MANILA, Philippines - There is a big difference to the (over-the-phone) customer service given by Filipinos to foreigners (through BPOs/call centers) and by Filipinos to fellow Filipinos (of local companies.) Filipinos working for BPOs are strictly guided by rules, formalities and forced rapport, while the local companies' customer representatives speak in Tagalog (or Taglish) and understand what you need perfectly -- there's no language barrier even in the slightest manner.
I don't usually call hotlines to get help. As much as possible, I go online and try to resolve the issue I am facing by myself with the help of people who've had experience the same thing. So unfortunately, there are only a few times that I have actually called or was called by these local companies, but hey, some are bad and some are good.
And good things do last. And why don't I share them now huh? I have three (3) good companies that perfectly fit the title above. The best companies with good customer services.
Globe Telecom
There are millions of Globe users in the Philippines. I think 95% of my phonebook contacts are Globe users. But the number of users didn't stop Globe in providing the best customer service. I have a lot of good experiences with Globe, being a prepaid subscriber since 2004-present (I guess) and postpaid by 2011-present, there are too many things to say. Take note that I am judging the customer-related service I experienced not the network's services (signal, internet speed, etc.) Here's one of them.
Bayad Center
Honestly, I am not a regular customer of Bayad Center. I pay my bills online via BPI Online Express, but I go here to pay bills lately because they have this raffle that you can win a car and P5000 worth of bills. Haha.. I want the car, obviously. But hey, I had a great customer service experience with them, and I didn't call them (I don't even know their number)--THEY called me to help me! How cool is that!
Scenario:
So, like what I was saying, I joined their raffle, it's easy to join, just pay your bills and text the code to 5656 and tadah. One day, I decided to join so I paid 2 bills on a Bayad Center near our house. Then I texted the codes. Weee.. After a few days, I noticed that there weren't any confirmation texts from 5656. And that's weird, but I am good. If it didn't work, there's no problem at all. I am not really lucky with raffles anyway. Bored, I then decided to tweet them: "I am not receiving texts from your shortcode yadah yadah.." And woah, the corporate office called me right away, which I wasn't able to answer because I don't answer calls from numbers that aren't on my phonebook, but luckily, for some reason, I was able to answer it. The guy who answered was really nice and later I was able to talk to another guy, they called to tell me that all I have to do was to retext the messages because the network (which they called prior to that) had an issue that day I texted. And they called to tell me that when they could have just texted me or tweeted me that. I really appreciated the effort. They even gave me a number to call (a regular cellphone no.) just in case I would have issues in the future. I mean, I am really happy with it because when you come to think of it, it's my loss if I couldn't join the raffle, yet they treated me as though I paid for something and it was broken so they had to compensate me, but it's not the case, so that's really 2 thumbs up to these people.
Some screenshots:
How to contact them?
BPI
The Bank of the Philippine Island or also known by everyone as BPI is one of the top banks in the country. Being a top company must mean providing top service, and so far, there hasn't been any major complaints by people banking in their branches or by reviews by fellow bloggers. And that's dedication - "Let's make it easy." I've been banking with them for many years now. But honestly, there was nothing wrong with anything about it - I love this bank more than my other banks.
I don't usually call hotlines to get help. As much as possible, I go online and try to resolve the issue I am facing by myself with the help of people who've had experience the same thing. So unfortunately, there are only a few times that I have actually called or was called by these local companies, but hey, some are bad and some are good.
And good things do last. And why don't I share them now huh? I have three (3) good companies that perfectly fit the title above. The best companies with good customer services.
Globe Telecom
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| This Globe™ logo is a trademark of Globe Telecom |
Scenario:
Let me choose this one time, when my prepaid phone had some missing P25 load when my company loaded my phone P550 for the first time as part of our benefits . So I decided to call just to "ask" where my PHP25 went to. It could be a service I was subscribed to or probably I accidentally dialed someone. So I called 211.
The representative I spoke with was nice. I forgot her name, though. She checked immediately on the system to see what happened. I wasn't irate at all. I don't do that. I talk calmly no matter how bad the situation is. I was calling just to see where it went to, that's all. And to my surprise, she offered to put the load back on my account instantly and apologized for what happened. That's real quick! Some companies will check it further first, and will give you 24 hours to call them back just to review their system. It's only P25, I know, but I was completely satisfied at the end of the call. Great experience.
Another point that they have is using Facebook and Twitter to offer wider assistance. Here they did tweet me and DM me just to better assist me.
Some screenshots:
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| This was in 2010! They Direct Message you to help. |
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| I didn't mean to talk to them but hey, they heard my frustration! That's awesome! |
How to contact them?
Contact: Dial 211 on your Globe handyphone.
Twitter: @talk2Globe + a bunch of Twitter reps with their own accounts @ofGlobe!
