Mabuhay Miles Redemption Has Gotten Difficult.

My first ever credit card was an HSBC Mabuhay Miles.  The reason being that i liked the idea of getting free mileage for my purchases.  For a very long time, i was very satisfied with HSBC and Mabuhay Miles because i was able to redeem without a hassle.  Just recently however, i got a communication from HSBC informing me that mabuhay miles will only be earned for platinum holders and that i should exchanged my unredeemed points for miles or other award items.  I was sorry to hear that but then who get's sad about those things right? Credit cards are not even necessary.

Anyway, since i have free miles i decided to redeem it for a flight to Cagayan de Oro.  I called up the mabuhay hotline 2 weeks ago to inquire and the one who answered was very accomodating and informed me that their office has transferred to Petron MegaPlaza and that my ticket will be issued by Pal express. Since i am not going to be the passenger, i needed to go there personally or have a signed redemption form and gave it to my representative. So i went there monday last week taking the mrt during lunch hour so that i will be able to reach them around 1pm.  I work at Tektite, Ortigas by the way so getting to Petron Mega Plaza in Makati was such a big deal for me.  I waited for about 30 minutes or more until my number was called only to be told that they needed to verify if there is a pal express flight available for the particular date i wanted. The only thing is that the pal express attendant has just taken their lunch break and that i have to wait some more.  I decided to just come back on saturday since they are open from 8 to 12 in the morning.

Saturday came and i arrived at PAL office at Petron Megaplaza just around 9 am. Again, i waited for 30 minutes even when there was only 2 before me being entertained. There were lots of service counters on attendance but only two are entertaining guests, apparently because it's what their system currently allows. I was told that they are in transition and that they are addressing the problem. Anyway, when it came to be my time to be entertained i was told that Pal Express no longer has a representative there and that they are holding office at Charter House in Legaspi Village. It's a good thing it's a saturday and that my car has gps installed else it would have been so much more frustrating.

I was able to find Charter House and then again i waited some more only to be told that there were no longer free slots for mabuhay milers on those dates from july 22 onwards. The earliest would already be in august. Normally a flight to cdo will only take 6,500 miles for regular flights. The service counter said i could still take the flight i wanted but that i have to shell out more miles 9,750.  This is the one thing that I didn't understand.  If they said, that all seats were taken i would have let it go. But then i was told that, there are no more seats for mabuhay milers and then later on backtrack on what he said and tells me that there is but its in exchange for higher miles? Can you not make it easier for us Pal Express? I get the feeling that customer service is not the primary concern for PAL and PAL Express.  So disappointing, and to think that it's been several months already since they've merged.

The Trouble With Sky Broadband

I have been a Sun broadband subscriber for more than a year now and while for the most part, I was satisfied with the service when it comes to chatting on skype or on yahoo or on facebook, it leaves much to be desired.  If you can't chat with your loved ones abroad because you get the message " Your internet connection is too slow" or that you always appear offline to them, what good does your internet connection do? If that is the main reason for having an internet subscription and you don't get it then I suppose, you just have to find other provider right? By the way, my sun broadband plan was the monthly Php 799.00

So I applied online for PLDT MyDsl but they took so long to get back to me that I get tired of waiting and applied for Sky Broadband instead.  I only have to call them once and they immediately had me upgraded my cable digital box to hd free and installed internet the day after. Everytime, i have a concern concerning my sky cable subscription, the response is immediate.  My subscription with Sky was for my cable to be upgraded to Php 499 per month from Php 280 previously while my internet is for multiple users, downloads and media streaming.  I expected it to be loads better with my sun subscription.  I can't yet make a comparison since, i have been unable to download movies from isohunt since transferring to Sky although skype signal is a lot much better.

However, 2nd week of August was the week of typhoons and thunderstorms and apparently many were affected.  The skycable modem that came with my subscription lost power. As in there is no light in the power indicator, nada. The same happened with our Pioneer Media Player which is another story.  Anyway, when i called up Sky they got back to me only after the 4th day and replaced me with another modem.  That was saturday evening when i had wifi. My desktop connected to dsl has no internet because apparently the lan card was among the casualty of the power surge which most in our area complained. When i bought a lan card, i can't connect anymore to the internet. I called up Sky cable maybe twice and both times, I was entertained by guys CSR who just told me to do a reset which i already did several times, and when i got back on the phone with them only to find that they already put the phone down. I was told that somebody will come by our house in the morrow if the system is not yet fixed but evening came and nobody came. So i called up sky again and this time, I was referred to a woman csr who if i'm not mistaken was named Angie or sounds about the same. She listened patiently to my complaint, did troubleshooting step-by-step, waited for me to finished doing the instructions on my pc which is in my bedroom while our telephone was in our living room and never put the phone down.  In fact when she told me to restart the pc, modem and router, and to wait for the pc to stabilize before connecting the others, i asked her "should i just call back later when everything's reset already?" She said, she'll wait until everything is done.  Kudos to her! I mean really.  If she's not yet the head of Sky CSR, she should be. And others should learn from her.

