Why Unifi is like Hotel California

"Relax," said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave!
~ Hotel California, The Eagles

For the past two years or so I had been with Unifi for 100mbps broadband. For that, I paid over RM300 per month. When Maxis offered a much better deal at RM129.00 per month, I decided to switch over to Maxis once my two-year contract with Unifi was over.

Last month, I went to the TM Point in Taman Melawati, which is near my house. They said you can't do any termination here. So where could I go? I asked. They mentioned two locations, neither of which was nearby.

I couldn't believe it. You mean to tell me that in the whole of Klang Valley there are only two locations a person can go to terminate Unifi? Boy, they sure want to make it hard for anyone to terminate the service. Talk about underhanded business tactics.

Not believing the info, I called up TM's hotline and inquired whether there were any other options. Then, I was told something even more incredible. No, it's not true that I can terminate Unifi by going to one of two possible locations (like I had been told). Actually, the only way to terminate (it seems) is to give one month's notice first and that had to be done over the phone.

Never mind that my two-year contract was already over. I still had to pay one full month's bill even though I wanted to cancel right now. Ok, if those are the terms, if I have to give one month's notice, if that is indeed the only way to terminate, I have no choice. So, how do I give that notice?

The customer service officer took down my details and told me the most bizarre thing. Now that I have verbally informed TM that I wish to terminate, I have to wait until the 14th of the next month (October), when I will be notified that termination is possible. Then (and only then) can I settle the outstanding bill. To do that I have to go to some specified TM Point to terminate.

Talk about jumping over hoops. This is by far the most complex termination procedure of any service I have ever experienced. And I have to pay one month's bill of over RM300 on top of that. But no choice. If you want to terminate, you have to play by Unifi's unfair rules.

So, I wait for one month. On 13th October I receive an SMS saying I have 5 days to do the termination or else the termination will expire. Can you believe this horse crap? There is a 5-day expiration date for termination!

The notification says I can go to any TM Point to execute the termination. So, I go to the nearest one in Taman Melawati. Once there I was told it was not possible to do it there.

So where is the nearest one I can do it at? They told me Titiwangsa. So, I decided to head out there. But wait, this story gets better (you really can't make this up). Before I drive over to Titiwangsa, I notice another SMS saying that I am now overdue by two months (amount due is RM640.85).

What?!?

They tell you that you have to give one month's notice and only on the 14th of the month can you terminate. Then they send you a notice on the 13th saying you have 5 days to terminate. You try to terminate within the 5 days but because it is already past the 14th, you get charged another month's bill.

So despite giving a month's notice to terminate (which is already unreasonable as it is) because I did not pay exactly on Oct 14 (one day after receiving the SMS), I am billed for two months!

They give you one day to pay or else you get charged two months. Of course they don't warn you about that. They say 5 days and this termination will expire (which is also ridiculous), so you think you have a grace period of 5 days to settle everything. No, you have ONE freaking day. Or else you pay another month's bill.


So, I go to TM Titiwangsa and try to settle everything. They ask for the modem. I said I am using Maxis and they re-used the TM modem. They tell me I need to go get some documentation from Maxis to prove that I have signed on with them. Bottom line: I still can't terminate.

Tomorrow I will try again to terminate Unifi after getting the document from Maxis and after paying two months' bills (a whopping RM640.85). I wonder if there is going to be any other obstacles once I jump through all these hoops. 

Unifi bosses, if you think the only way you can retain customers is to make it close to impossible to terminate, you really need to go back to business school. Word will get around at how incredibly unfair and underhanded your termination policies are. And people will not want to do business with you.

First you require people to give a month's notice just to terminate. Then you notify them one month later that they are now able to terminate but they must do so within 5 days. If they don't settle the one month's bill the very next day though, you charge them for two months. And they can only terminate in selected TM Points which may be very far from their homes.

I can just imagine Unifi's corporate strategists coming up with this plan: "Let's make it as painful as possible for anyone to terminate our services. Maybe they will give up and just stick with us forever because it's simply too costly and too troublesome for them to terminate... even when their contract is over!"

Wait, what's that music I hear in the background? Oh, it's Unifi's theme song, damn it.

"Relax," said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave!
~ Hotel California, The Eagles