The continuing PLDT MyDSL saga
Filed under The Mommy Journals • Tagged: broadband, customer service, internet, PLDT DSL
I had an 8.00 a.m. appointment in Quezon City yesterday morning. Because the server had been overloading for the past couple of days, I decided to check the CPU load at around 5.45 a.m. before hitting the shower. I couldn’t connect. That has happened before. Momentary failure of PLDT MyDSL connection. I decided to check later — I could do it in the car using Smart EDGE. I did just that, the server was fine and that was that.
When I got home at around noon, my DSL connection was still dead. That was when I started to panic. There was a column due and I needed to e-mail it pronto. I called up PLDT customer service.
“Ma’am, with regards to that matter, meron po tayong network trouble sa area ninyo.”
“So, gaano katagal bago ma-restore ang service?”
“With regards to that matter po, hindi po natin masabi pero ongoing na po ang restoration.”
“Gaano kalaking area ang affected?”
“With regards to that matter, Ma’am, hindi po natin masabi…”
“Ano ba nakasulat sa advisory, basahin mo nga sa akin?”
“Ma’am, number 2 po ang Antipolo…”
“So, ano pa yung ibang areas?”
“Binangonan, Morong, Taytay…”
“Eh bakit hindi mo masagot kung gaano kalaking area affected, may listahan ka pala dyan…”
“Ma’am, with regards to that matter po…”
“OO NA, IISANG MATTER LANG NAMAN PINAG-UUSAPAN NATIN, HINDI MO NA KAILANGANG ULIT-ULITIN NA THIS IS WITH REGARDS TO THAT MATTER!”
Anyway, so I had to retype my column in my iPhone and I was finally able to send it. At around 4.00 p.m., I made a follow-up call to PLDT customer service.
“Tatanong ko lang kung ano na ang status nung restoratin ng service sa Rizal.”
“Ma’am, ina-isolate pa po ‘yung problema pero ongoing na rin po ang restoration.”
Huh?
“Kung ina-isolate pa lang ‘yung problema, paano magkakaroon ng restoration?”
“Ganun nga po, Ma’am, ina-isolate nga po pero ongoing po ang restoration.”
“Niloloko mo ba ako? Hindi mo ba naiiintindihan na contradictory yang sinasabi mo? Magkaka-restoration lang pag alam na kung ano yung problema. Kung ina-isolate pa lang, ibig sabihin, walang restoration. So, ano ang totoo — alam na ba problema o hindi?”
“Ma’am, ina-isolate nga po at on-going ang restoration.”
I don’t know if the customer service representatives are simply stupid — can’t they be trained properly before they are unleashed to the public? Or are they trained to talk stupid — public utility corporations lie 99.9% of the time and customer service is a wall between them and the public to cover their asses.
At 10.00 a.m. today, a friend called with better information and he is not even connected with PLDT. Line cables had been cut and stolen, and that was the trouble. How did my friend get the information? He called up the branch office instead.
Those customer hotlines are 95% useless 99% of the time. And those are very generous statistics.
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hahaha, at inulit-ulit pa ang mali nyang “with regards to” ha. Sana kinorrect mo. “You don’t say with regards to, sweetheart. It’s either ‘with regard to’ or ‘as regards’. Uulit-ulitin nya kasi yun eh. hehe
ina-isolate pero nire-restore na ha, grrrrr!
With regards to your MyDSL Saga….hehe
I can totally relate to that Connie, kaya lang wala na akong pasensya magreklamo at lalo lang ako maiinis. Para bang, pwede ba hwag na nila basahin yung official statement nila??
Ang kulit!! Palpak nga Pldt Dsl for the last few days. Kahit kami dito sa QC paputol putol.
I can’t help but laugh at the volley of words. Ang tyaga mo ding makipag-usap. Kelan kaya nila ma-iisolate ang problema?
Connie hindi lang sa Pinas may ganyan, SOP yata yan when it comes to customer service. Minsan kunyari may VIP priveledges ka sa customer service pero ganon din suma total ng paghihintay mo sa action nila.
Ang masasabi ko lang – GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
Dapat, ang title ng post na ito ay: “With regards to that matter” hahaha!
Hay naku, ako madali ding mapundi sa mga ganyang mga customer service rep. Kaya minsan, I go to the tel. company to air my complaint. But even then, di pa rin sila ligtas sa taray ko. LOL!
