An Unforgettable Experience
Wow, I just got off the most bizarre phone call with M1's customer service. It's really difficult to give a dying business a hand when they can't even take customer complaints seriously. So back in 2023, I activated my M1 data passport when I was back in the United Kingdom for holiday. But I was unable to maximise the usage of the network service due to the poor network connectivity during the entirety of my trip. When I came back to Singapore, I filed a formal complaint at the M1 shop when it was still located at Peranakan Place, just opposite of Orchard Gateway, with one of the sales representatives there at that time, where it was recommended that I had my network fully upgraded to 5G (bear in mind, data passport only allows you to use up to 4G networks, and in the United Kingdom, M1's partner network is Vodafone UK). Still, out of graciousness, and having been a long-term customer of the telecommunications company since my secondary school days, I upgraded my network, clinging on to a belief that M1 would start working on building/upgrading their partner networks. Fast forward to this year, I had activated my M1 data passport, once again back in the United Kingdom, only to experience the same network failure YET AGAIN! Now, I could spend my entire trip, making a fuss, with incompetent M1 customer service, or I could make the trip more pleasant for my family by suppressing my anger and getting a local SIM card and utilising the data network. And so, I did. I purchased a SIM card from EE, whom I found out, is a partner network of Singtel in the United Kingdom, coincidentally. Upon my return from the United Kingdom, I proceeded to make a phone call to M1's customer service earlier this afternoon, where I took the time to explain to them my displeasure of having yet another episode of poor network connection during my month-long trip. The conversation as follows, CS Rep: "Sir, we are unable to do anything right now as you are back in Singapore and there are no issues with your connection. However, if you do experience it again please let us know at that point of time so that we can resolve it." Me: "Would that be all that you can do then? I take it that after being a long-term customer, surely your team will be able to come up with some form of compensation for yet another failure, let's add that it's a REPEATED failure. Or would you rather I took a flight back to the United Kingdom so that I can PROVE to you that I couldn't get a network connection and I couldn't even call out?" CS Rep: "Sir, I was not implying that. All I'm saying is that the next time it happens to get back to us immediately so that we can help to resolve it on the spot." Me: "I COULDN'T EVEN CALL OUT WHEN I WAS THERE. Which part of that did you not understand? And to simplify it for you, unhappy customer, filing a repeated complaint, and you mean to tell me that you are unable to compensate a very unahappy customer who, by the way, will be refusing to pay for the upcoming bill because it makes no sense when he did not even get to enjoy the service at all, and you are demonstrating how utterly useless M1 is that I had to rely on EE, who is a partner of Singtel, in the United Kingdom. Are you implying that I should turn towards your competitors for better network solutions?" CS Rep: "... Sir, I won't be able to stop you from doing so..." Me: "Ok, sure, thanks for confirming with me that I shouldn't have placed such high hopes on your company since last year. And thanks, for confirming with me that M1 is willing to let its loyal and faithful customers walk over to their competitors without even fighting for us, when we have always fought for the company by believeing in your brand. Thanks for making customers like us feel stupid." CS Rep: "Thanks for your time and continuous support all these time." Still at a loss for words with, by far, my greatest disappointment in a local brand, M1, and to think I still gave you lot a chance to redeem yourselves. What a waste of time and money...