How SingTel Solved My Problem Was Beyond My Comprehension, But …

Or rather, how SingTel solved their own problem was beyond my comprehension. But before I reveal the heavily-hypothesized-probably-a-waste-of-your time theory of how the situation was resolved, here is something new I learned about the SingTel helpdesk.

Recap and some new information …

Tuesday 8am – Internet connection was down. Perhaps they were doing some voodoo magic in upgrading my connection speed?
Tuesday 11pm – Phone line was dead too! Called the broadband technical support – the only number I have.
Tuesday 11.30pm – An incident was logged at Internet Services department and routed to Telephone Services department.

Wednesday 11.15am – No one from SingTel called. This time I have decided to call the Telephone Services (TS) directly to report my faulty phone line.

I listened to the voice from the machine, “Press 1 for telephone related problem. Press 2 for broadband related problem …” I stared at the keypad for a moment pondering which number I shall press when my phone and my broadband were both not working. I randomly chose one. Knowing how SingTel works from yesterday’s experience …

Me: Good morning. My name is Wilfrid. My home number is 6xxx-xxxx, my Internet ID is xxxxxxxx, and my mobile number is 9xxx-xxxx. I would like to follow up an incident I have reported yesterday.
TS: Sorry sir, there is no record of such incident here.
Me: Oh, I contacted the Internet Services department yesterday and they said they would get someone from your side to call me this morning. Can you send someone over to help?
TS: I am afraid I can’t do this within a week.
Me: ONE WEEK?! What do you mean? (Okay, I think I must have terrified the poor lady – unintentionally I swear.)
TS: I can escalate for you back to the broadband side but I cannot log a report for you unless it is open for a week.
Me: Oh, that’s what you meant. So, currently the broadband side owns my issue and your side has to wait for the instruction from them.
TS: That’s correct.
Me: If my problem is not fixed within a week, you can then log the report for me and take action from there.
TS: That’s right.
Me: And meanwhile, you route my request back to the broadband side and I will have to wait for one of you to call?
TS: Correct!

I surely hoped that my phone line would not be dead for a week.

Wednesday 11.30am – I was not going to play the waiting game. I was going to call the Internet Service (IS) department directly.

Me: Good morning. My name is … (same old introduction yada yada yada)
IS: Sorry sir, there is no such report being raised.
Me: But I called this exact number yesterday!
IS: I can log down your problem now and get someone to call you for your faulty phone line.
Me: (Oh my God!) …
IS: I can log this as an urgent matter for you.

I swear I heard the exact same response the day before.

Me: How long will I need to wait for someone to call me?
IS: We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Me: Like how long? One hour? One day? I really need to know.
IS: As soon as possible sir. And I will call you for an update.
Me: OK. When shall I expect your call for an update?
IS: As soon as I have an update for you sir.
Me: When will that be? Shall I call you instead?
IS: I will call you sir … as soon as possible.

It turns out that he didn’t call me at all. Anyway …

Wednesday 12:15pm – A rather fearsome lady called my mobile number.

SingTel: Hello, is this Wilfrid on the line?
Me: (I could not hide my excitement) Yes! Are you from SingTel?
SingTel: Yes. Has anyone called you yet?

Huh? Don’t you have something like a call report?

Me: No. You are the first.
SingTel: Okay, what’s your problem? It says urgent.

I gave her a high level recount of the recent flow of events.

Me: When can you send someone to help me? This afternoon?
SingTel: It’s already noon and it is not possible.
Me: But I reported this problem yesterday (sulking).
SingTel: My log says 12:05pm and I call you as soon as I can. I can give you a morning slot on Thursday, tomorrow.
Me: Can it be sooner? It is really urgent!
SingTel: It is already very tight tomorrow. The next available slot is on Friday.

Seriously, shall I be grateful that I am not given a Friday slot instead? Perhaps I shall be grateful that they call.

Thursday 11am - A technician arrived at my doorstep. I felt like giving him a hug. Half of what he said I don’t understand. Somehow SingTel has outsourced the technical support (perhaps that explains the less than friendly call yesterday?) and the technician told me that what I have is a common problem. Someone from SingTel has done some configuration at their end (in my case, upgrade of broadband speed) and forgot to do something at my end. He went outside my apartment, opened one of the doors (I now know that I have 3 little locked doors outside for water, electricity, and telephone line respectively), and showed me the circuit. I did not know that my apartment can accommodate up to 6 telephone lines (labeled as A to F)! What he did was to move my phone line from A slot to B slot and then he headed to the main circuit that is in another tower to verify. Somehow, the entire condo’s phone lines converge to one single tower. Interesting.

Well, I am glad that my problem is fixed. When I left home this afternoon, I listened to the dial tone over the speaker phone as though it was the best music I have heard this week. Now, I must think of how to write a complain letter and seek for compensation … if I bother to that is.