Month: February 2009

Comment on Rotten DSL-ISP Companies in Manila

Internet-Web Devt, Local Companies Customer Service

I got this comment a few minutes ago…

Author : Mike (IP: 121.96.126.215 , 121.96.126.215.bti.net.ph)
E-mail : [email protected]
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=121.96.126.215
Comment:
Bloggers, you all think you own this world eh, what are you American? hahahaha, What do you expect from 1,200 monthly bill. You want a better and faster Internet then get a business line or get a cable internet from Skycable,oh i forgot bayantel own skycable. If you dont like there service then dont pay them, thats it. Peace V_^_^_v

This was left in my post about Rotten DSL-ISP Companies here in Manila.

Before anything else, let me tell you this Mike… YOU are one of the reasons why we are getting rotten DSL connections in Manila! You don’t tolerate so-so service. ALWAYS!

Okay, let me reply to your comment Mike or whoever you are…

First off, I wonder why you haven’t left a legitimate email address so I can respond to you directly. Is it because you are also Vincent Dimaculangan of Bayantel DSL??? Your IP address is definitely from Bayantel! Hmm… Or are you someone he sent to comment here?

Anyway, to address what you said…

“Bloggers, you all think you own this world eh” - No we don’t! We temporarily own a piece of the virtual world through the domains we buy and hosting we pay for and we make use of it.

“what are you American?” - If I am an American and not a Filipino I can own the world???

“hahahaha, What do you expect from 1,200 monthly bill.” - A freaking better service than what Bayantel DSL gave me! Did you read the entries I wrote from start to finish? Did you read the rotten customer support they provided??? Did you??? Or you just commented without reading???

And let me ask you this… When you get a service, pay for it using money you earned from your blood and sweat, do you tell yourself that hey, I am only paying 1,200 pesos, I better expect a rotten service from them! Do you??? If you do, then you better have your head checked! Even if you pay freaking 10-pesos per month only, you always, ALWAYS!, expect a better service! You don’t tolerate bad service because it will give the company bad ideas about customer service! Read that??? And you may have 1,200 pesos lying around month after month that you can throw away in BAD DSL CONNECTIONS, but I don’t! So don’t expect me to just take everything in stride when I am not getting my money’s worth!

The rest of what you said is addressed in my previous post. So better read it. From top to freaking bottom!

You are making my ears steam!!!

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Fire Prevention: Improvement in local fire departments

Community issues

Every time I watch the local news, there is always a fire somewhere in this part of the country. Mostly in the metropolis. If you don’t know Metro Manila, let me tell you this. Some parts of the city looks like this…

manila_slums

You can just imagine how hard it is for firefighters to get in these alleys. So when a fire breaks out, it will be hard for the firefighters to stop it. Like this fire in a Paco slum area…

pacofire

But you know, the city will never change. I don’t see alleys and tight spaces in slum areas and even in some small streets changing anytime soon. Maybe never. Maybe it will get worse in the future.

So I cannot understand why our local fire department is still unprepared in fire situations like this. Every month, a fire breaks out. Maybe every week. These past few months, almost every day. But you can still see the old tricks being done to stop the fire. Locals pitching in to help them stop it. Pails of water being passed on from one person to another. Locals going to the roofs of houses to splash water on those burning ones. I bet the hose they use are old, ultra-worn hoses that should already retire from being used.

I believe there is a way for the local firefighters to be prepared in situations where they have to enter a narrow street or alley. There should be a way for them to do this! Imagine, there are instances when the firefighters have to stop because there is no more water in their truck or the fire hydrant nearest is already busted.

Maybe we need more advanced firetrucks? Or more sophisticated fire equipments? Those chemicals that they use to stop fires abroad, those used in fire extinguishers nowadays, the foamy chemical? Maybe the local fire departments can use that in dire situations, too. I mean, anything! Not the same old tricks that are being done way back in the 80s!

There are very hardworking firefighters locally. I just meant to point out in this post that the local fire departments should do something to improve their equipments or do a local campaign to widen the streets in fire-prone areas/slums or to repair busted fire hydrants everywhere. I do believe lives could be saved if there is an improvement in the local fire departments nationwide.

