How many of you people there think that the bigger a company, the better it's service? Probably most if not all of you. I thought so too. But boy, was I wrong. Big time wrong! I am going to share with you a real-life experience of how a big organisation cannot provide a simple customer service, much less make the customer happy.
All events are real occurence but only name of organisation is mentioned because I lost track of all the service staff that I spoke to.
About a fortnight ago, I decided to sign up for the MioTV package that was advertised by SingTel. I was a former subscriber of the service but felt the choice was limited at that time, hence the termination. Although this time round the choices aren't exactly wide, I thought it'd be a good tome to recontract my broadband service and get free MioTV channels.
I visited the West Mall outlet and was given a quick explanation by the Staff A. Staff A suggested the Mio Home Package that included 2 free channel packages. I opted for the English and Chinese Channels Package. During the explanation by Staff A, my queue number flashed but I didn't notice. When I realized, I told Staff A. Staff A said she'll help me get the next available service counter and I ended up waiting more than 20 minutes.
I was then directed to Staff B. Staff B was busy manning the terminal when I was passed over by Staff A. I explained that I wanted to recontract my broadband and take up the Mio Home Package. Staff B checked and said that it can be done. I passed my sister's NRIC to the staff who went on to key in the details. I was then given a print out of their Sales & Service Agreement. My sister was asked to sign the agreement and poof! - done. We were told we are done. "Thank you" - hinting we should go. So we left.
I noticed that the installation address was not my home but that of my sister's. I highlighted this to Staff B who was already attending to another customer. I was given the polite response of "Oh ok. Let me check again. Ok, I will change it for you." Not getting the hint, I still stood there, expecting to be given an updated Agreement. But I wasn't given one and received an oh-so-polite-reply "Thank you. I will change for you." To me, a clear hint I should leave.
The thing about me is I hate it when I am not given the right things I wanted. So we seated at Coffee Bean and had a cuppa. While sipping the fragrant coffee, I scrutinized the Agreement again. I noticed another error. I was signed up for the English and Malay/Indian Channels Package. I was flabbergasted!! Without verifying the channels I wanted, I was automatically given the packages. Could be because I am Malay lor.
I quickly went back to the Hello! outlet and approached Staff C, as Staff B was attending to another customer. Staff C re-directed me to Staff B. So I pointed out to Staff B the error. "Oh ok, I will change it for you." And Staff B just went on his duties. By this time, I knew that it meant "thank you, you can go".
After 2 weeks, on last Friday, I took leave to wait for the contractor to come in to do the installation. The appointment was set at 9am to 11am. At 11.05am, my sister called to say the contractor went to her place as the Work Order showed her address.
To cut the story short, Staff B did not amend the errors and resulted in the contractor appearing at the wrong address. I tried to arrange for them to come over to my place and was told that they couldn't due to the work schedule. After a helluva lot of tele-exchanges with at least 4 SingTel staff from various departments, they said they'll try to come at 5pm.
At 2.30pm, I got a call saying they couldn't come in at 5pm and needed to come in on Sat morning instead. But the drama didn't end there.
On Sat, they activated the English and Malay/Indian Channels Package. An error I had informed all 4 staff I spoke to the day before!! I called the customer service line and Staff D said they'll make the amendments and it'll take effect on Monday.
Today, I had my hopes high that I can watch the Chinese channels.. All those dramas that I could lose sleep over. I was served my own drama. I could only watch the English channels. No Malay/Indian Channels. No Chinese Channels. I called the Customer Service Line and was told to call back tomorrow because at night, this service line is only for technical issue.
AARRGGGHHHHH!!!!! I had been so patiently dealing with the people from SingTel, despite their error, and now I am given the cream to top it all. Can you tell me whether I had been kind enough to tolerate for so long? I even repeated my stories so many times I felt like making an audiobook so I could replay the history of the melo-drama.
For those of you who wanna sign up for SingTel services, please take heed. Let my experience be a lesson for you. Think again. You might be the next one to be embroiled in this drama of your lifetime. I deserve an Oscar for Most Patient Customer. Don't you think so?
P.S. If any SingTel staff reads this post, please let everyone in your organisation know about this post. But then again, you all probably don't care.
