After the initial reply from TM (received on Sunday evening), on their failure, I replied to them via email. I also made THREE more calls – on Monday, Tuesday, and today. Monday’s call got a response that my application has been processed and will be activated, but the staff could not guarantee that it will be done on Monday itself. On Tuesday, same thing. Finally, today (24th) I called to inquire and the staff confirmed IDD has been activated. I successfully faxed some documents.

My letters to newspapers: came out in Malaysiakini. Not sure about the other two.

So, after a grand total of 12 days (8 working days), TM managed to activate IDD service. Bravo!

And this company is the one going to provide broadband speed of up tp 2Mbps in rural areas and 10Mbps in prime areas by 201o for a cost of RM 11-15b (If I’m not mistaken).  For comparison, both US and Australia are also drawing their respective National Broadband plans with targets of (hold your breath):

Median US broadband speeds are less than 5.0 megabits per second (Mbps)–capable of moving five million bits of data per second–according to the ITIF, far slower than those of Japan (63 Mbps) and South Korea (49 Mbps).

The FCC presently defines broadband as 786 Kbps–too slow for efficient video streaming, for example–and the ITIF and other groups are seeking target speeds of between 10 and 50 Mbps.

Australia earlier this week announced plans to build a $30bn government-controlled national broadband network offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps to 90 percent of homes and businesses and 12 Mbps to the rest. [I suppose 12 Mbps is for the outbacks]

Oh ya, I got another email response two days after replying to their initial email:

Dear Mr. M Poobalan,

Thank you for your reply. Firstly, we would like to apologize for the late response.

Referring to you e-mail dated 21th June 2009, upon verifying in our system, we found that this issue had been addressed by our personnel with the reference number XXXXXXXXXXXXX and it still in progress. Kindly noted, we have notified the respective department on your e-mail and latest status for their updates. They are in the midst of investigating and rectifying the issue. Your patience on this matter is highly appreciated.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued patience and understanding, as well as extend our appreciation for your continued support of TM. We wish to assure you that we are constantly improving our service and listening to customer feedback to further improve on the level of our service and customer satisfaction. Should you need to check on your report status, kindly contact our Technical Department at 100 and select “Telephony and Data Services”.

We would like to apologise on the unpleasant experience that you have encountered.

For further assistance or feedback, kindly e-mail us at help@tm.com.my .
Alternatively, you can also contact TM at 100 and select “Telephony and Data Services”.

We look forward in serving you better.

Regards,

Kairun Azizi Md Noor
Customer Care Support, Internet Services,
Customer Service Management,
TM Retail.

Let me present the facts:

1. I registered a fixed line last year September.

2. A week ago, I tried making calls overseas – but the ring tone was different. Upon inquiring with TM Customer Service (by dialing 100), I was informed that my fixed line’s IDD service is not activated. I asked the customer care staff on the activation process and she duly informed me that its free and I can apply for activate via phone itself, without making a trip to TM Point. She then, put in a “service”request on my behalf and told me that it will be processed in THREE working days. I made the call on Saturday evening (13th June 2009). She took down my mobile number for reference.

3.Three working days would mean Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Fine with me. I gave them an extra day and tried again to call/fax overseas on Thursday. It was not working.

4. I called back Customer Service on Thursday evening (18th June 2009). The “service request” is still in the “system”. They will act on it, the staff said. The customer care staff took down my mobile number. Fine, I can still bear with that.

5. Its Friday, and I made a call. It seems there’s some problem with the connection or whatever. She asked me to call on Saturday to ensure the activation is done. Again, my mobile number was requested.

6. Saturday morning arrives. I made a call around 10am. The customer care staff checked the “system” and mentioned that a request was put in on the 17th. I clarified with her that I made a call on last Saturday and the request should have been there on the 13th, not 17th. I also mentioned that the staff asked me to call today (Saturday) to check on the activation. To my amusement (or horror), she said the contractors don’t work on weekends, so earliest possible activation would be next Monday. Well, I kind of expected that. She was at loss on why the IDD service is still not activated. Anyway, I told her that customer care already took down my mobile number 3 times and I have not received any call from TM regarding solution of the problem. I also told her to get someone to call me on Monday morning to clarify this.

My question:
1. Who is going to reimburse me for calling TM Customer Service (2 out 4 calls were from mobile phone)?
2. Who is responsible for my inability to make calls/fax overseas – which may impact critical decision making?
3. Who will solve this problem for me?

Such a simple service is not being acted upon. There’s no point in being polite and customer-friendly, when the work is not done. All style, no substance.

Note: I’ve sent this to Star, NST, Malaysiakini, TM Website (Complaints and Feedback).