‘Sheer Incompetence’, ‘Utter Arrogance’ and ‘Complete disregard’ towards customer needs are the terms which I can think of right now to describe what Singtel is doing to me. As you might have probably guessed by now, this is yet another story of bad customer care and one more example which illustrates their arrogance and negligence towards the customers. I am thinking loud, “Is it just me or is it like this for everyone in Singapore?” I am not talking about some third world country where connectivity is a ‘not-so-heard’ term. I am talking about Singapore, one of the world’s most efficient countries.
It all started when I decided to relocate. I knew from my past experiences that transferring my internet connection will be one hell of a ride. So I decided to start a bit early. I called the Singtel customer care hotline (1688) three days before I was to move in.
Day 1 – 1 day. (Dec 16th, After waiting 5-10 minutes in the waiting queue which is there for all the calls)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection.
Reply: Sure sir, what is your address? And what is your postal code. We need the postal code, without that we cannot process a relocation request.
Me: I am sorry, I am not sure about the postal code as of now. I will give you a call after checking it out.
Day 2 – 3 days. (Dec 18th)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. Here is my address and the postal code.
Reply: Thank you sir, we just need the address to check it.
Me: (Thinking: what the hell?)
Reply: Hi sir, as of now there is an existing connection in this address you gave us. We will have to do a rewiring for you and for that you need an appointment. As of now, you’ll have to wait atleast one month for a rewiring appointment.
Me: OMG! Please tell me whether there is any alternative.
Reply: First you have to terminate the connection and give us a call. I will put your name for an appointment now. After you terminate the connection let us know, we will activate the phone line and you have to do the self configuration.
Me: That’s ok, configuring the router is not a problem.
Reply: Also sir, you won’t be able to retain the present phone number. I will give you a call later with the probable numbers you can choose from.
Me: It’s ok, I don’t really care about the number, I only need the internet connection.
Later that day, she did give me a call and I choose a number. She said that she will log everything in the system so that after termination, I can call them again for activation.
Day 3 – 6 days. (Dec 21st, I communicated with the owner and he terminated the existing connection)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. I hope all the details are already logged in the system. You can do the activation as soon as possible from there.
Reply: Hi, who am I talking to again? I am really sorry to tell you that nothing about you have been logged in the system. Could you please give me your info?
Me: Ok, here is my details…
Reply: What is your new address with postal code?
Me: (Thinking: Holy God! Is this really happening again?) Hey my dear fellow, I have already given all the details.
Reply: Is it so? Then do you have a telephone connection in your new place already?
Me: There is a socket there.
Reply: Do you know whether its active?
Me: How am I supposed to know that? You are the person to tell me right? I already talked to a customer care officer and the person I talked to, said that activation can be done from there.
Reply: Sorry sir, I don’t know what you are talking about, Click! (And the line went dead)
I dialed again.
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. Please someone tell me what is going on. I already have done everything and now someone is telling me nothing has been done. What is going on?
Reply: Hi sir, all your details are logged in the system. You have an appointment for rewiring one month from now.
Me: I don’t need rewiring, the existing connection is terminated. You can activate it from there, if possible today itself.
Reply: Sorry sir, we can activate it, but it will take 3 days. You can have the phone line up and running by Dec 24th 5 pm.
Me: If there is some problem, then I will be able to get after 26th right? (‘cos it is the holiday time)
Reply: I am afraid so sir.
Me: Ok, so I am expecting to get a dial tone in my phone by 24th 5pm and no one will be coming for my assistance right?
Reply: That’s right sir, you have to do it on your own. If there is any problem, you can call our technical help desk or take another appointment.
Me: Thank you very much.
Day 4 – 9 days: (24th noon, during lunch @ office, I got a call)
Caller: Hi sir, I have an appointment to rewire your apartment.
Me: Who? What? When?
Caller: I want to check when you will be available?
Me: Are you really calling from Singtel?
Caller: Yes, when do you want me to come?
