End of the Affair

(Blogger’s note: This break-up post was written a couple of weeks back.)

We go way back, Globelines and I. More than 5 years, if I can recall correctly.

I signed up with the company before Globelines became what it is today, one of two giant telecommunications companies that dominate the country.

I signed up to what was then Islacom not only because I’m a sucker for underdogs but as personal protest against the single dominant carrier at that time, PLDT, and its move to meter local calls. When I signed up, I knew I would be using my phone more for Internet connection (via the Jurassic dial up service) than for calls and if PLDT were to meter local calls, I feared I’d be racking up huge bills.

PLDT myDSL I’M WITH HER. It’s goodbye Globelines Broadband and hello PLDT MyDSL.

PLDT eventually abandoned the move to meter all local calls. It, instead, offered a prepaid service that has become popular today.

But I stuck with Islacom, which became Innove, which became Globelines. I stuck with it even as it started to insist I pay a month in advance while I stood firm on paying only for services I’ve used.

This means that for February, Globelines bugs me in the middle of the month, to pay for the entire month’s billing cycle. I, on the other hand, insisted on paying only for my January bill. Maybe this is standard billing practice but I don’t encounter this with my cable company, electric utility and my subdivision’s water distributor.

Not even occasional notices of disconnection, which sometimes lay unopened in my office desk for weeks, forced me to pay a month in advance.

I stuck with Globelines and spurned PLDT teams that come into our subdivision once a year tempting me with offers to transfer to their service. Not only did I stick with Globelines, I managed to convince a few to sign up with it and its broadband Internet service. I was among its ‘costumer evangelists.’

But everything unraveled with the earthquake in Taiwan that disrupted Internet connectivity in the Philippines.

It took a long time for Globelines to recover. For more than a month, its broadband Internet service was unusable in our subdivision. For several weeks, I couldn’t connect to any site and, for someone heavily dependent on Internet connectivity, I couldn’t do anything. After a few weeks, I could start connecting to a site for a few minutes before the connection is again cut.

Globelines claimed they have fully restored Internet services but even as they did so, I still encountered problems. I later learned that a customer service representative called my home and asked, of all people, my eight-year-old son whether the Internet connection was restored. My son, spared from seeing his father’s outbursts when using the Globelines service after midnight, told them it was, saying “gigamit na man.”

But I still stuck with it, assuaging a colleague that has turned homicidal that Globelines will eventually recover. Never mind that a support e-mail I sent on Dec. 13, 2006 was acknowledged 5 days later and, for all accounts, ignored until now.

I had meant to stick with Globelines notwithstanding the insult I felt when it included a letter in my bill that they were granting subscribers a 50 percent discount because Internet services was “intermittent” in January. Intermittent? I’m sorry but it wasn’t intermittent, it was entirely unusable. And the multitude of posts in various forums bear me out on this.

When PLDT again offered me to switch to their network, I was starting to consider leaving Globelines. But even then, I knew that had things stayed as they were, I would have stuck with Globelines. For one, switching carriers means losing your phone number of several years and I wasn’t prepared to lose mine.

That was until Globelines dumped me, a customer of several years. They first cut off the service of my now homicidal colleague who didn’t want to pay for a service he wasn’t able to use. He told me he was never able to connect to the Internet in January and, being the tight-fisted businessman that he is, didn’t want to pay for unlimited broadband “connectivity.” It then disconnected my service on February 20 (or thereabouts), never mind that the bill said I had until Feb. 27 to pay.

I’ve since transferred to PLDT MyDSL. And it is an auspicious start of a new affair.

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15 responses

  1. Hmmm…maybe I should start to reconsider my relationship with Globelines as well. PLDT myDSL has been quite tempting since late last year and yes, that Taiwan earthquake really opened my eyes.

    This post of yours would haunt for the rest of the summer break. While I contemplate switching internet providers.

  2. menchie Avatar

    Hi Max, pretty this DSL girl with you…al teh best in your new affair! 🙂

  3. Hi menchie!
    She is pretty. But those Smart Decode models were knockouts. It’s a pity my pimp at Smart PA wasn’t there 🙁 I would have had my photo taken with them.

  4. Hi Jhay,
    It was an eye-opener indeed.

  5. I use Bayantel. And like Globelines, they collect payments a month in advance. I actually didn’t give it mind, until I read your piece.
    Anyway, since Bayantel’s 768kbps plan is quite expensive (1699.00) and the speed is not usually what they say it is, I’ve been contemplating on moving to Globelines. But your experience sucks so I guess I’m gonna have to go back to PLDT then.

  6. We’re actually signing up with Globelines DSL when they entered our village recently, even though PLDT MyDSL was already servicing our area. I just hear too many customer complaints about PLDT’s customer service that we’re glad Globelines started serving our area. I’ve asked a friend of mine in the adjacent subdivision who signed up with Globelines too (instead of PLDT) and he says that the connection is good so far.

    I guess I’ll have to see for myself once we get our connection up and running.

