Ramblings

Off SingTel for good – Read SinkTel can go to hell

In my earlier posts, I wrote about ongoing coverage issues I was experiencing with SingTel here and here. One would think that of all 3 telecommunications service providers in Singapore, @SingTel being the largest and oldest player in the market would have excellent infrastructure and customer service to boot. Alas, that is found to be untrue.

Posting a feedback on their website in March this year did result in a call-back from the customer service folks 3 days later. I was promised a coverage team would take 6-8 weeks to visit my location and rectify the coverage issue that I have been experiencing since I switched over from StarHub in October 2008. In all honesty, 6-8 weeks is already ridiculous. Yet, I never heard from them since and I decided to call-in again on 7th June.

On that call, the CSO said she was unable to make any assurance on my earlier request and would need to check if the coverage team had visited my location. On hearing that, I requested to speak to a manager. Evidently, she put me through to a ‘Team Leader’ who again said she needed to check with the coverage team. At that moment, I decided I had enough of excuses and lapse of service delivery from SingTel and demanded that my subscription be terminated without penalties and I would port my mobile number to another provider. You probably guessed it. I was told the request would need to be escalated and approval obtain from ‘higher management’.

I was promised a call-back the next day and after that, another call-back and another till I lost track of how many. Not to mention, there was a full week when the ‘Team Leader’ was on ‘medical leave’ and ‘official off-day’ with no one else following up will the promised ‘call-back’. When she finally did call me back a week later, my requests were straight forward and I would go with either 1 of 2 solutions below.

SingTel end my mobile contractual agreement with no penalties, I keep my mobile device and port my number to another provider.
SingTel end my mobile contractual agreement with no penalties, I return the mobile device and receive a full refund (equipment fee + early upgrade fee)

My request were counter proposed by SingTel on what I would define as unfair and ridiculous terms. I will not go into detail what they came back with but will say the drama carried on for another 17 weeks and having to explain my frustrations on coverage to 3 different SingTel staff members. 2 weeks ago, I finally managed to divorce myself from SingTel and successfully ported my mobile number to M1. I will ignore the service feedback call from a SingTel representative plus SMS text message reminders of an outstanding bill. Clearly, their departments are not talking to each other and that is affecting their service delivery.

Although I did not purchase a new handset, I am contractually obligated to use M1’s services for at least 3 months. I don’t quite understand the rational for that but 3 months isn’t too long. I did feel that should this be the case, perhaps they shouldn’t charge the customer for a new SIM card and activation fees. I was considering StarHub but decided I will try M1’s services since I have not used them for some 14 years. I could always move back to StarHub if things didn’t quite work out on M1’s network.

The good news however is since the switch, my network coverage has been much better and I have not experienced a single drop call since. Neither am I at risk of being charged ‘roaming charges’ because network signals from across the Causeway are much stronger than SingTel’s. I guess I will most likely remain on M1 moving forward. I am not sure if StarHub will be able to provide better coverage at my location but I do note that my mobile broadband service is with StarHub. My device did experience difficulties registering on StarHub’s network when I was at my SOHO location (Marsiling Crescent) one evening. Elsewhere, the device work and was able to register and stay on StarHub’s network fairly well for most parts.

I am not sure if that is an indication that I could possibly experience coverage issues with StarHub Mobile should I decide to switch to them. It will however be good to use StarHub for my mobile needs too since I have MaxOnline, StarHubTV and MaxMobile with them. Another Mobile service will result in some level of discounts on my subscription fees (HubClub). Besides, @StarHubCares is leveraging Facebook and twitter for customer support which is great. Though I noticed their response has slowed down a bit recently.

I do not have another handset which I can use their services on trial. Unless StarHub wants to loan me a similar handset to what I am using now to evaluate their mobile network coverage, I will make do with M1’s Free Calls to 3 M1 Numbers perk. So far, I have nominated 1 number (Dad) and have another 2 to go. Well, not like I call him daily so it doesn’t mean much for now. For now, my mobile coverage woes have been resolved and come to a close.

