M1-StarHub saga continues; it's the fixed-line now

The frustrations of my move from StarHub and M1 continued this morning. This time it was over my fixed-line telephone.

In my last post, Moving from StarHub to M1, meeting the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, I related my frustrations over the service I had encountered for my broadband.  But fortunately, it ended up well only because I was able to get the help of a computer-savvy friend, not the M1 contractor.

The fixed-line problem started last Thursday (March 9), a day after it was switched from one telco to another.  All the phones in the house suddenly went dead.

I called M1 to find out why.  I managed to get customer service officer Melanie on the line.
She was the officer who had called me after my first blog posting as she wanted to find out more about what had happened.

As she wasn't able to send a technician to my house, she decided to guide me on how to troubleshoot.
After what seemed like eternity, she finally gave up and said she would arrange for someone to come over to get things fixed.

She also warned me that the technician would have to charge extra if there was a need to run extra wiring.  I agreed as it seemed fair.

Come Saturday (today),  another M1 technician named Teo came, with his chubby son tagging along.  He asked me for the location of the box containing the splitter.  I didn't know and he also couldn't find it.

Later, I brought him to a room on the second floor where the old StarHub router and the new M1 Assus router were.  He simply disconnected the StarHub router, came downstairs to my computer room where the Huawei modem was, plugged a line into one of the ports and then connected it to the telephone wall socket.

He tested it and, hey presto, it worked!  Soon, all the phones were ringing.  I asked Teo what he did.
He said he just had to pull out the StarHub line that was still in the router's port.

Then came the surprise --  he said he would have to charge me $50 extra.This was in addition to   what he would be billing M1.

Was there any extra wiring done?  No.   Was he doing any extra work that was outside what he was contracted to do by M1?  I don't think so.

So what was the extra $50 for?  In his invoice, he wrote: "Install a link-up tel point at ONT".
I don't know what ONT means, but there was certainly no installation of a telephone point.

I told him that I disagreed with what he was charging, but I would still pay him as I did not want to have an argument with him. I also said that I would be bringing the matter up to M1.

And this is what I am telling M1:

1.  Your installation service sucks.  You do not know what your contractors are doing. You allow them to charge your customer for service that is supposed to be part of the contract. The first M1 contractor wanted to fix a extra router that wasn't needed. And he didn't even complete the job. The second was just doing what he was contracted to do and yet had the gall to bill me for $50.

2.  Your customer service officers are generally good but are not sufficiently empowered to ease the pain of your customers. Telling them to say, "Sorry, I know where you are coming from.." does not help. Do allow your customers to speak to someone with the authority to resolve their woes.

3.  You are understaffed.  You cannot be trying to solve technical problems through explaining to us on what to do over the telephone. Many of us are just not tech-savvy.

4.  You cannot keep reminding us about your service charge. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth. When you send a technician to our homes to look into a technical problem that is really yours to resolve, remember that this is a service that you have to provide -- if you hope to withstand the fierce competition that is at your doorstep.

As a shareholder, it is my responsibility to see that you remain tip-top...even if I have to go to your AGM to raise the issue as there seems to be no one with authority to whom I could speak to.

Maybe it would also be a good opportunity to meet up with Ms Karen Kooi. 😊

Moving from StarHub to M1, meeting the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I spent Saturday morning trying to complete my broadband moveover from Starhub to M1, and to set up the half-completed fibre network.  Believe it or not, in that short period, I was able to encounter the Good, the Bad -- and the Ugly.

The first thing I did was to call Alex, a technician working for an M1 contractor, but as expected, there was no reply.   Minutes later, surprise surprise,  he returned my call.

First thing he said was, do I want to an extra router to enhance the wifi signal in my TV room.

He had the day before quoted a charge of $160 for the router plus installation.  I declined the offer.

He then told me to call M1 to fix another appointment for him to come back to complete his job.  He did not finish it yesterday (Friday) as he could not receive a signal from the OpenNet fibre network.

The OpenNet people, two very pleasant workers, came a few hours later to get the connection fixed.  A job well done. One of them was from Myanmar.

Soon after, I left a e-message for Alex to tell me when he could come to complete his job, but there was no reply.

This morning, in my eagerness to get everything sorted out, I called  M1 and told a woman called Crystal about the uncompleted setup, hoping for someone to come down to my place later in the day. 

She said she would not be able to do so as Saturday is a non-working day.   She added that there would be a charge for someone to come to my place to fix the network.  I lost my  cool and told her: "Are you mad?" 

How could M1 charge for what is a free installation job which was not completed?

In a subsequent call, Crystal said she would get a technician to help me.   The technician, Norman, rang a short while later.  He explained to me,  pleasantly and patiently, how to go about fixing the router and the modem.

