Busted Phone Line: Update

The background story for this entry is here.

The gist: I lost the dial tone on one of my phone lines on Apr 28, when my DSL provider came to install cables for my new DSL subscription. DSL was up and running by Apr 29, but as of this entry, my phone service has not yet been restored.

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My first two phone calls to the SkyDSL customer service hotline (411-2000) on the morning and the afternoon of April 29 were met with noncommittal responses ("we'll make a note of it, ma'am") from the customer service representatives. As a brand-new SkyDSL customer, though, I was willing to take their word at face value and wait for a resolution.

However, when days passed and there was no indication that the problem would be fixed, I called the CS hotline again around 1:00am on May 2.

This time, the customer service representative I spoke to (Darwin) understood me right away when I explained the situation, and agreed that it was likely the fault of the installation guys that my phone line no longer works.

He advised me to write a letter of complaint via email and address it to [csdip AT bayantel DOT com.ph], making sure to include an explanation of the work that the installation guys did. Half an hour later, I sent the email as instructed.

By close of business on May 3, I had not yet received a reply, so I forwarded a copy of the original email again to the same email address.

When no email reply came by 5.30pm on May 4, I called the hotline again to follow up. Although it was a bit frustrating, I explained the situation all over again to the CSR (her name was Arlene), including all the calls that I had made, as well as the email that I had sent to CSDIP two days earlier.

Arlene put me on hold and checked with the folks at CSDIP. After a few minutes, she came back on the line to tell me that she will be creating a trouble ticket for my problem, so that a technician can come to my house to troubleshoot. She gave me the trouble ticket number over the phone, so I can refer to it in future communications.

I tell ya... for the first time since this problem came up 6 days ago, I finally felt that someone was actually listening to me. I immediately felt better because at least there was hope that my problem would be fixed.

When I got home from work a few hours later, I did my routine e-mail check and found a reply from CSDIP.

They said the magic words as far as I'm concerned: "We apologize for the delayed response" and "Thank you very much for bearing with us." By golly, I really appreciated that too.

So while this story does not yet have a happy ending, I must say (from the point of view of a customer) that Arlene has helped to restore my confidence in BayanTel's customer service. The apologetic tone in the email from CSDIP's Marlo Austria coming a few hours later was icing on the cake.

Together, they helped move me from "disgruntled customer" to "patient customer".

Now all that needs to be done to make me a "happy customer" is to have someone actually show up at my house to restore my phone service.

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See also: The Saga Continues