Thursday, February 17, 2011

Bad customer service - OpenNet

Dear Mr Tan,
On reading your blogs about bad customer service, I have something to share about my personal experience with Opennet.

I received keys to my Ubi resale flat in October 2010. In mid November 2010 when I was doing house renovations, I made an appointment with Opennet as my previous owners opted out for the free installation. I was given an appointment for the fibre cabling - 14 January 2011 ie 2 months later. But till today, I am still unable to take up any optic fiber plan as my stage is “fibre reached but not commissioned” so I have yet installed a residential phone line and CCTV since internet services is not ready.


I have been calling Opennet hotline and was always given the same responses “sorry, but we are unable to advise when the commissioning will be ready”. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told to leave my contact numbers and no one bothered to return call after more than a week. I then called their hotline to ask for their feedback email address so that my feedback could be made in writing and hopefully heard.


Finally 2 days after sending the email, one Duty Manager returned my call. I was advised that the commissioning could take as long as 6 months, although it might not be the case for me! The manager was unable to give me a satisfactory reply and when I told him that I wish to abort the commissioning since the wait is indefinite, I was reminded that I had a contract (being the delivery form which my son signed during installation) and it was clearly stated on the contract words to this effect: that there will be delay and no promise when the commissioning will be completed. I should have informed the Manager that my son is only 11 years old and they can’t sue him since he is a minor! 


In all fairness, Opennet was INDEED very prompt, in sending me their invoice – YES, I have received the invoice. This is paid service, surely it’s not too much for me to expect them to expedite and not wait like those who have opted for free installation?! 


When I made enquiries at M1 and Starhub, I was told that many of their customers face the same issue. I really wonder how many more are in the same predicament as me – I have waited 3 months since my first call with Opennet and am still counting.


Mr Tan, are you able to advise if I should be writing to CASE or IDA about Opennet’s bad service?

Mrs Chua

My comment
I advised Mrs. Chua to write a letter to IDA.

3 comments:

yujuan said...

We have given up writing to any Govt Agencies or any Stat Board, as either we are ignored completely, or they do Taichi and ask us to refer to another Agency, or they would answer with "we have noted your concern", and full stop with no further ado, or they just give us a lame excuse, and again no further ado.
Just wonder why we are voting in a Govt who do not want to communicate with citizens after winning the seat to rule. Don't tell us they just pin their eyes only on their huge monthly pay checks,
and avoid doing things other than their admin work kept to the minimum, and nothing else.

Unknown said...

The civil service and GLCs do not encourage innovation, though I'm all for the change in situation, I also understand the fact that '冰冻三尺非一日之寒'. Most of the time, they're only people following instructions. The smart ones will avoid getting themselves involved with consumers directly. The dumb ones can't escalate for you. There're only few exceptions.

Always ask for their boss if you find you can't communicate with them, don't waste time. And if there's no reply, I'll usually cc whatever other email address you can find from the same organisation. The lazy ones don't like others to know they're not working. Having said that, I became a victims myself earlier this year when engaging with Singtel. They'll always reply me thru a generic email address or telephone number and nobody will own the case till I tell them I'm going to email the CEO if I still don't get a satisfactory reply. In the end, I still didn't get what I want but we met halfway. I just can't bring myself to push this poor guy anymore. 本是同根生...

Anonymous said...

Write to the ST forum, that probably would help to speed things up :-)

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