Taiwan Dageda back to discriminating foreigners

A local runner can be tracked down and legal action taken against. A foreign runner cannot be caught if they don’t come back to Taiwan. That is why they treat the two differently.

Show me the statistics that prove that foreigners are more likely to do a runner than locals, and how much money is involved. Dollar to a doughnut the locals lose the company more money and default at a higher rate, or at best the same rate. Every organization that does this has admitted under pressure that they had no actual data backing up their assertions that foreigners were a greater risk to the company financially. Most didn’t even know that we are scrutinized when leaving the country.

[quote]Why would any company give you information to confidential financial information.
[/quote]Well duh. If they’re going to use that information to discriminate against you, it’s not unreasonable to want access to it. :unamused:

The statistic doesn’t matter. They can go after and recover some of the loss from local runners. They have no legal options if some kid runs out of money and heads back home. They probably don’t need foreigner business. Not like there are that many of us.

Do you have clarity about the deposit though? I had to pay 1500 TWD deposit when I signed up to CHT no contract. They returned it after 2 months using the service without me asking. I have seen it before, since often times it is cheaper to buy a local plan for 1 month than to use prepaid cards for 2 weeks. So companies want a deposit to make sure you aren’t scamming system.

I realize this is a year old and slightly OT, but they did not try to recind mine. I wonder why we were treated differently. :ponder: Now it’s ANZ and they still haven’t tried to shut me down. But I have a significant cash balance there, which I would move elsewhere if they cancelled my card. Plus I was their English teacher back when the branch was founded, four company names ago, so there might be some trace of ancient guanxi protecting me. :laughing: You ever get that Beemer out of it?

Well, if you ask nicely at CHT they will allow you to get away without paying the deposit, but it’s on the discretion of the manager.

I went with CHT in the end, no deposit. Used their special plan offers one month before I left the school… :smiley:

It seems there is not too much we foreigners can do, the best is probably spreading the word, getting them the bad publicity they asked for. Or is there any government institution where foreigners could file complaints for discriminatory rules? Taiwan Dageda is asking for more money, but there are places (like Ruten) that right away refuse foreigners…

Go with CHT or whoever else that won’t discriminate foreigners, and when they notice the dip in business they will change. Plus the good thing if all the foreigners goes with CHT is that calls to the same provider is cheaper, so you save money calling your foreign friends.

Not really. Dunno where you’re getting your information from, but China is full of Taiwanese who’ve done a runner. Even the tax department. It used to be five years and you were off scott-free, but now they’ve upped it to effectively 15 years.

I’d be interested in hearing how easy it is to collect from locals that go awol. I was under the impression it was quite difficult.

The whole point is, locals (and their families) vote and have much larger networks of friends and family who might use the company’s services. It’s like life insurance with a huge pool of insureds – one of them will have a claim, but the others will pay for it.

Foreigners have fewer connections in Taiwan and they can’t vote. They effectively have no voice in society for the most part. So might as well get the use of their money (free interest) as a deposit, since we can. What are they going to do about it, complain to their legislator?

When I moved to the U.S. for college, I was charged a $500 (read: fifteen thousand NT) deposit because I didn’t have a SSN, i.e. because I was a foreigner. This was AT&T (or Cingular, at the time). 2 years and one social security card later, I switched to Verizon, where again I was charged, this time $400.

It’s the same in a lot of places. Not just Taiwan.

Were you a resident with a green card? Many of us have equivalent status. Your analogy is flawed.

No, I did not have green card status. I was just trying to offer a different perspective/experience, no need to be snippy about it.

Nah sounds too much like Arizona :discodance:

Short term foreigners do get the shaft in the USA. I pay about 110/month for comprehensive auto insurance. And what i pay is pretty typical for a resident. A foreign student at berkeley could be paying 400 to 500/month for his/her similar auto insurance !!

[quote=“kikiko”]When I moved to the U.S. for college, I was charged a $500 (read: fifteen thousand NT) deposit because I didn’t have a SSN, i.e. because I was a foreigner. This was AT&T (or Cingular, at the time). 2 years and one social security card later, I switched to Verizon, where again I was charged, this time $400.

It’s the same in a lot of places. Not just Taiwan.[/quote]

Well I am not sure how much things have changed over the years, but I remember when I got my first home phone in the US, I too had to pay a deposit. Everyone getting a first phone did, citizen or not. And if you switch companies, I guess you still do unless you’ve built up a solid credit history. Having a SSN does not matter when it comes to the phone companies, credit history does.

Driving insurance is based on your driving history (as well as age, gender, etc) – so a foreign student at Berkeley who has no driving history (in the US) would pay a lot more than a 50-year-old guy who hasn’t had an accident in the last 20 years but would probably pay exactly the same thing a first year driver would pay after leaving the shelter of his/her parents’ insurance company. So the foreigner isn’t getting the shaft for being a foreigner, he/she is getting the same shaft all beginning drivers in the US get.

CHT has a new one … get the phone for 0 (zero)NT$ on a two year plan, paying 1,7** NT$/month … but please, shell out 20,000 NT$ now, and you’re free of monthly payments until the 20,000 NT$ is used up … :ponder:

that’s standard.

also, phone prices should always be calculated on TCO for the contract vs next-available-alternative.