The PLDT Customer Service Swearing Incident
Thursday
Oct 12, 2006
It’s bad enough when your utility’s customer service desk lines are dead in the middle of a crisis. But what if your call actually comes through? And what if the customer service rep you’re talking to panics when you become assertive in making your complaint? What if he/she swears at you?
This was exactly what happened with PLDT’s helpdesk in this incident as cited on Jepoy’s Captain’s Log. You can download the WAV file here. It’s either recorded by the caller or this could have been from the call center’s archived calls.
Here’s the skinny:
- The caller was complaining about his DSL service being down for a full day.
- The CSR says the tech department cites software updates for the downtime, and the client should expect the service to resume after a day.
- The client asks for a rebate for the two days downtime, but the CSR is reluctant.
- The client says he doesn’t want to pay for service not rendered, and utters a swear-word (not directed at the CSR).
- The CSR responds, swearing at the client.
- Client gets angry—while still calm—at the CSR for cussing.
- CSR pleads for the client not to get angry, claiming she did not swear.
- After the client reminds her that she indeed cussed, she responds she only said that because the client swore at her.
- Client says he just swore in general, but did not direct it at the CSR. Client asks for a supervisor.
- CSR panics and cries. She then disconnects the call.
Busted!
The client was able to get the CSR’s name, during that time she had not realized her mistake of cussing at the client. I’m not sure what happened to this call center employee, but I’m pretty sure either PLDT had this on record (call centers do record calls) or the client sent in a copy along with a complaint.
Toxic
I don’t think the CSR intended to swear at the client, though. Maybe the cussing was an automatic reaction from hearing a swear word uttered—things like this could happen when one is under pressure, and when arguing. From stories I’ve been hearing, call center conditions are quite toxic, especially with the shifting (which changes every few weeks or so), six-day workweeks, and the generally poor labor conditions in the Philippines.
Now I understand things can get pretty stressful in call center situations, especially if the client the CSR is talking to is quite stupid and couldn’t tell a cupholder from a CD-ROM tray. But this is different. And a company’s helpdesk still does not have the right to swear at clients making legitimate complaints.
The helpdesk rep should have at least had the presence of mind to remember that she’s on the job and that she’s carrying the company’s reputation in her dealings with clients.
At the very least, the PLDT call center has probably been employing poorly-trained helpdesk personnel. Complacency? I guess so. Being the largest telecom network in the country, PLDT must have been sitting on its laurels and thinking customer service isn’t a priority.
Update
On afterthought, I don’t think anyone has bothered to verify this incident with PLDT. For one, I don’t think I heard the word PLDT anywhere—the CSR just said “welcome to DSL helpdesk.” And it’s even possible that this was not a call in the first place, and that the conversation was simply recorded for the purpose of discrediting a company.
Does anyone have direct contact to PLDT higher-ups or at least the company (or department) that manages its call center/s? Any information would surely be helpful.
Comments
nat
August 30th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
PLDT sucks. They have been overcharging me. You know the Guild Wars promo last year? I availed it last March 27, 2006. It’s supposed to be charging me for 1 year only but until now they’re still billing me with that!
Another thing is I lost connection from July 23, 2007 to August 2, 2007 and it’s their fault because they already told us that the error was on their side (Loss of configuration or something like that). They told me that they will give me a rebate… but my billing came and they didn’t even deduct it!
I’ve been complaining to PLDT every year for 6 years already. I’m a PLDT myDSL Professional subscriber since 2001. That’s 3000 a month and they still have crap service.
PLDT sucks I wish I could bomb the corrupt people there.
joyce
September 20th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
the agent must be educated in handling this irrate calls. khit isumpa n xa ngclient she must not return it back! kung d n nya kya ung ktarayan ng client, a pillow or something soft beside her is a must as her “mad/anger reliever.” or kung wala, isang malalim n hinga lng ktapat nyan! she must remember that a CSR is a CSR. she must be very approachable.
