Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has directed
MTN Communications Limited to pay N1,850,000
to one of the winners of its Ultimate Wonder
Promo for lack of due diligence. CPC’s order came on the heels of a complaint
brought by Mr. Omeje Chukwuma Fidelis against
the telecommunications giant that he had been
underpaid after he was declared winner of N2
million in the said sales promotion, which was held
in 2012.
According to Omeje, he participated in the promo
and was called through MTN line 180 on October
10, 2012 that he had won N2million in the
Ultimate Wonder Promo and that on October 12 of
the same year he got a text message informing
him of the presentation ceremony fixed for October 19 at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja. The complainant asserted that during the said
ceremony, he was presented with a dummy
cheque of N2million with his name on it,
interviewed and paraded before the media and
the world as a winner of the said amount.
He recounted further that he was stunned to
receive another call from MTN line 180 on
November 2, 2012 that his winning was
N150,000 and was thereafter given a Verve ATM
card for that amount. MTN, in its response to the Council’s intervention,
denied the claim of Omeje, saying that he was from
the on-set informed that his winning was
N150,000 and that the complainant deceitfully
presented himself when winners in the N2million
category were called forward on the day of the prize presentation. The company stated further that Omeje’s antics
was discovered at the verification of winners,
which was done after the ceremony and he was
thereafter contacted through its 180 line on his
misrepresentation pursuant to which he
apologised.
CPC demanded for the call data of the
communications of the 10th of October 2012
when Omeje was informed of his winnings of
N150,000, but MTN failed, refused and neglected
to comply with the request made both in 2012
and 2016. The CPC, in its Orders, frowned at the consistent
refusal of MTN to provide “the call data records
evidencing details of communication with the
complainant”, declaring that “in the absence of
this material evidence which is solely in the
possession of the respondent the CPC must resolve the issue in favour of the complainant”. It further declared that the “the process of the MTN
Ultimate Wonder Promotion whereby the
verification exercise was conducted after winners
were identified, declared and winnings presented
publicly is grossly flawed, lacking in transparency,
inequitable and apparently calculated to deceive consumers”.
CPC, on the strength of these observations,
therefore directed MTN to pay within 14 days of
receipt of ITS Order, the sum of N1,850,000 “being
the unpaid part of the two million Naira prize won
by the complainant in the 2012 MTN Ultimate
Wonder Promotion”. Commenting on the issue, Mrs. Dupe Atoki,
Council’s director general, reaffirmed the
obligation of businesses to desist from promos
that are not honest, transparent, equitable and
faithful or designed to deceive consumers”.
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CPC Orders MTN to Pay Subscriber N1.85m in Ultimate PromoCreated at 2016-02-13
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