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Tag Archives: smart
Shoutout to Sun Broadband Customer Service
This is a shoutout to the Sun Broadband Customer Service.
Compared to the customer service of SMART and Globe, Sun has the best customer service personnel. Yes, they still have canned replies but overall, they are far more knowledgeable, friendlier and the easiest to talk to.
A special shoutout goes to Leah dela Cruz! May your tribe increase!
SMART responds to Pinay and Money
Just two days after I wrote about SMART BRO (see Goodbye, SMART BRO), I received a letter from the Social Media Services of SMART. Here’s the full text:
Thank you for notifying us of your concern.
We strive to provide you with the best possible service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your expectations, we appreciate your feedback.
We are sorry that you received service that prompted you to contact us with a complaint, and we regret any inconvenience or frustration that the experience has caused you.
Nevertheless, your concerns are already being attended to and we are already working to improve our internal process.
We shall be more than delighted to be of service of you again, in the future.
Sincerely,
Social Media Services
Smart Communiactions
The letter is obviously a template letter and this is probably an auto-generated reply. Nevertheless, I’m glad to see that SMART is monitoring the Internet to see what its customers are saying about their products and services. I just hope that this letter is not just for show and that SMART is truly doing something about the quality of its products and services.
Tagged smart, smart bro, Social Media Services
Goodbye, SMART BRO
It’s goodbye to SMART BRO.
After two years filled with irritation, incompetent customer service reps, and thousands of payment, we have ended our contract with SMART BRO and decided not to renew it anymore.
I’ve posted an entry about our dilemma with SMART BRO (see story) and it hasn’t changed since then. A few months ago, my husband got a SUN Broadband and we find that SUN offers more value for our money with its plan.
At P800 monthly, the plan provides us unlimited access to the Internet. Sure, there are days that its connection is down but at least, I don’t fear that when I receive the billing statement, I would be charged with thousands in connection I have never used.
And because of SUN, we have stopped using our SMART BRO in the last three months. We just waited for the contract to expire so we can finally have it disconnected.
Here’s a side note to this. I posted my SMART Bro dilemma in one of the Yahoogroups I belong to. One of the members, a SMART employee, was kind enough to ask permission if she can forward my concerns to their Interactive Social Media Services Group.
A few days after, I received an email from Ashley John Villaroman. In a nutshell, he wanted to find a resolution to our dilemma and, in the process, convince us not to end the contract.
But I was hell-bent on ending the contract. My husband and I feel that we didn’t get our money’s worth with the plan. I thanked Ashley John for his email and told him that we’re not changing our minds. But because I want SMART BRO’s service to improve, I emailed him all my concerns.
We have four major issues with SMART BRO: incompetent CSRs, SMART Connect being not updated, absurd charging and intermittent connection, and its brand manager Ava Espanola, who simply doesn’t care.
The funny thing is that after I sent my email, I never heard from him again. Hahaha! He probably didn’t expect a mouthful from me. But I guess I’ve made my case why SMART BRO is not worth renewing.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate SMART. I have been a loyal SMART Gold postpaid user for the last eight years. And because of SMART, I have never bought a cell phone in the last eight years. I just keep renewing my SMART Gold contract every two years and I receive a new cell phone every time.
But SMART Bro is a different matter altogether. So, goodbye to SMART BRO and good riddance!
SMART increases credit limit
Dear Valued Subscriber: In view of Typhoon Ondoy’s aftermath, we have given you a temporary 50% increase in your existing credit limit. This increase will be valid until 04 Nov 2009. If you require a different credit limit, please call *888. Thank you.
This was the text message that I received from SMART. For Ondoy- and Pepeng-affected families, this is a welcome occurrence. Since they would want to check on their relatives and friends, an increase in credit limit would allow them to do so.
But it would be much better if SMART also implements a similar program for prepaid subscribers. I assume that majority of its subscribers use prepaid and SMART should also have something for them. How about no expiration for loads until November? Or free texts/calls for prepaid subscribers?
