The Great Indian Opt-out trick

Posted on | May 4, 2005 |

TRAI has asked the operators to get explicit user approval for paid value-added services. It became necessary since many operators use the opt-out trick.
A service is provided free of charge initially and once it is made paid, they put the onus to unsubscribe on the user. Many users are not savvy enough to understand this and don’t “opt-out”. So the trick is to lure the customers with a free service first and then play on their ignorance or inertia to charge them after going paid. To be fair, it should always be opt-in and not opt-out.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed mobile operators to publish details of the special tariffs for value-added services.

Further, it has barred operators from providing customers with a chargeable value-added service without the explicit consent of customers.

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