Tuesday 30 August 2005

100th Post

Hooray, I reached 100 posts, now another gazillion more to go. My good mate Dinghy seems to have a little bit of problem with a huge corporation here in good old Malaysia and as the clock ticks to the ever nearing independence day celebration (otherwise known as Merdeka Day) time is running by.

A quick read here would definitely shed some light on the topic.

Now I always wondered how companies who monopolize the market actually stay in the forefront of customer service. Maybe this only works with companies who have more than just a vision to be the very best. Not so much with some of the companies here in Malaysia I would say. I just found that out, but my poor mate had to learn it the hard way. My support goes with him and I am very sure that everyone else out there would like to provide that support as well because not only will it affect them but to everyone here.

To cut a long story short, my friend applied for a phone line and paid for the installation charges. But after the phone line was installed, the line was not working and after several months of complaining, the problem was not fixed at all and the company had the cheek to send my friend a bill for a service which he did not even get. The worst thing is that the company threatened to take legal action.

Since my knowledge of the Malaysian Law system pretty much sucks, I am guessing that legally, his predicament would be in favour of TM but from any consumer's point of view, it is just plain unfair. Would you expect anyone to pay for something that is definitely not what you expect it to be? Worst still, if a consumer is paying for a service but it was not satisfactory, isn't it the consumer's right not to pay for it? Anyone here did an extensive study of consumer rights?

In the light of being the sole provider for telephone lines, I really do hope that in the future that more competition could enter the market because competitiveness between companies brings out the best in them. If not, complacency slips in like a cancer growth, slowly chewing away at the life of not the company but of us consumers. So the real question is, how to we get a greedy company to stop and think about their customers. Plain and simple, responsibility. No more "tidak apa" attitude I would say.

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello mark! :) dont know the difference btwn malaysian law and british law...im assuming they're the same cause apparently we are "supposedly" adopting the common law.

Did the company even try to fix the problem in the first place?

you're right to say that it's unfair for consumers to get substandard services...but then again, nobody really wants to bring an action again them anyway...cause in the end, the cost of getting your case recognized (and then thrown out of the window) would be much higher than the services bill you were thrown with...so i guess that's why this company isnt afraid of giving shitty services... and due to public policy considerations, being the only provider in the whole country, i guess the judicature wouldnt want to jeopardize its reputation...so maybe that's why "legally", the company will always be in favour. i dunno. i've come across several of my spanish friends having the exact same problem as well but not having the power to do anything about it.... hmm...something to think about....