this horrible storm (Basyang) reminds me of Milenyo, a howler of a storm that knocked over plenty of power lines. if going without electricity for 16-24 hours is agony for you, imagine going without it for almost two weeks.
despite reporting the situation several times to customer reps at Meralco, it really grated on our nerves to see neighbors have electricity and we didn't (eventually the servicemen discovered that part of our line had been stolen)...and it got so bad i didn't want to see another candle, not even on my birthday cake...so i emailed every Meralco branch in the area with this letter (result: we had servicemen by the end of the day) :
Imagine if you will being without electricity for more than a week
since the onset of Milenyo. Imagine the utterly ridiculous situation
of your neighbors having electricity -left, right, front (even the
squatters nearby have electricity) and YOU DON'T. Imagine the surreal
and frustrating experience of following up this situation with
apathetic customer service reps who don't log in your complaint. Then
again, why don't you try coming over to (street address deleted) in QC and SEE FOR YOURSELF? I and my family do not have the luxury of checking into a hotel when we don't have electricity. And it is obviously useless talking to a customer service rep when they don't
bother to log in a complaint from paying customers.
What kind of amends can Meralco make other than a lame "we'll schedule someone to check
out your situation but right now we don't know when we can service
you..." Wow. How about making up for our discomfort by waiving our
electric bill for this month? No? It seems your company is quite
content to allow us to go without electricity for another week, maybe
a month if your people seem inclined to do so. We have an invalid
96-year old grandmother we can't even check into the hospital so she
won't have to suffer from the heat and mosquitoes.
If your people cannot even inform us when someone will actually
restore power to our home (preferably this century, thank you), please
do us the courtesy of informing us if we should bother paying your
company for not doing a thing or if we can switch to alternative power
sources like solar energy, wind power, maybe hook up 100 hamsters to
exercise wheels to power an electric fan? 10 days without electricity
in a very populated and almost-commercial area is a pretty long time
to do without this urban necessity.
But then, I doubt your company CARES. Your neglect speaks volumes.
Sincerely,
(name deleted)
(etc deleted :D)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
They did it again, and again, and AGAIN...
Pardon me as I lose my temper.
Years ago, my car was broken into, after making the common mistake of parking it in what I thought was the safest possible place: a guarded parking lot in a busy business district. Turns out you don't pay for "secure parking" --you just pay for that bit of land your vehicle sits on, and the succeeding hours fund those fancy attendant uniforms, computers that keep track of how many minutes you went over your alloted time, and that mechanized arm that swings up and down to set you free from the damned place after you pay through the nose.
As much as possible, I avoid any parking lots managed by that company, thanks to their shoddy handling of the situation. And now I learn that someone else recently had his car broken into IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. Where are the rent-a-cops when you need them? It's as if thieves view these places as their personal candy jars, to raid whenever they please.
One blog post pretty much summed the experience for many who were victimized. While there were those who had plenty to say about leaving one's personal belongings or parking in unlit areas, this reply did the job. (Thanks Annie)
Years ago, my car was broken into, after making the common mistake of parking it in what I thought was the safest possible place: a guarded parking lot in a busy business district. Turns out you don't pay for "secure parking" --you just pay for that bit of land your vehicle sits on, and the succeeding hours fund those fancy attendant uniforms, computers that keep track of how many minutes you went over your alloted time, and that mechanized arm that swings up and down to set you free from the damned place after you pay through the nose.
As much as possible, I avoid any parking lots managed by that company, thanks to their shoddy handling of the situation. And now I learn that someone else recently had his car broken into IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. Where are the rent-a-cops when you need them? It's as if thieves view these places as their personal candy jars, to raid whenever they please.
One blog post pretty much summed the experience for many who were victimized. While there were those who had plenty to say about leaving one's personal belongings or parking in unlit areas, this reply did the job. (Thanks Annie)
Friday, June 25, 2010
books, glorious books...
go follow @PenguinBooks on Twitter, get a chance to get a bunch of cool reads (if you're too lazy to join the Fully Booked book grab this year :)
Monday, May 31, 2010
say cheese
interesting specimens eh?
not a museum.
it's an orthodontist's office.
wall of fame/shame? you decide.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
we interrupt the long silence with this news bulletin...
in between deadlines and odd jobs, I've been hunting for a reliable postpaid broadband provider.
Brand S has been my default prepaid provider, but there's a point when you get a bit tired of scratching those cards or getting load...plus, when service gets iffy, it's not even worth a 15-minute call to get a refund...