Summer is here. And that would mean a round of blackouts and fire breaking out from time to time. We need to be assured that the firefighters responding to an emergency are truly well-equipped to stop the fire.

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Rotten DSL-ISP companies here in Manila

Internet-Web Devt, Local Companies Customer Service

What is it with companies here in the Philippines? Only a handful are giving excellent service to their clients! You have to complain again and again before they will give you a better service. YOU HAVE TO BLOG ABOUT THEM FIRST TO GET THEIR ATTENTION!

Instead of giving excellent service on the onset, they will test you first. See if you will complain and assert your rights. See if you really know what you are in for. If you complain, be assured you will somehow get a better service! If you keep silent, you’re done for!

That’s what happened to me with Bayantel DSL. I had to blog about my constant complaints. All I was asking was a technician to check my internet connection, a feedback on when their service will become stable, something from someone other than the customer service reps that I talked to. Nothing. Nada! When I blogged about it here, that’s when someone higher in their customer support emailed me, another one called me up. Imagine! Do you have to raise hell before you will get a decent response from companies around here? BAYANTEL, do your clients need to air their grievances online before they can get anything from you???

Do you know that after this issue with Vincent Dimaculangan (who belatedly called me up to offer his services, and direct line when he could have inserted that in his email and conveniently deleted it!), a Dennis Cruz called me up and offered to assist me personally and to send technicians here, as well as his direct line as well. I declined because I had every intention of terminating their services already. What for??? After all the headaches, when I was done talking to them that’s the time they will send over technicians (notice the plural use of the word)? After over a month of requesting assistance, when I was already fed up that’s the time they will offer their assistance???

And then, wonder of wonders, they can give you a decent service after all!!! I am now getting a very stable internet speed from them. I couldn’t believe it! I was supposed to have their service terminated tomorrow but my Global Destiny DSL connection is acting up since Day 1. I wasted a chunkful of cash for my Global Destiny ISP connection when I can get back the service I was getting from Bayantel before! Tignan mo nga naman ang kapalaran! Tsk tsk tsk

From one palpak company to another! Mga bulok na DSL companies in Manila! Nakakahiya naman sa akin kasi gumastos ako nang todo to get Destiny’s services yun pala mas worse pa ang Destiny! $%#^#*@@!

If Destiny won’t give me a better service, I will raise hell more than what I did with Bayantel. They can expect that from me! I am the best hell raiser this side of QC kaya they better make sure I get a stable 1MBPS that they promised or else………..

I work hard for the money I pay for their services. All I am asking is a decent service in return. Mag-load ka ng Youtube video it will take you forever to complete the buffering! Load a page and it will take you an eternity to see the full homepage! Ano ba yan????

Paging that Jen I talked to. And Global Destiny, kick out your lazy tech support!

Oh yes, Bayantel DSL, you can laugh all you want because I am regretting this transfer to another rotten DSL company! But until I get a decent service from Destiny, Bayantel will continue getting flak from me. If it weren’t for your ineptitude, your CS department, this wouldn’t have happened to me!

And I will gather other blogger friends to write about these DSL companies! I will ask friends in major social networking sites to spread the word. These people don’t have any idea what a blogger like me will go to to get back my money’s worth. Mahirap kumita ng pera kaya magbigay kayo ng magandang serbisyo!

Thank goodness I am listening to Ne-Yo’s Closer the whole time I was writing this post otherwise I would surely have written something MORE.

I wish there is a decent DSL company here in Manila who can offer better services. GLOBE is good, I heard. But I don’t think my area is being serviced by their company. Too bad. And don’t tell me about SmartBRO. I will never get their services, yang Smart. Sorry sis. Your signal is just way too bad in this area.

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McAffee Warning

Blogging in general

To everyone who has sent a message regarding the Trojan McAffee is warning them about in this blog, a huge THANK YOU! I don’t know how to get rid of it so I asked for professional help. I am using AVG and a friend is using Norton. I checked on both and everything’s clear. Hopefully.

If and when you see another warning, McAffee users, please leave me a message here or at my EC account. I appreciate the concern.

