Paypal: Hijacked?

I have been using paypal since 2005. Until recently (had it been months?), it had been very safe, very easy to use, and very efficient.

What's going on?

1.  It now asks new users whether they are sellers or buyers (seems, you cannot be both).
Fine. If you are an old user, beware of changing your bank details, you'll be doomed!
2. Then, if you are a seller, your account automatically requires your own bank-registered business name. It automatically assumes (and insists!) that your bank account, even if you state while registering your details that it is a personal account and AFTER you input your name, that it is named AFTER your business account.
3. If you cannot properly place a bank account, you have limitations like withdrawing (you cannot even withdraw from your credit card, I understand).
4. But assuming you already inputed properly your bank details and withdraw, you will learn that the transaction was reversed. Because paypal used a business name instead of your inputed personal name.
5. Or it is reversed because it is automatically a checking (current) account.
6. And after all the delays and mistakes, you are charged about US$5 for the reversion. This is thick!
7. You pay for a mistake that paypal insists & committed!

Dispute a paypal mistake & you get this!

Then,

1. You cannot dispute that mistake.
2. Because paypal will only give you one option in their "resolution center" which is "report an unauthorized activity" - which is FALSE, of course, because you made that activity.
3. But you are forced to click only one button, because the other option is to send them a message, which was NEVER read at all.
4. But if you opt to send a message instead, you get a reply on your email stating how to use paypal (using JUST keywords on your message), which you already knew because you read/saw how in their website already. Well, they ask you to email back in case the issue is not resolved.
5. So, you email back.
6. And still you have robotic customer service representatives (CSR) answering you other things instead of helping you resolve the problem (like correcting your account details).
7. BUT apparently, the number or all numbers being sent to the CSR are censored!

Worse

1. If you clicked those questions AFTER "report an unauthorized activity", you are doomed!
2. OK, so, if you click a paypal transaction (charged for penalty) for dispute under the Resolution Center, they will automatically block your account, and you can only resolve the issue by calling their Nebraska phone at +1 402 9352050.
3. You will be answered by an AI machine, which does NOT recognize numbers by voice or by keypad. So, you get to repeat inputing the same number over and over again until you meet your call limits (subscription if you do not have a postpaid phone). And then it will insist it does not recognize your number, so, you input the number you used in your paypal account, but as I said, could it really be communicating with your phone? They don't seem to be from the same planet!!!
4. SO, you buy another call load for your phone.
5. And do the process again and again (today, it will be my 12th time to call). Now, my Globe IDD wants to compete, it keeps being cut!!!
6. At other times, the AI lets you go through, and then, the other challenge kicks in - a recorded  message that is so -  coming from the earth's abyss itself, you can hardly recognize a word it is saying... (I must need a hypersonic hearing aid already!)
7. Then, if you are lucky, there's a CSR to answer your call (hallelluia!!!)
8. So, she will get your cryptic email address (he or she will have a difficulty understanding it, of course!), so you get stuck a few minutes just trying to figure out what the hell is your email address!
9. And when you finally were able to send through the message you are trying to send through, breathe.
10. The CSR will send you a verification code... Or was it an email link? No, first, a verification code to your email, before she gives you an email link to finally restore your account!
11. Well, hold that hallelluia! Because if you do not have a kingdom-come-call-limitations, your load just expired! (OK, mine).
12. Go back to 1. Whichever "1 "you want. Up there.

calls at paypal taking about 10 minutes... before you can actually speak to a live human.

The many call logs which paypal insists I upload to their website AFTER I log-in (they have blocked me, how can I log in?)

So Paypal, you win. I'll try to start finding other options now, go check out those other payment systems, maybe, they have not been hijacked yet! And, yes, I'll stop telling everyone to use paypal. I can't afford more angry looks. (I've more than enough for myself already).

Dear Asus, Please hire a human common sense, thank you!

This Asus "In Search of the Incredible" K555L is my third Asus laptop. It was probably in 2006 when I first bought an Asus. I left it in my office, and was wet the following day as storm water splashed through the glass windows left partially open. I worried it would be the end of the gadget, but the office IT suggested I leave it under sun shine to dry. After a few hours, it is up and running. You've won a loyal customer.

I was even able to sell it 4 years later, still in good condition, as I bought another model at that time: Asus Power Gear 4.
It worked until it blacked out in February this year. When I went to the Metro (as I have become a rural resident since 2010), I was contemplating between a Macbook, and - yes - an Asus. The saleslady (this time I believe I did not use half of my common sense) vetoed my apple choice, and suggested Asus is better, with its 2-year parts and service warranty. I also saw a previous Asus advertisement - or I am not sure anymore but it was my son who showed the video to me- of how sturdy it is and all, the one which was thrown down from up above.

