatory authorities turn a blind eye to the operator’s similar behavior makes me assume that my review will be ignored by Megaphone.

    So, I do not quite understand how I can notify Megafon that I sent them my ban. Hand over the signature to the operator in the booth? Will this be a legal notice? Send by registered mail? How to convince the court that the letter was a ban, not a postcard? Send by registered letter with a description of the attachment, writing in the description of the shipment, what exactly is the withdrawal of acceptance from a specific person with a specific number?

    In general, I am waiting for your advice and comments. At the same time, the option of handing over the signature to the secretary in the office, please do not offer. It is about finding a solution that would work for all residents of Russia, including for residents of small towns.

    Plan No. 2 Digital signature

    “Terms of the provision of communication services”, with which I agreed when I signed an agreement with Megafon, does not contain a ban on transferring the phone to other people - parents, children, family members, friends and acquaintances. In the current state of affairs, by transferring the telephone, I automatically agree with all the actions that these persons will perform on my behalf. Which, in general, is completely unacceptable.

    Let's separate the cutlets from the flies. Passing the phone, I realize that another user will make a few calls or use up the Internet. But I do not give him the right to accept offers on my behalf or change the terms of the contract with the operator.

    I believe that the operator is obliged to take measures to identify the person concluding the contract (accepting the offer). This method is, for example, a simple electronic signature, which through the use of codes, passwords or other means confirms the fact of the formation of the electronic signature by a certain person.

    Accordingly, I am sending a letter to Megafon, where, on the basis of clause 2, article 160 of the Civil Code, I am informing you that the transactions concluded on my behalf are null and void if Megafon has not made identification of the person concluding the transaction.

    Plan number 3 Caution children!

    Recently, our state has adopted many laws in which it significantly limited civil rights and freedoms under the pretext of protecting children. And you know what? This game can be played together.

    Unbelievable, but true - despite all the rhetoric of the deputies, there are still no children's telephone numbers in Russia. There are children’s bank cards, but no children’s numbers. I can’t come and buy a room for my child. More precisely, I can, but it will be considered my number - lottery offers will be strewed onto it, a child with his help will be able to pay for mobile subscriptions, etc., etc., etc.

    In this case, the number, of course, can be disabled due to the actions of the child at any time. Balance expired - goodbye. Although the presence of a constant connection with the child is a direct and explicit protection against illegal actions in his direction.

    I want to send a letter to the children's ombudsman, in which I directly demand the introduction of a children's phone number - on which there are obviously and cannot be subscriptions, advertisements and other mobile dating from the menu of the SIM card.

    Epilogue. The above methods are just the beginning of the struggle, which is not at all the fact that it will end with something substantial. Personally, I undertake to participate in this on the principle that I will not catch up, so at least I will warm myself. I'm sick of being a limp victim of circumstances.

    At the same time, I can’t guarantee that I will bring the matter to the end - I’m a stubborn person, but I also have a personal life, which may require me to focus more on family and work. Therefore, I propose to perceive this article as one of the steps in the right direction, which, perhaps, will be supported by other fellow citizens.

    I specifically stipulate that it is not necessary to perceive my actions as a personal war with Megaphone. In this case, Megaphone is one of the operators that allows such actions and is randomly selected.

    Also popular now: