Thursday, November 09, 2006

After whole day of collecting facts and figures yesterday, Randy finally corrected the PLDT complaint letter I drafted. Then, after Pearl printed them for me, Pacette and I dropped by to PLDT Business Office and settled with MS. ADELIZA M. ISIDRO my disconnected phone line before doing my shopping to celebrate my son's birthday.

I was fortunate that customer ticket no. 78 was assigned to her as she was the representative who received modem instrument I surrendered on August 11, 2006, when I terminated PLDT MyDSL subscription due to frequent downgrade / interrupted bandwidth speed. I let Ms. Isidro acknowledged the 3-page complaint letter I submitted with subject line: DISCONNECTED PLDT PHONE LINE XXXXXXX.

Ms. Isidro and I spent almost three hours of discussion over how much I should pay so my disconnected phone line could be restored. At first, she told me to pay over 6k, after ignoring DSL charges billed in my account but I told her she's charging me back the disputed amount we already settled in August until she came up with over 4k. Nervous, I already raised my voice and I stood up and asked if there's anyone among other representatives or clients can help us with the computation.

I told her to follow the figures in my letter and have it marked so they can understand well how much I have to pay only. She seemed annoyed already and insisted that she only followed their system computations which made me more nervous. I told her if that similar situation happened to her, what she's going to do about it? Since it's my money and I know how much I have to pay for the phone line basic charges plus IDD/NDD toll charges, I asked her to write the following, to understand better how much I have to pay:

• For September statement: Php 29,715.49 (current charges) less Php 28,224.01 (September DSL), that's Php 1,491.48 I have to pay.
• For October statement: Balance forwarded, Php Php 1,491.48 less Php 773.73 (adjustment), that's Php 717.75 (Sept balance) plus Php 1,046.21, that's Php 1,763.96 I have to pay for the months of September and October phone line with IDD/NDD charges.
• After issuing the check, I remembered that I have to pay for the splitter for Php 200.00 so I cancelled the check and issued another in the amount of Php 1,963.96!
• I reminded Ms. Isidro that for three consecutive months (May, June. July), I paid Php 2,500.00 monthly for DSL subscriptions that they failed to render. Since I expected rebates, they should reflect them in my October bill but, instead, they disconnected my line for not paying 'September and October DSL charges' which they billed in my account even though I terminated already my subscription since August 11.

I told Ms. Isidro that I need an apology from the billing section whoever made a mistake charging me Php 28,224.01 for September. That's equivalent to eleven months of internet usage! I also told her not to charge me for reconnection fee since I didn't owe them anything. As far as payment is concerned, I still have money with them which I paid in advance for DSL service that I didn't get for three consecutive months. Ms. Isidro apologized to me and she said she represented the billing section as well.

After Pacette paid the bill, she gave Ms. Isidro the OR no. PLAOR000013644 so she can request for reconnection of our untimely disconnected line. Then, Pacette followed me in Jollibee where we had our lunch. I called Randy that we would go straight to SM North after we're done eating. He's happy that I didn't pay the ridiculous charges PLDT billed me in my last two statements.

We went to Cyberzone and inquired about SMART's retention plan and they handed me models of cell phones I can choose from when I want to renew my current subscription plan. My mind is numb worrying too much what to prepare for tonight's dinner. So, I just decided to pay Bayantel SkyDSL NetBasic bill and accompanied Pearl, who met us while in Bayantel. We spent so much time looking for USB mouse for her new laptop. I got myself a keyboard light which is perfect also for her laptop.

I'd thought we're not going to have time to do the grocery shopping but, thankfully, my daughter made up her mind what item to buy. Electronic items these days are so fashionable that it's hard to select which style best suits the budget and its usefulness.

Grocery budget had been tight for this month because I have three students helping me spend the money. After doing my shopping, it's late for me to cook so I bought 3 layer birthday cake from Goldilocks, two stuffed family sized pizza from Pizza Hut, Birthday noodles from Super Bowl of China and some chick-n-chips in a basket from Shakey's.

Kids were starving when I arrived home and we had our happy dinner together. HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY, Junjun!!!