Cashing Out with GCash

We had an online customer who paid us online via Globe G-Cash for a wire-bound picturebook a couple of weeks back. I never got around to cashing out since the Globe Hub at the Rockwell Power Plant closed down some time ago (I guess most residents in Rockwell use Smart?!). Since I needed some cash today, I dropped by the Globe business center in Blue Wave Marquinton of Marikina on my way to our store, to do a "cash-out" (that's what they call when you want to convert your G-Cash into real money).

My first problem was, I couldn't remember my MPIN. Globe requires that you keep changing your MPIN every few months. And you are not allowed to re-use your last 3 MPIN's. For people who don't use their G-Cash on a regular basis, its practically impossible to remember the latest MPIN. So as expected, my transaction failed.

The lady asked me to called the G-Cash hotline 2882 to request for a password reset. So I used my Globe Handyphone to call the number. For those of you with a Globe phone, try calling that number (its a toll-free number anyway). It has one of the DUMBEST Interactive Voice Response (IVR) prompt! Ever!

The prompt goes:

"Welcome to your G-Cash Hotline. If you wish to talk to a customer service representative, press '0'."

That's all! Now lets ponder about that for a second. Is it just me or do you see the stupidity of the whole prompt? Maybe I'm just picky because in a previous lifetime, I actually wrote IVR software. This one is just plain stupid. Why would you bother putting an IVR if **THERE IS ONLY ONE OPTION TO CHOOSE FROM ANYWAY** ?!

If there is no press '1' for this; press '2' for that; etc., then why even bother putting a prompt? Why not just direct the customer straight to the customer service representative holding queue? Its not as if you have any other choice anyway! Is that sort of a trick just to filter out stupid people who don't know how to navigate IVR's from talking to the human operator?

Anyway, I digress. I got to talk to the operator who helped me reset my MPIN. The next problem was -- Globe's SMS system seems to be overloaded this Sunday afternoon. When the lady sends a Cash-Out SMS Request, you have to reply back with the MPIN confirmation within 5 mins. Otherwise, the transaction fails. But because Globe's SMS was particularly slow this afternoon, I was practically receiving the MPIN request at the same time as the time-out notification! D'oh!

After doing it a couple of times with the lady, I finally was able to get my P850 in cash. The whole transaction (including my waiting time at the queue) must have taken 30 mins or more!