Panira ng ARAW!

This morning, at around 11 am…I called SMART Customer Service to file a follow-up report ‘coz I still can’t register to their 25/8 unlimited text messaging service. The hell, it’s almost a month na. Tama ba naman yun?! Eh ako pa naman yung tipong power texter. Hahaha! I waited for about ten minutes (with all those annoying advertisements of their current offers), before I was transferred to a customer service representative. Let’s call her “Pechay”…

Pechay (with her irritating nasal voice) immediately asked me about my concerns, without even saying “GOOD MORNING”. I mean, it will only take a few seconds lang naman to greet the person at the other end of the line diba?! Hindi naman siguro mahirap gawin ‘yun?! Pero, pinalampas ko na lang…baka kako pagod or something. Ayun, I told her that I can’t register to their unlimited service and that I’d like to make a follow-up report. She then asked me a series of questions like when did I last register, how many times have I tried to register…stuff like that. I answered as politely as I could, with matching “PO” and “OPO” pa at the end of every sentence. After that, she asked me naman about my exact location/where I was during that time. (Script ko nalang para madali ha! Hehe. )

Pechay: Mr. Raymond, saan yung exact location mo?
Raymond: Ah, sa Palawan po…Puerto Princesa.
Pechay: Where is that, north or south of Palawan?
Raymond: Puerto Princesa, almost at the center. Siya lang po yung nag-iisang city sa PALAWAN.
Pechay (with a raised tone): Hello, Mr. Raymond…I’m asking, saan nga doon? North or South?
Raymond: Huh? *napakamot ng ulo*

—And then parang huminga sya ng malalim, tipong naiinis…tapos with a faint voice, sinabi nya sa katabi nyang agent siguro (with no intentions of me hearing it)…”ANO BA NAMAN YAN, ANG BOBO NAMAN NG KAUSAP KO! ANG TINATANONG KO KUNG NORTH OR SOUTH, ANONG SINABI NYA?“…referring to me. Napasabi ako sa sarili ko, “Sh*t. Ang kapal naman ng mukha nya magsabi ng ganun. Buti sana kung close kami no!” Hindi na ako nakapagtimpi so I replied (ng pagalit), “SANA HINDI KO NARIRINIG YUNG MGA SINASABI MO NO?!“. She did not react, and she continued to ask (still with a raised tone)…

Pechay: Mr. Raymond, yung Palawan ba, malapit ba yan sa Leyte?

—Napatawa ako. I said to myself, grabe…sino kayang bobo saming dalawa ngayon?! Kung bobo ako, ano nalang sya?! Utak ipis? O baka utak kuto?! Palawan…Leyte?! Paano kaya sya nakapasa sa trabaho nya! I was so enraged at that time, pero natawa ako sa tanong nya. Sinagot ko ng pasigaw…

Raymond: My God, ano ba naman yan?! Palawan…malapit sa Leyte?! Saang planeta ka ba nanggaling?

—Then she ignored my comment, and proceeded with another question (still, tone raised)…

Pechay: Okay Mr. Raymond, yung area kung nasaan kayo ngayon, malapit ba sa Linapacan, Palawan?

—Like, she is freakin’ under a company operating NATIONWIDE! She was probably oriented about/had some Philippine geography lessons or something before she was accepted, right?! Linapacan is almost at the northern tip of PALAWAN. And that’s nowhere near PUERTO PRINCESA CITY. I answered…

Raymond: Sabi na ngang sa CENTRAL PALAWAN nga eh. Center. Gitna. Okay?
Pechay (still in ignore mode): So Sir Raymond, I have processed your follow-up report. Please try to register within 72 hours, etcetera, etcetera…Anything else Mr. Raymond?
Raymond: Wala na po. Thank you at sorry na rin.

After that horrible experience, I shared it to my friends, who happened to be standing beside me while I was on the phone, and were eavesdropping all along (I was on loud speaker mode). They all had the same reactions. Ang kapal daw! Sana raw inalam ko yung pangalan. Sabi ko, oo nga no! Ha-huntingin ko sya kung nagkataon!

Moral Lesson: Switch to Globe. 99% maganda ang service ng customer care department nila. Kahit mahal ang unlimitxt rates, hindi ka naman nababastos at nasasabihang bobo ng customer service representative. Mahilig pa mag-”thank you for that information, sir!”, na walang-wala ang SMART na yan.

Okay, I’m not trying to generalize the whole SMART company naman. Pero diba, it’s their responsibility to train their staff to be competent enough in providing good quality services to loyal subscribers. So in a way, they’re still liable. It’s still their fault. At oo, alam ko…tao rin yung mga agents na yun…pero the fact remains that they chose to pursue that profession eh, kaya dapat i-endure nila kung ano mang dumating sa kanila. Learn from the NURSES! Haha.

So to speak, currently…SMART sucks!