A Strange Company that PLDT Mob

PLDT the major Telco in the Philippines has been receiving some bad press of late. Over at the Sassy Lawyer’s Journal (see the link on the side bar) the Sassy Lawyer has been having a moan about the slow ASDL speed they are giving her and my web hosting service has been sending out emails stating that the lack of service their PLDT subscribers are experiencing isn’t their fault.

Fortunately I am not a PLDT subscriber, although that was through their efforts rather than mine. When I first arrived here and wanted to upgrade the telephone connection for the house to include an internet connection PLDT was the company I first approached. The existing pre-paid connection was with them and they are the biggest and were conducting a relatively aggressive marketing campaign for their internet services.

They told me that because a previous resident at the compound had skipped off owing them 6000 pesos they couldn’t convert the pre-paid connection into a post paid connection nor connect the internet until the out standing 6000 had been paid. My explanation that I was a new customer with no connection to the previous customer fell on deaf ears.

Left with no alternative, I wasn’t paying somebody else’s 6 grand bill, I went across the road to Globelines. Within a couple of weeks Globe had run a line down the street and we had our post paid telephone and an ADSL connection. The ongoing service has been good and in one instance outstanding. When we requested a new modem they had a technician on our door step within an hour of making the request.

Whenever I think of PLDT I still shake my head in disbelief. Not only are they still owed the 6000 pesos, which I figure they will never get, but they have missed out on the thirty odd thousand pesos I have shelled out over the last 10 months for my phone and net connections. Go figure?

Now, if I could only get an up to date telephone directory……………….