Cu4tro Cantos

Since I had my Smart Gold Plan (SE K608i 3G Phone) last year, I already had a couple of tickets opened with them. At first it was quite satisfying, and then little by little it started to get worse.

And then even worse to worst. I reported an issue last April 4 2007 regarding modem setup for my SE K608i phone for use on Windows XP. I’ve used this feature before, I enjoyed the connection speed, but there’s something wrong with my current settings and I want to know what. So I called *888, the Smart hotline number.

The agent who I talked to said that she’s gonna open a service request to the Support Group and I should expect them to call me in 24 hours. I waited for a call the next day but did not get one from them. I made follow up after several days about my issue and it was already closed. They told me that the current status of my ticket shows that they called me but apparently they cannot contact to my number. I thought it’s maybe because of the very low signal in Batangas. But why do they have to close an unresolved ticket?

Since the ticket was already closed, I agreed to open another ticket. Again, I have to expect a call from their support group in the next 24 hours. So again, I waited. And again, I never get a call from them. I immediately followed up again and found out that they again closed the ticket. The same status, they were trying to call me but apparently they cannot contact my number again. That time, I was sure that I had a very good signal all day. But because I hate arguing, I just agreed to open another one. I think that was just yesterday at 3AM. But I tried to insist to make it a high priority and ask them to tell their support group to call me right away. But they did not agree, they have to follow their so called process (Within 24 hours they will call but not sure what time).

I was on night shift for the week, and after arriving home, I tried to stay awake for a couple more hours, hoping that they will call me in the morning. Not a call from them so I kept myself awake until 3PM. I waited long enough, didn’t I?

I woke up 5PM this afternoon, seeing that Missed Call on my phone, and I was very sure it came from them (4 digits only). So I hurried, called them back, just to find out that the ticket was closed again? This time I give a little force on the way I talk, but still in control and clear on what I want to have from them. A little demanding but I think I deserve it since I already wasted too many hours of waiting for this issue to be resolved. I asked the lady, a CSR, can I talk to the support group right now? Or can you tell them right away to call me? She disapproved and said she have to follow their process. I insisted that I already have too many opened tickets to them, with same issue, and it’s not been resolved until now, so they should prioritize it. But she really did not or did not want to approve. So again, there’s nothing I can do but to let her open another ticket and wait another 24 hours for their call. Whew. Sorry me.

My question again, ‘Why do they have to close a ticket, while they haven’t resolved it yet?‘ I am on Support group as well and I pretty much understand managing/resolving tickets from our clients/customers. Until we have provided a solution to a ticket and identified why the issue occurred, we won’t close that ticket. As long as we don’t have a solution, we keep the ticket to track how long it takes to solve that kind of issue. Very helpful on providing work estimates, isn’t it?

Another thing I noticed with Smart’s very poor service is that their agents are not consistent. They seem to be unsure of what they were saying.

I asked agent A, the one who took my call at 3AM, ‘Will you please tell the support group to send the instructions to me thru email in case I missed their call?’ She said, no Sir. The only communication process they do is via phone call. ‘So can I just call them instead?’ No Sir. They don’t get inbound calls.

Then agent B, the one I talked to after I saw their ‘Missed Call’, asked for my email address. I asked why? And she said, ‘So that they can just send the instructions via email in case you missed their calls.

I thought it was not part of their communication process?

Now, let me ask you, What can you say about this scenario?

Batangueño Words for the Day

pulong-pulong n. - usapan. meeting. conversation.

palakat adj. - to speak in a shouting manner. it is different from shouting since this is more irritating :). it’s more like screaming while speaking. frequently done by a mother looking for her children.

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