SmartBro-ken Service
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Smart Bro Wireless Broadband Internet is offered at Plan 999 with a speed of up to 384 kbps. With Smart Bro Plan 999 you get a broadband connection that’s up to 7x faster than dial-up, as well as other Value Added Services for your Smart BRO connection, changing the way you surf the net.
For only P999 per month, you get internet at broadband speed, and more. That means faster downloading of music, better communication with loved ones, and a more fulfilling internet experience.
–From http://smart.com.ph/smartbro
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I just got a reminder from SmartBro representative. I need to pay 2600+ for three months internet service. She was nice on the phone, and really well-trained. If I were to measure SmartBro’s customer service quality based on her ability to connect with the customer, I would say that it was excellent. Unfortunately, customer service is not only about connecting with people. Customer service comes with quality product.
I thanked her for reminding me and I requested that she tell her boss why I was not encouraged to pay.
The last time I paid was May 2008. I needed only to pay 2700+. The rest is for the collecting agent who also cannot solve my problem with SmartBro. It took them weeks to reconnect my Internet connection, but I was told that it was already connected three days after my payment. I was not surprised. I got used to no connection. I just paid because I got a letter that said they are going to bring me to court. And that I would be blacklisted–be announced to the world that I don’t pay (Of course, they won’t tell the world that I did not pay for zero service) I don’t want to waste my time telling the court that I don’t have internet connection for I must bring the courtroom to my room to do that.
Anyway, I hope I did not waste my time with the polite customer service representative when I told her my sad story with their ” more fulfilling internet experience” service.
I subscribed for one year. And since the second week of connection, I kept on calling the customer service hotline. Most of the times, the robot (answering machine) entertain my calls, directing me to dial 1 for this, 2 for that, and after connecting, direct me again to dial 1 for this, and dial 2 for that. Of course, everytime I dial, there is a 15-30 seconds promotion about the amazing broadband.
I subscribed to Smartbro because I want to connect to internet when I go home after a workshop. This means that I used Smartbro only for three hours at night. But many times, three hours is spend for calling the customer service hotline, and waiting for the connection. In fairness, there are times when I have fast connection–but I did expect that. That was what they promised when I subscribed. What I did not expect was the frequent “limited connection” which is the same as no connection.
Three months ago, I remember myself recording the length of time I wasted by calling the customer service hotline of SmartBro. On average, it took me 45 minutes (after five attempts) to connect to a real person, Typically customer service representatives were very polite, and they end their the conversation with “Is there anything sir” though the problem was not solved.
The last time I got a visit from Smartbro technical people was the last time I got connected with a human being from the company. If I am not mistaken, that was in June. They were not able to solve the problem. There was no connection when they left. They told me that the signal was okay. Maybe the problem my computer. They said maybe there was not enough memory, or there was virus, or whatever….the signal was okay.
Then I told them that the computer was just reformatted, almost empty, and works with dial up connection. I called up their company because I was paying for their low quality service. And I wonder how many consumers experience the same way as I did–cheated.
So, I reiterated to the lady customer service representative to tell her boss that…
1. I was not encouraged to pay because I was not able to use the service for three months now. I did not even receive any bill reminder from them. Smartbro was not in my mind until she called up a while ago.
2. And I cannot ask them to disconnect the line five months ago, or three months ago, or even now because I will be required to pay all the remaining months.
Simply put, they are asking me to pay for services I was not able to use as they don’t provide it when I need it, and when I tell them to stop giving me the non-service, I will be required to pay future months of non-service now.
I wonder how many subscribers are now in this situation. I told the lady customer service representative that she must really tell her boss. This is my way of helping them. And yes, I told her also that I informed my friends about Smartbro brand of service.
I am using PLDT DSL at my office. This is one is far from perfect, but a lot better than “limited connectivity” of Smartbro. I hope people from Smart can read this entry. But I doubt that. They seemed to forget me after I signed the contract. If my experience is an isolated one, please do tell me. If not, tell your friends so they will not go through the same stressful internet experience.
If I were as big as Smart, I would demand return of my money. Poor customer service is a breach of contract. But I will continue paying them for their non-service. I signed a contract that did not say that I could stop subscription when SmartBro does not deliver. Besides, I have first-hand example of poor customer service which I can share during my customer service workshops. Not really a bad bargain.
Smart, I believe, thinks that I must call them every time I don’t have connection. I did, out of necessity, but it was difficult to connect with answering robots. I haven’t connected with a human being from that company for three months.
Of course, not until today when the polite customer service representative reminded me to pay my bill.
Some months ago, the tech support went to my home to fix my internet connection. They left the house telling me that maybe that problem was my computer, maybe a virus or something. I told them that most likely there was no virus, the computer was just reformatted, and definitely there is still a lot of space for memory. They said they’ll just make a report about that. After a week, a miracle happened…I got connected to the Net..but only for few hours… And like I said in the entry, I kept on contacting the customer service, until I got tired listening to the robot telling me about the Amazing Broadband blah blah. Then I did not use my Internet anymore. After four months, I got a letter. It said that my line is disconnected and I must pay the three months of unpaid (and unused) internet service and my line is already disconnected. It also says that when I am not able to pay they’ll send this to collecting agency, which I expect will tell me to pay soon or else they’ll bring me to court.
I was thinking…don’t we have the right to bring them also to court? When there is brown-out for one month, we don’t expect Meralco to demand payment—for I assume the meter won’t run. Or when we don’t have water in our faucet, we are not expected to pay–for again the meter won’t run. But with SmartBro, we have to pay for 30- day use although there was no connection.
When we entered into a contract with them, the assumption is that they’ll provide us connection 24/7. And we expect them to apologize every time they failed to deliver the service they promised. Doing it again and again is breach of contract. But the opposite is true. It becomes our responsibility to contact then when service is poor. But then during that duration when we are trying to contact them, we have to pay for nothing.
I got a brochure from a Smart representative when I went to Waltermart yesterday. I realized that Smart always finds a way to make it easy for us to pay them. I hope Smart also will find a better way to address our complaints.
The last time I talked to a customer service representative, she suggested that since I am not using (because there was none, remember) my Internet, it is best that I stopped subscription. But of course, I can only do that when I pay for the remaining unused months.
I hope they can do something about your situation Chris. Maybe I am just one of the few who felt cheated by Smart Bro service. But really it does not matter if I am the only one among the millions they serve. Serving millions is not an excuse for a poor service to one subscriber.
I got smart bro plan 999 just last week. The first two days was great, no doubt about that. But after that, it was very intermittent during daytime, making my work a hassle. Since this service is new to me, I’m giving it a chance. Tech support said that technicians will visit my set up tomorrow. I hope they fix it.
If you’re in Quezon City you should have subscribed to Bayantel.
We have PLDTDSL here in our office and service is rotten but we have no choice as our office isn’t in QC.
And I thought my globelines service is crappy! swerte pa la ako, one week at a time lang mawala! nyahahaha!
You should read my SmartBro Broadband Internet post as well.
Here:
http://www.johnraul.com/smartbro-wireless-broadband-not-good-for-web-freelancers/