“With regards to that matter…” Almost robotic. Hahaha!
Gusto ko nga itanong, “Wala ka nang ibang alam na English?” Nakakatulilig, grabe.
Ma’am, with regards to the matter, were you able to retype your column on an iPhone and send it wireless? Talaga?
Welcome to the world of Hi-Tech. One day something is wrong with my phone. I called the customer service listed in our phone book. I got an answer from a highly accented operator. I knew that this must be from somebody who is from a call center. He advise me to go outside our house and check the line. He said,”go outside and check the grey box and reset it.” This was in April. It was already spring and no more snow. Just to test if she knows, I said,”you want me to go outside and check my line?” she said “yes sir”I responded “do you know how deep the snow is? She said, “I’m sorry sir, I will send the technician as soon as posible”. Incidentally she is from Libis, Quezon city. She made my day.
hi sassy, hope your internet woes are resolved.
now in regards to that matter (hehehe), ganon lang kasi yung script ng mga reps, hirap talaga ang work nila (i can relate, i worked in a call center, yun nga lang international account). minsan mga customers will ask makukulit na questions even if we have given them the official statement, we have no choice but to do a “work around” on what we have said, kasama na sa fillers yung in regards to. I know its frustrating pero yun din ang feeling namin minsan, we would like to help but we only get vague information (di kompleto yung information).
“Line cables had been cut and stolen, and that was the trouble.” -Connie
Sometimes, this kind of situation makes one wish na
sana’y itong mga magnanakaw na ‘to ang maka-engkwentro at ma-dedo ng mga pulis.
Wishful thinking lang po ‘yan.
Hindi ba dapat “Regarding that matter”? Hahaha. Useless talaga yang mga customer service na yan. Hindi na yata kasama sa training ngayon ang proper customer service e. At wala na din yatang strict disciplinary measures kapag may dissatisfied customer sa mga katangahan/kabastusan ng mga cutomer service representatives. Scripts or otherwise, meron namang utak yang mga yan na pwede gamitin para mag-analyze ng situation to offer the best possible solution ever. ANO BA YAN…
Rudy, OMG! You know, these outsourced customer service spells cheating to me. I have a friend who worked in a call center. Over the phone, she was supposed to give the surname Carter and talk with a twang because the call center’s client was a US airline company. How can we talk about honesty with these services if they lie about such basic things?
Florskie, so the bottom line really is that customer service is a huge scam, di ba? It’s a buffer so that the companies do not have to deal with its customers directly. Which is really crap because it is their responsibility to address their customers’ complaints and questions.
ormocanon, when cable theft became rampant in Metro Manila, I kept thinking it won’t happen here in the suburb because, well, this is provincial. I suppose location is not an issue. Thievery happens everywhere.
Jin, to be fair, I have talked to customer service representatives who are smart, courteous and truly helpful. But that’s like one out of a hundred calls.
Hi Sass,
Sabi mo sa Customer Service-
“Niloloko mo ba ako? Hindi mo ba naiiintindihan na …”
Kung si Kuimander ko ang kausap nya malamang ito ang sasabihin ni Kumander -
“Niloloko mo ba ako? Mister ko lang ang pwedeng manloko sa akin.”
Just to lighten up the day. He he he.
Sometimes, one can not do anything but to be amused. I was fixing my PC because it will not continue booting up. The error message was – KEYBOARD WAS NOT PROPERLY CONNECTED.
Well, ok.
But the next message was – TO CONTINUE, PRESS F1 OR DEL.
Jeez…
Well it is “good” money but there are lots of sacrifices the agent must experience. Companies do have their responsibilities and most of the time are aware of the issues customers are experiencing. You are right that there are agents who are really smart, courteous and very helpfull but there are some who’s standards become below at par because of stress (agents who come from a long irate call with customers can still feel impact of the issue), demoralization (sometimes bec. of low pay or situations happening in the call ctr environment), or sometimes plain boredom (agents do this everyday working from 8 to 10 hours the max). i guess its quite complicated working in a call center.
I can totally relate. I live at Santolan, Pasig and most of the time, we don’t have a connection. I kept on thinking that what if I need to submit something for my graduate school class or my brother really needs it, PLDT DSL is just unreliable. I think I have already asked for a supervisor three times when I called their hotline. Their customer service is the worst. It makes me want to write a proposal to PLDT to make them understand that CSRs are the front-liners. They need to be able to assist customers. And I just want to SHOUT OUT at their executives to do a good job. I really can’t understand the irony. PLDT has two internal call centers as subsidiaries, Vocativ and I forgot the other one, yet they can’t improve on their own system.
