EasyPaisa, a brand for paying utility bills from Telenor, has turned out to be in trouble, as today LESCO’s has stated that they have no agreement, understanding with Tameer Bank or the Telenor regarding utility bill payments.
In a press release published in various newspapers in Lahore today, LESCO (Lahore Electricity Supply Company) was of a firm in belief that it has not authorized Tameer Microfinance Bank along with Telenor to collect electricity bills from its customers through Easy Paisa shops.
In another development, Telenor Easy Paisa website has removed LESCO, GEPCO and IESCO from the list of companies to accept utility bills at EP outlests.
Initially list was as following, marked as red are no more in the list
1. PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited)
2. SSGC (Sui Southern Gas Company)
3. SNGPL (Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd)
4. KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company)
5. IESCO (Islamabad Electric Supply Company)
6. GEPCO (Gujranwala Electric Power Company)
7. LESCO (Lahore Electric Supply Company)
8. HESCO (Hyderabad Electric Supply Company)
New list is available here: http://www.easypaisa.com.pk/products.php
After all this, a general user may wonder that what made Telenor do improper planning and running one of the largest media campaign of millions of rupees, without homework…!
We couldn’t get Telenor’s viewpoint as we are waiting for their viewpoint over the issue.
Let’s wait for Telenor’s official response to know the exact status of those who have already paid their bill. If they will get a refund, or Telenor will arrange the payments, we can’t anticipate anything as of now without any say from Telenor.
We expect that Telenor will learn the lesson, and will react in a better way, as the problem has been identified.
Update: November 06, 2009:
Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan has reassured all easypaisa customers who have already paid their IESCO and LESCO bills that their amounts have safely been deposited with the relevant utility companies.
Furthermore, Telenor’s helpline, 111-345-100 is available 24/7, to address any customer concerns related to easypaisa or previous transactions. Customers are requested to contact with their transaction ID.
Find more details here
lol how stupid of them!
huh.. so much for all the marketing
Jang Group will be quite happy with this blunder.. as now Telenor is going to pay them some more millions to print new ad on the front page with missing RED CAPTIONED companies… Absolute blunder!!!
wow – man you are so business minded
The Telenor director responsible is an incompetant individual. He has given all his buddies job in the new department and they run around clueless. Let’s see if they keep there jobs after this huge mess……
this shows there management tactics…
lol … lets see what they are going to do now …
LOLz…
Telenor claims “European Standard now in Pakistan”
:-)
As the article suggests that Telenor should learn the lesson as the problem is identified. I must say that the most un-professional way of working is done by the people in Telenor and have some really unconsiderate fools undertaking the projects… Chalo is se itni aqal to aaye gee ke problem identify hone se pehle home work kar lena chahye…
I m sure my comment if read by these fools they will understand whom m I talking about…
Utility Companies On Board
Utility Bills of following Utility Companies can be paid initially: *
1. PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited)
2. SSGC (Sui Southern Gas Company)
3. SNGPL (Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd)
4. KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company)
5. HESCO (Hyderabad Electric Supply Company)
* All other companies will be on-board very soon and then customers will be able to pay all kinds of Utility Bills
u blind people read last line and then go to ur bed
What a comment… A project undertaken and Telenor’s easy paisa shop keepers not trained about which bills to collect and which not… Telenor must have sent the Bill Paid sms to the consumer….
hahahaha… how amateur…
well they spent heavily in this campaign but in the start they get in trouble as when they launched,bomb blast happens,this is their bad luck that they were ub=nable to get good positions in the channels as their competitors spots are more than them even they are spending millions,well when u hire event manager as ur Brand executive,then such blunders will definitely happen,telenor ,sucks
hey all. microsoft creates windows every 3-5 years. a newer version. it has problems everytime its launched. they fix it with their service packs. how come its such a big deal that telenor makes a product, something does not work, whatever the reason is…and you all get up and shout. at least they are producing something new. not just funny ads like ufone and direct encounters like zong. we all are so lame we just need a chance to cribb about something. this really is no big deal. the inconvenience can also be faced if you pay your bills directly to any company. go check ptcl, and wapda and other company bills. how many are paid and come back as arrears. this really is not fair.
however, i agree that this is a big mistae by telenor’s end. they should communicate something to the public and tell them how it will be fixed. its simple, really.
Sajjad…..Its not that easy…..its good that telenor is producing new products and giving new channels and facilities to the public but this is not the minor mistake…..Telenor is putting the name of the large government organisation without any contract. Its not any retails store or any shopping mall that you can place there names and start providing services to public on their behalf.