Website: http://chat.globe.com.ph/
Bayad Center
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| The corporate logo of Bayad Center |
Scenario:
So, like what I was saying, I joined their raffle, it's easy to join, just pay your bills and text the code to 5656 and tadah. One day, I decided to join so I paid 2 bills on a Bayad Center near our house. Then I texted the codes. Weee.. After a few days, I noticed that there weren't any confirmation texts from 5656. And that's weird, but I am good. If it didn't work, there's no problem at all. I am not really lucky with raffles anyway. Bored, I then decided to tweet them: "I am not receiving texts from your shortcode yadah yadah.." And woah, the corporate office called me right away, which I wasn't able to answer because I don't answer calls from numbers that aren't on my phonebook, but luckily, for some reason, I was able to answer it. The guy who answered was really nice and later I was able to talk to another guy, they called to tell me that all I have to do was to retext the messages because the network (which they called prior to that) had an issue that day I texted. And they called to tell me that when they could have just texted me or tweeted me that. I really appreciated the effort. They even gave me a number to call (a regular cellphone no.) just in case I would have issues in the future. I mean, I am really happy with it because when you come to think of it, it's my loss if I couldn't join the raffle, yet they treated me as though I paid for something and it was broken so they had to compensate me, but it's not the case, so that's really 2 thumbs up to these people.
Some screenshots:
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| How it started.. |
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| Even did a follow up! That's too much already! ;) |
How to contact them?
Contact: 634-8870
Twitter: @Bayad_Center
Website: http://www.bayadcenter.com/contact
BPI
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| This logo is copyrighted by the Bank of the Philippine Islands |
Scenario:
Having two accounts with them (my personal savings account which has no savings at all and my payroll account that receives my direct deposit from my company) didn't stop me from opening another account with them -- this time, a virtual account from BPI Direct. I applied for a SaveUP account with insurance, this serves as a savings account within my savings account. So, after checking my online account a few days later, I still couldn't see my virtual savings account on my online page. I decided to contact them. I received a call from them, the phone banker I spoke with was very very professional, I bet she's pretty, too. I love the friendly but professional tone, I was definitely sure she knew was she was doing, and that's what customer service should be about--being able to deliver the help the customer needs with conviction. After reporting what happened, she told me I would be able to see the account within 24 hours and it wasn't even 24, I guess I saw it in minutes. I was really satisfied that day, I couldn't help myself, I told the world how great the experience was.
Some screenshots:
How to contact them?
To sum it up, I believe good customer service in the Philippines is one thing we don't usually share to others. We only talk about our bad experiences and not the good ones. I would like to thank these companies for providing me good customer service experience. I know the product can sometimes be frustrating but never blame the representative or even shout to them. Appreciate. It's hard to do something even them cannot do - or else they wanted to be fired.
And oh I just noticed something, all of them communicated through Twitter! Weeee... Follow me @leejaedi
Disclaimer: CallMeJed™ is not affiliated with these companies. All opinions expressed here are the blog's and/or the author's. This is not a paid advertisement. The logos used here are trademark of the individual companies. For illustrative purposes only to identify the companies. No copyright infringement intended but may be taken down when requested by these companies.
Having two accounts with them (my personal savings account which has no savings at all and my payroll account that receives my direct deposit from my company) didn't stop me from opening another account with them -- this time, a virtual account from BPI Direct. I applied for a SaveUP account with insurance, this serves as a savings account within my savings account. So, after checking my online account a few days later, I still couldn't see my virtual savings account on my online page. I decided to contact them. I received a call from them, the phone banker I spoke with was very very professional, I bet she's pretty, too. I love the friendly but professional tone, I was definitely sure she knew was she was doing, and that's what customer service should be about--being able to deliver the help the customer needs with conviction. After reporting what happened, she told me I would be able to see the account within 24 hours and it wasn't even 24, I guess I saw it in minutes. I was really satisfied that day, I couldn't help myself, I told the world how great the experience was.
Some screenshots:
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| Tweet from BPI.. |
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| Telling the world.. |
How to contact them?
Contact: 89-100 for Metro Manila 1-800-188-89100 for domestic toll-free calls (where available)
Twitter: @TalktoBPI
Website: http://www.bpiexpressonline.com/
To sum it up, I believe good customer service in the Philippines is one thing we don't usually share to others. We only talk about our bad experiences and not the good ones. I would like to thank these companies for providing me good customer service experience. I know the product can sometimes be frustrating but never blame the representative or even shout to them. Appreciate. It's hard to do something even them cannot do - or else they wanted to be fired.
And oh I just noticed something, all of them communicated through Twitter! Weeee... Follow me @leejaedi
Disclaimer: CallMeJed™ is not affiliated with these companies. All opinions expressed here are the blog's and/or the author's. This is not a paid advertisement. The logos used here are trademark of the individual companies. For illustrative purposes only to identify the companies. No copyright infringement intended but may be taken down when requested by these companies.
Call Me Jed™ (cc) 2013. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Philippines License.
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