And it worked -- for the internet! However,  the Asus router supplied by M1 could not be used to boost the wifi signal in my TV room.  Reason:  two routers --  Asus and my Apple routers -- were located at different places.  These, he said, had to be connected with another line before it could function fully.

Although I wasn’t  sure he understood exactly what I was trying to put across to him, I was happy that the internet fibre connection was successful.  The weak wifi signal in our TV room remains an issue.

With the fibre connection fixed, the next step was to set the ball rolling for the move -- from Starhub to M1.

After consulting M1 about the rollover, I went ahead to cancel my broadband link with Starhub.  The woman from Starhub who took my call, asked why I was terminating my broadband account.  I told her briefly that I was not happy with the service  I had received at its Plaza Singapura outlet. 

She said I could not cancel my broadband without cancelling the phone fixed line at the same time as they came as a bundle.   She said I had to go down to one of its outlets if I wanted to do so. Strange!!!

I forgot to remind her that  my contract with StarHub had expired and therefore I  should be able to give up only what I wanted.

While talking to her, suddenly my fixed line went dead.  More strange!!!.

Minutes later I called Starhub again, this time on my iphone.  I was served by a lady called Arlene.  I told her what had happened and she went to check.   She returned to tell me that the broadband account had been cancelled --  at 11.44 am precisely -- but the fixed telephone line account was still active.  Even more strange!!!

Was the first StarHub woman who attended to me, trying to pull a fast one because I was switching telcos? Pity I did not ask for her name.

I leave it to you to identify who's the Good, the Bad and the Ugly . 

Overwhelmed, UberEATS fails to deliver

Celine wanted to make sure that her guests could be fed before they started their regular Friday meeting. So she pre-ordered 30 packets of various rice sets a day earlier from Mini Wok, using her UberEATS app.

She was also afraid that her order might be too big to fulfil, especially during the Lunar New Year season. But UberEATS went ahead and accepted her order.

Confident there would not be any hitch as she had used  the same company before, she waited patiently for the delivery, scheduled between 6.45 and 7.15 pm.

When 7.15 pm came and went, she thought the delay could have been caused by a traffic jam as a result of rain.  At 7.25 pm when there was still no sign of the food courier, she called UberEATS to
check.

"The guy who answered my call said it would arrive in 10 minutes.  But in the app the estimated time of arrival displayed increased to 7.50 pm as I continued to wait," Celine recounted.

At 7.41 pm she called the Call Centre again to ask what had happened.

"This time, a different guy told me that their couriers could cancel any delivery without giving any reason," she said.

"So I had 25 hungry guests at 8.10 pm with no food. I wonder what happened to the 30 packets of food that were already prepared, supposedly."

What upset Celine was that UberEATS failed to inform her that it might not be able to fulfil such a large order. There was also no warning about sudden cancellation.

She said: "If they did so, then there is nothing to complain about as I took the risk knowingly."

Later that evening, UberEATS messaged her to apologise, adding that "the massive influx of orders, & the lack of couriers available"  were the cause of the non-delivery.

It was not unexpected that UberEATS would be overwhelmed during this festive season,  but  inadequate management and poor communications were something else -- and inexcusable. 

For that, UberEATS deserves a big BOO-QUET.

 

Strange nominee in my Krisflyer account

I stumbled upon a strange nominee in my Singapore
 Airlines' Krisflyer account early last month. Apparently
the name had been in my account since 2001 and I had
spotted it only by accident.
      Curious to know how it could have happened, I wrote
to SIA to ask for an investigation. I also wanted to know
 whether my Krisflyer  miles had been used without
authorisation.
       More than a week later, the airline replied through
one of its customer service executives (CSE).  I found the
response hilarious if one was able to ignore the
seriousness of the matter.
       Without a word of apology, she said that it was not
able to "determine on the info as it was created in another
earlier database."
        However, strangely, she was able to state categorically
 that as the nominee was in my account for 14 years,
no redemption of tickets or Krisflyer miles were redeemed
for that passenger.
        To me, it sounded like speaking through two sides of
the mouth.
         But that's not all.  The CSE went on to advise me to
update my nominations "to avoid any unwanted nominee
or misuse of the Krisflyer miles".
        Amazing! Why would I want to update my nominations
when there is no need to!!! And how is it possible
 to misuse the Krisflyer miles when no one is authorised
to do so, except by those SIA staff who are authorised.
        The CSE also explained to me how to go about
deleting unwanted nominees online. But there is a price
to pay.
        The applicable fee for successfully removing a
nominee is US$30 or 3,000 Krisflyer points.
         Wow! Why are they penalising me for
something that is not my fault? Unusual customer service,
indeed! Maybe it's their way of deterring customers
 from giving feedback.
         What takes the cake was how the CSE ended her
email: "In view to (sic) this, we are offering you 1000
 Krisflyer miles for the inconvenience caused."
         The story, of course, didn't end there.  I wrote back to
say how amazing -- and amusing -- I found its reply.
          More than a week later, the matter was escalated to a
customer service manager who called to explain
 and to acknowledge that its response was wrong.
         She promised to investigate further. When she called
 me again, she did not have any good news, except to stress
that they had checked thoroughly and still could not
 determine how the intrusion into my account had taken
 place.
         I accepted her explanation but also told her that it was
a serious matter of security, especially for an airline.
        Another week later, she wrote to say that the strange
name in my account had been deleted.  But there was still
not a word of apology or anything to show that the airline
 had taken matter seriously.
         I decided that I should respond to drive home my
concern and to put it on record.
        The following are parts of my email:

