18.AprRedressing customer service failure
Now this is what I like in developed countries, it is rare that consumer complaints are not responded to. At the very least you will receive an apologetic letter and most likely, you get compensated.
When I blogged about my nightmare trip home via c2c, I said I will file a complaint & I did. I received a proper email response after 7 days. The letter was long. The girl explained what caused the problem, what action they took to resolve it, and admitted to their shortcomings. At the very end, she asked that I give them suggestions on how to better improve their services and also send them an address they can send some compensation through. I did. I outlined some suggestions like linking directly with the bus companies and other train operators to mitigate severe disruptions like what we experienced. And of course I included my home address.
Yesterday I received 3 rail network vouchers worth £10 each! Well, those more than covers the extra £6 I forked out to get home that horrible night. I looked at the expiry dates and they are valid for a year. Great. I’m certainly one happy compensated passenger.
I also got similar treatment from Amazon. I pre-ordered the clip-on iPod Shuffle and the site said it will be delivered after 3 weeks or something. It was for hubby’s xmas gift last year. Only when November arrived did I realise that the player hasn’t arrived. I checked my Order Status and there was no comment, I checked my email addresses in case I missed a notification, I didn’t. I wrote a strongly worded complaint to Amazon. To cut the story short, they gave me a £5 voucher to spend on Amazon as compensation for the delay & their lack of feedback.
I doubt if I can ever expect this level of customer service in Pinas, unless you scare the hell out of them.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 2:31 pm and is filed under consumer issues, napansin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
e-commerce has just started in the philippines, and i have no experience yet. big appliance stores honor the warranty period. say the tv you bought from them does not work well, or you have a complaint, they will outright change them (i think 7 days). that’s why even if it is a bit expensive, i go to the large stores, as appliances are lifetime investments also.
scare them off, threat them that you will go to the media, etc. — some ways to get attention whenever one is a victim of customer disservice here in pinas. it maybe a sweeping generalization on my part, but everybody knows very well here that we are not that much into customer service. in the end, ikaw pa ang may kasalanan.
There are times that service is better in PI but there are also times that it really sucks. It really depends on your luck. Last year, I almost went berzerk when a local airline was telling us that we needed to pay the “regular fare” because we were late. It was actually their fault that we missed our flight because they didn’t advice the pilot that there are passengers from Baguio. I’m a very quite person but I stood my ground until the guy changed his tone after 15 minutes arguing. I agreed to pay and have it reimbursed in their Baguio branch but when I gave them my credit card, sila ang umatras. Why? They even called the security on me. Kaya ayaw ko talaga sa Manila, when they know that you are from abroad, they’ll try to over-charge.
good on you, girl!
sabi nga, ” if you don’t ask, you don’t get..”
I agree with Pining. Ask and you shall receive. Minsan kasi we don’t complain anymore — we don’t have time, we think it will be futile, etc.
I have one ok experience here (Pinas). I ate frozen delights that tasted salty. It was easy to conclude salt was mistaken for sugar. I called up the company. A representative came the next day, withdrew all the stock in the canteen where I bought the product. They came up to me to thank me and to say that they will withdraw all the defective stock from all the outlets. And they also brought boxful of the frozen delight — sweet, not salty — for all of us in the office to enjoy. Pero meron din akong sad experience. Ay, this post would be too long na.
For defective things that were bought, you can exchange them within seven days as long as your receipts are intact. But about a defective transport service? Ewan ko lang. People are complaining a lot about the services of some of the big telcos here but these have been going on for years now so I guess it hasn’t improved yet. You know, some things never change. Sad.
I’m glad that you were able to be compensated for the problems you experienced with the product & services you mentioned.
Many companies in the Philippines have improved and are slowly focusing efforts in customer service. But there are a lot more room for improvements and hope that in time, the system will continue to improve.
Sexy mom, I’ve only tried two online shops in Pinas. The Ayala center where I got some SM certificates for a friend, and I’ve been happy with IslandRose.net which I’ve used at least 10 times since 2003.
Mari, re: “scare them off”
Totoo yan. In some cases kundi ka talaga magpapakita ng pangil, some shops will not bother to address your concerns.
KK, grabe naman yun! Actually I was buying some books at National last year, when they saw my card, they wouldn’t accept it. Marami daw kasing di nagbabayad. Eh?
Pining, Minsan-minsan lang ako nag-a-”ask” pag talagang nabugnot na ko. hehe
Annamanila, okay yun a. Now if all companies in Pinas (big or small) are like that, we’d be happy consumers.
Julie, I complain a lot about sky-cable & PLDT when I used to live in Pinas. Hopeless cases.
Rachel, I do hope you’re right & that Pinas customer service improves. But in order to speed up the change, consumers must be aware they can be heard & keep on demanding their for their money’s worth, di ba?
I failed to mention that meron din naman akong goood experience sa Pinas. A Kodak kiosk lost my birthing pictures, they gave it to someone else. I freaked out when no one wants to tell me what they’re going to do about it nor who was responsible. The Kiosk owner never bothered to call so I called Kodak Manila. Their regional manager assuaged my anger by sending a photographer to my son’s baptism. Sulit.