quitgood
December 14th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
how true that pldtpaly Server Scout are to be pause thier game appitude on in the 1st day of january.how come thats the report mistake and provin without notifying each gamers…although those active player as well..plzz be confirm those report what i’ve read thank plzz reply at my email..stanley
abby de castro
April 29th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
i had a similar incident today with customer service reps from PLDT… i have been following up a complaint for 2 weeks already, and today, i learned that they dont have a technician assigned for my case, well i just could not contact the eye center where i am connected, a already told them that its a business phone, etc, we need to have landline connection with this number etc…, because we have patients.. etc, 2 weeks after… no technician availbale… its just a case of “walang personalan with the CSRs, if the follow up the services, eh di walang mabwibwisit sa kanila?? if they just do their job properly and follow up the complaints, i dont think a sane, rational individual will cuss…
abby de castro
April 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
and pahabol, can anyone tell me which telephone company serves boni ave mandaluyong area with both a phoneline and dsl? apparently, bayantel still doesnt have dsl in this area, how frustrating
JR Arias
June 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
nakakatawa mga assumption ng mga tao…i personally know the csr. she forgot to press mute. she freaked out kasi napahiya sya. syempre lalahatin nyo na lahat ng csr di ba?morning and one of the first 10 calls lang yun kaya di sya stressed.
gladys
August 14th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
ang pangit ng service ng pldt for 1 year na meron ako dsl di ko na mabilang sa loob ng isang taon ilang beses nawalan ng service.now is ther most nakakasar since june 8 until now aug 14 2008 wala cla action,everytime na tatawag ako sa csr on going po ang restoration pakihintay lng poh.UNTIL WHEN ANG PAGHIHINTAY!ganyan ba talaga ang service nyo napakabagal pero pagdating ng bill ang bilis nyo.nasisira na kau sa mga customer nyo.pwede ba ayusin nyo service nyo.
cebuana
January 12th, 2009 at 1:20 am
PLDT has the worst customer service EVER! Horrible! I don’t know why this friggin company keeps on getting away with it. The culture of its people is definitely a reflection of the culture of the CEO or top management.
If only there is an alternative company that can offer a similar service, I would stay away from any PLDT product. I bet they friggin monopolize the industry. PLDT and SMART are one and the same. Their big bosses should be friggin sued and hope the entire company gets a new company make-over to get rid of the top management. This is a horrible horrible company. Unprofessional is the best way to describe them. True reflection of the worst kind of Filipino that we all hate. I wish we have a more honorable Filipino company that could friggin topple this company down. I hate PLDT - the worst company ever – well, equally as bad as SMART
May
January 14th, 2009 at 9:24 am
The CSR was unprofessional. The customer was pushy at first, then downright rude after the p*ina flew out of the CSR’s mouth. Both were in the wrong. There was no need for “Sir Raul” to repeatedly cuss at the CSR. Ask for a supervisor. Complain. Don’t cuss the crap out of them. Lastly, I don’t believe “the customer is always right.” Everyone who’s been in the business knows this to be the biggest fallacy of them all. But, fact is, the customer is always the customer. CSR’s should always take the high road, because customer’s can’t be expected (or required) to do the same.
gie
February 19th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
PLDT Customer service sucks
!! My address got blocklisted by PLDT without me knowing it because their linemen transferred my neighbor’s Physical connection for landline and DSL connection in my address. We are few houses apart and according to my neighbor, he called 171 to complain that he’s having signal problems w/ his DSL, their resolution is to transfer the cable connection to a different location in our vicinity and they resort to transfer it to my area (address as well), without asking for my permission. My neighbor then did not pay his bills and i just found out that my address was blocklisted when I am trying to apply for a landline. Business center asked me to call and make follow up to 171 and every time I call 171, they would toss the coin to the business center. They rejected my application because of what they have done and asked me to ask my neighbor to pay first. WOW
they are making me their collector for their unpaid bills. My neighbor wrote them a letter stating that they did not pay the bills because he was overcharged and that he indicated in the letter that he never asked /requested for any transfer of connection / billing to a different address. This is one SCAM of PLDT. I hope that DTI would look into this kind of SCAMS.
erin
April 17th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
The agent sucks,. She’s should be re-trained on how to handle irrate custmomers. She should expect such kind of customer, duh, she’s in a call center industry.