Again, thank you!

:)

2 comments

Dolphin phenomenon

Society at large

300dolphins
Photo credit: Philstar.com

Have you seen in the news last night those more than 300 melon-headed dolphins which swam in to shallow waters off Pilar town in Bataan yesterday? Phenomenal! Who would’ve thought something like this will happen? However the rescuers drove them away, the dolphins kept coming back until finally they were driven to the deeper part of the waters.

I have heard different reactions to this phenomenon. But the one that got my attention was from my sister who is superstitious… this may be a sign that a big catastrophe will happen. Like an earthquake or a tsunami. Could be. Remember the tsunami that killed a lot of people in Asia a few years back?

And consider this comment from Dr. Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Here in our country, there were times when dolphins beach or get stranded, but only one or two dolphins – not like this, more than a hundred. So, this is unusual and we really have to know what caused them to go near the shore.”

Let’s pray that nothing bad will happen or that there is a reason why the dolphins got stranded in Bataan.

2 comments

Still under maintenance

Blogging in general

UPDATE:

I don’t know what happened to my theme. The rightbar just won’t get fixed! It keeps sliding down under the leftbar and however I tweak the stylesheet, it just won’t cooperate. It frustrated the hell out of me that I slept early instead of focusing on fixing it last night.

So now I am back to fixing this sidebars… If I don’t wreck this theme first, that is.

***

Please bear with me as I fix a bug in this blog. Thanks to Aldon for giving me a heads up regarding it…

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Bayantel DSL: Good riddance!

Internet-Web Devt, Local Companies Customer Service

So I am saying goodbye to the pest in my life that is Bayantel DSL. My dad will be going to their office by next week to have our account terminated. Our account cut off will be on the 21st and I will make sure that the termination will coincide with it. They might bill me differently if I do it otherwise. Mahirap na!

Let me just give you an update on what happened after my rant…

A Vincent Dimaculangan from Bayantel emailed me about my rant last Feb 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM. Below is his email in full:

Dear Sasha,

My name, Vincent Dimaculangan, I’m one of the Shift Managers of Bayan Telecommunications Customer Care Division. I read your blog regarding the connectivity issues that you’ve been experiencing with our DSL service. On behalf of Bayan Telecommunications, I wish to apologize for this and assure you that we’ll take action in resolving these connectivity issues. We hope to make your experience better with Bayan. I was wondering if you could provide me an account number and a phone number where I can directly coordinate these issues with you.

Sincerely,

Vincent Dimaculangan
Unit Head - Customer Support for Data and IP Services Dept.
Customer Care Division
Bayan Telecommunications
Roosevelt Operations Center
234 Roosevelt Avenue San Francisco Del Monte Quezon City

And this is my reply to his email…

Hi Vincent,

You can check my account using our landline number ***. It is under ***. As you have read in my blog post, I am really tired of complaining again and again, calling your customer service hotline almost every other day just to ask if there is a problem with my DSL connection. I always get the same response from your CS people and would be asked to monitor my connection. There were times that after several minutes of calling your hotline, I would get my connection back. But it has been several times now that I get intermittent connection almost every day. I noticed that connection will be interrupted around past 9am. I wonder why.

I do not get the reason being given to me about the isolation issue because I can’t get it wrapped around my head that it will take your technical people weeks to fix it. If the server is busted, why not get a new one to service the clients better, right? Or if there is a problem in our area, how come no technical people from Bayantel is coming over to check???

I got a DSL connection because I am entirely dependent on it for my work. I work online. If I don’t have an internet connection, it’s like being on leave from work. No work, no pay for me. So you can just imagine the havoc this intermittent connection is doing to my income. Just today, I kept checking myself not to call your hotline again. Imagine downloading a 5.8MB file for over 3 hours! Is that a DSL connection or a dial-up?? That’s what I get from Bayantel. That’s why I am this angry with your service! Loading a page takes half an hour. Not to mention the numerous interruptions and the 12-hour downtime last night that I didn’t get a decent answer from your CS rep that I called up.