  7. Max,

    as a businessman, I really want to know how big a factor is a beautiful sales lady in making a person buy its product or services? 😉

  8. Hi sir,
    Ha ha ha. The photo was actually taken after the fact :-). I was already using PLDT MyDSL then. It’s the Mike Abundo Effect, ever since I saw his photo with two sexy girls by his side, I’ve had this urge to tahe my photo taken with as many attractive girls as possible. 🙂

  9. i too experience the same problem and considering of switching to pldt mydsl. Globe broadband tv ad is a total hoax!

  10. bolbabetogs Avatar
    bolbabetogs

    i haven’t tasted the poison of globelines yet but i did with pldt mydsl instead.

    they charge you of something you didn’t use. they jack up your bills for no clear reasons, hidden charges they say.

    pldt mydsl are just another breed of monkeys lurking around the interent business. may god curse you!

  11. bolbabetogs,
    I haven’t experienced that with PLDT myDSL. The charges billed to me are correct and I find the billing statement clear to understand. Maybe it’s because I did not enable direct long distance dialing in my phone. I’m just charged the monthly Internet connection fee. The land line is free for a year because I enrolled through a marketing promo.

  12. allan Avatar

    Globeline sucks, I just renew my subscription and after 3 days my internet is down, and up to now I still havo no internet, the fu*(&g call center help they have only gives me a run around. Fu”*(^ them, hope they the globeline people and their families die in helll!!!

  13. DOTA KING Avatar
    DOTA KING

    i am very frustrated with PLDTmyDSL service… i’d only applied for plan p999 but then when the bill came in, i was having a hard time to understand what are those services and other charges were made of..

    take note: i only applied for plan P999.00 which is the phone and internet package. meaning; i shoud only pay P999.00….. i was just wondering where the hell does this service and other charges came from??

  14. the extremely poor service of globelines cannot be surpassed. Sorry but this rant will be long. First, I have to endure the painful process of getting our refund for the 2 months that we are charged in advanced for the service that we never had after the Typhoon Ondoy tragedy. After months of frustrating with their customer service and billing department, we are granted of the refund after a series of harassment of non-payment for our balance because we know that we are right. After paying the entire of balance, our service was “temporarily disconnected” after more than 2 weeks of payment. That means that we are already paid and our service was disconnected! how bad can that be?! I talked to a series of agents, all are saying the same line, that are line are active, then is now in “reconnection” process and wait for 24 hours. but alas! it’s been 5 days already and we still don’t have the internet and landline service that we paid for!

  15. My latest encounter getting my connection fixed. Called on tuesday morning Aug 10th 2010 reported no dsl signal, the call center employee apologized and told me their tech’s would fix the problem as soon as possible.

    Called Wed morning asked them when their tech’s were gonna start working on my connection, The call center employee said a tech would come to my house sometime today Aug 11th. Waited all day no tech showed up.
    Called the 211 tech support call center Thursday morning and told them no one came on wed, the call center employee apologized and said i would now have to wait 12 days for another on site visit.I informed the call center employee that i would cancel my account before i wait a total of 16 days for someone from globeline to start working on my connection and that’s dependent on if they even show up this time as scheduled.

    Decided to stop wasting my time with the Globeline technical support hot line and went down to the local office at 1pm. Talked to a rep about the problem and he made a phone call and told me a tech would come to my house. A repair team showed up about 4pm and checked the telephone pole outside and there was no signal which means the problem was between that pole and the facility box. The tech informed me that they didn’t have a key to open the box so they would tell some other tech’s to check the box on Friday.
    Woke up Friday morning and my connection has been finally fixed.

    To recap

    Tues – no attempt to fix my connection

    Wed – no attempt to fix my connection and a no show on the on-site visit.

    Thurday – Repair crew shows up at 4pm not prepared or equipped to fix a internet connection.

    Friday – Connection restored at around 9am.

    It took Globelines 4 days to fix a internet connection that could have been fixed in 15 minutes. I had to call numerous times which were a total waste of my time and had to go down to the local office in person to get them to start working on the problem.
    As a customer paying for a service i find this level of service unacceptable and globelines needs major improvement in the way they service their existing accounts.

    1. I don’t need a call center employee to tell me their tech’s will fix the reported problem when in fact no one is working on it.

    2. When a on-site visit is scheduled it would be nice if someone showed up.

    3. Reporting a no show from Globelines on-site visit the next day and informed that since the tech did not show up i now have to wait another 12 days for the next available tech is just retarded.

    4. When a repair crew goes to fix a connection problem they should be prepared and equipped such as having a key to open a box.

    5. Globelines need to staff their tech support call center with people who are able to do more than and generate reports, they should be able to make a phone call and resolve problems instead of saying sorry our tech didn’t show up but now you have to wait 12 more days for the next available tech.

    6. I should not have to call numerous times to coordinate the repair efforts on my connection, I should not have to make a on-site visit to the local Globelines office in order to get a 15 minute repair job done. If i had not done these things Globelines technical support hot line employee’s would have me waiting an additional 12 days on top of the 4 days i had already waited for another on-site visit that they may not show up for again.

    I would hope who ever is in charge at Globelines takes the time to improve the response to reported problems someday as the process that Globelines currently employs appears dysfunctional and broken in it’s current state.

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