But that doesn't mean, my internet is back to normal. I'm still wifi-less, so i still have to slay that dragon or help someone who will do it for me.

One more time UCPB

In an earlier post, I wrote about how customer service sucks at UCPB-San Miguel branch. A few months after having blogged about it, a bank officer called me up and apologized. So it was forgotten already but what's definitely good about it is that there is now a change to how they process over the counter withdrawal concerning accounts opened at other branches and withdrawn from another.  I haven't actually gone back to UCPB-San Miguel since UCPB-shangrila is more convenient for me now. 

When I went to UCPB-Shangrila to make an over the counter withdrawal, it took me less than 15 minutes less when there's fewer people. Apparently, they already view signatures online and only asks for two valid identification cards and presto you get what you came for. They did away with faxing the withdrawal slip to your branch to verify the signature or waiting for the confirmation to be faxed back. Major major improvement in processing time! And by the way, the tellers are more approachable in a way that they don't look too pretty, too made up  or too snobbish that intimadates you from asking questions about your account. Well, it matters to me that tellers should be approachable! They hardly serve with a smile but as long as they are polite and attends to my needs immediately, that's enough for me.

There's just one thing that noticed my attention though: last week when i went there, an old lady asked the UCPB guard his name before going out. Apparently, the lady got miffed because the guard has a habit of looking over the shoulder of customers filling out forms.  Guards should really not do that even when their intention is to be available just in case the customers need help.  Keep a respectful distance. Customers will ask if and when they need help.

So anyway, I am more than satisfied with how UCPB-Shangrila serves.

Manila Water Hotline 1627

When we came back from the long holidays, we returned to our home without water. Apparently, the Manila Water has disconnected our water supply, padlocked it in fact because we were unable to pay the bill since October which amounted to P2,417.27 as relayed to me by their hotline 1627.  Initially, we didn't have any idea where the offices of Manila Water was so we consulted old reliable google and found their website.  

When I called up the hotline, I was told that i can still pay of the due amount at Seven-Eleven plus the reconnection fee which amounted to P400 something. So by 10am yesterday morning, I already paid it and called the hotline immediately after and relayed the receipt number.  Apparently, 7-11 system is online with that of Manila Water that's why the payment was immediately reflected. When I inquired, how long will they be able to send someone to get our water running, they said the standard time is 3-5 days reconnection time. I pleaded if they can expedite it within the day but the only reply was that they already relayed the request to Manila Water. When I asked them if I could have the number of the technical department incharge of the unlocking( in search of a better term), they said that they don't have a number.  After about 2 more calls to their customer service, they told me that i could probably go to their business center to relay my request personally.

So we spent a whole day and night without water and again today.  This morning, i was dropped off at Manila Water service area by the husband located at the corner of United and Mayflower St at Greenfield District near Edsa Central.  Since it was early and there was only one other customer, I was immediately entertained by a certain Mr. Nilo  who told me that i paid in excess of what was due Manila Water even including the reconnection fee.  He then told me that I should have gone directly to the business office after paying so that they could have process the reconnection immediately. We could have spend the night free of asking favor from our next door neighbor for water.  Really, what the heck was the hotline 1627 for if they can't sense the urgency of our request for immediate reconnection when all i could have done is go pay at the business center?  All they tell you was that they already forwarded the request but when Mr Nilo asked his fellow employee if she received a request for reconnection from our account, she said that there was none!

After sitting for about five minutes there, I was told by Mr Nilo and the lady employee he gave the order to that our water supply will be restored within the day. Let's see if it is really as they see it is considering that I was made to fill -up a customer feedback form by Mr Nilo asking about his service.

PS

I went again to the business office to follow up because it was already 4pm and we still didn't have any water only to be told that they already sent someone but that it was opened past 5pm already.  So yeah, this time around they made good on their promise that water service is restored within the day but they could have made it easier for me if they had just given me a number to their office just to follow up. That still sucks!

HSBC's low home loan rate

These past two weekends we mostly spend on the road checking out houses from as far as Las Pinas to the south and Marikina to the north. I've also combed the net and actually found a house which seems to fit right into our budget and also right in the heart of the city of Makati.  So now that we have found a suitable place to purchase, we were already thinking of how to go about acquiring our dream home.  We don't have a stashful of cash hidden so bank financing is a must. 

