So you now know I am a dissatisfied-ever-fretting ex-customer of Maxis.
The fateful morning of 8 February 2009 saw me all excited and nervous when I received these SMSes after my usual morning walk:
'Your line is about to be activated on the DiGi network. Please replace your SIM card with your new DiGi SIM card as soon as your current line stops working.'
Knowing I had some amount left in my 9 years old Maxis Hotlink line, I frantically texted a number of friends just to use up the prepaid credit. I had about 15 minutes of frantic-texting when my Maxis line suddenly stalled and Stealth had 'No Line' icon shouting at my face.
Excited and nervous at the same time, I carefully peeled off the new Digi sim that was delivered to me a week earlier. I was excited at the thought of telling friends my 012 is now a Digi number; nervous as I still wasn't sure if my switch was due to my anger with the provider or if I was doing the right thing as all my frequent SMS buddies (dear daddy and sister inclusive) are all on Maxis.
New yellow sim card in place, I switched on dear faithful Stealth.
And I was welcomed by:
'Congratulations! Your switch to DiGi is now complete. We look forward to serving you. For further assistance, please call 016 2211800 at any time.'
Followed by another:
'Welcome to DiGi! This mobile number is successfully registered.'
I felt bittersweet. Questions upon questions came to my mind - How do I top now? Do I get automated top-up? Do I get to do my transactions online?
You see, with Maxis for the last 8 years, I was able to top-up via it's IVR, credited directly to my mastercard. And the call to the IVR was free. But it was the problem with the IVR was the main reason why I had the grudge with Maxis, as every so often when my card expired, I had to physically visit a Maxis center and fill up my details and it would take days (sometimes weeks) for it to get updated, and as you may well know me, I am not much of giving patience where patience is not due.
The last straw was when Maxis KLCC took more than 3 weeks to get my card details updated. That provoked the switch.
So now I'm a Digi customer. Being a conquerewak that I am, I explored my options. And I was stumped.
If I could top-up via IVR with Maxis, I have 3 methods to do so with Digi. I could have auto top-up - my line is automatically topped with my predefined amount when my balance reaches a certain threshold; I could use SMS top-up - I text to Digi and it'll do the rest; or I could choose to do it online via web.
Talking of web. I'm not much of a yellow person, but Digi's website is none I want to stay away from. And oh, it's OCR - Online Customer Relationship - I tell you, Hotlink kalah big time!!!
But I wanna tell you what made me happy since that fateful morning, especially when I first received this text:
'Super SMS : You have spent RM0.50 on SMS today. All your SMS to DiGi are now free for the rest of the day!'
Hallo!!! I probably text for 1 sen on Maxis to Maxis, but who can top FOC Digi to Digi? (ok...ok... Umobile has that too but hey, Digi's coverage is even wider!)
So, c'mon people! Those on 016 text me, I text you back for free!!
:D
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Telcos and Me
I have always been a tough customer. I guess I picked it up from my other half who used to deal with the telco companies when we were in the States.
See, about 14 years ago, American telcos would steal customers from their competitors, sometimes without the consent of the customers. Often times, we'd be surprised by bills from these carriers, trying to remember when was it that we had agree to switch.
I'm sure my American graduates alumni friends would smile at this reminiscence.
Sometimes, the logo on the bill would not surprise us, but the charges printed in black and while would make us stare at the printed paper in much disbelief. We may have agreed to the switch, but we never agreed to the charges. Matter of fact, we were promised sugar-coated charges - unbelievable low rates, special rates for frequent numbers and some other sweet rates promises the telco (or the phone-marketeer) can think of at that moment of time.
Some of us would engage in arguments when we call to verify the charges, resorting to 'I want to speak to your supervisor' if we couldn't get what we wanted out of the telcos.
There'd be also times when we'd receive calls trying to lure us back to the other telco when we've switched.
Talk of luring... I was hoping i'd get some from Maxis when I switched to Digi some months back. I was waiting and hoping that all those emails and verbal complaints would make them feel obligated to at least give me a courtesy call to find out if i'd switch back to them. But no, all I had that morning of sheer-Maxis-disgust was:
"We acknowledge your request to move. Thank you for being with Maxis and we hope to serve you again in the future. For further queries, please call 1800 821 123."
Thank you, my foot! The 9 yrs I had with Maxis was not rewarded in any way. Oh, I take that back. I was rewarded - a 20 free sms. But only applicable for Maxis to Maxis smses. Err, can I add that at that point of time, my Maxis to Maxis smses only costed me 1 sen each? Which meant, I was rewarded handsomely for 20 sen over the period of 9 years. Bravo, Maxis.
:p
See, about 14 years ago, American telcos would steal customers from their competitors, sometimes without the consent of the customers. Often times, we'd be surprised by bills from these carriers, trying to remember when was it that we had agree to switch.
I'm sure my American graduates alumni friends would smile at this reminiscence.
Sometimes, the logo on the bill would not surprise us, but the charges printed in black and while would make us stare at the printed paper in much disbelief. We may have agreed to the switch, but we never agreed to the charges. Matter of fact, we were promised sugar-coated charges - unbelievable low rates, special rates for frequent numbers and some other sweet rates promises the telco (or the phone-marketeer) can think of at that moment of time.
