Today is the 31st of October and as I sit at PC on this Wednesday afternoon, almost everyone I know is either on the way to enjoy a 5 day vacation, or doing financial errands like rushing to the bank and paying bills, as I did some minutes ago. No banks wil be open for the rest of the week.
This is often the case around this time of year, but its not because of Halloween tonight but because of two consecutive holidays, Nov 1 and Nov 1, All Saints and All Souls Days, respectively. A time most Filipinos spend in remembrance of relatives who have gone, and this is especially evident at cemeteries where otherwise somber surroundings were brightly lit, full of people and if not for the location, you would suspect it to be a fiesta. This is a widely celebrated tradition in the Philippines, though there are many who also take this opportunity to get some R&R like my friends did.
Which brings me to answer, if you are, wondering why I am left behind; and all I can say is I have tons of work to do, and these are projects which operate on a different schedule. I have current projects and work tasks with clients in the US, so I am pretty much on American time now… and there is not holiday this time of year in that side of the earth.
Just some days ago I made a post on my Internet Marketing blog and talked about multiple streams of income, and how to find out which of your income sources and the things you do to make a living, are aptly compensating you. Which are working, which are not; which are worth your while and which are wasting your time. I will not get into that, as I blogged already about that on the other blog, you may visit it if you wish.
About a few days ago I had exchanged emails with an existing client based in the US, the gist of which got me thinking and which connected to my multiple streams of income post on the Internet Marketing blog.
I make my living primarily as a marketing and advertising consultant, and have a firm which produces radio ads and tv ads; does design and develops websites. All these are used as tools in marketing. It is a highly specialized service that takes a lot of time, effort, and if I may mention, a right amount of patience a liberal dose of creativity. What we do requires us to possess certain skill sets that are honed and developed over time and experience.
Sometimes, there are clients that do not know what they want…. these are the ones, who want several selections of work output in order to choose one, out of say… 8 or 9 maybe. They could say, they would know what they are looking for when they see it; and as service providers more often we acquiesce lest we lost the account to a more accommodating competitor.
What came to mind is, we allocate resources, personnel, their time and their skills to pour work into a dozen results only for one of those results to be chosen, accepted and paid for. I think it ridiculous.
It’s like going to a restaurant, you order almost everything on the menu because you want to find the one dish that is the best… after tasing all the dishes laid out in front, you eat the one dish that you identified to be the best… then at the end of your meal you only pay for the dish that you liked. Down right preposterous. What about the time, effort, expertise and ingredients that went into preparing the other dishes?
There are clients though who really know what they want and are able to verbalize clearly to us an advertising service provider what it is we need to accomplish for them. On the other hand, we as specialized service providers are not also absolutely right all the time, just because giving to clients what they require or need is something we do for a living.
Come to think of it, there have been some times in the past that I had dealt with clients who were worse. Let me side track a bit as this strays a little far from the topic but I need to squeeze this in, or forget this though forever.
I have had the distinct privilege to work with some clients who, despite your great pitch and reasonable price & proposal, go and dictate the price or the cost they are willing to pay for the service you are offering to them… saying that it can easily be done, or that they can get it cheaper. I think there is some ignorance in these people that translates into a sort of rudeness that we cannot instantly react to and it only hits you later, when you want to then scream out, if you knew how to do it why are you hiring me for it in the first place? Maybe another great snap back would be, if you know so well how to run my business since your dictating my pricing, why don’t we trade places; you run mine and I’ll run yours. But then again, we are just too civil to say such things; probably why there is that relieving joy of blogging when you can vent what you cannot. I remember a couple of instances when they change the details on a contract they are about to sign, and change the agreed cost, “they change it themselves, right in front of your very eyes.” I think in my years of doing sales, these instances are the most unpleasant, and I wonder why I got into sales in the first place. But then a signed contract is a signed contract, despite yo leaving their office like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Going back to my original story, the morale is, it would be insensitive for one to say, they purchase results or a result because results as the word itself, implies a consequence, outcome, sum, or later predisposition brought about by prior actions or tasks that caused it.
Thus, the means to get to the end is just as important as the end itself.
Allocation of resources and personnel for a project or projects that are deemed unprofitable is plain misappropriation.
So did you get it yet? Well a man from Canada did get his cell phone bill, and imagine the shock when upon tearing the darned thing open, it was for $85,000!
