PART 2 of GLOBE TELECOM: the thievery continues…

I went to the National Telecommunications Communication website recently to file a complaint after yet another disgusting round of load deductions from Globe. Here’s my complaint letter to wit:

“Here are my complaints about this thieving, unethical and inefficient company:

A) Globe, via 2346 and 2350, has been sending me notices for contests which automatically deduct 2.50 per text message. They do it at least once a day. I NEVER solicited these messages and yet they’re deducting it from my load WITHOUT my consent.

B) They are sending me multimedia ringtones which again I did NOT solicit. This deducts PhP 30.00 per ringtone from my load. They usually send 2 ringtones at a time so if I load 20 pesos (which before lasts for about a week), I will end up not only losing my load within a few hours (or minutes) of loading, I will also end up being debited on my next prepaid load. Their service has become practically unusable because of this vicious cycle which has been going on for about a month now. The more you load, the more text messages they’ll be sending to make sure you won’t have a single centavo left.

C) No amount of texting “STOP” will make them stop sending you these ringtones and paid ads. Imagine being deducted PhP 2.50 everytime you tell them to STOP debiting your load from service you NEVER requested in the first place. What’s worse, my phone DOESN’T support the mp3 formats they’re sending so they’re just wasting my hard earned money.

D) No amount of calls to their “HELP” line (what an irony!) would make them stop sending me those unwarranted, unwanted, unsolicited load-guzzling text messages. Their CSRs are polite but useless. They can’t do anything. They keep on telling us to call back if nothing happens. I’ve been doing that almost every other day for a month now, to no avail. 2346’s helpline which is 892-9999 doesn’t work as well. Everytime I tried to call this damned number it’s either busy or no one’s answering. So far 2346 has stopped sending me those messages as of today but 2350 took its place and it’s even worse. This time I did not receive any ringtones but my 48 peso load became 2 pesos after a flurry of text messages from 2350.

E) I tried disabling and deleting my internet and multimedia configuration from the phone hoping they would stop sending those ringtones. They STOPPED sending the ringtones but they DID NOT STOP billing me for it.

F) Their toll free helpline (211) which should be available on my phone, even when I’m out of load, has stopped working since August 19, 2008. I keep on getting a message that my “balance is not enough” to make the call. 211 is supposed to be FREE. Why are they doing this? Are they tired of the same old complaint? Why won’t they fix the issue instead of muzzling people or taking away their right to complain?

I’m a disgusted consumer. Their unfair trade practices smacks of wanton thievery and malicious intent. So far they are THE worst service I’ve ever had. At first I thought Globe was good since my 20 peso load can last me a week or two since I seldom text or call. That has since changed and my wasted hundreds, if not thousands of pesos is nothing compared to the aggravation I have to endure for feeling shortchanged and deceived by Globe Telecom.”

You can say I’m just overreacting but for someone who doesn’t earn much, the disillusionment this experience gave me is beyond words. I would’ve gladly switched but after bad experiences with Smart and Sun Cellular I have nowhere else to go. Besides, my pending job applications, online resumes and countless other legal whatchamacallits bear my Globe number so replacing it right then and there is out of the question. Which all the more explains why this “inconvenience” has magnified my disgust a hundredfold.

The relationship between businesses and their consumers is based on TRUST. Trust that you get fair service for a fair amount. That is one sacred thing that Globe has violated repeatedly. Let me make it clear that I’m not against Globe’s employees. I’m against their company’s unfair trade practices and anti-consumer gimmicks that virtually defraud consumers like me of thousands if not millions of pesos on a daily basis. 2346 and 2350 are two faces of a scam that they willfully perpetrate and they should stop this before every other consumer becomes a victim and ultimately lose their trust.

I’m not asking for the moon and the stars. I just want this scam stopped, period. I’m not even asking for a refund.

I hope to get a reply from NTC soon. I’ll keep you guys posted.