Me: Ok, I’ll get out of office early today and you can come by 5pm.
I am waiting for the caller and I called the customer care to clarify.
Me: Hello, I have already given a relocation request and the deadline given to me was 5pm on 24th Dec. But there is still no dial tone in my phone.
Reply: Let me check sir. Hello sir, according to our system, your connection is already up and running. Have you tried configuring your router?
Me: There is not even a dial tone in my phone and how am I supposed to configure a router?
Reply: You can try that sir. But then again, this is the sales dept sir, and for configuration enquiries, you can call our technical help desk.
Me: ok thank you. (You guys sux)
After some time the rewiring guy came. He said that he is here is rewire my telephone line. He poked around with the telephone line and some boxes and he also made some calls to his office (at least that’s what he told me)
The guy: I am really sorry sir, they did the wrong wiring at the exchange. So we have to do the rewiring. It will be up tomorrow first thing in the morning
Me: I really need this before the holidays, and are you sure you’ll give me this tomorrow?
The guy: oh! Sorry sir, I forgot that tomorrow is a holiday. We will do it tomorrow first thing in the morning and give you a call in your mobile and landline.
‘Tomorrow-first-thing-in-the-morning’ is over, afternoon is over, evening is over and the next day is over and at noon, I got fed up. And I decided to call again.
Day 5 – 11 days: (26th morning, From this point onwards, I had to explain my whole story till now which takes around 20 minutes plus the waiting time which is around 5-10 mins)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. The technician who came to my house told that he will fix the internal problem and didn’t call me back till now. I am still waiting and there is no dial tone in my phone.
Reply: I will put you for another appointment sir.
Me: Now way I am going for another appointment, get me someone who can help me right now.
Reply: I will transfer this call to the technical department sir.
Reply: (from technical department) Let me check this sir, (put on hold). Hello sir, I have checked with the telephone department and they say it will be working by today 5pm. You can start using you phone by then.
5pm is over, 6pm is over and I called again to the technical department.
Me: I am supposed to be using my phone by now, but I believe I can’t do that without a dial tone.
Reply: (After all the explanations and clarifications and holdings for around 30-40 mins) I am really sorry sir, right now, the sales is closed and all I can do is to escalate this issue to the sales department and tell them to contact you first thing on Monday morning.
Day 6 – 13 days: (28th morning, first thing in the morning, I am calling them)
Me: Are you planning to give me my phone connection any time this year?
Reply: Sir, this is the sales, as per our records, your connection is up and working fine from 24th evening, I will transfer this call to the technical department.
After 20 – 30 minutes of explaining my whole story
Reply: Let me put you on hold sir. (After 20 minutes on hold) I have updated this with the technical department sir.
Me: So am I not talking to the technical department?
Reply: You are talking to the technical department for the internet and TV, the telephone is another department sir.
Me: Ok, so what can you do about this now? May be if you can track down the technician who promised me the phone line ‘first-thing-tomorrow-morning’, you can know what happened actually.
Reply: The only thing I can do is to get you another appointment tomorrow between 11-1pm (for which I may have to take off tomorrow from work) and I have specifically told the operator not to leave your house with your giving you a working telephone line.
Me: Thank you very much. Hope this story will be ending once and for all tomorrow.
And the above sentence happened around 30 minutes before I write this. I am waiting for all this to end and to get a written statement from the technician or whoever it is, that my phone was not working for half a month after I raised my relocation request. Let me see whether they will reduce this month’s bill to half. If I delay the payment of my bill, they fine me. Then they should reduce my bill to half if there was no service for half the month because of their fault.
Is there anyone out there from Singtel - I don’t care – who it is, who can explain all these? This is only about my Singtel internet connection and my mobile phone carrier is also Singtel. Don’t get me started about it. So, now my readers may wonder why I am still sticking on with this connection. That is ‘cos I signed a two year contract with Singtel which ends only in 2011 and I have already given S$400 as advance. So I am stuck with this “fill-in-the-blank-as-you-wish” operator for one more year. Now I know, even in Singapore (which I thought is a flawless country) there can be flaws.