Jul 11, 2010 | Categories: ramblings | Tags: coverage, drop calls, issue, m1, network outages, no service, penalties, signal, singtel, sinktel, starhub | Leave A Comment »

LIVE Broadcast of FIFA 2010 World Cup in Singapore is Super ‘kelong’?

So who is catching the FIFA 2010 World Cup here in Singapore, now that both SingTel and StarHub have obtained rights for ‘live’ broadcast of all 64 matches? This news came just last weekend and a month before the games kick-off in South Africa. Are local World Cup fans rejoicing? There is bound to be some who are but as usual, there is a camp who are not entirely satisfied. A few months back, I was even spammed on twitter by @WorldCup4Sg. I am not sure what the goal of the tweet was but now, some fans are complaining that subscription fees to watch all 64 matches are too high.

Comments left by StarHub Fans on Facebook

Such is the sad and unfortunate mentality of my fellow citizens. I post this remark here well knowing that I could most possibly be inviting flaming comments from those who do not agree with me. Still, we all have a right to our opinions whether we agree / disagree with the current circumstances of the ‘live’ broadcast and fees involved.

Not too long ago, when is was disclosed that Singaporeans might be unable to watch ‘live’ broadcast on their television sets during the games, it disappointed many fans. To be perfectly honest, I am not a fan of soccer. Sure, my favourite player till date is Ryan Giggs, the blistering quick left-winger at Manchester United and Wales International. My favourite International team is the Dutch. Whether Giggs still plays for Man Utd or Wales, I am unsure. The players that I vaguely remember playing for the Red Devils have all retired from playing on the field (I think); Cantona, Ince, Keane, Erwin and Bruce. Who is in the current Dutch line-up or if they are in the games for 2010, I am not sure either. That should give you a pretty good idea of how much a ‘fan’ I am.

On Friday, May 7 2010, both SingTel and StarHub called for a press conference just 2 hours after they managed to come to a deal with the game’s governing body to broadcast ‘live’ matches. At the press conference, both providers released subscription fees to catch the 2010 World Cup on television from 11 June – 11 July. Subscribe before 31 May and enjoy an early bird rate of $66. After that, it will cost $88 if you decide that watching the games is more important than anything else. I am not sure what the rates were for the 2006 world cup but according to some fans, it was in the $20+ range. Obvious to say, some fans are now complaining that the latest rates are exorbitant.

