April 6 is declared as a no working holiday by Malacañang to commemorate Araw ng Kagitingan in advance. Holiday economics. Instead of April 9, the holiday is moved to the nearest Monday. That week is already Holy Week. So that means there won’t be work on Monday but employees still have to go to work on Holy Tuesday and Wednesday.
For those with vacation leave left, file that leave now for April 7 and 8! Bummer for those without or earning per day.
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I have read somewhere that we are a nation that easily forgives and forgets. My take on this is slightly different. We forget because there are just too many issues to deal with in this country. On top of the current issue on this Boyet Fajardo - Duty Free Philippines incident, we also have the Legacy Consolidated Plans fund scam wherein a number of plan holders are unable to claim their insurance funds because the company officials allegedly misused the said funds. Remember the very same funds scam that happened to College Assurance Plan Philippines, Inc. (CAP) plan holders? Or the Pacific Plans fund scam that started this all?
There are people who continue the fight. But without media coverage, the people who should be investigating these insurance funds scams are not acting as fast as they should. Senator Mar Roxas is helping out the plan holders victimized by this Legacy funds scam. But I doubt if he would be as eager to help as he is now if not for the 2010 elections where he’s very vocal in his desire to run as a presidential hopeful. How about the other insurance plan holders of CAP and Pacific Plans. I heard that Pacific Plans was already sold to the group who owns Asian Spirit. Where did the money go? See, without media coverage, the Yuchengco Group was able to pull a stunt like this.
As bloggers, we can help spread the word. We can help create awareness. There might be no tv coverage but the internet is as powerful as television these days. Or haven’t you noticed how the tv giants became aware of this Boyet Fajardo incident? Through the noise created by bloggers!
In a few more days, this Boyet Fajardo scandal will be forgotten. The same thing that happened to the Pacific Plans and CAP scams. Marvin Fernandez, the poor cashier who is the real victim of this incident, hasn’t gotten the apology he deserves yet. Again, without media coverage of this scandal, I don’t think he’ll get it. Calling him Marvin Hernandez (in the ABS-CBN interview) and Marvin Gonzales (in the GMA-7 interview) don’t constitute as proper apology. Boyet Fajardo should go to the guy and even in private, apologize personally. That’s an apology!
My point in this post is that let us not forget. If we can write about it when there’s a development, or even from time to time to stir the status quo, let’s do it. Create awareness. Let us not forget easily. Otherwise, another Boyet Fajardo will emerge. Or another insurance company might pull a Legacy-like stunt because they think the people will be up in arms the first few weeks but will eventually forget.
I have written before about Maynilad Water’s 24/7 Hotline 1626. I really like the fact that when my dad reported the sudden water interruption in our area, someone, an officer I would assume, from Maynilad made a follow-up call asking about the previous call my dad made. In that follow-up call, the officer told my dad that he will schedule a Maynilad personnel to visit us and check about my dad’s report.
This morning, the personnel from Maynilad came and checked on the validity of my dad’s report. He checked our water connection and was convinced that we have poor water supply in our area. In fact, since six this morning, there’s no water supply anymore.
You know, I am raving about Maynilad Water’s Customer Service because this is how it should be done. As a customer, I am satisfied with how they are handling my dad’s report. First, there’s a follow-up call. Mind you, it took a while because the guy who called up really listened to my dad and asked questions in turn. Then, this visit from their personnel.
Again, calling on local utility companies and DSL companies I’ve ranted about… this is how a customer complaint/report should be handled. Learn from it!
First Update: March 23, 2009 7:41PM after airing of the official news at TV Patrol World.
Have you heard about this Boyet Fajardo-Duty Free Philippines scandal? If you haven’t yet, the incident goes like this…
Last March 13, 2009, Filipino fashion designer Boyet Fajardo created a scene in Duty Free Philippines. He threw a humongous tantrum and threatened to have two employees of the said store fired. Guess why? A cashier politely asked for an ID because he presented an unsigned credit card! WTF?!@?%$
If you have been using your credit card in major shopping stores lately, you know that it is standard operating procedure to be asked for an identification for the card you are presenting. That’s SOP these days. Even if your credit card is signed and has a photo.
Fajardo reportedly got angry and berated the poor cashier, now named as Marvin Fernandez, and the store managerofficers of Duty Free, named as Susan Gonzales. Officers arrived at the sceneGonzales tried to pacify the angry designer to no avail. Fajardo whipped out his cellphone, threatening to call on a high positioned government official. Dito pa lang nagpi-feeling na itong designer na ito! And then onlookers were shocked when he shouted…
Mga leche kayo! Hindi niyo ako kilala? Ako si Boyet Fajardo! At itong p…ina na babaeng ito (pointing to a lady officer) at ang baklang ito (pointing to the cashier) ay walang kwentang mga tao! I want them fired!!!
An officer Gonzales asked him what he wanted just to calm him down. Did you know what he wanted? For the poor cashier to kneel down in front of him so he could slap his face! The poor cashier had no choice but to kneel down in front of the high-flying designer. There’s a video of this incident below…
The poor cashier was crying in shame afterwards. Have you seen it? No, he was not slapped. But then, what happened to him was more than being slapped!
You know, I am all for customer rights and all that. I have been writing about it here again and again. But you should know if you are in the right or wrong. Boyet Fajardo was clearly wrong in throwing his weight on a hapless cashier when the only “fault” of the poor guy was to ask for an ID from him. You can be a well-known personality, yes. But when it’s SOP to present an ID, do it! Hindi yung ipagmamanduhan mo na well-known personality ka!
Angelino Boyet Fajardo: O, kilala niyo ba siya? Remember that face!
Para naman sumikat na siya.