To make it short, I bought another Asus at Market Market!'s Abenson store. In the 31st of January, 2016.

By late May, the rotator portion (the middle bend) started misbehaving - it will not close properly. By June, it cracked. Then, it fell off eventually. With screws falling off also. I travelled 12 hours (daytime) by bus from Vigan to have it checked at Abenson's after they told me to bring it to their store as it was still covered with warranty. Then, when I brought it there, the sales person in-charge said I would need to bring it to MSI-ECS which was 2-commute-rides away from Market! Market!

I called the MSI number they gave and the staff who answered told me that indeed, the flex / rotator problem was still covered and will be repaired for free. In fact, he added that it was a common complaint from Asus K55L customers.

 

After I logged in the details of my product complaint and was talking to the MSI staff, I was informed by the male staff that it would take 3-4 days to diagnose the unit. I told them it does not need diagnosing, as the only problem I had was its rotator / flex cap, and showed them it was broken. It cannot be done without the total diagnosis, he replied. Then, he told me that it will probably take 3 weeks to have the material replaced.

I tried to absorb the information and told them, it was fine with me, I will just return when the replacement is already sent by Asus main. Then, they said I would need to leave to them my notebook... I explained my predicament, that my laptop is the gadget of my entire livelihood, and that I cannot do without it.

They said it was SOP. Standard operational procedure.

I suggested that they expplain it to their human counterparts at Asus. "I am sure you are dealing with humans."

"It cannot be," the female staff said. "They require that the unit be here when the replacement is requested."

"You can make the request now, that the unit is here," I said.

"No, the unit has to be here when the replacement is delivered," she replied.

"Are you trying to discourage me to avail of the free warranty?" I asked.

The lady just kept repeating it was the standard procedure.

"When I called, your staff said that this is already a common problem, I am sure that since you are dealing with digital technology, you have an idea of how many Asus K555L you were able to sell, and with the knowledge that this rotator cap is problematic, you should have at least made an estimate and requested for stock of that rotator cap in order to streamline your service. And now, you are telling me you have to detain my source of livelihood for 3 weeks? What am I supposed to do then during that 3 weeks? SUggest this to your boss, or the humans you deal with at Aus," I said.

She only gave me the Asus number. No human contacts, just a phone number. 

Ergo, will I have to repeat the same stories again and again? Humans - well, the ones with common sense intelligence, will know how to shorten and make things a lot easier than this. It's like calling any other customer service hotline of main brands. You get passed on to different robotic humans because AFTER they get your personal details, they'll only tell you the person in-charge is in another local number or different department, or any other different station in life that I need to be passed on, and on, and on.

I hate digital. We start to act like robots are our bosses. I hope I am wrong that the Asus manpower lacks human brains and human common sense. Otherwise, I would need to reconsider my laptop brand, very badly. Maybe, we need a NEW human relations, and customer service system.

Update: September 12, 2016

After contacting Asus through their website via email, I was able to present my case, and the CSR told me to go ahead and negotiate with the service center branch. The service center confirmed that instead of the 3 weeks time of detaining the unit, they now can "rush" diagnosis of the unit within one day, and they can now process ordering replacement of parts even if the unit will be brought out by the customer. I am then asked to simply return the unit once a replacement part has arrived. 

This is a lot of improvement.

Thank you, Asus for returning humans in your system.

Hello BDO: A Short Story based on Facts

A few months back, like, May 18, my wallet was snatched

(the customer service representative from SM Hypermart The Block corrected me: "Na-snatch-an po kayo? Baka na-pick-pocket?" And I acquiesced, retorting coyly, "Ay, oo nga pala..." out of short-circuit, biglang bumagal ang memory ko... my original byte coud have produced this retort: E miss, di naman sa bulsa dinukot, at dinaan lang sa bilis ng kamay..." I hate it!

)

and with it are IDs and a BDO-issued credit card. I reported it immediately, inside the store.
The next or a couple of days later, a CSR called me up requesting me to fax billing address evidence. I did immediately as asked. Every 2 weeks after, I called the BDO hotline 6318000 to follow-up and until the second week of August, I was informed it (the card!) was already ready for release.Two or 3 weeks later, I received a billing statement for the credit card which has not arrived! I immediately called to learn the card was not informed that it should have been released and should have started walking to its intended master. All hell and its neighboring holes broke loose.

