By Caroleena Sue D’Cruz
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s tremendous efforts to bring much-needed investments into Malaysia are much appreciated. But we beg of him to use some of his cabinet resources to resolve the problems that affect our daily lives and our mental wellbeing.
Let me cite an incident that happened yesterday. My husband and I were standing in front of our home at 09:00 waiting to be picked up by a friend, when a neighbour, J, who lives about 200m away drove up.
J was all a-flutter. Telekom Malaysia (TM) had terminated her landline with no prior notice four days ago – no call, no written communication from TM, no notice of termination, no instructions, nothing.
J, who is 75, and her 99-year-old mum had been left with no means of communication for four days; they do not have a mobile line. In these days of mega-rainstorms, and with the significant mobility and health challenges faced by older adults, this was a serious situation indeed.
When the termination happened, J had driven to a friend’s house nearby to make a report.
J was told that their landline was connected to the copper-wire system, which was no longer in use. She had to upgrade her line. She had no prior notice, no proper explanation, no instructions on what to do.
Having been through the same experience with his parents, my husband explained to her what was happening: TM was phasing out the old copper-wire system and migrating users to fibre.
We offered to pop around later this morning to help J make a follow-up report to TM, and arrived at her place at 10:30.
Over the next two hours, this is what unfolded:
First call from my mobile:
I call 100.
A Customer Service agent answers. She listens to the report. Asks for account details. Says she is from the Technical Department; we need to speak to someone in Product. Passes us to Product.
The Product agent goes through the same process of information gathering. Says it is not their responsibility but Account Management’s instead. Passes us to them.
The impatient and rude person who answers in Account Management goes through the process of information gathering. But then says it is not her department’s responsibility and sends us back to Technical.
We try to explain we had started there.
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But she is adamant: it is not Account Management’s issue to deal with.
A Technical agent answers now – the phone is on speaker mode and all of us in the room clearly hear the “hello” – and then… silence. Nothing happens.
We wait for about 10 minutes with the line open – but silent.
While I continue to hold, my husband starts the process all over again on his mobile. [I continue to hold the line open on my phone for the duration of his call.]
Second call from my husband’s mobile phone:
My husband calls 100.
Again, they pass us from pillar to post. We go through five to six different departments – same departments as before, but different agents. We are asked for the same account info over and over again.
Finally, we reach an agent who does seem to want to help. She asks for the same account details.
My neighbour J and my husband – together on speaker phone – patiently provide her all the info she requests.
The agent asks for J’s mobile number.
My husband explains all over again he is with J and helping her make this report because she has no access to a telephone line. He provides his name and contact details as well, in case TM needs to contact her.
I also offer mine, so that I can take any message and then run down the road to J’s home to provide updates in case TM needs to reach them while my husband is at work.
The agent then asks for the name of the account holder.
J provides the name.
The agent then asks if she is speaking to the account holder.
J explains truthfully that the account is in the name of her mother’s 80-year-old sister, her aunt, who is now in Brisbane. She informs the agent that the phone line was installed in the family home many years ago. She provides the identity card number of the account holder, her aunt, as requested.
The agent then says she is unable to resolve the issue, as she is not speaking to the account holder. She asks for the account holder to present herself at the TM office, with her identity card, to verify the request.
We try repeatedly to explain the relationship between the account holder and the person making the report, J, the fact that this was their family home, that the phone line had been in use for many years, and that J’s aunt, the account holder, was overseas.
No, the agent says. She is adamant – no, TM is not going to do anything because we are not following the SOP – standard operating procedure. No empathy, no sympathy, no understanding at all from TM.
We then point out that TM has suddenly terminated the line with no prior notice. What about TM’s own standard procedure? It has not provided any notice of termination, effectively breaking its own service contract. And in the process, TM is in fact still abusing its customers. We ask to speak to the supervisor on duty. We are put on hold.
The same agent then returns and says the supervisor is not available. The only thing she can do is put in a request. Whether anything will happen or not, she is not willing to commit.
And that is the extent of what TM – after sending us in circles for over two hours – is able to do.
We are now left with:
- A line that TM has terminated without warning and notice
- Two older adults, 75 and 99, left with no means of phone communication
- No idea of whether their problem will be addressed
- And no confirmation from TM that they will be following up
[By the way, while we are at this part of the conversation, my line – still on hold with TM – is quietly cut off by the person on the other line]
Am I being harsh by calling this out as abuse? Maybe so.
But having been at the receiving end of TM’s abuse of my father in 2019 [read our previous experience with TM], I am frustrated that nothing – not even a change of prime minister, a change of government, a change of minister, a change of TM’s CEO – has made things better for customers like us.
Please, Prime Minister Anwar, Digitalisation Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and all of you who claim to serve us, hear this: bringing billions of dollars in investments into Malaysia is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
But making sure a 99-year-old has access to a phone line when she is ill, needs help or would simply like to speak to a friend or family member, would be even better.
Caroleena Sue D’Cruz is a concerned resident of Petaling Jaya.
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- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
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Many have experienced this situation during Days without Internet. Imagine coming by bus, there was no train, KTM then eg. Serdang for other agencies like bank headquarters. One would waste a whole day because of ONE missing document and need to repeat the trip again!
Though no one should go through what you did, I sincerely hope everything turns out well at your end.
Brilliantly written