Case of miscom at telco?

Prepaid cards used to be printed with attractive pictures and are collectibles.

With intense competition among telecommunication companies and to reduce costs, there is now a system whereby an agent can call up for a 16-digit reload number which is then printed and the reload can be done either by the agent or by the buyer later.

The main problem is that for the uninitiated, the numbers printed are similar to thermal paper of fax machines, which deteriorate rapidly and can turn out to be too faint to be readable. So one is advised to write out the numbers for later use.

While I am not too clear how it works between the agent and the telco, I figure that it involves sub-agents of the agent because in case of problem, the person I was dealing with, checked with a daily list comprising of different telcos, in order of time and with details of reload numbers, then she would check with their head office before checking with staff of the relevant telco.

Without the receipt, it can still be traced so long as the date and estimated time are available.

To be fair, my first experience of a problem was with Digi and it was sorted out easily. Last Saturday, on the day of expiry of access period, I went to the local agent to reload my Maxis Hotlink. I did not realize that the reload was not properly effected until when I was in KL trying to contact my friend.

Imagine my surprise, especially having checked before leaving the shop in the presence of the shop assistant. It showed correctly the extended access period, though the balance of Rm35.16 did put me on alert mode. Unfortunately, I did not check the balance before hand and I did call my son in UK the day before. Whenever I am unsure, I also give people the benefit of the doubt.

This morning I could not wait to check with the shop assistant. The first attempt was unsuccessful because she thought I visited them on Friday. Luckily my memory was not too bad and I could remember that I went on Saturday just before leaving for KL. The only Maxis item done by her on that day for Rm30 turned out to be mine. Having checked with the other party (unsure whether it was a staff of her head office which I presumed had the arrangement with the telco, or staff of the telco itself), it was confirmed that the reload was not effected properly, though it showed the period was properly extended. The best part was that the amount of credit was not added properly and I got the correct figure of Rm65.16 which confirmed my initial doubt and more importantly, reassured myself that my memory is still good!

Though the shop assistant reassured me earlier, while sorting out, that it was only a “minor problem”, I replied that the weakness in the system is worrying as I could be caught facing the problem in an emergency. It is one thing to say that it can be easily sorted out but the trouble I had to go through in terms of time, petrol and parking charges put it in a different perspective.

If possible, I will go for the printed card, which can be kept longer for later use and unlikely to create similar problem. But I had to qualify this because I had a problem once when I bought an I-talk card from a stall next to the Income Tax Dept at Jalan Duta. The card could not be used and I noticed that out of the 16 digits, a set of 4 digits, was 7777! This alone made a mockery of the random factor. Perhaps it was part of a syndicate who sold the cards and the shop-keeper had an inkling of the problem, because he was quick to refund me the money!