First on our list is HSBC. Why, because according to leaflets they are inserting into my monthly credit card statements, they are offering a home loan rate at 5.99% for 1 year re-pricing! Also, i had high hopes that my inquiry would be met with enthusiasm after all, by my standards I have a pretty good credit rating, by way of paying on time even before due dates.  That's not limited to credit card debts by the way, I am also diligent with my other obligations in other financial institutions. So anyway, I called up their hotline and got entertain by a customer representative who initially told me that the 5.99% was monthly rate! Yup, i had to ask him again and again but he still firm on the 5.99% as monthly rate.  Regardless, he told me that a home loan specialist will contact me in 2-3 business days to answer about my particular concern.

The following day, friday I again called up their hotline and inquired about their home loan rate if it's really monthly or annual.  The CS this time told me that it's annual and that she told me that she put my request on express mode to signify the urgency so that whoever the home loan specialist they assigned to me will find ways to talk to me earlier. That was friday. Monday came, then tuesday and then wednesday still there was no call.  By the way, I also filled up their online request form to talk to a home loan specialist but nobody got back to me.  I suppose, they had bigger clients to attend to.  

But I've always thought of HSBC as really up there in customer service. Contrast that with Union Bank and UCPB. When i emailed UCPB for an inquiry about home loan rate, not even a minute after sending that email my phone was already ringing and a bank representative was already calling me ready to answer all my queries.  When I also called up Union Bank-Wackwack branch, I was also immediately entertained by their business manager.  But then again Union bank and UCPB offers 9.75% as against 5.99%.  So I am giving HSBC the benefit of the doubt here.  Maybe they are just swamped with home loan applications that they didn't bother getting back to me?

Making banking so much easier for you..

3 days after giving birth to Ann Margaret, I needed to go back to MMC for newborn screening. And since, I am already out anyway, i might as well do some errands which includes paying bills and groceries.

I went to Edsa-Shangrila Mall branch of Banco de Oro and proceeded to pay in cash my credit cards with baby in my arms. Ordinarily, i would be satisfied with their service but because the line is quite long about 5 persons before me and i am carrying a baby, and i saw their poster saying "making banking so much easier for you", i was suddenly dissatisfied. It is true, that they have an online facility for paying bills and although i am already enrolled in the service, i still c'ant pay the bills because i have to personally go to any of their branch, fill up a form to enrol a biller. Unlike Unionbank's online facility which just allows you to choose from their available list of billers. Unfortunately, i have no more money left in my union bank so i can't do online bills payment.

Anyway, there was one man before me who offered me to go ahead of him seeing i am carrying a baby. There was also a korean who also very kindly offered me to do my transactions ahead of hers. But what i really wanted was for the BDO staff to recognize the difficulty of carrying a baby and should have made proper actuations to "make banking so much easier" for me, for nursing mothers like me, for pregnant women and for all others with temporary or permanent disabilities, senior citizens, like maybe by setting up a special lane for us?

Or is that too much to ask from a giant corporation for the multitude of depositors and clients who are not as influential as their favored clients who have large deposits?

MMC Medical Records

With all the advances makati medical center made in terms of investments in state-of-the-art equipment and training of its medical staff, you'd think that there's little room for improvement now. Actually, there is still an area in makati med that needs improvement and i am referring to the services of the Medical Records department as well as the Admissions department which is responsible for the release of the certificate of live birth.

When i gave birth last April 9, 2010 ,i actually expected to get the certificate of live birth anytime before the discharge as what happened with my previous childbirth experience with other hospitals in the province or at least a week after discharge. Instead, we were given a certificate of live birth claim slip that says that we have to call mmc after a month for confirmation if a temporary copy of the birth certificate is already available. A month after and it's not even sure we can get the copy of a TEMPORARY birth certificate! When i called them up 8888-999 loc 3002 i was told it would take that long because the draft certificate of live birth we submitted will have to be typed and then signed by the attending obgyne. Also, they will have it registered first. But really, a month? For such a hospital like MMC who prides itself in providing first class service? Uggh...

Anyway, a day after discharge i needed to return to MMC for newborn screening. Since my philhealth benefit was not yet deducted from my bill, i was told by philhealth to get a delivery report as support for my updated mdr and filing of my claim for reimbursement. I decided to go the the medical records to request for such copy, i actually thought i will be able to bring home one upon request but i was told that i have to wait for 3 more weeks to follow up. During that time, i witness a client who was obviously very angry and not caring that she's scolding the staff for such lousy service. Apparently, she also requested a medical report and she already did follow ups(i dont know how many) but nothing came of it. She asked for the name of the doctor who made a surgery on her coz she wanted to talked to the doctor herself, and according to her, she didn't even know that a surgery was made on her. She told the staff at the counter that if she missed her flight, would mmc shoulder her plane fare?