I know cell phone bills can get outrageous and we have heard about $3,000 cell phone bills and $10,000 cell phone bills but getting billed with an $85,000 invoice probably tops them all… and it is not a computer error either.
It’s not as hilarious though as the story than ran a few months back about a dead man who got a $218 trillion cell phone bill, yes that is indeed “trillion” as in $218,000,000,000,000
Anyways, here’s the story from Yahoo! Tech.
Piotr Staniaszek had been using his cell phone as a modem for his computer, thinking he was covered under his $10-a-month unlimited mobile browser plan from Canadian telco Bell Mobility. He actually caught the bill at $65,000. When he called to complain, he was told that it had hit $85,000 for the use since the bill was mailed.
The likely problem is that Staniaszek got understandably confused about what his recently signed $10 data plan covered. Such plans often cover data use on the phone itself (such as texting or using the built-in browser on the phone), but not when it’s used as a modem with a PC. (Without going into extreme detail, the connection types are different, and the phone company can tell the difference between the two types of traffic.) Bell Mobility has dropped the bill to just $3,243, but Staniaszek is still fighting it. (Of course.)
Staniaszek also notes that the phone company should have notified him when charges started to spiral out of control; previously he’d gotten a call when he racked up a mere $100 in charges on his old data plan. Now his bill climbs into the thousands and no one bats an eye. I’d be peeved, too.
Remember that all cell phone plans are not created equally, and “data” has numerous definitions. Before you connect your phone to your computer, make sure you understand the charges you’re setting yourself up for, and check your usage on your phone company’s website periodically (especially if you’re using your phone for something new) so that you don’t get slapped with any financial surprises.
This was my third trip to Badian, some people told me that they had been there before and that they were not so happy about the beach because it was this.. and it was that… well, maybe this picture changes your mind about Badian.
More pictures available at www.roysencio.com/gallery
I just got back from a two day trip to Bantayan, a much needed getaway as I have been feeling a little toxic with all the stress that comes with living in an urban jungle.
I will be posting some pictures on the gallery page of this blog so check it out. Here is a sample below.
Is every Smart Bro subscriber having problems with yet again another Smart Bro Connection
catastrophe or is it just me? Am I being hand picked to sample first hand Smart Bro Downtime ?
I had a major major problem with Smart Bro some months ago and I was aching to just rant about it but, it got overtaken by errands, tasks and life! So I forgot about it eventually, well now I have enough reason and lots of steam to have me huffing and puffing.
But before I talk about my smart bro connection and what happened before, the connection has been so slow, I could not get any work done. Well actually I did get some work done, a task that I could have finished in 30 minutes took me a good four hours because of the lousy connection. The perils of having a business online, when your connection to it is severed, you’re flying blind.
So here is the story, I have had my Smart Bro connection for about almost a year now; yeah that long I am sure that’s what you’re thinking. But for so many months I have been plagued with a couple of problems. One, is an email problem. It first started out as my being unable to send email using Outlook. I could receive mail, sure not a problem, but sometimes I could not send. Then all of a sudden it becomes alright again. Then out of the blue it happens again, and then later on it would be alright again. You see, I would not be able to send out email unless it was alright again, and this happened every frigging day!
Second problem, my connection would die. Simple as that, I was connected but I couldn’t get any service. They’d tell me their servers were up and there were no problems, so then they point a finger at my PC and say I have the problem from my end.
Each time this “can’t email episode” occurs, or when my connection goes dead, I then phone their customer service agents; many of which are totally clueless of the sort of problems we encounter and I will tell you why later. No, wait I will tell you now.
These guys, will help you trouble shoot your problem, BUT, are not experts at it. They are not engineers, experts or at the very least uber tech savvy computer users who diagnose their home PC’s themselves. No! Except for a few good men I have spoken to, most of the Smart Bro customer service people are simply programmed robots that read from a trouble shooting manual. Its damn simple, if option A don’t work, then proceed to B, if that don’t go either, go to C, then D then if nothing helps, they’ll give you either of two chilling conclusions with an equally worrisome recommendation.
One, they’ll tell you your PC has a virus and that was causing the problem.
Yea, they’ll lay that viral crap on you when they can’t think of a solution.
Two, they’ll tell you that your LAN card is busted and it needs changing.