World Cup football matches to be shown “live” in Singapore
By Mustafa Shafawi/S Ramesh/Evelyn Choo | Posted: 07 May 2010 1719 hrs
SINGAPORE: It’s official! Football fans in Singapore will be able to catch the 2010 World Cup action ‘live’ on their television screens.
Both SingTel and StarHub have secured non-exclusive rights to broadcast ‘live’ all 64 matches of the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. The good news was delivered by both telcos in their media statements on Friday. The two telcos are offering subscribers early bird World Cup football package priced at S$66 on or before 31 May, after which it will cost S$88.
As for MediaCorp, it said it is finalising arrangements with the two telcos to air four key World Cup matches on free-to-air Channel 5 and HD5. The four matches that will be telecast live with same day encores are: opening match, two semi-finals and finals. Such an arrangement would be subject to FIFA’s approval.
SingTel and StarHub subscribers will get to view the matches on two dedicated World Cup channels. The main World Cup channel, FIFA World Cup Channel 1, will air the ‘live’ telecast of 56 matches, primetime repeats of the matches, delayed telecast of eight simulcast matches, as well as pre- and post-match features and daily match highlights on all platforms. FIFA World Cup Channel 2 will offer the ‘live’ telecast of eight simulcast matches.
StarHub’s Chief Operating Officer Tan Tong Hai said: “We negotiated hard for the World Cup rights for over a year, with the best interest of the nation at heart. We are thrilled to be able to bring viewers in Singapore to the heart of the sporting action in South Africa.”
SingTel’s chief of content and media services, Edward Ying, said that despite the challenging negotiations, “the focus at the heart of it was the football fans in Singapore”.
FIFA director of TV, Niclas Ericson, said that he is pleased at the successful conclusion to the negotiations and that “viewers throughout Singapore will be able to celebrate the best that football has to offer”.
StarHub and SingTel declined to reveal the cost of their separate bids. Asked if the S$66 early-bird price is too high compared to what was charged in the last World Cup, both parties said the price was arrived after doing a market survey. As there are some 64 matches to be aired, this will also will translate to just a dollar per match. “When you say $66 is high, let me just be clear that they pay about a dollar a game to watch in the comfort of their homes. I think it is reasonable. I think they can afford it. It is less than a cup of coffee,” said SingTel’s Edward Ying.
When asked if the delay in negotiations would result in a loss in advertising revenue, resulting in the costs being passed on to consumers, Mr Ying replied: “The answer is obviously ‘no’. We have determined the price, we can’t change tomorrow and charge $100 because we don’t have advertising dollars. “We map out what what we think the market could bear was the best price – a dollar a match is hard for Singaporeans to complain, they can watch it ‘live’ in the comfort of their home. We think that it’s the best price. That’s why we need a lot of subscribers for us to break even.”
On MediaCorp’s intentions to broadcast four matches on free-to-air channels, both telcos said they have no objections. Both are now looking into the due process to help realise this. They said the free-to-air channels would reach out to a bigger audience and this is something to be welcomed. Turning to the fans, are they willing to fork out S$66 to watch the matches?
“Yeah, it’s okay, not too bad. Anything more, I’ll say ‘forget it. Don’t watch it’,” said a fan.
“I’m quite happy with the price. Honestly, even slightly higher, I’ll still pay for it,” said another.
“Well, if soccer is our passion and it’s in the blood, then why not?” said a third.
“I don’t think I’ll be subscribing. If there’s a need, then I’ll just catch the delayed telecast,” said a fourth fan.
- CNA/ir

Is $66 a ridiculous price to watch all 64 matches for the entire 30 days of the games? Well, depends on how we look at it. True, I get HBO, HBO Hits, HBO Family, HBO Signature, MAX and StarMovies on my cable subscription for way less than that. In comparison, it is pricey to catch the World Cup at $66. I am curious to know, how much does an original team jersey from say Manchester United cost these days? Ok, given that it’s not a ‘perishable’ and you can probably wear it for an entire season till you decide to get your hands on their ‘new’ jersey next season. Still, it does cost more than $66 no? How much does it cost you to catch an EPL match at say Harry’s with your mates over the weekend? $20 at least with the finger food and beer? Ok, so maybe you have a big-ass 52″ LED television and you invite your mates over. Now you would still have some food and beer ready for the match wouldn’t you? By the way, how much did that 52″ cost you? Sorry, I am missing the plot here.

Put it this way. I am all for Singaporeans not being pushed around by media providers into paying high subscriptions just to watch cable, stay on the grid with internet and mobile connections. Do I think that subscription rates in Singapore are high compared to countries in the region or those providing similar packages and services? Yes, I do think the prices we pay are somewhat ridiculous. We pay for those because we haven’t got a choice not to. At $66, Singapore is one of the most expensive countries to watch the World Cup. Blame it on commercialisation and profits. Blame it on the fact that FIFA thinks our tiny population of just 4.5 Million is peanuts in terms of advertising. It might be a different story if our population was 450 Million. FIFA might even pay SingTel and StarHub to broadcast the games. I am not saying if that was the case, SingTel or StarHub would pay us to watch the games on television.

To point fingers at the providers and accuse them of ‘indifference’, not ‘caring’ about loyal subscribers and out to wring your wallet is laughable. If you truly feel that we as Singaporeans are paying higher than average subscription rates, I agree. If you want to start point fingers, go on and scream at all the telco, internet, cable and goodness knows what providers. Soccer fans, I may not be able to fully comprehend your anguish. $66 is perhaps pricey compared to my cable subscription. It’s still less than my broadband or mobile subscriptions. At about $1 a match, I am not sure what is the issue here. You will pay for everything else but complain to watch a dollar-match once every 4 years?

