Digicel cancels their Caribbean ‘Roam Like You're Home’ and removes rollover of Digicel Loyalty Points

The WhatsApp VoIP Platform hasn’t been launched as yet as described in my blog article entitled “WhatsApp VoIP Calling in Second Quarter of 2014 - WhatsApp kills International Calling at the Advent of Facetime-eqsue Premium Video VoIP Calling on smartphones” and already one Telecom Providers is starting to sweat: Telecom Provider Digicel.

They have now cancelled their Digicel ‘Roam Like You're Home’ offer to allow Caribbean Nationals to make calls at the same rates as if calling someone else on their own home Networks, based on a complaint letter to the Gleaner Editor entitled “Digicel should've fessed up to roaming charge resumption”, published Saturday March 22, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.

You can read the *.pdf version of their FAQ on the Digicel Roam Like You’re Home Plan as well as the Terms and Conditions of the Roam Like You’re Home Plan if that helps!

Apparently this reader, a Mr. Michael Wilson, was most upset to discover this not directly from Telecom Provider Digicel, but from an episode of Television Jamaica’s ‘Business Day Report aired on March 19^th, 2014.

Clearly, either Telecom Provider Digicel wasn’t thinking or they weren’t aware that this would’ve resulted in them losing money back when they’d eliminated Roaming in the Caribbean back on Tuesday October 1^st 2013 as reported in my blog article entitled “Digicel to eliminate Roaming Charges by Tuesday October 1 2013 - Minister Paulwell Negotiates with LIME for US Calls free of Roaming, proving Everything is Possible”.

Aside from his rant about being bombarded by SMS (Short Messaging Service) from Telecom Provider Digicel about the latest offers, what really hit home was the fact that this was sprung upon him - and the rest of Jamaica – with none of the fanfare that the Telecom Provider usually pays to announcing its promotions and latest Services.

In fact, this came to my attention while reading The Jamaica Gleaner on the same day that I discovered that Telecom Provider Digicel had cancelled the rollover of their Loyalty Points as per their FAQ for Handset Loyalty and Digicel’s Loyalty Points Terms and Conditions on Digicel’s Website since February 2014.

I then proceeded to do an article on this anomaly on my Geezam blog entitled “Digicel Loyalty Points now expire on a yearly basis”. These *.pdf documents indicate the following:

1.      Loyalty Points for Prepaid customers expires every 12 months

2.      Loyalty Points for Postpaid customer expires every 18 months

3.      JA$1.00 to check you Loyalty Points

In other words, no more continuous rollover of Loyalty Points, which you can check via using the following USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) codes as follows:

1.      *120*3#

2.      *131#

3.      Text “points” to 444-2402

So with Telecom Provider Digicel’s Caribbean ‘Roam Like You're Home’ Services shelved and Caribbean Business Travellers being billed for Roaming, I wonder how long will it be before a picket line forms Downtown at their Headquarters made up of mostly disgruntled jetsetters waving their Postpaid Bills after having being overcharged.