Brand G had been my first choice, since we were using their landline service. After being assured that there was an (oh-so-precious) available slot, I applied for account modification, was told to expect their crew in 7-10 days.
...and didn't hear a peep from them. And to make a long story short, after three weeks and four frustrating phone calls to their customer service reps (and the unbelievable excuses they came up with), I told them to cancel my application for modification. If they were already giving me such a tough time BEFORE I got their service, I could easily imagine the hell I'd be going through after signing a contract with a lock-in period. Gah.
so I inquire about a trial run with Brand B...and lo and behold, I get scheduled for a demo within the week, their staff was very professional (and even confirmed with me the day before about the appointment) ...plus they delivered the goods, in a simple and efficient manner.
Ironically, Brand G's tech support called up a couple of times after I sent in my cancellation request (kulit!) saying they had an available spot, and would I like to push through? My eyebrows were already doing loop-the-loops. Sure, I said, if they could manage to guarantee installation within that very same week, I'd consider. (and with their spotty service, I seriously doubted they'd make good)
Thought that was the last I'd hear from them, but apparently they bamboozled someone else into saying yes --and the last I heard from Brand G's reps was that they'd be sending a crew over (the same day Brand B was scheduled for a demo). Well, Brand B's rep did the demo, signed me up and I've got broadband, easy peasy. It's not uber-fast, but it gets the job done.
I think Brand G's people rang the doorbell some hours after that. Tsk. If they had delivered on what they had promised all those weeks ago, I may have been a happy subscriber. Instead, they pretty much demonstrated what kind of service their subscribers get. Imagine paying three weeks for broadband you can't use?
Brand G has been getting a lot of flak in the past year for spotty service, and their people should focus on the actual products' performance, instead of trying to push the products. Offer the world all you want, but if your customer can't even get decent service, you'll lose your battles on the home front.
Brand S has been my default prepaid provider, but there's a point when you get a bit tired of scratching those cards or getting load...plus, when service gets iffy, it's not even worth a 15-minute call to get a refund...
Brand G had been my first choice, since we were using their landline service. After being assured that there was an (oh-so-precious) available slot, I applied for account modification, was told to expect their crew in 7-10 days.
...and didn't hear a peep from them. And to make a long story short, after three weeks and four frustrating phone calls to their customer service reps (and the unbelievable excuses they came up with), I told them to cancel my application for modification. If they were already giving me such a tough time BEFORE I got their service, I could easily imagine the hell I'd be going through after signing a contract with a lock-in period. Gah.
so I inquire about a trial run with Brand B...and lo and behold, I get scheduled for a demo within the week, their staff was very professional (and even confirmed with me the day before about the appointment) ...plus they delivered the goods, in a simple and efficient manner.
Ironically, Brand G's tech support called up a couple of times after I sent in my cancellation request (kulit!) saying they had an available spot, and would I like to push through? My eyebrows were already doing loop-the-loops. Sure, I said, if they could manage to guarantee installation within that very same week, I'd consider. (and with their spotty service, I seriously doubted they'd make good)
Thought that was the last I'd hear from them, but apparently they bamboozled someone else into saying yes --and the last I heard from Brand G's reps was that they'd be sending a crew over (the same day Brand B was scheduled for a demo). Well, Brand B's rep did the demo, signed me up and I've got broadband, easy peasy. It's not uber-fast, but it gets the job done.
I think Brand G's people rang the doorbell some hours after that. Tsk. If they had delivered on what they had promised all those weeks ago, I may have been a happy subscriber. Instead, they pretty much demonstrated what kind of service their subscribers get. Imagine paying three weeks for broadband you can't use?
Brand G has been getting a lot of flak in the past year for spotty service, and their people should focus on the actual products' performance, instead of trying to push the products. Offer the world all you want, but if your customer can't even get decent service, you'll lose your battles on the home front.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
meet my little (electronic) friend
still in the getting to know you phase with this gadget (because someone forgot that i don't read Chinese, which was the only language the owner's manual came in. pfft.)
takes decent shots, but i have to configure it properly, apparently images still come out grainy (so says the layout artist at one of the mags i write for) --which i have to agree with (but hey, you rush me, i send you photos, you don't like it, find your own then, right?) (seriously, i'm not being paid extra to take photos for this piece, so just a little credit to the right people would be nice)
so far it's performed decently (as long as i remembered to tweak the settings) and i can't complain really.
now if only i had the guts to submerge it! it is supposed to take to snorkeling depths...
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