The old fundamentals of countless consumer businesses are built on personal, face-to-face relationships.
Today, even with digital customer service channels and chatbots, people still prefer conferring and interacting with a customer service agent than to recorded voice messages over the phone that give out robot-like instructions.
A huge modern business such as Globe must ensure the continuity of this core value of personal relationships into the digital, mobile era by satisfying its subscribers at all times and in all conditions. In short, core business values should not have to change just because the way people work has already changed.
Fast rewind. In 2012, Globe made an extraordinary move to personalize its services. In fact, it arranged for an exclusive Visayan interactive voice response system and set out Visayan-speaking CSR agents based in Cebu to serve sales, after-sales, and technical concerns on broadband and landline services of customers in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
With these two developments alone, one would think that Globe subscribers are in for a better experience with more customer service channels that could immediately respond to customer needs and queries.
In addition, Globe subscribers anywhere in the Philippines can also get help through SMS by texting HELP to 1234 for free. These new channels feature faster response time to a specific customer inquiry, as well as uninterrupted and seamless service with a conversation tracking feature.
Based on these efforts, it can easily be concluded that Globe is one company that means business when it comes to customer service — not just through mobile/online methods, but also offline and through face-to-face transactions.
Today, it seems that the conclusion cited above is wrong. It appears that Globe really does not care about providing good service to its customers. Why do I say this?
On July 9, I could not help but ventilate my frustration on Facebook about how Globe treated me as a subscriber. Facebook is the most convenient for me (at that moment) to air out my disappointment, aggravation, and dissatisfaction of its service, so I wrote on my wall: The Customer Service of Globe is TERRIBLY SLOW! I’ve been here at Globe Robinsons for almost 2 hours now. Globe was serving no. 4042 when I started to wait at about 2:45 pm. My no. is 4067. As of 4:30pm, they are still serving 4051. EXTREMELY SLOW. I’m here to complain why our internet at home has been QUITE SLOW for months now. Now I am personally witnessing that its Customer Service is as slow as its internet.
After posting it online, I got numerous reactions from fellow subscribers and non-subscribers alike. They just didn’t agree with me with a thumbs-up sign, they also shared their bad experiences with Globe’s customer service. Here’s a few comments that clearly point to the callous, indifferent, and heartless attitude of Globe staff members towards its customers:
Dennis Carl Dapal. Slow as the earthworm, Tito William.
Glenda Fabillar. I know. I had to make bagolbol and reklamo when I was there…ang kada clerk ug mu-serve usa ka tawo inoras.One worker also got some scolding from me kay imbis mag-man sa puwesto, tua sa CR dugay kaayo nabalik.
Christie Maturan Tumarong. Dugay ra na sila ingon ana, sir.
Lilah Ablong. Correct ka, Yam! One has to spend a day with Globe to get serviced.
Jas Tan. Agree. Sa una pa jud na sila na slow. Kinahanglan ug lain na competitors. Daghan kaayo nang reklamo nila yet Globe is not doing something para ma- improve man lang.
Jan Aireba. Dugay jud kaayo; nakasulay jud mi. I got my number by 11 am; na-serve ko hapit na 4 pm.
Remelie Lantaca Enriquez. Very true. Dili gani ka-load YouTube but ug mamutol [connection], abtik pa sa kilat. Yes, two to three hours ug mubayad ka; makatulog na lang ko’g katulo. Naa tuod jud mga cashier lain pud gibuhat. Ngano pa naa sa cashier nag lingkod nga wala pud ga serve sa naay number? Props ra? Palpak jud!
Cherry Pie. One time, gapasugo ko sa akoang utility person mobayad. Gi-ingnan nga kulang akong documents; gipapauli. I checked the documents, they were complete. Akong gipabalik usob. Ingon na pud ang taga-Globe, kulang. So I went there personally, and showed to her the documents nga gidala sa akoang utility person. The documents were found to be complete then. I asked her unsa iyang gipangita nga naa ra man gidala? Ingon siya “wala siya’y time to check”! This is the kind of service that Globe offers!
Gloria Futalan. Very valid observation, Yam. Your experience is shared by many.
Edward Du. NOCCI is strongly advocating for a third telco player to break the current duopoly. Linda’s research will be a great help to our advocacy, Ma’am Glor. NOCCI, SU, PIDS, and the Phil Apec Study Center can work together to lobby for reforms in the telco industry. The first step is to get rid of the congressional telco franchise, followed by the NTC license requirement. In the US and Europe, telcos are unregulated. No need for Congressional franchise in other countries. Only in the Philippines.
I strongly agree with what Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Edward Du said about the need for a third telecommunications company to break the current duopoly here.
The way I see it, Globe has become complacent, and is “sitting on its laurels” and is overly-confident of its size (and popularity) that it doesn’t care anymore if it can provide good service or not to the lifeblood of its existence — the customers.
Perhaps Globe management is thinking they can survive even if their customers are not satisfied and happy with the way they are doing things.
Well, Globe is wrong in thinking that.
People in Dumaguete are not stupid. We do not take things sitting down. We always express our opinion, and we always fight for what we think we deserve. I advise Globe to be careful and to start toeing the line if it wants to go on operating here in Dumaguete.
However, being a true Christian, I believe in rectifying things. I believe in having room for improvement, thus, here are a few things I would like Globe to consider:
Globe, listen to your subscribers.The biggest oversight any business owner (especially Globe) can make when it comes to customer service is to presume that they understand what their customers want. In the case of Globe, its management shouldn’t approach any customer with a list of scripted questions— it simply needs to ask how he uses Globe products or services, what he likes, and what they don’t. Then listen. What it will gain— if it’s willing to listen without judgment— will be invaluable.
Globe, keep your promises and assurances. It’s a big deal to us customers. It is not important if these assurances and promises have been made by a customer service agent or by the CEO, customers expect promises/assurances to be kept. If Globe does a poor job at following through a promised upgrade, a cancellation policy, or treating unfairly and incorrectly a sweating subscriber who has been waiting in line for several hours, it will soon lose customers and the public trust it has gained will vanish into thin air very quickly.
In my case, after I was finally served by the Customer Service at 5:35pm from a long wait at 2:45pm, I was promised that a technician would visit our home the following day to check the connection. To this day, nobody came.
Globe, find the best tools to provide the best service. Afterall, we are paying you. Customer tracking and good service can’t be done simply on sticky notes or computer/online recording files.
Instead, it needs to think about how to best empower its employees so that they can provide the service its customers deserve, then additionally buy the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software (or any other tool necessary) that will make that happen. Customers will thank Globe for it and they will not think of switching to other telecommunications/internet provider ever.
Subscribers expect Globe people to be available.
Subscribers expect staff/agents to be available to users at all times and in the right disposition. If the company relies solely on online forums/chatbots/voice recordings or don’t have real-time chat or email service available, it’s time that it offers better service to interact with its customers where they are and interact with them in the nicest way possible.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who gave this advice, which I now wish to improvise to express what I want to tell Globe management: The customer is the most important visitor on Globe premises. The customer is not dependent on Globe, Globe is dependent on the customer. The customer is not an interruption to Globe’s work, he is the purpose of Globe’s business. The customer is not an outsider to Globe business but a huge part of it. Globe is not doing the customer a favor by serving him; instead, the customer is doing Globe a favor by giving the company an opportunity to serve its customers.
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Author’s email: wea_129@yahoo.com
