Consumer rights champions are gearing up for another battle with mobile phone network Peoples Telephone, which is refusing to budge on a controversial sticking point despite a recent high-profile legal decision that forced it to give a customer a refund.
The Consumer Council is preparing to take the company to the Small Claims Tribunal on behalf of a customer over its introduction last year of a $10 monthly 'tunnel licence fee', which is now imposed by all six of Hong Kong's mobile networks.
The objection is not to the fee itself but to the fact that the customer had a fixed-term contract, which made no reference to the fee, and the charge was imposed on top of that.
The decision comes less than two months after Peoples Telephone customer and government lawyer Richard Ma Yau-lung made headlines with his victory in the Small Claims Tribunal on the exact same point; the tribunal ordered the company to pay out $184 - a small but significant victory.
Chan Wing-kai, head of the Consumer Council's complaints and advice division, said the council had hoped Mr Ma's case would serve as a test case and that the company would be prepared to settle other outstanding disputes with customers without the need for further legal action.
As that had not happened, another case was being pursued, paid for by the council's Consumer Legal Action Fund.