Let me just reiterate my suggestion to a certain Lee who introduced himself as an officer-in-charge there. I told him that you should consider putting good paying clients in a good server so as to avoid complaints like mine. Just to let you know, I am a good paying client for the duration of my subscription. You can check your record. And if this is the kind of service a good paying client gets from your company, I don’t know if you will have many left if this problem goes on.

Also, I kept on telling your CS people to send over a tech person to check on what really is the problem with my DSL here. It might have something to do with my modem because twice or thrice I got a “I can’t detect your modem at our end” from your CS reps. I have an open report up to now asking if I can talk to an engineer perhaps so as to understand better the nature of the problem. I didn’t/don’t want to become an irate client when I call but the money I pay for my DSL connection is hard-earned money. I expect good service in return. I believe that is only reasonable.

I am seriously considering transferring to another provider. I didn’t want to terminate my account with you because I hate changing my routine and all that. But more than two times in a month of lousy DSL connection is just too much really. I don’t believe I will get a refund for those hours that I don’t have a connection, right? Fair is fair.

I hope you are better than your CS reps and that OIC I talked to combined. Maybe this time I will get a decent answer from you.

Sasha

And then I emailed him again on Feb 5, 2009 at 2:20 AM to give him an evidence on how slow my internet connection was…

dsl-speed-020509-214am

I waited for a reply or a call but nothing came. It’s 2 days since his email and I haven’t heard even a whisper from him. He does not even have the courtesy to call. You know what’s worse? The 12-hour DSL interruption was through. Connection back up. But the speed??? You’ve seen the screenshot of the speed test I did using Speedtest.net. It was horrible! A page loading that usually takes me a minute took 15 minutes at best! I called up their customer service hotline again (against my better judgment I must say) because I couldn’t stand the slowness of the connection. You know what happened?

I lost my connection entirely! There’s another “fluctuation” according to the CS I talked to named Darwin. Imagine that! The high-blood pressure inducing issues never end!!!

Thus, the parting of ways. I will say bye-bye before the 21st and for now will reserve judgment with the new connection I have.

Again, if you are thinking of a DSL connection, consider companies OTHER THAN Bayantel!

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Bayantel DSL’s Lousy Service!

Internet-Web Devt, Local Companies Customer Service

I just got back my DSL connection after almost 12 hours of downtime between 6:40PM of February 4 and 6:30AM of February 5, 2009. I was not able to even hook up using dial-up because even our landline was out. I am a subscriber of the Bayantel DSL and Landline package. I pay Php1,199 per month for it. I have been a subscriber since November 2007.

I must say that I was a somewhat satisfied client until December 2008. There are downtimes but probably just once or twice a month. I understand that this is still a bad service considering subscribers of a different company only experience downtime once in a couple of months! I did not have to call their customer service hotline because the connection was restored after several minutes. It never lasted for an hour.

The problem started last December 2008. I didn’t complain that much because I figured it might have something to do with the holiday season. I didn’t stay online that much in December 2007 so I have no basis of comparison. I called once or twice last December and I was told that there was a server failure or something both times. I just let it go. DSL connection was restored both times, several minutes after I called up.

I started complaining left and right about their service on January 2, 2009. Intermittent connection, downtime almost every other day, sometimes consecutive days of downtime for almost an hour, slow connection… and always that darn Error 678!

In January alone, I think I lodged more than a dozen complaints. I even have one open report until now. I always get a “there’s an isolation being done by our technical people in your area” from Bayantel’s customer service representatives. Just the other day, I got tired of complaining already I raised my voice to the CS I was talking to and demanded that I be transferred to someone higher than her. I was able to talk to an officer-in-charge. I was given reassurances that everything’s being done to fix the problem in my area and so on and so forth. That darn OIC was lying! Barely 36 hours later, I complained once again.

I have asked that my DSL connection with them be terminated already. I was told to do this and that. I have applied with Global Destiny. Hopefully, it will be a better company than Bayantel.

If you are thinking of getting a DSL connection, DO NOT apply with Bayantel. They are a lousy company who thinks of their bottomline only! You will NOT get a decent service from them because apparently, they are targeting a different market now. And please, 12 hours of no DSL connection is just too much!!!

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