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Skycable — Can’t reconnect as fast as it disconnects

MY niece and a handful of other friends have been complaining about the shabby service of SkyCable these days.

Her friend’s service got disconnected and it took a long time before it got reconnected even if the payment was made immediately after disconnection.

A friend of long standing, former city Councilor and now assistant secretary to the mayor of Manila Letlet Zarcal, said he had been applying for cable service for two months now and the reply to his followups is only disappointing him.

In the case of my niece, her cable was cut off without any notice or warning. She did not receive any billing, text message, email or physical billing in the mailbox where she usually got the bills. She also checked the mail in the digibox itself and there was none.

When she called up the hotline, a recording said she owed the SkyCable P2,200 thus, the disconnection.

Early on the following day, she went to the SM Hypermart on Adriatico Street to pay the full amount. She was told that the cable would be reconnected at once since the payment system was ‘real time’ meaning, it’s as if you paid at the SkyCable office itself.

Sadly, up to the time of this writing, the cable still has to be reconnected. Calls made to the hotline were futile. My niece was assured she would at least get an email about any development but had not gotten any.

Yesterday, she attempted to bring her concern to a SkyCable office on Taft Avenue but lo and behold!! There was a throng of customers outside.

Fearing the mass that gathered there (there was no social distancing since they all huddled in a small tent to avoid the scorching heat), she retreated.

Here’s the thing. We are in a pandemic and right now, the only thing that we could consider as our best buddies to keep us sane are the internet and cable services.

The companies providing these services should at least have the compassion and consideration for their customers, specially the long-standing ones. My niece had been a SkyCable subscriber for about two decades already and it is only now that she was not able to pay on time and it was because she did not get any notice or billing or any other form of reminder.

It was her first time to have been remiss on her payment over all these years and it was just because she was too preoccupied with her online work. And as I’ve said, she did not receive any billing, notice, call, email or text otherwise, she would have settled immediately.

Granting so, it was only P2,200. A measly amount compared to her standing and loyalty to the company. Her contact details are with SkyCable but no effort was done to reach out to her and remind her of her dues.

I raise no objection to cutting off services if the subscriber failed to pay her dues. But this at least should be done after all efforts to remind the subscriber have been exhausted.

Most importantly, if SkyCable is too quick to disconnect for a measly P2,200 due, it should be just as fast in reconnecting once payment had been done. And to think that in the case of my niece, the payment was done only hours after the disconnection was made.

If their system tells them that someone was not able to pay on time, why, it should also be able to tell if that someone already settled the dues.

President Rodrigo Duterte had been cracking down on the telecommunication companies due to mounting complaints about their very bad service. (Can’t blame him even I, am also a victim of these companies)

Maybe it’s about time that the government also trains its eyes on cable companies like SkyCable. Not only does it charge exorbitantly, it also has the habit of suddenly losing signal without forewarning and without offering any explanation to the subscribers, even when you are updated with your payments.

Also, in this time of the pandemic, aren’t cable companies included in the list of basic utility companies that are supposed to allow staggered payment for their delinquent customers as a consideration for those who have lost their businesses and sources of income? Isn’t this among the provisions of the Bayanihan Act?

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Direct Hit entertains comments, suggestions or complaints. Please have them emailed to [email protected] or text 0917-3132168.

Itchie G. Cabayan
DIRECT HIT entertains comments, suggestions or complaints. Please have them emailed to [email protected] or text 0917-3132168.