This is so funny. It sent me off my seat. I’ve heard a lot of complaints from PLDT buti na lang we’re never a PLDT subscriber. Ang customer service ng mga bangko hindi nalalayo dyan…
hay ganyan talaga ang pldt
That’s probably the reason why they have two call centers, to double the buffer between them and their customers. Wala ba silang kakumpitinsia?
Haynaku, sometimes I get tempted to ask these call center reps where they learned to speak like that, kairita.
Whenever I talk to customer service reps, hay, lahat ng tao sa bahay (including the baby), they get these terrorized look.
Here’s one conversation:
Credit card customer agent: Ma’m, I’m happy to inform you that your loan application has been approved.
Me: oh really? and when did I apply for that?
agent: um, actually ma’m, it will be approved once your credit card application gets approved.
Me: I never applied, so ano yang sinasabi mong na approve na ang loan?
agent: Actually, once you apply, it will be approved po.
Me: I’m not interested.
agent: sige na ma’m, sayang din po.
Me: Mr. Actually, actually, sinungaling ka @#$%^!Kung nanghihinayang ka, e di ikaw mag apply!bwiset!
Hmmm funny and annoying at the same time. Sometimes nawawalan din ako ng pasensya sa mga CSRs. Though I agree with florskie. Pag nawala na ang pagka-high blood mo sa situation, you’ll realize that these people are doing their job, too. If you put yourself in their shoes, wow, ka-high blood din naman kung makakausap mo ang mga highblood din na customers. I guess if you expect too much from CSRs (as in they can help you right away and they would have the answers to all your questions etc), I mean, would these workers have opted for CSR jobs and listen to your rants and frustrations over other careers they find more fit for their expertise (if available)?
Anyway, I guess the issue here is not most CSRs being “not so smart” per se, but the improvement in information management of service providers with their corresponding call centers. These companies should be able to cascade relevant, accurate, and useful information to their call centers to be able to service their customers better. Call centers in turn have to train their representatives well enough for the proper use of available information and management of customers even at panicky situations.
mga sir /maam,wag nyo naman maliitin ang mga costumer service personel nag hanapbuhay lang ang mga yan.Kung Sky Cable Subcriver kayo,mag ZPDEE BroadBand kayo
Being an agent myself, I have always made it a point to be nice to other agents. PERO yung agents ng PLDT are the worst you could ever encounter. They are rude and useless. One even screamed at me and another asked me to hold and then transferred me to another agent, so I had to explain all over again.
I understand the woes of a customer service agent. I understand how it sucks to get a call from an irate customer. But the thing is, since trabaho mo yan, gawin mo ng maayos. Hindi ka nambabastos ng customer. Hindi naman magigign irate ang caller mo kung maayos ka din sumagot.
Maan, re “Hindi naman magigign irate ang caller mo kung maayos ka din sumagot.”
EXACTLY!
grabe naman po until now wala p rin kami dsl buss. p naman kami nung thursday kopa nireport sa 171 until now walang return call kami natatangap at walang pumupunta sa shop para gawin ang dsl NAmin ang laki pera nawawala samin sana namAN GAWAN N NG PARAAN SA PALIGID NG PWESTO NAMIN MERON NAMAN SILANG DSL BAKIT SAMIN WALA PINACHECT KONA DIN LAHAT NG PWEDENG PAGMULAN NG WALANG INTERNET 4DAYS N KAMI WALANG KITA.
dsl buss. din kami, may connection naman pero sobrang bagal, at ang advise ng service staff ng pldt ay may advisory na may internet interruption daw sila at di pa naire-resume ang complete restoration nito. sana naman ay totoo, dahil un utol ko ay inis na inis na sa serbisyo nila. Last month sana gusto na namin lumipat ng bayantel, gawan naman sana nila ng action ito. Sabi din nila sa main office daw sila may problema, baka na virus un server nila. sa ngayon pag tumawag ka s 171, inaamin naman nilang may problema s kanila, at sana nga maayos nila s lalong madaling panahon, bago lalong mainis ang mga subcriber nila.
as of today, aug. 13 / 1930hrs ganon pa rin ang serbisyo nila d2 sa valenzuela.