Multichoice’s Fake Decoders: An Error Or A Racket? - 2008-05-19

Following persistent calls by buyers of fake Multichoice decoders currently in the market,   Ralph Tathagata writes that if haste is not  made to rectify the situation, Multichoice’s equity stands at the precipice of erosion.

In what appears like a racket, the leading Pay-Television (Pay-TV) operator in the country, MultiChoice Nigeria, has been alleged to have churned out faulty decoders into the Nigerian market. Information reaching M2 has it that a large number of MultiChoice decoders in the market are either dysfunctional or not working at all.

According to one of the consumers who bought the said product, Mr. Ayodele Kupoluyi of Smart Media, “My Company bought MultiChoice DStv decoder from one of the DStv dealers. After installation, we discovered that the equipment was not working. I personally called the two gentlemen who installed it, Tola and Segun. They came, but efforts to repair it did not yield any result. We were rather made to understand by the installers that there are faulty decoders in the market and were advised to call one of their (MultiChoice) Ikeja offices for more inquiries. I also took it upon myself to call the marketing department and was assured that the supposedly error would be taken care of in no time. And we have waited for one whole week after installation, yet nothing has been done to rectify it.”

Investigating further to know whether sufficient effort was actually made by the consumer; Mr. Kupoluyi said such efforts were made, “I sent one of our company staff and my driver to the office of MultiChoice and they were told that the problem could be from the original manufacturer in South Africa. And they were asked to go home and wait until the said fault is rectified. Can any sensible person believe that?”

M2 went to one of MultiChoice offices in Ikeja GRA, Lagos. During a press chat with some of the staff who bluntly refused to disclose their identity, it was confirmed that the top management of the company was aware of the situation and has asked their dealers to stop sales until the problem was rectified, arguing that it was not just few customers as M2 supposed but a good number who have been calling and were asked to bear with the inconveniences. Further inquiries to ascertain why such amount of faulty decoders should be given to dealers in the first place elicited a slightly different response that reads “The challenge has been taken care of, and all affected subscribers were asked to call customer care or go to any MultiChoice office for reinstallation.” Meanwhile, further efforts to talk to any management staff proved abortive as at press time.

MultiChoice Africa is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the M/H Group which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ in New York. It is known for supplying and providing satellite services of uncompromising quality, with enviable core values that respect physical, social and moral environments in which it operates. It can also offer you a vast variety of TV and radio channels in extraordinary digital picture and audio quality. It provides a multitude of additional information about the programmes too.

MultiChoice Africa provides these digital television services through its premium brand, popularly known as DStv, services and investment in state-of-the-art technology, in more than 50 countries in the African continent. It therefore cannot be gain said that MultiChoice has made great strides since pioneering the initiation of digital satellite television in S/Africa and the African continent through their trade mark 'DStv' in 1995.It offers some scintillating programmes like Music, Mother Nature, Movies, Sport, News, Kids, Documentary, Lifestyle and more. These and many more diversity of choice positioned DStv firmly as the indisputable leader in Africa Television Entertainment.

One wonders why these remarkable qualities that ensure the brand's consistent growth and have put it on the track with a steadily increasing subscriber base should be jeopardized at this stage. More concerted attempts were also made to get MultiChoice’s management side of the story. The Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, Mr. Segun Fayose, who was contacted refused to comment on the alleged racket as at press time. After a series of persuasion, he gave a name, Gloria Adeshi, with neither e-mail nor phone number.

Such unethical manifestations can also be said to sharply contradict the brand's claims to customer centric vision of consistently growing its products and service options of Pan Nigeria to match consumer demands. Flooding the market with bad products and, in turn, telling right thinking and serious minded Nigerians who constitute the core of your consumer pool that you have asked your dealers, whose daily preoccupations are profit driven, to stop sales, is downright ridiculous and unacceptable. Additionally, asking the customers who have spent their hard earned money to acquire supposedly trusted brands to continue calling your customer care or conveying bad decoders from one MultiChoice office to the other, ought to stagger the imagination of anyone who appreciates the fragility of consumer/producer relationship. At least, the brand would have deemed it important to spare its consumers the pains, having made appreciable promises and efforts to remain the indisputable clear leader in the industry in terms of service options quality delivery for its discerning subscribers.

With the presence of some competitors like hitv among others, MultiChoice might be creating a hostile business climate for itself without knowing it.

It is also relevant to note that in 2006, MultiChoice DStv was banned by the Federal Government following its bid for exclusive rights for the whole of Africa which many people considered monopolistic and insulting at the time. It was equally perceived as rent-seeking mentality on the part of the brand, collecting a staggering sum of N9,000 per month, for access to international content, with no clear interest in developing local content in Nigeria.MultiChoice DStv was also accused of having no programme of sponsorship(such as local sports),and even local studio to promote local culture. This strategic error haunted the brand at the time that most football aficionados thought that Nigerian Football League would not have been at such an appalling state if DStv had given it a minimum consideration.

Mention will definitely be made of the super dealers who in spite of the serious implication the selling of bad decoders would have not just on their own image, but on the prospective dealers and consumers in various regions where the company have no branch presence, given the bad news circulating at the moment.

Recently, however, two new exciting channels were launched for DStv audience in Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo. Can the brand be said to have upheld or in any way recognized its leadership position in digital satellite operation?

Despite the compelling programmes DStv has in its kitty, deliberately churning out defective equipment into the market can have corrosive effect in terms of consumer loyalty. Its English sport Channel is still being criticized for rendering almost redundant Nigerian League. It is currently presumed that an average Nigerian knows more about European and English leagues than the real owners of the leagues while we know little or nothing about our own local league.

One thinks it will be absolutely imperative for MultiChoice DStv no matter where the faulty brands of decoders are coming from to publicly apologize and ask its dealers to replace the challenged ones. It will also be logical to note that reparation should be made for any inconveniences the bad product might have caused the consumers.