Ha! You love to bust my chops with that line do you?
Third, they’ll tell you that your outlook software is corrupted and you need to reinstall.
Reinstall my footsie!
Fourth, they’d say, my windows is corrupted and that I needed to reinstall!
Reinstall my sweaty fat brown arse.
Now why did I not take their recommendations seriously, in fact, why did I not follow them at all, aside from the fact they were so inconvenient and I would have to install a lot of software, programs and crap that I have on my PC, plus I would have to back up this and that… long story short, too much work, too little time over what I knew as fact is a mis diagnosis of the problem. This was proven later by one more thing, the last reason they gave me, that lead to the solution of my problem. Which I will tell you about in a bit.
But before that, how did I refute their recommendations?
To the virus, I said, my virus protection is up to date and my PC is clean. Without telling them, I consulted my programmer friends who also told me it could not be a virus.
To the LAN card being busted, simple… I took my main PC of the hook, plugged in a different PC using a different LAN card, if indeed that the LAN Card of my main PC was busted then the second PC should get a connection. Outcome? No connection, meaning its not my PC or LAN card, it was their connection.
To Outlook being corrupted, ha.. I just shrugged that off saying, “why in the hell is it then able to send later on?” From what I know about software or hardware, if its corrupted, its corrupted, it don’t work period. Just like saying if your car’s battery broke, its broke, its not going to start later on if you let it rest or something.
To windows being corrupted, well again, if its corrupted then its corrupted, it won’t work. It probably won’t even boot! But it does work, and the problems were simply, me not getting internet even if I am connected and second, sometimes I cannot send out email through outlook. I gets this error message saying the email couldn’t be sent because server was not found.
Finally, the day came when some customer service agent gave me a new diagnosis, my smart bro antenna on my roof was busted and needed replacing.
Hallelujah something new finally, I think to myself ok, maybe having it replaced will fix things. And so they send over repair guys, who are actually contractors and not internal/regular employees of Smart Bro.
The great thing about working and talking with different groups of people, who I assume are contractors providing outsourced services to Smart Bro, they don’t cover up for the other if the other boo boos.
So the repair guys come in, new antenna in hand, check out my PC and voila after a few checks with the settings… say… “there is nothing wrong with the antenna”. Ok, great news, but I say “what’s causing the problem”.
I turns out, it was Smart Bro’s system all along, sometimes the engineers manning the connections and all make some changes, don’t get it right the first time, then tweak tweak and tweak, while we subscribers suffer suffer and suffer.
The customer service people don’t know any better, because they are the other appendage on a body that they aren’t actually connected to, if you know what I am saying.
And so all it took, was Smart Bro’s supplier to come to the house and check on the settings, and say my connection is hooked in to a channel assignment or a connection or something that did not exist. I guess that explains my connection. Upon further investigation, I managed to find out that a lot of subscribers do have the same problems, especially with that email thing.
So now, can you actually then take the word of a smart bro customer service agent who tells you to do this and that, knowing that these guys are far from the mark. Picture this, you reinstalling your PC, losing a lot of files… and the clincher there would be, after reinstalling your PC you find that the problem has not been solved HAHAHA.
For someone one relies on the internet for business, it is such a bummer and maybe you’re thinking why not get another service or have a back up connection? And my snotty retort would be, why? I am paying them good money each month and I expect good service, I am not paying and subscribing to them only to pay more for an added back up provider. Besides the only other options are PLDT which is just as lousy and Globe which is just as flaky.
So in concluding the rant, the Smart Bro downtime is a drag indeed, Smart Bro has to improve its services, its connection and most of all, try to improve the kind of front liners they have, these CSA’s most of whom do a disservice than service, these first levels of contact between the company and a subscriber with a problem that needs solving.
And yes, despite what I have been through, I have NO choice but to stick with them for now; in the absence of better more viable choices. they still get my money, I still get their service, but I do get to have my rant.
[rsspara:http://roysencio.com/internetmarketing/feed/]
Free Ebook
Download my New Twitter Guide"Hello! Nice To Tweet You" is an easy to follow guide to setting up and networking on Twitter, it includes tips and recommended free software to help make the Twittering experience both enjoyable and easy.
To get your copy, all you have to do is ReTweet any of the blog posts you find useful to your Followers on Twitter, simply fill up the form found at the end of a blog post.
