Positively concluded cases - April 30, 2006

Maltanet Internet Services
On January 11, I purchased 2048/256k - 1GB DTT - Residential Broadband ADSL, Bill Ref No: 0389829. This connection was meant to be valid until February 9, as confirmed on the cash sale invoice.

On January 14, the connection failed and was informing me that I needed to top up my account. As far as I am aware, this should last until February 9.

In the light of this, the system at Maltanet Ltd was evidently not updated to show my change of service on time. Moreover, this takes two days as promised. I should have had the connection by January 13.

On Sunday, January 15, I called Datastream to explain the situation. The person responsible for technical support, Glen, confirmed that he could not do anything to resolve the matter because Maltanet Ltd had not informed them.

Glen insisted that this is a matter of procedure and I would have to stay without the Internet service for the rest of the day since he had no proof that the bill was paid. I suggested giving my bill reference number and to personally go to the premises and show him a copy.

However, this was not sufficient either and the final response was that I would not have any access to the Internet.

It is obvious that this is extremely unfair and not a professional service in the least. I paid for my Internet and the service was not delivered. This has been of extreme inconvenience as I had work that needed to be done which could not wait.

Even if the matter is dealt with on Monday, it is irrelevant as I had no Internet service on Sunday where there should not have been a problem with this. (Leanne De Leonardo)

I referred the matter to Maltanet and I subsequently received the following message:

We refer to Ms De Leonardo's letter to us of January 15, copied in to The Sunday Times Customer Service Column. We would like to inform you that the problem highlighted by the customer has been seen to and we have tweaked our procedures to cover the circumstances as encountered by Ms De Leonardo.

Moreover we have compensated Ms De Leonardo to make up for the shortcoming experienced. (Ing. Jason Vella, manager - Customer Care, Maltanet)

I thank Maltanet for resolving the matter.

International Call Management (ICM) Ltd, Technopark, Xewkija
This case was referred to me in a joint letter by Romina Mangion Bongailas, Michelina Bongailas, and Gracie Bongailas. Various letters were exchanged and I featured this case on April 9. ICM Ltd ran various schemes whereby one has the opportunity of getting a three- or four-night trip to Prague.

Ms Mangion Bongailas and he Misses Michelina and Gracie Bongailas sent everything in one envelope with a cheque for Lm90 (to cover a requested deposit of Lm30 each) and a covering letter.

In the letter attached to the forms, they clearly pointed out that they wanted to go together and, if possible, to be accommodated in a triple room.

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, it was not possible for them to go together, so they wanted to cancel their bookings.

Then they faced problems getting their deposits returned. However, here follows a brief positive message:

We are pleased to inform you that we have received the three cheques of Lm30 each. Special thanks go to Adrian Muscat Inglott for his patience and determination in putting the customer's rights first. (Romina Mangion Bongailas, Michelina Bongailas, Gracie Bongailas)

I thank International Call Management Ltd for their co-operation and the Bongailases for their comment in my regard.