Streamyx – TM Net SUCKS! – PART II

In March 2004, I decided to take a study leave and fully concentrate on taking up my MBA course. Hence, I’m a fulltime house-girlfriend from now on & most of my time will be spent at home infront of my newly upgraded PC! My MBA course requires internet activities such as online chat, forum discussion as well as upload/download files for my assignment research.

Not long after that, I came across a side-business opportunity with my photography (especially my underwater pics). Yup… stock-photography sites. I found this as a great opportunity for me to earn a little bit of money to further support my photography passion. Heck! I get paid in USD so WHY NOT! Almost daily, I will be uploading new images to some SP sites to sell my pics. We’re talking about minimum 20MB worth of uploads a day.

However… the happy ending ENDED… A new nightmare started in early November 2004.

2nd PROBLEM – Slow Uploading Process

One ill-fated day, I experience major problem in uploading my images to the sites. I tried and tried and tried but ended up getting frustrated by the end of that day. Additional to that, any emails (size beyond 500kb) couldn’t be sent out at all. I tried with my hotmail account, my personal astherlau.com account, even my yahoo account.

A few days after failing to improve, I decided to call upon my website server provider for some clue. (Date: 9th Nov 2004) On the very same day, he came back to me with a negative result. There was no problem with the server that host my email account. He advised me to consult Streamyx. (Oh no! Not again! With each call to TM Net, I’ll gain a few strands of gray hair!)

I was getting very nervous because deadline for me to submit my assignment was pretty near, yet I couldn’t do much work & share files with my other classmates. Receiving emails was not a problem during this period. I don’t remember having to receive attachments, hence, I’m not sure if I would have experience problem if a friend was to send me big files attachment in an email.

The LONG PROCESS Begins Again

I called TM Net & once again I had to go through the standard procedure of “cleaning” my PC. In addition to this, my PC is now connected to the modem via a router (both darling & my PCs are networked via the router). I was told to disconnect the router & reconnect my PC directly to the modem.

I did all that & called TM Net back because my problem was not resolved. The customer service person told me that he’ll look into the matter. I wasn’t sure if a report number was created at that time. I waited for a couple of days & called back again. This time with a little bit more agitated tone in my voice. A report number 2217343 was finally filed on 23rd Nov 2004. For a clearer story, here’s part of an email I sent to TM Net:

TO: custcare@tm.net.my
Date: 14th
Dec 2004

Dear Sir/Madam,

It has been nearly 2 months since the problem of uploading started with my internet connection. Approximately 2 months ago, I was not able to upload files into the website as well as send emails which have file size larger than 400kb.

I work from home and the internet is my sole working tool. This uploading problem has affected my productivity and profits in a DAILY basis.

I have filed a report pertaining this case to your technical department. My current report number is 2217343 dated 23rd Nov 2004.

I called your technical department for help 1 week after the first uploading occurred. However, I was told to “clean” my Internet Explorer of its “cookies and temporary files” and try uploading again. No formal report was taken as your personnel told me this is a normal procedure to follow. I did exactly what the personnel told me to do, but to my disappointment the problem still exists. I tried using another computer in my house but the same thing happened; UPLOADING FAILURE.

I tried uploading from a friend’s place in Bangsar who has only a 386kb connection with Streamyx. The uploading was successful in her place, thus, I suspect it should be my streamyx connections’ problem. I called the technical department again and described the whole scenario to your personnel again. Finally, a report was taken after 2 ½ weeks from my initial phone call and I was told the problem will be rectified soon.

To my great further disappointment, I waited and called several times to follow-up on the case and nothing has been done to solve my uploading problem.

We WANT Rebate

Yup… Both darling & I felt that we’ve been cheated. We decided to demand for rebate of the problematic months that we have to face. Hence, the remaining of the email:

Thus, I am writing this email to inform the billing department that I will not be paying for my last 2 months bills (November and December 2004) until I am able to work with my internet connection again. I believe, as a customer, I have not been receiving a proper service and product from your company in these two months. In addition to that, I have been losing my valuable time, money and clients due to the technical problems caused by your end.

I hope to get a feedback soon and I do not expect to be penalized if I do not pay for my 2 monthly bills as mentioned above.

I BLEW My Top

Now it’s my turn to explode on the phone. I remembered calling the call centre for no less than 3 times to follow-up. (fancy a customer doing the follow-up instead of TM Net!) Finally, I couldn’t take all these bullS*** anymore! Once again, I dialed the number. You can imagine how I screamed at the poor guy on the phone. (Must be my PMS time . I even shocked myself.) But the next morning (at around 9am or so) I recieved a phone call from their technician informing me to check on my internet line again because he’s just rectified the problem. Finally! (This was sometime a week before Christmas 2004.) True enough, I can upload file & send emails larger than 500kb in size again!

What HAPPENED To Our Rebate?

I sent another email to follow-up:

To: custcare@tm.net.my

Date: 13th January 2005

Dear Sir/Madam,

It’s been nearly a month since I sent my last email and I am sad to say that the Customer Service of your company is really disappointing. There has been no follow-up made to settle this case.

I am further more upset when I found that I am still charged for the month of November-December 2004 in my recent bill statement. This is outrageous! Seeing the fact that I have not received a satisfactory internet connection for the months mentioned. How can TM Net charge me for the service that I did not receive properly?

This email comes to you as a reminder of my previous complaint and I hope I get some feedback from TM Net pretty soon. I will not hesitate to bring forward this matter to other respective media and organization if my case is being ignored once again.

Extremely upset customer!

Here’s their reply:

From: custcare@tm.net.my

Date: 8th February 2005

Dear Miss Asther,
Thank you for your e-mail. We would like to apologize in advance for the late reply. With regards to your query, upon checking, we noticed that the uploading problem has been resolved. Upon referring the matter to the management, we regret to inform you that rebate cannot be granted as the speed offered for streamyx in on a best effort basis as mentioned in the terms and condition. Apart from that, we noticed that the connection did not face any problems and the problem was only with upload with big files. Please revert to us if you have further queries on this matter.

Should you need our further assistance, kindly contact our help desk at 1300 88 9515 or e-mail us at streamyx@tm.net.my. You can also visit our website at http://isp.tm.net.my

for the latest product news and support. Thank you.

Regards,
Anthony Ambrose,
Customer Care Support, CRM
TM Net Sdn. Bhd.

Note on the dates. They took so long to reply my emails. You can’t imagine how upset I am & how much I distrust the customer service department from this moment on! They refused to acknowledge our lost & anxieties throughout the whole scenario. WE HAD TO PAY THEM for making us suffer both emotionally & financially! How fair is this? We felt so cheated!!!

Darling initially refused to pay one month bill & true enough, our connection was disconnected. I desperately need internet connection at home for my work & studies, hence, we had to turn our heads down & continue pay these people.

Does anybody know if there is a similar broadband facility from other company in SS2 area? Particularly around Damansara Intan area. We tried searching online & found one which cost nearly twice the price for slower connection as compared to what we’re paying for Streamyx now. I was told that Jaring has one but not quite sure plus they’re using TM Net’s line as well. Oh! how we yearn to move to another company which can give us better broadband facility & services. Can anyone advice???

We experienced another problem for the past 2-3 weeks. Will continue in the next blog…

~ by Asther on December 1, 2005.