The Saga Continues

Well, it's official. I'm now royally ticked off at SkyDSL.

I've had no dial tone now for 10 days, thanks to the shoddy installation work of the guys who came and laid cables for my new DSL subscription.

After 4 phone calls and 2 emails from me, they finally sent a SkyDSL technician to my house last Saturday. He agreed that they had messed up and that linemen will be asked to come and check the line, because they had tapped into our PLDT phone cables when they should have just installed new lines to start with.

I made a point of asking him if there's anything I need to do to make sure this happens and he said no since the trouble ticket is still open.

Well, it's been three days since that technician's visit, and nothing has happened. So I was once again forced to call them, which I did just now.

The customer service representative I talked to told me that my trouble ticket is already tagged as Closed on their system, and that according to the notes there, the customer was advised to have an electrician check the wiring.

Man, I lost my temper! I told her that I was the customer, and that the technician they sent didn't tell me any such thing. In fact the technician who came on Saturday even said that the line installers may come the next day to perform the repair.

The CSR tried once again to explain to me that they are only responsible for the DSL and that since the DSL is working fine, they have no problem to solve. She said a different group is in charge of phone-related problems, to which my reply to her was -- this doesn't help me since I don't have a BayanTel phone.

Bottomline, I have fallen through the large gaping crack that's in their customer service setup. SkyDSL subscribers with working DSL service but screwed-up non-BayanTel phone lines have no one to turn to. I am literally in no man's land.

Thoroughly exasperated, I told the CSR that if she can't help me, she should at least give me the name and number of someone I can call to get this fixed. She put me on hold for a moment to consult someone, then came back saying she would create a new trouble ticket, with "special instructions" indicating that the drop line should be checked and that a new cable should be installed. She assured me that the service crew would arrive tomorrow.

All throughout, my confidence in the customer service process has really been eroded.

If this still doesn't work out, I think I will be forced to cancel my SkyDSL within the 14-day grace period and get my full refund, because I don't want them to make a single cent from me if this is the service that I can expect from them in the future.

* * *

Stepping back from the situation a little, I think it's a real shame that the BayanTel customer service representatives are so focused on triage that they don't actually listen to what you're saying anymore.

Here I am, using their company's service for the first time, and yet they don't go out of their way to give me stellar customer support, when they should know full well that this is one of the areas where they can truly distinguish themselves from PLDT.

Heck, that's the reason why I didn't even bother applying for PLDT's DSL service even though I already have a PLDT phone line -- most of the online forums and blogs that I read during my search for a new ISP have raved about the great customer service at BayanTel as loudly as they complain about the poor customer service of PLDT.

If it were not for that feedback, I would have just applied for a PLDT MyDSL account straight away, especially since the installation fee would be cheaper. As it is, I shelled out an additional P1999 just to have this BayanTel line installed, so having them screw up the installation when I paid good money for them to do it just really gets my goat.

I'm a brand-new customer who still has the option to walk away with my money back. It's at this critical time that you really want to keep the customer happy. Why is that not obvious enough to them?

Updated: See also Case Closed.