Once again, “Is it just me or is it like this for everyone in Singapore?”
It all started when I decided to relocate. I knew from my past experiences that transferring my internet connection will be one hell of a ride. So I decided to start a bit early. I called the Singtel customer care hotline (1688) three days before I was to move in.
Day 1 – 1 day. (Dec 16th, After waiting 5-10 minutes in the waiting queue which is there for all the calls)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection.
Reply: Sure sir, what is your address? And what is your postal code. We need the postal code, without that we cannot process a relocation request.
Me: I am sorry, I am not sure about the postal code as of now. I will give you a call after checking it out.
Day 2 – 3 days. (Dec 18th)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. Here is my address and the postal code.
Reply: Thank you sir, we just need the address to check it.
Me: (Thinking: what the hell?)
Reply: Hi sir, as of now there is an existing connection in this address you gave us. We will have to do a rewiring for you and for that you need an appointment. As of now, you’ll have to wait atleast one month for a rewiring appointment.
Me: OMG! Please tell me whether there is any alternative.
Reply: First you have to terminate the connection and give us a call. I will put your name for an appointment now. After you terminate the connection let us know, we will activate the phone line and you have to do the self configuration.
Me: That’s ok, configuring the router is not a problem.
Reply: Also sir, you won’t be able to retain the present phone number. I will give you a call later with the probable numbers you can choose from.
Me: It’s ok, I don’t really care about the number, I only need the internet connection.
Later that day, she did give me a call and I choose a number. She said that she will log everything in the system so that after termination, I can call them again for activation.
Day 3 – 6 days. (Dec 21st, I communicated with the owner and he terminated the existing connection)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. I hope all the details are already logged in the system. You can do the activation as soon as possible from there.
Reply: Hi, who am I talking to again? I am really sorry to tell you that nothing about you have been logged in the system. Could you please give me your info?
Me: Ok, here is my details…
Reply: What is your new address with postal code?
Me: (Thinking: Holy God! Is this really happening again?) Hey my dear fellow, I have already given all the details.
Reply: Is it so? Then do you have a telephone connection in your new place already?
Me: There is a socket there.
Reply: Do you know whether its active?
Me: How am I supposed to know that? You are the person to tell me right? I already talked to a customer care officer and the person I talked to, said that activation can be done from there.
Reply: Sorry sir, I don’t know what you are talking about, Click! (And the line went dead)
I dialed again.
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. Please someone tell me what is going on. I already have done everything and now someone is telling me nothing has been done. What is going on?
Reply: Hi sir, all your details are logged in the system. You have an appointment for rewiring one month from now.
Me: I don’t need rewiring, the existing connection is terminated. You can activate it from there, if possible today itself.
Reply: Sorry sir, we can activate it, but it will take 3 days. You can have the phone line up and running by Dec 24th 5 pm.
Me: If there is some problem, then I will be able to get after 26th right? (‘cos it is the holiday time)
Reply: I am afraid so sir.
Me: Ok, so I am expecting to get a dial tone in my phone by 24th 5pm and no one will be coming for my assistance right?
Reply: That’s right sir, you have to do it on your own. If there is any problem, you can call our technical help desk or take another appointment.
Me: Thank you very much.
Day 4 – 9 days: (24th noon, during lunch @ office, I got a call)
Caller: Hi sir, I have an appointment to rewire your apartment.
Me: Who? What? When?
Caller: I want to check when you will be available?
Me: Are you really calling from Singtel?
Caller: Yes, when do you want me to come?
Me: Ok, I’ll get out of office early today and you can come by 5pm.
I am waiting for the caller and I called the customer care to clarify.
Me: Hello, I have already given a relocation request and the deadline given to me was 5pm on 24th Dec. But there is still no dial tone in my phone.