Here’s a simple solution for local soccer fans. Subscribe at $66, take leave from work like you always did every 4 years and enjoy the games. You could always go back to work with dark rings like you always did every 4 years. For the guys with that big-ass 52″, make sure your mates bring beer and food if they already aren’t doing so. If they are, charge them $1 to watch the games on your big-ass tv. You might even make a profit after 30 days.

If you have decided not pay the ‘blood-suckers’ a single dime, don’t subscribe. Just catch the Free-to-Air matches on MediaCorp’s Channel 5. Opening, 2 Semi-Finals and Finals are the key matches are they not? It’s not just $66 that soccer fans will save. For some, it might be a lot more from the urge to ‘place bets’ on any / all 64 games. I said my piece so fire away if you have to.

May 10, 2010 | Categories: ramblings | Tags: 2010 World Cup, FIFA, Singapore, singtel, South Africa, starhub | Leave A Comment »

How-To: Lose Your Customers (Case Study: SingTel Mobile)

Step 1. Make Rhetorical Suggestions.

About a month back, I wrote in to SingTel via email on their web site with reference to my earlier about my experience with SingTel’s network coverage. On top of the lousy network coverage, I had to follow up with them on my email I had sent in earlier to request that they convert my iFlexPlus plan to the iFlexPlus AMPed plan. First of all, I find it stupid to have your customers write-in to request the conversion. How many man hours would it take to just auto-convert your subscribers since:

it wouldn’t cost them a single cent
it is part of your value proposition to offer free music downloads for being a SingTel iPhone owner / subscriber

Anyways, here’s the transcript of my email to them on Sunday, March 07, 2010 12:40:42 PM.

Customer Type:   Consumer, Existing
Salutation:   Mr
Name:   Nicholas Ong
NRIC/FIN:   SxxxxxxxH
Contact Number:   9xxxxxxx4
Email Address:   edited@spam.com
Feedback
————————————————-
Nature of Feedback:   Complaints
Commenting On:   Mobile / IDEAS
SingTel Mobile Number:   9xxxxxx4
Your Comments:   Sometime back I sent an email to request that my iFlexPlus plan be converted to iFlexPlus Amped. I have not heard from anyone from SingTel. I attempts to send in another request ended with me being unable to find that page with the right email address to send in my 3rd request. I operate a SOHO in Marsiling Crescent and I am getting network outages too regularly during business hours. If I do manage to make or receive a call, I have trouble continuing the conversation with interference and eventually dropped calls. It has been going on for 2 months at least now. the only way to avoid this is leaving roaming turned on for my device and incur roaming charges while I am in SG. I will like to know how this can be rectified immediately. Failing which, I intend to cancel my current mobile subscription & sign-up with my previous provider.
————————————————-
Type:   Local Coverage

If you ever tried calling in to their customer service hotline, you will probably know how long you have to wait before someone picks up. To avoid waiting, they would tell you to call in during non-peak hours i.e. not during lunch-time. Duh… lunch-time is the only down-time.

Step 2. Indifference

I had expected to receive a callback on the next day, Monday, March 8. Nada, zero, nothing… They finally got back to me on Tuesday, March 9. So, now we know SingTel’s standard turn-around time in responding to customer issues. Anyway, here’s the email transcript from the CSO.

09 March 2010
Dear Mr Ong
Thank you for your email regarding Amped services and coverage issue.
We are sorry to learn you did not receive any response from us with regard to your amped enquiry. Please take note that we have provided the amped services free for 24 months with effect from 08 March 2010. You need to go to App Store & download SingTel AMPed.
Kindly provide us with the exact location for further investigation for coverage:
Street Name:
Unit number:
Postal Code.
Alternative contact number :
Did the problem occurred recently : Yes or No / If yes – Since When?
User’s experience
Can user make and receive calls?
Signals strength shown in handphone screen? Eg 1 bar At SingTel Mobile, we are committed to be of service to you. For further enquiries or feedback, do call our mobile hotline at 1688 or +65 62351688 from overseas (IDD is payable). You may also email us at http://welcome.singtel.com/customer_service/cust_serv_emailus.asp.
We look forward to serving you.
Yours sincerely
Radha (Ms)
Customer Care – Mobile General Enquiries Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd Company registration number: 199406031E

Step 3. Email for Email

Seriously, following up on a customer issue with an email for an email requesting assistance? The last time I checked, I am residing in Singapore, with the best network coverage by SingTel. I had provided them with my mobile number in my earlier contact email. How many seconds does it take to pull up my information in the system? I reckon 10 seconds at most? Am I missing something here?

