It is often said that you only find out how much something means to you after you’ve lost it. And in the case of my Internet connection, I found out how much it meant to me last weekend. I didn’t have a dial tone or Internet connection until Monday afternoon.
Staggering home at around 5.30am Saturday, after an all-night session of drinking beer, wine, whiskey, and other flammable liquids, I opened my computer to discover I had no Internet connection. Picking up the phone, I discovered that I had no dial tone either. My first thought was that we got disconnected, and then I got mad because there was no reason for it to happen. Fortunately, Smart allows you to harass the technical support agents of PLDT for free from your Smart mobile. I called up the agent, and like any good customer maligned by these unfeeling bureaucracies, let my wrath loose upon the hapless agent, who can only repeat that annoying line, “We are sorry for the inconvenience.” That infamous line, uttered without a shred of sincerity and with diction sure to arouse the ire of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, only served to fuel my anger more. Finally, knowing that the agent won’t be able to do anything that any barely computer literate person is incapable of doing, I decided to sleep.
I woke up to the ringing of my mobile a few hours later, to discover that I have a fever. The technician has arrived! While he was checking the phone line, my neighbors dropped by and grumbled that they also called PLDT for the same problems. Hearing this, the technician checked the cables leading to the box serving the area. It was only then that he discovered that the cable running from the box to the pole nearest our street was stolen. All he could say was that he would file a report (much like agents do, except this guy can actually do something) which would be sent to the proper department to be their week’s ration of toilet paper.
Periodically calling PLDT, I discovered that 171 and 173 are so insulated from the workings of the other departments. They couldn’t even tell me if the reports were read before they were sent to the department bathrooms. All they can say is that they’ll just file another report, just in case someone has a bad case of diarrhea over there. They won’t commit to any timeframe for the repair. And most likely, no one updates their database. Even as I said that phone cables were stolen and that the entire area did not have any form of service whatsoever, all they did was to ask for your number, and say that they would send a technician.
I also discovered that PLDT has systematically withheld the numbers of their business offices. If you want to talk to someone over there, you have to physically go to the business office, get a number, then wait one million years for your number to be called. In short, no one knows where these cable crews are, what are they doing, or maybe even if they’ve been hired already. Everyone would tell you the same thing: We are sorry for the inconvenience, we will file the report. It’s bureaucratic enough to shame the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with its committees, subcommittees, central committees, and presidium of central committees.
To make the long story short, service was restored Monday afternoon. I understand that it’s not PLDT’s fault that their cables are often stolen. In fact, I’ve decided to electrocute any cable thief I encounter as payback for my experience. What I don’t understand is PLDT’s strenuous efforts to insulate the consumer from the company. Sure, they have a customer service department to receive the insults and curses of their clients, but would it be too bad to let the people in other departments taste the wrath of unsatisfied customers?
I could’ve called 171 to tell them about my problem, and then they’d forward me to the department capable of addressing the problem. Why can’t I have updates on the progress of their work, or the lack thereof? Most importantly, why let clients wait three days for service they’ve paid for. Sure, there are rebates, but they come only after you’ve dogged them for months, and even if not, it won’t be enough to pay for lost income (for those with Internet-based businesses), the inconvenience, or in my case, withdrawal symptoms from not being able to blog, check my mail, and play either Warcraft or Team Fortress 2.
Thinking about this incident, I realized that whenever I call 171, I am already in a hostile mindset that cannot be explained by simple inconvenience. I am mad because I know I will be frustrated. But I have no choice but to call them. Even if I let my wrath loose upon them, my problem would still be unresolved, and my predicament will be nothing more than another “irate call” to the agent. Perhaps for the sake of their agents and their customers, PLDT can change. Maybe when Elvis releases another album.
Monday morning, I convinced my neighbors that we should send a letter to PLDT signed by all affected subscribers in the area that says we will all terminate our contracts with PLDT if they do not restore service to the area immediately. We weren’t able to do it as service was restored before we can give the letter, but it’s something that Filipino consumers should do more often to assert their rights. Maybe, just maybe, Pangilinan would take notice.
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