Fred
June 21st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
The CSR’s employed by PLDT are clueless about how to trouble shoot a connection problem. The technicians most be sleeping on the job. Ask either one for an ETRO on a ongoing problem or a RFO for a fixed problem and all you get is silence from them. This is not rocket science that we are talking about but they need a understanding of how the whole system works before working in that type of a job.
erin
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:49 am
Everything was explained by the agent. The only thing that she made mistake of is not actively listening to the customer. As for the outage, that’s basically what we tech suports do. We opened a tool and check for an outage, if there is an outage, we tell it to the customer and the information about it. If you’re the customer, would you be interested in knowing the technical difficulties of your connection? Of course, most of the customers only wants the time when it will be fixed.
And for you Fred, it’s an outage. What troubleshooting steps can you do to get the customer connected if the problem is with server side? You can do whatever steps you can imagine in the customers premise and still it won’t let you connect.
Fred
June 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
And to you erin, they “should” be able to answer any question that is asked of pertaining to the service that they are there to represent. to answer your question about if I would want the technical difficulties on a connection I would not have asked the question if I did not want an answer to it. In my previous post I stated that the technicians must be sleeping on the job, I now have better information that they only work from 8Am to 5PM and there is no 24 hour maintenance personnel to work on any problems that might occur. IMO that is a very poor way to run a telecommunications business.
TSR
August 26th, 2009 at 8:16 am
When she dropped that P*I* listen really closely oh how nonchalantly it comes out of her mouth and how she denies she said it in the following seconds after. If you have been in the call center environment like i have, you kinda figure things out.. She forgot to use her best friend—the “MUTE” button. Simple as that. She swore at the EU thinking she was on mute, and denied it after she was asked the first time, then a splash of cold water, realization that the EU had heard the cuss. Well, what can we say, local call center with local wage rates, prolly around 11k tops? This doesnt apply to the higher end of the spectrum of the industry. 45k net monthly (agent position) =D
Angie
September 16th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
grrrr, PLDT is worst ever. my dsl is down 9 days now. and yet when asked the CSR “under remote testing “pa daw. When asked whats the problem, they will responded “tsine csek pa”. Hello di ba sila malaking telephone industry???
! 2-3 checking the problem is more than enough to know the root cause of the problem. But min eis 9 days???? whewre on earth ul see this kind of service.
Pwede bang mag voice out lahat ng may problem sa PLDT
! Cmon kung pwede lng i-media inefficiecy nila
!
HatePldt
September 17th, 2009 at 2:10 am
PLDT IS A MONOPOLIZING COMPANY - IF THEY DONT CHANGE THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE - THEY ARE GOING DOWN BIG TIME.. I USUALLY NEVER BLOG OR BAD MOUTH ANY THING - I USUALLY FORGET ABOUT IT IN THE NEXT 15 MINS BUT THIS TIME PLDT HAS PISSED ME OFF.. I ASKED FOR TRANSFER OF LINE AND GUESS WHAT AFTER 2 MONTHS OF WAITING THEY FINALLY DID IT…. THEY GAVE ME A NEW APPLICATION..WHAT THE…
JP
October 15th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Agree! PLDT is getting worst ever. i made several follows to their customer service but the no action taken from their part. When i asked the CSR “under remote testing pa daw” and they never responded to thier customer. This time PLDT has pissed me off….........
bok
December 7th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
PLDT??-WAG NALANG TOY
PLDT hater
December 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I just received a call from PLDT reminding me of my bill… that pissed me off. Why? Since sa february pwede ko na iterminate ang dsl service ko with them, pinagtyatyagaan ko makita sa 2wire.com ang 66kbps… 89 kbps… against my suppose to be 1mbps. Hindi reliable ang sppedtest.net nila at their website, lumalabas nasa 1.31 mbps pa nga ako e…
Two agents received my wrath, one from billing & another from technical: ang bilis nyo magtawag ng billing kahit never pa ako nadelay ng payment pero ang bagal naman ng internet ko?!
Answer: Itest nyo po sa speedtest.net.
Mine: Madaya ang speed meter nyo mataas kunwari pero sa ibang spped meter mabagal naman talaga.
Answer: gawan po natin ng report iyan.
Mine: wag na, wala naman mababago sa service nyo. sanay na ako sa report report nyo na wala namang resulta. Di bale magpapalit na naman ako ng dsl provider after ng contract ko sa inyo.
Sana nga nakarecord ito para makarating pa rin sa kanila HMP