Un-Happy Update

A reader pointed out HERE that Happy has revised its call rates for 2009.

The reader said:

After using Happy for almost a year, I’m extremely annoyed that they changed their rates suddenly on Jan 22, 2009, delusionally advertising them as “new happy deals”. What bullsh*t.

We couldn’t agree more and here are the details.

Happy hinted that the “no-frills” cheapskate mobile service provider was working on new rates.

Happy revealed the revised rates on January 22, and we’re pretty sure many were very disappointed with the crappy “Happier” rates.

Essentially, the flat rate 99sen/45min calls anytime is history. In its place, Happy introduced “Happy Hour”.

From 9am to 5pm, Happy to Happy (on net) calls are 99sen/call for a maximum 45min/call. Whether you will be charged 33sen for every subsequent minute or the call will automatically cut off, we don’t know.

For calls to other networks and calls outside the Happy Hour, you will be charged 99sen for a maximum of 15min, after that you’ll be charged 33sen/min. This rate is called “Happy for All”.

Then there’s “Happy News” where calls below 3min are charged 33sen/call, at the 4th minute we assume you will be charged 99sen/call for a maximum 15min after which the charge drops back to 33sen/min – jusst like in “Happy for All”.

If it all sounds confusing to you that’s because it is. In fact this variable tariff is one of the most confusing and complicated rates in the country!

The table on Happy’s website may look simple but it’s deceptive so don’t be fooled. It’s hiding a lot of key information that’s important to you.

Crucially, the 1sen/second rate is MISSING in the revised tariffs table. This could mean two things. 1) It’s status quo. Meaning calls are sill charged 1sen/second or 2) Or it has been completely abolished. Our guess is it’s the latter.

And then there are the other things. READ below to find out what we’ve gathered from the revised tariffs:

1. By the looks of it, EVERY call will cost you a minimum of 33sen even if it’s for half a second
2. During Happy Hour (9am-5pm), it looks like on net calls are charged a whopping 99sen/call no mater how short the duration. This could be the most expensive call rate ever!
3. During Happy Hour calls, we don’t know whether calls will be charge 33sen/min or will simply be disconnected after 45min.
4. No where does it say if calls are charged in per-second blocks or if it’s in other higher, more expensive blocks (i.e. 15sec/30sec blocks).
5. For “Happy News” calls, we don’t know how much you will charged after the 3rd minute. The table doesn’t state anything about that. We can only assume that after the 3rd minute your call will be charged 99sen/min up to 15min and drops back to 33sen/min after 15mins. Again, we’re assuming this and we can’t be sure because the whole Happy website lack details.

You can check Happy revised rates HERE. Once you’re done, tell us what you think.

Basically when you use Happy, you are at their mercy. They’ve proven that they can change call rates willy nilly. Who knows what else the can and will do.

Our advice, be careful. Better still, stay away from Happy and be happy.

To the reader that shared the info with us: Thanks for your thoughts. We’re not sure if you still want to be behind the pseudonym, let us know if you don’t mind us making your name public, because at SoyaCincau.com we love giving credit where credit is due.