Globe Centrex and Globe's Customer Service

I seldom lose my cool when talking to call center operators since I know that they are just doing their job, and that they are mainly just following a "script" prompted in front of them. But I had this really annoying conversation today with a Globe call center agent (730-1288) that I want to rant about.

Since Marikina was badly hit by Ondoy last Sept 26, Globe lost their landline phone service for several months. When they finally got their system back online (was it end of November?), they had to change all their subscribers telephone numbers. That was a major pain since we are in the food delivery business and we have invested heavily in promoting our vanity number for the past 4 years. But since there's nothing we can do about it, we just have to move on.

Now the issue here is our original Globe phones were using the Centrex service. After Globe restored their service and changed our numbers, they became regular, direct lines. And yet, Globe is continuing to bill us based on Centrex rates (which is about P100 more than regular lines).

I called Globe before and they insisted that the restored lines are still Centrex, but I know for a fact that they are not. Centrex lines require one to dial '9' before getting an "outside line". But the restored phone clearly does not require this. The moment you lift it, you get an "outside line". This means its a regular phone service.

When I called today, the operator again insisted that we are still on Centrex. I politely told her that there is a mistake in their system and that the service restored to us was not Centrex but regular line. She asked if I could wait while she checks with her supervisor. I said, sure, no problem. I was still ok at this point.

When she came back on the phone, she told me that her supervisor instructed her to tell me that it is really a Centrex line and that I should ask my technical/engineering people to configure our PBX to work properly with the line. Now this is where it really got into my nerve. It is very clear to me that the call center supervisor does not even have a clue as to what Centrex is all about! The whole point of getting a Centrex line is PRECISELY so that you don't have to install a PBX. That is the main selling point of Centrex -- its a "virtualized PBX"! It makes absolutely no sense to install a Centrex line on a PBX.

Its really sad that telcos don't really understand Centrex services because I think its one of the best Value-Added Service (VAS) to plain-vanilla landline service. PLDT and BayanTel both have not had any luck selling Centrex to the general populace either. I can't understand why since its a wonderful service, in my opinion. Its even more pitiful that even telco employees don't understand their own product.

To end the story -- I just asked the call center operator for instructions on how I go about converting my service type from Centrex to direct line, since its already a direct line anyway.