Briones: Waiting game

A LITTLE over two hours.

That’s how long I waited to purchase load for my home WiFi at the PLDT office on Osmeña Blvd. Monday morning, Jan. 14.

Amazing, right? In this day and age, you’d think a simple transaction like that would be a zilch. But no, PLDT wants to take it to another level. One that requires a humongous amount of patience.

Apparently, this telecommunications firm has gotten really smug because it has a captive market. Oh wait, there’s another one, company, that is, but in a country of over 50 million users, two firms providing for a now much-needed service makes for a virtual monopoly.

So I guess that explains why PLDT thinks it can get away with making its customers wait.

But before I continue my rant, let me just say this. I have no problem with my home WiFi. Let me make that clear. This is not about the product I have availed myself of from PLDT. It’s about those people it hired to man its office on Osmeña Blvd.

By the way, there were lots of customers that morning and yet so few PLDT employees to attend to them. I knew some of them were at the back of the office, behind closed doors, because I could hear them talking about where to get lunch.

Plus, I saw some of them head out and come back a few minutes later.

The waiting was so long I even had time to walk to the office on P. del Rosario St. to get my copies of SunStar Cebu and Superbalita.

Anyway, when my number was finally called, it was past noon.

I immediately told the girl behind the desk that I had been there since 10 a.m. That it was unheard of to wait that long to purchase load for my home WiFi.

You see, I was also there on Sunday, Jan. 13. But I was told to return the next day because the device they used for loading was in a vault. Or something like that. So if you’re wondering why I’m ranting right now, that’s why.

The girl told me I could download the mysmart app and do this and do that so I wouldn’t have to wait the next time. Granted, I could do that, but I felt like telling her that that wasn’t my point. I was already there. For a simple transaction. One that should be over-the-counter. Was that too much to ask?

An elderly couple who were being entertained, if you could call it that, a couple of tables down were also having a bad day. I know it wasn’t my business but I couldn’t help overhear their exasperation, their feeling of hopelessness about the company’s billing system. But before they could finish telling their story, they were directed to another table.

And I thought I had a problem. Phew!

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