Letter: Astro service

Fri, 10/03/2008 7:47 AM | Reader's Forum

What has happened to customer service? It seems lacking in almost all sectors. Here is just a small example from the cable and satellite TV industry.

I’ve had Astro at home for over 18 months. Recently, every day at 6 p.m., the signal cuts out. (I suspect they are switching off an antenna locally due to budget cuts, but that is only my suspicion.)

I called ASTRO’s customer service department to report the problem. They assured me a technician would come to the house within three days to check it out. Of course, they couldn’t be more specific, leaving me trying to juggle my commitments and depend on family and friends to ensure someone was home. No technician came.

I waited. After five days I called and was told they’d definitely come the next day. (Incidentally, there was no apology.) The next day came, the technician didn’t. I called again - the technician would definitely come that evening. I waited in, no technician came.

I called again the next day and was told the technician would definitely show up that day.

Surprise, surprise, no one did. This was over 10 days ago. So I decided that was that, I’d cut ASTRO. This is only one example, but it’s symptomatic of a problem which pervades all sectors of the commercial industry here in Indonesia.