       "I...do not sense that there is a
recognition of the seriousness of this
whole thing by your senior management.
 I am not sure whether you have surfaced
this to them. If not, may I ask that you do
 so urgently.

       "Please tell them that they are running
an airline and safety should be their top priority.
For something like this to happen, it must
mean that the safety of your system has been compromised. It does not matter that this
 happened many years ago. The fact is,
someone or some people were able to get into
 the system and fiddle with it.

       "If I were in your management, I would
 want to find out who this "strange nominee"
 is and perhaps this person could help to give
you some clues in your investigation.

       "I dread to think of worse things
happening if other areas of your
airline operation were to be compromised."
 

          

        
         
     
    

Samsung promotion that asked for too much

In trying to create goodwill by offering food vouchers, some companies often fail to realise that they are achieving just the opposite.
      I came across a recent example of what a promotion should not be when my four-year-old Samsung fridge broke down last Friday and I had to purchase a new one, even though the compressor of the old one was still under warranty.
      I decided on a new fridge as it would have taken too long to replace the compressor plus the fact that the Samsung man who came to examine it, had warned my wife that there could be other things wrong as well. It meant that there was the possibility that I might have to pay for other repairs.
      But what sealed our fate was that Friday -- the day the fridge decided to take a break -- was marketing day and my wife was left with no place to store her perishables.
       The long Vesak Day holiday weekend did not help. Even though we had purchased the new fridge that same evening, delivery could only take place the following Tuesday.
       However, everything went smoothly with the delivery, and the subsequent removal of the broken-down fridge.
       Then something else got me a little flustered -- I had to do a lot of nitty-gritty stuff to redeem a $100 food voucher which Samsung was offering to  customers under what it claims is a "super deal" promotion.
        Apart from having to give my personal details, I had to submit the delivery address, purchased product details -- model number, serial number, store of purchase, date of purchase, purchase amount and invoice number -- plus attachments to show proof of purchase including the original tax invoice and cut-out serial number.
        It is obvious that many of such details are known to the dealer from whom I had purchased the fridge or Samsung company itself. Question is, why are they not collating all of these themselves?
        Why put their customers through such a hassle for a food voucher worth only $100?  Surely they must realise that there are some who may not know how to provide what they are asking for.  Are they going to deprive these people of the $100 voucher.
         I must say this is definitely a promotion gone wrong.
            

       
       
       

Cheers breaks the Haagen-Dazs cold chain

The Lims love desserts and ice-cream is one of their favourites.
Two Saturdays ago (Feb 14), they decided to have their cherry jubilee ala mode (that is, topped with ice-cream).
      So off they went to a Cheers Store and bought a tub of Haagen-Dazs macademia nut ice-cream.
      Imagine their disappointment when they arrived home, all eager to enjoy their dessert, but ended up discovering that the product was unfit for human consumption. 


Haagen-Dazs...icicles not ice-cream

      It was apparent that its cold chain had been broken. To keep ice-cream fresh and fit for consumption, it has to be stored at a temperature range which must not be broken.
      "It was quite obvious that the tub of ice-cream that we bought had melted and was put back in the freezer. It should have been discarded," a member of the Lims said.
       The irony of it all was that it was sold in a shop in the Tan Tock Seng Hospital.  I guess the health-conscious environment didn't help.

Cheers? Nothing to cheer about

DBS' letter of unfulfilled promise

The turnover of DBS' relationship managers (RM) must be giving the bank a bit of a headache. Each time someone leaves a job like this, it has to introduce the replacement to its customers. 
      I get a letter every few months to inform me that I will be having a new RM and a promise that he "will be in touch with you soon".   I know this will not happen as I have received many such letters in my years as a customer. To date I have not been contacted by any of the new kids on the block.
       I do not know the reason for the lapse but I would like to assume that it is because I no longer use the bank for my financial and investment matters.
So, if there is no business to be done, why bother?
       I guess it is really a practical approach.  Just cut off those who are happy keeping their money with the bank and only need service occasionally.
       If that's the case, it should refrain from routinely sending out these letters on the assumption that the RMs would fulfil its promise of getting in touch!!!