With more mobile phone carriers and distributors promoting mobile phone warranty plans for accidental damage, the Consumers’ Foundation cautioned the public that the plans are not government-regulated and might not guarantee consumers the protection they thought they had paid for.
Promotional phrases such as: “Mobile phone insurance — if it cannot be fixed then just replace it with a new one” or “If you purchase insurance for your mobile phone, you do not have to worry if it falls in water or if it is smashed,” can mislead consumers, the foundation said.
Having visited two mobile phone carriers and three distributors to gain an understanding of their accidental damage warranty plans, the foundation said the plans are not reviewed by a particular governmental agency nor regulated by the Insurance Act (保險法), because they are sold as a “warranty.”
The warranty plans ranged from NT$98 to NT$258 per month or NT$450 to NT$4,800 per year for different mobile phones.
Wei Yi-lung (魏憶龍), a committee member of the foundation’s financial insurance committee and an attorney, said a warranty should be attached to a sold product rather than sold as an additional service, so accidental damage warranty plans should be considered insurance plans regulated by the Financial Supervisory Commission’s Insurance Bureau.
“Companies often exaggerate the benefits of the plans, but when the phones are damaged, they can act as the judge to arbitrarily determine whether the damage was intentional or accidental,” the foundation’s acting secretary-general Chang Hung-ju (張宏如) said. “We think this is unfair to consumers.”
The foundation said warranty fees remain the same while phones usually depreciate in value after one year.
Three companies do not allow termination or refund of the plan and two companies collect monthly warranty fees along with monthly phone bills, the foundation said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS