Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Why Globe Sucks

First of all, let me tell you that I have been with Globe and have had the same mobile number for over 10 years now. Yes, that's over a decade of keeping the same phone number. By now, I should have a fucking loyalty award.

Also, I was in customer service for 3 years so I have a very good idea of what it's like being on other end of the line.

Last March 11, my uncle, who happens to be my boss, asked me to apply for Globe's SuperSurf (line only) plan for his Samsung Galaxy. I did it over the phone with a very attentive agent named Tom Ramirez. He was able to initiate the application fully knowing it was me he was talking to and not the applicant himself. That same day, I sent the necessary documents and was advised to receive feedback within the next 24-48 hours.

They called my uncle the following day (Saturday) but he was not able to pick it up so I called Globe the following Monday. I was told they were trying to do character verification and was asked to send the documents again which I did. After that, we no longer heard from Globe and each time I called, I was told to wait 24-48 hours. Nothing happened within the said period. Frustrated, I demanded to talk to a supervisor. I was given one named Scott San Jose who was very helpful. He personally called me on my phone and said they didn't receive the documents and asked me to resend everything through multiple emails which should be less than 2MB each. I did so on that day, March 21, 2011. I was told he would personally follow up on the case and I will receive feedback within, again, 24-48 hours. I didn't.

Naturally, I called again. I don't even remember anymore how many times I called. I called so many times I talked to this agent, Benny Lopez, twice on separate occasions.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the help I needed until I, again, asked for a supervisor. This time, Ryan Reyes helped me. He looked into the case and confirmed that they already have the documents but the bank statement was not valid since it has the company's name and not my uncle's. It apparently didn't matter that I submitted such document along with others like a copy of the SEC registration certificate, etc. indicating that my uncle is one of the incorporators or stockholders and that he has control of the funds and has the capability of paying Globe at least Php999.00 monthly. It also irks me that they had to wait for me to call them until they inform us that we needed to submit more documents.

That was March 28, 2011 when both my uncle and I were able to talk to Ryan Reyes who never pointed out a deadline whatsoever of the submission of a different bank statement (one that's under my uncle's name). My uncle, being a busy businessman who lives outside Manila and is rarely in the office, didn't give me a copy of the statement until this Monday which I sent immediately via email.

This morning, I called to check on the progress of the application only to find out that it has been cancelled last April 2 due to "insufficient documents". Mariel, the agent I spoke to, advised that at this point, we should just re-apply but my uncle has to do it. They apparently need the applicant himself to call them and initiate the application since they do not honor representatives. This boggled me since I certainly had no problems doing it on his behalf last March 11. She kept telling me to have my uncle call them to start a new application but I refused to give up on the original one and I was certainly not going to start all over again. I asked for a supervisor and was able to talk to David who did nothing but reiterate what the agent already said. He apologized repeatedly but was not really doing anything to resolve the problem. I asked for a manager.

After a few minutes of waiting, I spoke to Jay who had this air of arrogance that I sensed immediately upon hearing him talk. I admit that I was very frustrated. In fact, I was shaking with anger. I was seething. I cut him off a few times and I would pepper my statements with sarcasm. It surprised me when he returned the favor. A customer service team manager was cutting me off and was being very sarcastic. It was appalling. At one point, he insensitively asked, "Is that all?" when I was obviously not satisfied with the options he was giving.

"No, I'm not done with you and your ignorance," I said. I really meant to say 'sarcasm' instead of 'ignorance' but I think that somehow put him in his proper place since he was less sarcastic after that statement.

Anyway, he kept telling me that it is their policy that applications can only be done under the name of the caller. "Then why did Tom Ramirez do it? He knew very well that I wasn't the applicant," I rebutted. Aside from pointing out that Ryan Reyes never mentioned I had to submit the bank statement before April 2, I also brought to his attention that Globe repeatedly failed to inform us about any discrepancy or errors in the documents and we didn't receive feedback when it was promised. He then put me on hold for a moment. When he came back on the line, he said they will do it for the first and last time, which is wrong since it's obviously not the first time, and will initiate a new application even without my uncle on the line. He asked to resend the documents to a different email address and provided me with a new reference number just before of course asking me to wait 24-48 hours for feedback.

Just when I thought this saga is over, an agent named Mina and a supervisor named Mark called a few minutes ago to clarify a few information and advised that the bank statement, while showing enough funds, does not indicate monthly deposits of at least Php10,000 therefore it is invalid. Great. Now we're being asked to submit a copy of uncle's credit card. We have until Saturday.

How frustrating is this? This has been going on for far too long. It's very disappointing of Globe to be giving such dissatisfying service. I tried to raise my concerns through their official Twitter account but I never received any response. And don't even get me started with those agents who hung up on me. The incompetence is blowing me away. This experience really got me thinking, that after over a decade of loyalty, it may be time to switch.

literarybulimia@gmail.com

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