PLDT myDSL's idiotic policies....

A few minutes ago I was talking with a PLDT customer service representive regarding a concern I have with my PLDT myDSL account. What she told me gave me fits that I couldn't help but raise my voice at the poor girl.

In a nutshell: You have to pay a fee of P5,000.00 if you want to downgrade your account. Needless to say, that has got to be one of the most idiotic policies I've ever heard of.

The thing is, I have been a PLDT myDSL subscriber for more than a year now, and my lockout period has already expired. I'm currently paying P1,995.00 a month for broadband access supposedly up to 768 Kbps. When I first got on broadband more than a year ago, P1,995.00 per month was the lowest plan available, and it offered up to 384 Kbps of bandwidth. A few months after my subscription was locked in, they came up with a cheaper plan, only P999.00 a month for 256 Kbps internet access. Now, they have upgraded their cheapest plan by offering up to 384 Kbps for the same amount.

I figured since I really didn't need all that bandwidth (up to 768 Kbps under my current plan, though I usually only see bandwidth in the area of 512 Kbps or so), I would just wait until my lock up period has expired, than I would request that my account be downgraded to the P999.00 plan with 384 Kbps, which was actually what I started out a year ago. No biggie. Or so I thought.

The girl at the other end of the line told me that I would have to pay P5,000.00 if I wanted my account downgraded. SAY WHAT?!? P5,000.00? What kind of idiotic policy is that? They suckered me into paying P1,995.00 for a year when they would be offering a cheaper package down the road, and now that I want my account downgraded after dutifully complying with the conditions of my lock up, they want to fleece P5,000.00 of my hard earned money just to downgrade my account?

I certainly gave the poor girl an earful. She wanted me to write a letter requesting that the downgrade fee be waived and have the letter endorsed through their business centers. I refused, saying that I don't want the inconvenience of making a letter, having it received at one of their offices, and be following up with some anonymous person/s for weeks with hardly any result.

She was nice enough to give in to my demand though, and she made a request on my behalf through their system.

The fact remains, I still think that policy is totally idiotic. There's no lock up period to speak of anymore, so why should they charge me such an unreasonable amount just for downgrading my account? On a whim, I asked how much do I have to pay as penalty if I wanted to cancel my account during the lock up period. I was told that I would have to pay an amount equivalent to three months' service fees. At my P1,995.00 plan, that would amount to P5,985.00. Comparing the P5,985.00 penalty and the downgrade fee of P5,000.00, it seems that PLDT doesn't really discriminate between those who cancel their accounts within the lock up periods and those who just want to downgrade their accounts. They're an equal opportunity fleecer, even when one subscriber has complied with the terms of the subscription, and the other hasn't.

From this experience, I can only conclude that PLDT is nothing but a money-hungry glutton which is more concerned over making money than building up goodwill with their subscribers.

Those who subscribed a year or so ago would probably remember the free printer promo they offered with a new DSL subscription. The problem was, the printer was supposedly free, but you were required to buy ink cartridges from them. And we all know the cost of ink for inkjet printers is just about equivalent to the cost of new printer nowadays. Shame on them for coming up with idiotic policies. Shame on them for treating their subscribers like idiots.

I'm making this post so that everyone will know.