Tagged credit limit, smart, typhoon ondoy, typhoon pepeng
SMARTalk is not for me
Browsing the papers yesterday, I saw an article that said SMART has unveiled its SMARTalk service. From June 26 to September 30, 2009, all SMART subscribers can make unlimited calls to any SMART number.
I admit I felt excited with this one. My husband and I regularly call each other and the unlimited calls would be great for us, especially since we are both post-paid subscribers. Searching the SMART website, I found out more about this new service. And then the bubble burst…
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) indicates that to avail of the service, SMART Gold subscribers can buy SMARTalk Load 100 or 500 from any SMART load outlet. P500 is good for 30 days of unlimited calls while P100 is good for five days. But the load is on top of the monthly service fee that SMART charges its post-paid subscribers. In my case, this is either P100 or P500 more than my regular P800 monthly service fee.
This disappointed me because I try not to exceed my monthly allocation and I certainly don’t want to add on to it. The monthly service fee that I pay for already includes about 40 minutes of talk-time and about 200 free messages so I really don’t have a need for this new service.
SMARTtalk is potentially good for prepaid subscribers, who like calling their friends and families. Unfortunately, this is just additional expense for post-paid subscribers like.
Tagged smart, smartalk, unlimited calls
Lower SMS cost = savings?
In an Inquirer story (click full article here), Senator Bong Revilla Jr. has expressed his support for the proposal to reduce the cost of short messaging system or text from P1.00 to 50 cents. Revilla says that this measure is one way of helping the public especially during these tough times.
He also alleges that from the P1.00 cost, only 20 centavos are shouldered by telecommunication companies (like Globe, SMART and Sun) and the cost reduction wouldn’t affect their profits.
If this proposal passes into law, are the consumers really the winners? After all, the three telcos have been giving away unlimited texting to its subscribers. But others would say that any cost reduction would spell savings.
What do you think?
Tagged bong revilla, globe, jr., short messaging system, smart, SMS, Sun
Harassed via text?
Two years ago, I encountered eBay member #1, who bought several Archie comics from my auction. I have been collecting Archie comics for the last 21 years (!) and the Archies I put up for auctions were duplicate copies. And when I see issues that I still don’t have in eBay, I also bid on those.
It so happened that this eBay member also collects Archie comics. When another eBay seller auctioned her Archies, eBay member #1 and I went into a bidding war with me ending up as winner.
I didn’t realize that she took this personally and she even texted me to sell the Archies that I won from the eBay seller. I refused because I was bent on completing my collection. After that, she started harassing me via text, texting me foul words. Because of this, I inquired with SMART on how to deal with harassing texts.
If you’re like me, who experienced it, this is the email I received from SMART. This should also be applicable to those who receive messages from stalkers or any scam artist. Of course, you can always argue that it’s easy to change SIM cards but at least, this is a start.
Dear Pinay and Money,
Thank you for sending us e-mail.
We are sorry to hear that someone has been sending you malicious or offensive messages.
Various types of these messages are being received by our subscribers. SMART has been constantly coordinating with National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to address the problem of malicious, offensive or threatening text messages that have victimized a growing number of SMART subscribers.
If you continually receive such messages, you may personally file a formal complaint to NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) Head Office or any of its Regional Offices through their One-Stop Public Assistance Center. NTC can order us to deactivate the culprit’s line. Please make sure that you were able to save the number and the message of the one who sent you a hoax text message. If important, you may reach NTC at telephone numbers 436-7722, 926-7722 and 925-4651.
The NTC in turn, will send a warning text message to the source. SMART assigned a special number 0919-2999999 for NTC to use when sending out warning messages. In the event that complainant continues to receive these hoax text messages from the same number despite warnings, the NTC may order SMART to deactivate the source of these messages.
We hope to have been of help to you. Feel free to communicate with us again.
Sincerely,
Customer Care