Photo credit: Inquirer.net
A Concerned Citizen is now calling for a boycott of the products being sold under Boyet Fajardo. He’s apparently selling his clothes in major malls. The information given by the Concerned Citizen is as follows:
With such disrespect, discrimination and humiliation towards a good worker, a less fortunate person and a fellow Filipino…
1. We are calling all citizens to stop patronizing Boyet Fajardo’s RTW labels such as Substance in SM department stores, Boyet Fajardo and Initials in Landmark and Robinson’s department stores.
2. We are calling on all malls to pull out or stop distributing his products in your outlets.
4. We are calling on the Commission on Human Rights, Department of Labor and Employment and all human rights and labor activists to take appropriate legal actions on this matter.
5. We are calling all foreign embassies to deny him of entry to your respective countries.
6. We are calling on the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines to dishonor him of his membership and profession.…To give him a lesson and to help us stop him from victimizing the underprivileged over and over and over again.
Contact Information:
Boyet Fajardo
Tel: +632 6327120 / +632 6366871
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.boyetfajardo.com
You do not show your evil side in public and not expect a backlash. Remember that, Boyet Fajardo!
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You can check out the video shown at ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol World last night.
By the way, you can also read this blog about Fajardo. This was also one of my sources for this entry.
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Let me clarify something… I am not the source of this news. I got the details from the Concerned Citizen. But before that, my sister read a tabloid column last March 18, 2009, Direct Hit by Itchie Cabayan at People’s Tonight with the same details. Only, it was a blind item. Then when I read this same blind item at Seen/Scene of Pilipino Star Ngayon, I made some searches and found the Concerned Citizen’s petition to boycott Boyet Fajardo.
Our water supply is being serviced by Maynilad Water | www.mayniladwater.com.ph. This past weekend, we experienced water interruption when there was no announcement made that there would be one. Water interruptions are announced on the daily news program Balitanghali on QTV-11 and we always watch it.
Anyway, so the whole Saturday, water supply was cut off. My dad called up Maynilad Water’s 24/7 hotline 1626 to ask why there was water interruption in our area. There are several constructions near our neighborhood and my dad was worried that a water pipe was hit or something. He reported it and a customer service representative promised to get back to my dad about the water interruption. Unfortunately, the CS was a badass one who reneged on his promised and never returned my dad’s call or even reported it to concerned Maynilad people. My dad didn’t get the name of the CS. The next day, we experienced the same thing. My dad called up again and this time, the CS he’s able to talk to was a good one. She made a report and asked my dad to call back again should the problem persist after 24 hours. The CS did her job and water supply is back to normal now.
Today, I heard my dad talking to someone from Maynilad Hotline 1626. Someone from Quality Assurance (QA) most likely because he asked my dad about the call he made last Sunday and if he’s satisfied with the way the CS handled the call and his complaint. My dad was very generous in her praises of the CS who, to be fair, really did her job.
Let me just take this opportunity to tell the rotten DSL companies in Manila to follow this kind of example from Maynilad Water’s 24/7 Hotline 1626. THIS is the correct way to operate a customer service operations. When a client calls to report something, someone from the QA department or those people monitoring calls, if they even have it, should call back the client and ask for feedback. Most especially if your QA notices that a client kept on calling again and again to complain about your rotten service! This is how American companies being serviced by local call centers handle customer service. Because if you don’t know it, customers keep the business going. A happy customer is a repeat customer! Now, if you just let your CS department do their own stuff without even any monitoring done, then do not be surprised if there are many angry customers like me blogging about your services!
Calling Bayantel and Global Destiny! Sana naman gayahin niyo ang Maynilad Hotline!
By the way, you can also contact Maynilad Water customer service through email at [email protected] or through their web site listed above.
I checked the hits I got for the past month and I was not surprised anymore that the keywords that got hit a lot by search engines are DSL, Bayantel, ISP Companies in Manila, Bayantel DSL and Dollar-Peso Exchange Rate. I am not an expert in search engine optimization (SEO) but I think I am doing something right with the way I write my entries.
Update: For those who do not know Unionbank’s web site URL, here it is: https://www.unionbankph.com. You can apply for a Unionbank savings account or EON online.
Yay! Transfer from Paypal account to Unionbank account is faster now than before! Mine took a little less than 2 days to get the USD credited to my account!
I use Paypal for the paid programs I am a member of. When I need to withdraw my USD from my Paypal account, I transfer it to my local bank account. I have a Unionbank savings account. I noticed last week that the email coming from Paypal saying that you withdrew money from your account says that the transfer will be complete in 2-5 days, if there are no glitches. Before, the email says that the withdrawal and transfer will be complete in 5-7 days.
Last Tuesday, March 10, I withdrew my USD from Paypal to my Unionbank account. Normally, it will get credited after 3-4 days. But lo and behold! I checked my Unionbank savings account a few hours ago and the amount is already credited! It took a little less than 2 days for the transaction to complete!
So now, Paypal-Unionbank users, withdrawal to your bank account is much faster than before. I am not sure if it is the same with other local banks. Let me know if you are also using other than Unionbank, if the transfer is as fast as this.
The amount of our Meralco electric bills are “see-sawing”. About two months ago, it started decreasing as we are really cutting down on our electric use. But for this month, I was surprised to find it back to the high amount it was. I checked if we’re consuming more than the previous month. But that’s not the case. Our electric consumption is actually almost the same as last month.
Meralco is duping us with this electric bill refund they’re boasting about. I believe that while we are all focusing on the refund, they are increasing the cost of those other charges they are billing us every month.
I don’t know if you notice this but as I budget and pay for the bills every month, I am aware of this see-sawing Meralco bills.