Some of us would engage in arguments when we call to verify the charges, resorting to 'I want to speak to your supervisor' if we couldn't get what we wanted out of the telcos.
There'd be also times when we'd receive calls trying to lure us back to the other telco when we've switched.
Talk of luring... I was hoping i'd get some from Maxis when I switched to Digi some months back. I was waiting and hoping that all those emails and verbal complaints would make them feel obligated to at least give me a courtesy call to find out if i'd switch back to them. But no, all I had that morning of sheer-Maxis-disgust was:
"We acknowledge your request to move. Thank you for being with Maxis and we hope to serve you again in the future. For further queries, please call 1800 821 123."
Thank you, my foot! The 9 yrs I had with Maxis was not rewarded in any way. Oh, I take that back. I was rewarded - a 20 free sms. But only applicable for Maxis to Maxis smses. Err, can I add that at that point of time, my Maxis to Maxis smses only costed me 1 sen each? Which meant, I was rewarded handsomely for 20 sen over the period of 9 years. Bravo, Maxis.
:p
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A Simple Management Theory
I got this from Aziz Ahmad in one of my chat sessions with him in the PPP library those days when he was the President of IUSC.
I call it Aziz's Simple Management Theory.
Imagine this: a group of building contractors doing handy work on the ground floor of a skeletal building. Their supervisor perches on the first floor looking down on his working contractors. He sees how each and every one of them perform their work, some nailing, some sanding, some work in pairs taking in planks and boards for the contruction. He sees how the contractors interact with each other; he acknowledges those who have leadership abilities, and those who are better at following than at leading. He notices those who comments a tad too much on his peers' work yet not delivering his tasks any better. He takes notes on those needing guidance, and makes sure that they are assigned mentors to help enhance their skills. In short, he notices and recognizes the skills and personality of each and every one of them.
But when he is analyzing them, all are very occupied with their work. None looked up to see what the supervisor was doing while the rest of them were working. None took the time to glance if the supervisor was nodding off or if he was daydreaming.
After a while, the supervisor gets a little tired, and decides to take a break. He stretches and relaxes his back, and looks at a few birds flying afar. He thinks of dinner and what would be nice to relieve his hunger. It was at that moment, one of his subordinates looks up and sees the supervisor dreaming away. The contractor thinks "And that is what he has been doing all day when all of us down here work our arses off!". The contractor gets angry, and during break time, tells some of his peers what he saw and got some of them to be as angry as he is.
The story did not end there, but I'm sure most of us can relate much to it and come up with similar endings.
It means to relate that most staff are not able to see what the management does because they are too occupied with their tasks and assignments. Unfortunately, the time when they do see the management is when the management is fooling around and relaxing thus making the staff believe that the only thing that managements does is having fun.
It is so unfortunate that it is so true. Whether we are still a "kuh-li" given the task to lead our peers, or if we are outrightly part of the management team.
The only way is to give the staff a try at sitting in as a leader. Give him/her a hands-on experience at dealing with his/her kind.
That is, if you are willing to risk a failed project to add to the organization's name.
:D
I call it Aziz's Simple Management Theory.
Imagine this: a group of building contractors doing handy work on the ground floor of a skeletal building. Their supervisor perches on the first floor looking down on his working contractors. He sees how each and every one of them perform their work, some nailing, some sanding, some work in pairs taking in planks and boards for the contruction. He sees how the contractors interact with each other; he acknowledges those who have leadership abilities, and those who are better at following than at leading. He notices those who comments a tad too much on his peers' work yet not delivering his tasks any better. He takes notes on those needing guidance, and makes sure that they are assigned mentors to help enhance their skills. In short, he notices and recognizes the skills and personality of each and every one of them.
But when he is analyzing them, all are very occupied with their work. None looked up to see what the supervisor was doing while the rest of them were working. None took the time to glance if the supervisor was nodding off or if he was daydreaming.
After a while, the supervisor gets a little tired, and decides to take a break. He stretches and relaxes his back, and looks at a few birds flying afar. He thinks of dinner and what would be nice to relieve his hunger. It was at that moment, one of his subordinates looks up and sees the supervisor dreaming away. The contractor thinks "And that is what he has been doing all day when all of us down here work our arses off!". The contractor gets angry, and during break time, tells some of his peers what he saw and got some of them to be as angry as he is.
The story did not end there, but I'm sure most of us can relate much to it and come up with similar endings.
It means to relate that most staff are not able to see what the management does because they are too occupied with their tasks and assignments. Unfortunately, the time when they do see the management is when the management is fooling around and relaxing thus making the staff believe that the only thing that managements does is having fun.
It is so unfortunate that it is so true. Whether we are still a "kuh-li" given the task to lead our peers, or if we are outrightly part of the management team.
The only way is to give the staff a try at sitting in as a leader. Give him/her a hands-on experience at dealing with his/her kind.
That is, if you are willing to risk a failed project to add to the organization's name.
:D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)