Reply: Let me check sir. Hello sir, according to our system, your connection is already up and running. Have you tried configuring your router?
Me: There is not even a dial tone in my phone and how am I supposed to configure a router?
Reply: You can try that sir. But then again, this is the sales dept sir, and for configuration enquiries, you can call our technical help desk.
Me: ok thank you. (You guys sux)
After some time the rewiring guy came. He said that he is here is rewire my telephone line. He poked around with the telephone line and some boxes and he also made some calls to his office (at least that’s what he told me)
The guy: I am really sorry sir, they did the wrong wiring at the exchange. So we have to do the rewiring. It will be up tomorrow first thing in the morning
Me: I really need this before the holidays, and are you sure you’ll give me this tomorrow?
The guy: oh! Sorry sir, I forgot that tomorrow is a holiday. We will do it tomorrow first thing in the morning and give you a call in your mobile and landline.
‘Tomorrow-first-thing-in-the-morning’ is over, afternoon is over, evening is over and the next day is over and at noon, I got fed up. And I decided to call again.
Day 5 – 11 days: (26th morning, From this point onwards, I had to explain my whole story till now which takes around 20 minutes plus the waiting time which is around 5-10 mins)
Me: Hello, I am relocating house and I need you to relocate my internet and phone connection. The technician who came to my house told that he will fix the internal problem and didn’t call me back till now. I am still waiting and there is no dial tone in my phone.
Reply: I will put you for another appointment sir.
Me: Now way I am going for another appointment, get me someone who can help me right now.
Reply: I will transfer this call to the technical department sir.
Reply: (from technical department) Let me check this sir, (put on hold). Hello sir, I have checked with the telephone department and they say it will be working by today 5pm. You can start using you phone by then.
5pm is over, 6pm is over and I called again to the technical department.
Me: I am supposed to be using my phone by now, but I believe I can’t do that without a dial tone.
Reply: (After all the explanations and clarifications and holdings for around 30-40 mins) I am really sorry sir, right now, the sales is closed and all I can do is to escalate this issue to the sales department and tell them to contact you first thing on Monday morning.
Day 6 – 13 days: (28th morning, first thing in the morning, I am calling them)
Me: Are you planning to give me my phone connection any time this year?
Reply: Sir, this is the sales, as per our records, your connection is up and working fine from 24th evening, I will transfer this call to the technical department.
After 20 – 30 minutes of explaining my whole story
Reply: Let me put you on hold sir. (After 20 minutes on hold) I have updated this with the technical department sir.
Me: So am I not talking to the technical department?
Reply: You are talking to the technical department for the internet and TV, the telephone is another department sir.
Me: Ok, so what can you do about this now? May be if you can track down the technician who promised me the phone line ‘first-thing-tomorrow-morning’, you can know what happened actually.
Reply: The only thing I can do is to get you another appointment tomorrow between 11-1pm (for which I may have to take off tomorrow from work) and I have specifically told the operator not to leave your house with your giving you a working telephone line.
Me: Thank you very much. Hope this story will be ending once and for all tomorrow.
And the above sentence happened around 30 minutes before I write this. I am waiting for all this to end and to get a written statement from the technician or whoever it is, that my phone was not working for half a month after I raised my relocation request. Let me see whether they will reduce this month’s bill to half. If I delay the payment of my bill, they fine me. Then they should reduce my bill to half if there was no service for half the month because of their fault.
Is there anyone out there from Singtel - I don’t care – who it is, who can explain all these? This is only about my Singtel internet connection and my mobile phone carrier is also Singtel. Don’t get me started about it. So, now my readers may wonder why I am still sticking on with this connection. That is ‘cos I signed a two year contract with Singtel which ends only in 2011 and I have already given S$400 as advance. So I am stuck with this “fill-in-the-blank-as-you-wish” operator for one more year. Now I know, even in Singapore (which I thought is a flawless country) there can be flaws.
Once again, “Is it just me or is it like this for everyone in Singapore?”
