when your DREAM becomes a nightmare

From 2007 until this last Sunday, I have been feeling good about my subscription with Dream Satellite TV http://www.dream.com.ph/. [Hindi po ako pa-sosyal, wala lang talagang cable providers pa dito sa village namin, eh hindi ko kakayanin ang hindi manood ng GMA Telebabad, Amazing Race Asia, CSI, Las Vegas, and House... lol] So guess where the bad dream starts? With a simple conversation with the customer service representative from Dream TV. My subscription ended on Sep 13 so I have to either reload a prepaid card worth 890, or to request for an auto debit arrangement between Citibank and Dream. So here is how it went:

Ring ring... ring ring... "Welcome to Dream... yadda yadda... "

"Hello good afternoon, this is Bembol*. How may I help you?" *D ko sure kung Bembol nga, ganun dinig ko eh.

"Hello good afternoon. A few minutes ago I called Citibank and enrolled my Dream TV account for the Auto Debit arrangement. What else do I need to process with you to get this going?"

"Ah ma'am pwede ko po ba makuha ang smart card number niyo?"

Yadda yadda... "...bale I am transacting in behalf of my husband."

"OK lang po yun Ma'am. Eh Ma'am, nag expire na pala subscription mo nung Sept 13 so since may pending autodebit arrangement request naman kayo, ipapa temporary recon ko nalang po yung account niyo hanggang maka receive kami ng fax document from Citibank, stating na nag apply nga kayo for autodebit."

"OK cge, pwede ko makuha fax number niyo? Ipapa-send ko na sa kanila ngayon."

"Ah ma'am eto po..." yadda yadda...

"Cge thank you, I'll call you back once OK na sa side ng Citibank."

So I called Citi and the officer willingfully obliged to send Dream the screenshot of their request utility (where they put in my request for autodebit arrangement.) After 30 minutes, I called Dream.

"Good afternoon, kanina I was asked by your rep to ask Citibank to send a confirmation of my enrolment for autodebit. Kindly check if it's there na?" I waited for this rep to ask my name or my smart card number... pero di tinanong... clairvoyant siguro siya!

After mga 30 seconds: "Ma'am wala po eh. Wala kaming natanggap."

"Ah so hindi mo pa ako tinatanong ng name ko or smart card number ko, eh alam mo na agad na walang nareceive na fax for my account?"

"Ay oo nga pala ma'am, ano po bang pangalan niyo? Or smart card number?" Yadda yadda. I gave my details.

"Ma'am sandali lang po, ichecheck ko ulit." After a some time...

"Ma'am wala po talaga kami nareceive eh. Paki sabi nalang po sa Citibank magpadala ulit."

"Okay, confirm ko lang fax number ulit ha.." yadda yadda

"Yes ma'am tama po. Kapag po okay na, tawag kayo ulit."

Guess what... this same conversation repeated itself THREE times, with THREE different agents, and still the same freakin' result: asking Citibank to "REFAX again and again." In other words, the very helpful Citiphone officer "faxed" the document SIX TIMES kasi they have two fax numbers. [By the way, thanks to Citibank for being very professional, for being very patient, and for being very consistent with their customer service.]

And for the fourth time... hindi na makatiis ang lala girl niyo. So... ayan at naisip ko... iphone conference ko nga itong churvang Dream na ito with the highly professional Citiphone officers. Exciting!!!

After the usual opening script...

"Hi. I'm calling for the fourth time na. I'd like to know if you have already received the document sent by Citibank via fax?"

Hindi pa rin ako tinanong ng name and account number!!! "Ah ma'am wait lang po ha."

"Ma'am wala po eh."

"Grabe naman kayo... tatlong beses na pinadala sa isang number, so may SIX documents na dapat kayo diyan na pare-pareho lang ang laman..." Hindi ko tinigilan! Nanggigil ako eh. "Pano niyo ba tinitignan kung meron nga o wala eh hindi niyo pa tinatanong ang pangalan ko? I am sure wala naman kayong caller ID. Hindi naman automated ang system niyo. Alam ko yan."

"Ma'am kunin ko po smart card number niyo."

Yadda yadda. "Ma'am wait lang po."

Later... "Ma'am wala po talaga eh. Pakisabi po ipadala nalang ulit sa amin."

"HA?! Eh di four times na sila magpapadala?! Teka lang ha... actually nasa kabilang line na yung Citiphone officer eh. Kayo nalang ang mag-usap. Icoconference call ko kayo ha."

"Ma'am ano po?"

"Icoconference call ko kayo. Ibig sabihin, tatlo tayong mag uusap."

"Ay ma'am wait lang po, teka lang po. Check ko nalang po ulit."

O di natakot ka! Grrr...

Later... "Ma'am may nareceive po kami, three documents po pero malabo. Pakisabi po magpadala ng malinaw."

"Teka, akala ko ba wala?! Eh meron naman pala?! Iba ang WALA sa MERON pero malabo ha. Magkaibang-magkaiba yun. Kung kanina niyo pa sinabi sa akin na "malabo" eh di sana yun ang sinabi ko sa Citibank. Wait lang. Mag-usap kayo."

"Ma'am..." Nagsasalita pa si Inday eh kinausap ko na si Citi. I explained what happened - Dream received the docs but these were not clear enough for them to read. The professional Citiphone officer assured me that he would just talk to Dream to assure them of my pending application, and that he will supply them with whatever details they need to get.

Okay so the conversation between these two agents went on smoothly. As said, Citi remained very professional and consistent... while Dream transformed from being too nasty to "a little bit less nasty" because of the respectful manner by which Citi handled the call. One thing I noticed is, while the Citiphone officer was talking to this Dream lady... natatawa naman si dreamlady. Parang nakakaloko di ba? Sarap sapakin. (sabi ko naman eh... nagiging barumbado ako kapag ginagalit ako.) So ayan, natapos na sila. Dreamgirl summarized the conversation by saying na:

"Cge po sir, ma'am. Temporary reconnected na po ang account ni Mr. Sta. Elena, with smart card # yadda yadda."

"So from Citiphone Banking, do you still need any further information?"

"Wala na po."

Click... Call ends.

So we enjoyed Dream TV the whole night. Then came Monday night... Wala na naman akong reception ng Dream! Hindi ko mapapanood ang paborito kong si Kuya Mike, si gwapong Richard, ang kinaiinisan kong si Dyesebel, ang cute na cute na si Buboy, ang impressive na si Chef Dina, ang hot na hot na si Cyrus, and ang idol kong si Kim Sam Soon. I was scared... scared... natakot ako na hindi ko sila mapapanood... so... kinulit ko na naman si Dream!!! Bwahahaha. I am now their nightmare. Until they finish processing my audtodebit request... I will be their bangungot.

Sa inis ko I wrote an incident report this morning, sinakto ko lahat ng details. As in! So let's see. So far... sa ngayon, I am enjoying Asero. Then CSI mamaya.

Ciao. Will I DREAM again tomorrow?