Step 4. Make Them Work

Well, Ms. Radha never left a contact number so unless I wanted to pick-up the phone and call 1688, I didn’t have a choice did I? So I replied with a longer email.

Radha,
Thanks for reverting. I have the SingTel AMPed application installed on my iPhone. On start-up it keeps prompting me for a ‘MSISDN with prefix 65′. What is this? I tried entering my mobile number but it fails to login.
As for coverage the cover issue, below are the details.
Street Name: Marsiling Crescent
Unit number: 99-99
Postal Code. 730999
Alternative contact number : NIL
Did the problem occurred recently : Yes or No / If yes – Since When?
No, it has been ongoing and experienced it ever since I changed service provider from Starhub to Singtel in Oct 2008. It has however gotten worst in the past 2 months.
User’s experience
Can user make and receive calls?
I can barely make calls without experiencing breaks and gaps in phone conversation where the other party or myself is not able to hear each other. More often than not, I experience a high number of drop calls during business hours especially and even in the evenings. I operate a SOHO from the said address and the sporadic network coverage that I am receiving has resulted in complaints from my clients. If things does not improve, I have no choice but to switch providers. Should it come to that, I will gladly return the equipment, and SingTel can refund me for the price I paid including the earlier equipment upgrade cost. I am not prepare to bear any early termination charges given the poor coverage issues.
Signals strength shown in handphone screen? Eg 1 bar Mostly 1 bar.
On occasions, I get 3 bars on my iPhone. When it does show 3 bars on my iPhone and I make a call, the signal strength often drops to 1 bar during the call. I tried moving to different places in my home, bedroom, living room and kitchen with no permanent results in better network reception. I attached 2 screenshots I took on my iPhone 3GS. My earlier iPhone 3G had the same issues.

Step 5. Recommend Redundant Follow-up Action

Well, Ms. Radha did finally call me back. I do not have a recording of the call but I pretty sure SingTel would. In the call, I was literally asked the same questions that I had answer in the email. What gives? So why the email and not just call your customer back? The CSO made 1 redundant follow-up action. She recommended that I cancelled my auto-roaming services to avoid incurring unnecessary charges. I had a hard time explaining to her that.

roaming or no roaming, how does that resolve the network issue?
cancelling my auto-roaming service would inconvenience me each time I need to travel out of the country.
I have already switched off automatic network selection on my iPhone to avoid incurring charges.
because I had switched it off, I am experiencing a high loss of network signal.
but if I turn on automatic network selection, it picks up networks from across the Causeway.
from 1 to 5, 1 bar on the iPhone indicates the worst reception, not the best.
anything worst than 1 bar is no bar = no reception.

In the 10 minutes that I was on the phone with Radha, we got disconnected 3 times. She assured me that she would revert after consulting her technical team.

Step 6. Don’t Promise Anything

The next day, Radha called me back and advised me that SingTel will have their technicians check the network coverage in my area. In the meantime, I should continue to check and determine if I experienced any improvements in network reception. Asked when should I expect the issue to be resolved, she could not give me a straight answer. She finally relented and told me it would take 6-8 weeks before we will have any updates.

Step 7. Go Off the Radar

I suggested that since, it would take 6-8 weeks, my subscription should be waived until SingTel resolves this issue. It’s senseless that I should be paying for a service that I can hardly use. Understandably, she was probably not in a position to make that call. The CSO said she would revert after checking on that. I never heard back from her or anyone else from SingTel.

