Zalo is the most popular online messaging application in Vietnam today, allowing users to download and use it for free with limited features. Recently, this program has "created another limit" by suddenly charging a fairly high fee for creating a new account.
Specifically, many users recently said that when registering a Zalo account with a new phone number, they will have to send a message to the service's switchboard to receive an OPT code (one-time password) to activate, with the message price up to 5,000 VND. Ms. Ngoc Linh ( Hai Phong ) said that previously registering a Zalo account was free, but when she created and instructed her father to use this software during the recent Tet holiday, she found out that the policy had changed.
Zalo's 5,000 VND fee collected via text messaging service is not supported by users.
"I don't think they charge that much for a message because usually any service that charges is around 1,000 VND/SMS to receive the activation code, not to mention there are many programs that don't charge this fee," Linh shared. If users do not agree with the method of receiving OTP authentication via SMS, the only way is to call the switchboard with a fee of 1,000 VND/minute. However, calling the switchboard is not necessarily cheaper because users will have to wait for automatic notifications and face waiting for them to check and verify information... This whole process can also take up to several minutes.
Some users said they had no choice but to send a text message at an exorbitant rate to receive the code and get the job done. A few complained that despite sending the SMS as instructed, they still did not receive the code, while their accounts lost money.
In addition to the new account activation fee, users who request a new password will also have to pay a fee of VND 1,000/time. However, this is considered an "acceptable" cost.
Many members of technology community groups consider the SMS fee of up to 5,000 VND that Zalo charges to be an unusually high cost for a messaging service currently operating on the market. For many similar applications, such as Telegram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Lotus... the OTP code is automatically sent to the phone number of the user who registered the account completely free of charge. A few provide an automatic switchboard service that calls the phone number of the registrant to read the OTP, to prevent others from peeking at the message.
Many inappropriate issues of Zalo
In the past 3 years, Zalo has continuously adjusted its policies to ensure operating costs, no longer completely free as before. First, the company introduced paid and fee-based account classifications, placing many restrictions on non-subscriber user accounts. If they want to remove the restrictions, they are forced to pay to buy a package.
Zalo has very poor synchronization capabilities in an era where most users use multiple devices at the same time.
Most recently, the company also quietly "cut" cloud storage capacity in half, from 1 GB to 500 MB. Similar to the above move, users in need are forced to buy an extended package because at this time, 500 MB of storage capacity can barely store anything important. The change in free storage policy has caused a backlash from the user community, not only because of the way the app developer charges, but also because of the way they do it quietly, without any notice to their customers and only discovered by a small group of users.
According to those who are tech-savvy, it is obvious that Zalo has to charge a service fee to ensure its operations, it cannot be free forever. Regarding the fee of 5,000 VND for an SMS to activate an account, in addition to the issue of operating costs, an expert also said that it could be part of a move to reduce the situation of activating virtual accounts from spam phone numbers, because most of these types of numbers have very little balance in their accounts, often even 0 VND.
The problems in the charging policy as well as the inconvenience in synchronizing data across multiple devices of this service are causing a segment of users to switch to using messaging and calling software on other internet platforms. Currently, there are many programs that provide a free experience package, with the ability to easily synchronize multiple devices, users who need more advanced features need to pay a subscription fee as desired.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bat-ngo-vi-zalo-thu-phi-5000-dong-khi-dang-ky-tai-khoan-185250215082513302.htm
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