An Extreme Dissapointment On DiGi Services From A Former Maxis Subscriber

I mentioned earlier that I have one open issue with DiGi and waiting their response. Well, enough waiting I guess since last Friday, here's the email I sent to some DiGi internal contacts that I have but it's like sending the email to a black hole. Initially I did not think of sending the email, but it was advised by a DiGi customer, "Go complain lah, sure good service one". Hence, I wrote the email and now ended with "good service".

Before go on to the lengthy email, I want to stress that I am just as ordinary as other consumers who just want to be happy on what I pay for. As mentioned some time ago, I was really looking forward to be a happy DiGi consumer. Unfortunately, the journey to follow the yellow man begun with an unpleasant one. This was something I never encountered with my previous Maxis subscription, except for a little expensive charges (service coverage for both providers is another story I may want to blog in the future). Probably that's WYPIWYG - what you pay is what you get (for the customer service). The email was with the purpose to highlight the incident and hoping to be a lesson learned for improvement, somehow I guess nobody bother about it, the attitude of "who cares" and "this is not my father's company" rule the business.

A quite similar incident happened to me when I was in Houston. The waiter placed wrong order of 2 main courses for me and my peer. We did not yell at all but just a simple short comment of "We are very disappointed with your service", and we received non-stop apologies from the supervisor and basically paid nothing for the meal 'cause the value of the gift coupons we received was more than the bill! We felt like wanted to retreat our words and ended up being Santa Claus to give out all coupons to other peers.

So judge yourself if you are planning a switch to yellow like me. My case could be just an isolated incident, it might not happen to others. However, from the other point of view, it tells you that DiGi is not as outstanding as its yellow man commercials, it's just another typical Malaysian operated company, you'd know, customer is never number one, who cares you?! Especially if they know they are in demand of majority, why bother to improve since everyone would go to them no matter how. A similar example, our National Car maker, Potong.

Long email...

I am a new DiGi customer with MNP switch from Maxis (my number 012 xxx xxxx [masked in the blog]) since Wednesday, 29 Oct 2008. Oh no, let me correct myself, it's supposed to be 29th, but due to the “best after sale service” I received from your company, my phone service was in suspended mode (to me) until today 30 Oct 2008.

I was a Maxis subscriber since 1998. After hearing some positive comments from few of my friends, the impressive “I will follow you” Yellow Man TV commercials, the attractive comic presentation of the “how to switch” guide and the published testimonials at www.digi.com.my/switch, I decided to make a MNP switch to your company with expectation to get more reliable service, better customer service and cheaper call plan. To have faster switch, I planned to physically visit DiGi center than register online to avoid any hiccups in SIM card delivery.

On Tuesday 28 Oct, I passed by a DiGi center in Amcorp Mall, PJ. I walked in and inquired about the call plan and to reaffirm the switch procedures before I finally made my decision. I must admit I was attended warmly by the sales representative and impressed with the service and information relayed to me. Further, I was assured by the sales rep that there would be NO AT ALL any interruption to my phone service during the switch process, as long as I quickly replaced the Maxis SIM card with the DiGi one when “No Service” or “Invalid SIM” displayed on my phone. In addition, I was also assured there’s no need for me to revisit the store, this is important to me as Amcorp Mall isn’t at my daily route, I was there for one-off business. I thought this was a good proof of “reliable service” and “better customer service” and made no turning back to fill up the registration form. Before I happily left the store, I was reminded again by the sales rep to regularly check on my phone status tomorrow as the switch should take effect within 24 hours – reliable service right?

The next day, 29 Oct, I kept up my nerve to look at the phone status every now and then and having the “I Love Savings” SIM pack with me all times. I even called to the voice mail box from time to time to verify if the SIM card was still operative. Finally at 18:47 when I wanted to make a call, I realized that the Maxis SIM card no longer functional. I was so excited, quickly took out the DiGi SIM card and slotted it into my phone… Ok, it displayed “Invalid SIM”. I soft resetted my phone, again, “Invalid SIM”. I was confused, shouldn’t this message be shown with the Maxis SIM card, NOT DiGi’s?

I called up the helpdesk 016 221 1800. I waited for few rounds of “all our agents are busy at the moment…” and finally was offered to leave my phone number so the helpdesk could call me back when they’re free (or may be when they wanted to). When I pressed 2 (or 1) to leave my phone number, as instant as the flash, my call was picked up immediately by the agent, named Vijay or something similar. I wonder if this was the trick by your company helpdesk with a committed statement “At DiGi, your needs are at the center of everything we do…” at the support section of your company website. Perhaps I should press 2 to leave my number as soon as I call up the helpdesk.

Anyway, the agent was helpful to confirm my switch over status was “activated and successful”. After which I read out the serial number of the DiGi SIM card that handed to me by the center, the agent informed me the SIM card that I had was mismatched with the SIM card that reported in the system! I was extremely pissed and upset at the moment. Reliable service?! Better customer service?! Could you imagine someone else was using my new DiGi SIM card, calling all expensive international calls, enjoying oversea porn chats, making random phone calls to sexually harass others or even worse, to spread false national security threat SMSes with my 012 number? My hot flame temper was immediately watered with such worries.

The agent suggested to hang up so that he could follow up with the dealer. After few ten minutes, I received the call back. No special news nor helpful follow up, but to further confirm the DiGi SIM card I had was not the one that activated for my 012. He further insisted the center had called and informed me to avoid this incident. I challenged him to present him 3 months call log in my phone that the center had never ever called me. At last I was asked to call back a number so I could make my own arrangement to recover the SIM card that has been activated with my 012 number. Ok, now it sounded like everything was my own problem, I deserved it. I declined to take down the number and informed the agent that I would return to the same center the next day and with god blessed hope to get back the right SIM card. After a while, I received another call from Ms Sharon or Cherence or something similar. She politely informed me that the center did call me but my number was already switched and as a result, I did not receive the call. She also asked where would I like to collect my SIM card, either KL Sentral or Amcorp Mall. Repeated myself, I answered her the center I got the wrong SIM card from and hung up the call. Why should I be directed here and there for correction on someone’s mistake and be blamed for not answering a call that never reached me?

On Wednesday, 30 Oct 2008 at 17:07, by paying extra time and effort to snail drive in the traffic congestion along the Federal Highway, extra fuel and additional parking fee to return to Amcorp Mall, I finally collected the right SIM card and my 012 number was back to service. I am afraid the story does not end here until my first DiGi bill arrives at my post box, or the police ambushes my house and arrests me under Internal Security Act ISA for some potential mishaps done on my 012 number prior my collection.

So, am I making a smarter choice? I asked myself. The yellow man might follow you but the SIM card or phone service might not. Good customer service? Perhaps it’s limited to pre sale, not post sale. It’s just a beginning, I am uncertain what would be next to stay with your company. I share this incident to you so that your company could make improvement to the process and close any identified gaps to ensure flawless execution of switch over for new customers like me. I believe this is vital for your company to stay competent to other service providers, especially at the initial stage of MNP switch battle right now. I really hope it’s an isolated incident to unfortunate me, but I have asked my family members and friends to hold down their switch until later time. I must admit I have waited 10 years for MNP to happen so I could switch to your company, but sadly to say that I need to reserve my words and impression on your company’s reputation for now and hopefully I would not be failed again to stay with your company.

Thanks.

A former Maxis subscriber and dissapointed new DiGi customer,

Jacko