A couple of days later, I received the card.

It has sit idle on my phone table a few weeks now, I was waiting for it to make up its mind and learn I was not gonna smooth my fingers on it to turn it into a genie... I am waiting for the cancellation of service fees charged on me days before I even met the card I was being charged with. And the notification I requested that I already canceled my order for a replacement.

I hate BDO, especially the one in West Avenue cor Del Monte. It has monster clerks. Especially the fat bully who terrorizes not only clients or customers but the senior officers in there, I kept wondering what's keeping her on her job. She's Ursula from The Little mermaid... I had a series of nightmarish experiences in there, with Ursula.

And then, there's the "pick-pocket" experience at The Block, and this credit card experience... Everyday, Customer Service to me takes mutilated meanings and forms that make each encounter a release of evil thoughts... Hmmm, they (CSRs) are useful, afterall.

If I Were A Customer Service Representative

Not that I am sour-graping because I failed in the "reading" examination given by Teleperformance ages ago... but that I am so mean to CSRs, I regret each time I was forced to. So, to balance matters, I also do some reflective thinking and wonder:

How would I say the following if I were a CSR and had to handle a person like me:

* I don't use this brand. I am only trying to answer complaints in a nice way.
* Use the competitor brand.
* Stop bickering, it was your fault.
* You've been had big time.
* Did you read it was "made in China"?
* Fuck you!

If I had been hired, I'd probably speak fiction:

Ma'am, that model was pulled out of the shelves a few months back. (It's really defective.)
Sir, you must have a very charming smile... (I have no answer).
I am glad to inform you that our company already agreed to pull out of Beijing because of your complaint (Throw it, it's useless).
Our research department will go through your case right now and we will get back to you as soon as you can call again (Get lucky).
I have only been using this product as a Chrsitmas give-away (I'm not as dumb as you to buy this one).
I just dispatched our emergency team to attend to your request (Cut it off!)

Fortunately, I am not a customer service representative.

Customer Service

Customer Service, in its early inception was a brilliant offshoot of TQM with customer satisfaction as the goal. This makes prices of products and services go a notch higher than the usual. Then, customer satisfaction has evolved to after-sales services that have the poor consumer bombarded with unsolicited letters, calls and emails asking, probing, and forcing them to go and waste more money about their products. Through this line, CSR or customer service representatives were created. They run the gamut of sales representatives to technical experts that tells you where the letter "Q" in your keyboard is and that you need to plug in an electrical outlet a gadget before its "on" button lights up, or anything to that effect... and yeah, the spammers... they are also called CSR.

Owing to its acceptance and popularity, this customer service line has created a whole new spectrum of service and poured in billions of dollars in low-labor-cost, English-speaking third world countries like India and the Philippines. In fact, an agent is screened by having her or him say a couple of lines in English. If you happen to pronounce the words correctly, you're hired and would start to get paid with about $235 monthly. Provincial rates are lower, though, if they ever get paid regularly at all. So, in reality, it does not really matter if the dork hired was a dean's lister or a dumb pa-sosi (social climber in Philippine lingo) as long as the words were pronounced properly, or convincingly.

In the Philippines, job turn-over is fast in call centers as these CSRs burn out. It is because half of customers calling were either totally innocent about the product or service they have bought, or too smart to accept they have been duped. Both kind of customers could take the sanity away from the CSR in a matter of minutes. But behind those perfect-sounding English, the customer gets:

- wrong answer (99% of the time based on personal experience)
- imperfect grammar, if ever discernible at all.
- scripted message
- scripted message repeated again and again until the customer gets the hint and slams the phone to smithereens
- a nervous wreck (both ends - the CSR and the customer)
- a relay message "Yes ma'am/sir I will inform the people concerned about this."
- a message informing the customer to visit the nearest CSR in the area (after being told to call the CSR hotline)
- worsened headache
- madness.

So, if one studies closely the chain, there only is an added layer between the customer and their "concerned" manufacturer/ service provider: a buffer, a shock absorber, a barf bag.

The better of which one screws more, faster, then probably disappear...
-end-

Sorry to pester you once again about Customer Service. I have just called this (632)-8542100 CSR hotline and it's Air 21 who answered when I had a shipment placed through a DHL outlet. I was expecting the LBC-24 hours delivery type which the CSR (sales clerk) assured me... Only to find out I was given the 2-working days type of delivery, which means that the one I shipped around 9 AM in June 19 Thursday shall be delivered either on Monday or Tuesday. So much for express delivery.