It didn't help that the attitude of the MMC employee was like, he didn't know the status of the request. He can't even placate the irate client. When it's my turn to file a request, he asked for my name, asked for the date of delivery, consulted with a colleague after which he returned to me and just gave me a piece of paper containing a number with which to contact for follow ups. Maybe he is a new employee, or hungry because its nearing 1 o'clock and he has not had lunch yet, or maybe he just doesn't care.

Even if records management is not your flagship service, still it is important to us your client.

An update: This morning i had my follow up consultation with my obgyne and i proceeded to the medical records just to check if the requested delivery report was ready for release even though i was told the first time i filed that i have to follow it up after 3 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised when the report is ready and there was no hassle at all just after 10 days of my giving birth. It's a considerable improvement considering i was actually expecting to get it a month after. I'm conceding therefor that i may have been too hasty in my opinion and maybe that woman who i chanced upon loudly complaining at the medical records may have had a different problem with mine and perhaps it is an isolated incident. Also, when i went to Admissions a duplicate copy of the birth certificate stamped registered was ready when they said that it will also be available after a month. I would therefor conclude that i am now satisfied with the MMC's medical records and admissionn department but then again, they could still improve it perhaps a week after request of the reports? There's always room for improvement, right?

Mommy for the 3rd time around..

The first day of my last menstrual period was July 15, i think. So the estimated birth of my baby will be on or before April 23 of 2010. I planned to start my maternity leave April 16, so that i will still be receiving a salary for the first half of April but by April 6, i was just too lazy perhaps because my discomfort in boarding a jeep is becoming unbearable lately. It would have been nice if a taxi is readily available but it is so difficult to get a taxi near our place.

Anyway, the latest appointment I had with my obgyne was April 5 and she said that i'm already 4 cm dilated. I also noticed that my mucus discharge has increased considerably. I have been expecting actually that my water bag will burst anytime soon but i was mistaken. Friday came and later in the afternoon i already found spots of blood with my mucus discharges. After taking a bath and making sure that i have everything i needed, we(hubby,my mama, and michelle) went to Makati Med. I checked in at the delivery room immediately at about thirty minutes past five pm.

Upon check-in, a nurse gave me a gown with which to change and a plastic with which to put my dress and underwear. I was strapped to a fetal monitor and some other equipment. The doctors and nurses were very nice and accomodating and careful as well as mindful of my inhibitions. Even after having been through personal vaginal examinations, and other tests, one really never gets used to having yourself exposed. Not unless you are Maria Ozawa, but that's another topic.

Anyway, My obgyne is Dr. Nora Figueroa-Santos and during one of my pre-natal consultations with her, i already stated my preference for the Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery package of MMC which costs 47,500 inclusive of a private room with tv, as well as an epidural anesthesia but expects some other items added into your bill because of other medications that will be administered while yet in the delivery room. The package calls for a 50% downpayment upon check in and the other balance payable upon check-out. In my 2 previous successful pregnancy and delivery, i never had an epidural. It was natural delivery all the way. In an epidural anesthesia, a local anesthetic was administered to me so that when the "real" anesthesia is inserted in between my spine it would not be as painful. The pain i felt was more than a prick but it really was bearable. I no longer felt any sensation in my legs and even my lower back, there was no pain except that i had uncontrollable chill which made me very tired as i tried to control my muscles especially my shoulders. I vomited 3 times, my bp shoot to 150/90, i had pain in the nape of my neck and i had negative thoughts which i refused to entertained. My normal bp even during pregnancy is only at 90/60. I remember i just kept on repeating praying the Lord's Prayer. Sometime during the night the effect of the anesthesia lessened and i felt the need to defecate which in an indication that i was near giving birth, finally.

Since i won't be able to feel the contraction when they will give me another dose of the anesthesia, they told me to listen to them because it will be them who will give me the signal on when to take a deep breath, hold it for about 10 counts and pushed. True enough, when they whirled me into the OR, i only gave me just enough time to set up the equipments and get ready for the birthing. In my second set of pushing baby maggie is already out. And i am just really thankful that me and my baby are ok and that God heard our prayers and the Novenas to Our Mother of Perpetual Help came through. I think Dr. Nora Santos did some repair stitches on me, and i have to say that she was really very nice to me during the whole birthing process, and also the anesthesiologist, the nurses and even the non-medical staff who helped me during the administration of the epidural. At first impression, i thought Dr. Nora was a bit stand offish and looks down on lesser mortals but apparently, I was wrong.

I stayed a little bit more at the recovery room after which they changed my gown in preparation for the transfer to my room. Hubby waited for me at the lobby of the 6th floor together with mama. I told him to just go home so that he could rest properly but he left only morning of the next day. Baby Maggie was roomed in with me. And i am just so happy seeing her. The kind of happiness which is warm, and content and calm. And i thought of AJ and Abby, and my joy just trippled. At that moment, all the sting of my other problems just seem like hazy thing of the past. And i dont have to think about them.

Praise God.