Secondly, People in Pakistan are already not much confident of doing the financial transactions on such kind of agents and retailers. Having top-up or paying the mobile bill on the Telecom franchise is something else but depositing some other company bills to totally new agents is something else. People who had already taken a step up to use such kind of facility will also not recommend anyone to pay their bills through these agents now after these news. Telenor has ruined the market for the other players too.
Thirdly, what telenor is advertising, they are not providing any such facility at a moment and not even soon which is also getting a bad name to the company. (Financial transactions through mobile)
It would have been really beneficial for telenor and for other competitors in the market if Telenor has leveraged these advertisments properly and has played a safe game rather than jumping and grabbing all the companies at once without any proper contracts.
We should all support such kind of new initiatives and facilities but should move very carefully & not make mistakes like this cuz all the players in the market suffer badly as this is a totally new market. If it would be a mature market, there wouldn’t be much difference but in the new market if the confidence level goes down, specially for the target market (Like this product) Its very hard to raise the confidence level back and above.
One more thing …….you talked about inconvenience, You are right, but there if any one get arrears or any mistake is done by the company, there is someone liable for that……….but where there is no contract of that company with any agents or anyone else receiving bills……….who is liable there?
Agree with Usman…
Well said sajid . I agrees with you …..
@sajid:
because brand matters! This is a direct reflection on telenors brand.
PS. I have been a ufone customer for over 4 years. I am still there cause I like there service, not the funny ads.
ZONG introduces first a day before, with only few franchises they have, i have visited and paid my bill through ZONG Cutomer Service Centre and i am quite happy. I was planning to experience easypaisa but no way….
BTW. ZONG has no agreements with any company as well
@ sikander ZONG has agreement with Innov8.
Inov8 is a public limited company (unlisted) incorporated under the laws and regulation of the government of Pakistan. The company was incorporated in 2004 and has grown to become one of the leading technology companies in Pakistan and the first one to provide mobile commerce service in the country and abroad. Launched in the typical startup fashion by a handful of individuals. They have prestigious clientele and strategic partnerships with some of the leading companies in Pakistan and abroad.
A huge blunder done by easy paisa team.
Project manager & his team must be in crisis at the moment.
I cant believe that this blunder is made by Telenor.
LOL
Now they must be trying do gift black berries to electric companies and Govt high officials to calmly resolve the issue
I agree with Sajjad. I think a quick update on the website mentioning that LESCO is paid via KASB’ UB service. KASB UB service is similar to 1-Link’s bill aggregation and over 5 banks use it including Tameer.
So the bank’s using the 1-link service never advertise that they are collected xyz bills via 1-link service. This is a similar case, but the problem is that it is such a large marketing blitz that it is making competition, banks and other vested parties uncomfortable that Telenor will eat their lunch. The banking industry has done nothing for customer convenience in the last 63 years and do not want new entrants in their domain.
Kuddos to Telenor and Tameer. This shall also pass. It all seems maligned. I am a Warid customer and has been paying the bills for over 3 months will absolutely no arrears and convenient.
Two days, back there was a press release (and infact a bigger one) from the standing committe chairman of senate for telecom blaming Telenor and Wateen not paying ‘dues’ of over tens of millions. The next day there was a clarification from Telenor press relations team that this is not true, they have paid dues always in time and that, correct information can be obtained from relevant authorities.
While I am trying not to take sides here, but why on earth can we believe 100% on the govt authorities as well, where making mockery of a company in public would cost an apple and denying that, couple of them.
worst network in terms of quality its better to delay things but test your product and give 100% perfect product
silly mistake but telenor should do something as soon as possible to mend its foolaries
What has happened must have rings bells with the higher management…how could this be possible that a service is launched the stakeholders are not taken on board..and I now seriously doubt if the bills are being paid correctly or not..as it cannot be discovered until user gets the new bill…i do hope that a quick remedy is taken as I really look forward to have this unique platform of mobile banking be used in multi facet services.
Dear Consumers,
Pro Pakistani are given us up date as well as to the consumers , I read so many information about telecom sector , State Bank of Pakistan must aware the consumers that telenor phone bank account is secure,in this regards we have no up dates . we as Consumers Association informed to the consumers that they should very care fully open the phone bank account , Keep in mind , ” OUR MONEY IS OUR Rights ” this message for the interest of all Consumers , Kaukab Iqbal Chairman CAP.
I don’t understand what the problem is. Tameer bank like any bank is allowed to collect Utility Bills.
The deal is between the bank and telenor. There is no need or reason for LESCO’s to have a direct deal with telenor for this.