After a month, The network coverage I am receiving from SingTel during business hours.

SingTel's Network Coverage - An April Fool's Joke

Step 8. No Help is Helping

I finally figured out what was causing my SingTel AMPed service login issues. It has nothing to do with any phone numbers or passwords like what the CSO had suggested, In order to access AMPed, I had to log-off my WiFi network on use SingTel’s GPRS service. Reason, to access AMPed, users have to be logged-in to SingTel IDEAS.

Step 9. Train Staff to Read Scripts

Late last week, I called in to 1688 to seek advice on a hardware issue with my iPhone. I recently noticed that I am unable to hear any audio from video recordings on my phone. I searched online forums and at Apple’s support page to figure out what’s wrong but nothing came up. By the time I called in to SingTel, I had already performed 3 backup and restores on my iPhone without any success in restoring audio to the videos. I was pretty sure the next course of action was to send the equipment in for service or most likely receive a replacement since it was still under warranty.

After speaking to the first CSO and waiting to be transferred to the tech desk, I was greeted by another CSO who started reading off an equipment troubleshooting script. This was one question the tech guy asked me…

Sir, your phone. You got see one button? Is it up or down?

Seriously? My phone has 4 buttons, you talking about the up one or down one? Obviously he meant the vibrate mode switch on the top left of the iPhone. After cutting him off, was I able to get him to stop reading his troubleshooting guide and understand that I had done all the troubleshooting. I just needed to know if I could send the device to any SingTel outlet to have it replaced.

Step 10. Make Them Come

According to the tech guy, I can’t send the iPhone to my nearest SingTel outlet. I need to bring it down to Comcentre and let the technicians take a look at it. When asked if I should bring the original packaging i.e. box, cables and such, I got a flat “no need, the technicians will look at it first then decide what to do…” I’m going to follow my gut and just bring everything along and not risk having to make an extra trip.

In contrast, I DMed @StarHubCares late last evening about a possible fault with my set-top box. I got a reply via twitter this morning asking me for my contact details so they could get someone to follow-up with me. In the same day, I received a callback from a tech guy who helped me arrange for a replacement set-top box to be delivered and install at my residence. No need to make a trip to any StarHub outlet. ‘Night and Day’ I call this.

Seen @Singtel‘s twitter page lately? What a joke. Seriously, I’m in the mind to return the iPhone and ask for a full refund from SingTel.

: SingTel’s Network Coverage – An April Fool’s Joke

: Singtel twiter page – Why do they even bother?

Apr 01, 2010 | Categories: ramblings | Tags: bad customer service, free music downloads, iPhone, issue, marsiling, network coverage, network outages, problem, roaming charges | Leave A Comment »

Seriously, WTF is wrong with SingTel?

Sorry but the post title obviously means I am pretty darn pissed will SingTel’s sub standard service. For the past 2 months, I am experiencing at least 10 network disruptions daily when I work from home. I mean seriously, a couple of weeks I can understand but 2 whole months?

I have never had this problem when I was on StarHub. It was 12 years ago but I never had issues with M1 either. Why does a consumer pay SGD100.00 a month on the iFlexPlus plan and suffer from such outages? I quote a text message I received from them on 9th Dec 2009.

From: 7415 20 – Singtel. Your iPhone plan will be upgraded FREE with 12GB local data & a $30 data cap, with no change in your subscription, from 9 Dec 2009. All this on the Network with the Best Coverage. <Stop ADV, reply UNSUB>

No offense but ‘best coverage’ my arse. I am not getting any red umbrellas lately. The only way to avoid this is to turn on auto-roaming and incur roaming charges while I am in the country. Any connected calls I make or receive from my home office is pathetic to say the least.

Now if someone could advice me if this is sufficient grounds to terminated my mobile contract with SingTel without penalties, it will be greatly appreciated. My SingTel connection woes are having a negative impact during business hours.

Update: saw the ‘No Service’ indication on my phone again this morning. Only picked up a network after I restarted the phone. Goodness knows how long it was out. So, I am supposed to keep checking that I have a network connection? WTF?!?