Warning: The article below is too long, too detailed, and not worth reading if you are not using Smart Bro or if you have no connection whatsoever to Smart Telecommunications.

My Amazing Smart Bro Rant!

Smart Bro, the Smart Telecommunication broadband, is amazingly bullshit! Starting from my very first subscription to Smart broadband I am already experiencing too many problems with Smart in terms of technical connection and poor customer support.

First few months of Smart Bro subscription:
The Smart Bro Promises

Last year, it was first week of April when I singed for a subscription contract to Smart. Actually, I didn’t personally go to Smart Wireless Center because I asked our assistant / secretary to pay for the Smart Bro subscription. I didn’t know what their fucking customer representative told to our assistant but she told me that according to Smart the connection will be installed before Holy Week (as I requested). I was really excited during that time to experience Smart Broadband because there were days of no work; holidays. However, the Holy Week was almost near and yet the Smart people had never showed up. I called the Smart hotline for follow-ups. Their call center agent told me that they will follow up too the installation to their contractors. And you know what, these super good chosen people of Smart only visited our house after Holy Week (I was really really mad!) and not only that they even didn’t come on the agreed time of Smart Bro installation.

After the 2007 Holy Week, the Smart Bro was installed but I often experienced intermittent connection; most of the time there were no internet connection. Imagine even with my Smart Bro subscription I still often reserved an internet card at home for me to just use dial-up in times that we don’t have Smart Bro internet. It was something not acceptable therefore I often complained like a superman in the Smart hotline. Another thing that really keeps me angry before was that I was working as Junior Business Information Analyst for a New York Hedge Fund related Web2.0 company therefore there were times that I want to read articles in Online Wall Street Journal at home and yet I do not have a decent internet broadband connection.

Around five months of Smart Bro subscription:
The Smart Bro Antenna was Not Working

After months of everyday Smart Bro burden, I was already used to the Smart Bro intermitted connection. I was not blaming anymore Smart Broadband whenever I downloaded software and it gets corrupted even though I knew it was possibly due to the intermitted Smart Bro connection. Things became a little bit okay now until our internet connection was totally lost for daysSS! Even if I called the Smart hotline and their bitchy call center agent instructed me to do some trick, the Smart Bro still didn’t work. The last resort was for them to send their impolite contractors again to our condo. Ahem, these people were demanding me to show up during work days for their repair wherein that was not possible because I and my condomates do have office work. Rrrrr! I did super explained again to their boss about my situation therefore the scheduled was fixed. It was Saturday when the Smart peepz did the Smart Bro diagnostic and they found out that the Smart Bro antenna was not working. According to them it might be possibly caused by some lightning magnetic field ground retraction etc. that I didn’t care about. With that they replaced the antenna with a new one and the Smart Bro internet seems to perfectly work from then.

Nine months of Smart Bro subscription:
Smart Wireless Center Worst Customer Service

Last quarter of 2008, I joined a well known financial information and technology company that supports 24/5 operations. I was very busy with my trainings with my new company and I have abnormal training shifts. With that, I forgot to pay my Smart Bro bills for December 2007 and January 2008. Thus, this February Smart Bro cut our internet connection without me being warned or contacted by their collection call center agents. Actually, I realized that there were days when I was at home and I didn’t bother to answer the landline phone due to my 5pm to 2am shift. I just thought that it might be the Smart Bro collection agent calling therefore I have nothing to get angry about. I knew it was also my fault that I didn’t pay the Smart Bro subscription fee on time therefore I understand what they did.

I immediately went to Smart Wireless Center at Shangrila Mall around 10:30am just the day after I found out our internet was cut. I didn’t have enough sleep that time due to my 5-2am shift but I managed to go to the mall to settle everything. When I was in the Smart Wireless Center, I get a customer number from the guard. I saw that there was an electronic machine for bills payment but I didn’t use it because I need to talk to their customer representative to immediately activate my Smart Bro internet connection. In other words, I get a customer number for me to pay in the cashier. It took me 20 minutes for waiting and paying the bill, and then the cahier transferred me to customer service representative table #1 for my post selling transaction.

My terribly amazing Smart Bro customer service experienced started when I sat at table #1. The good looking guy like me who assisted me disappeared for around 10 minutes after I told him that I want my internet connection back and I will also enroll my Smart Bro bill to Metrobank Credit Card Bill2Pay program. Then when he came back, he gave me a one page bank agreement form for me to fill out and then he disappeared again for fucking 15 minutes. My Golly! It’s only a one page form and don’t expect me to finished filling up 15 blanks for around 15 fucking minutes. When he came back again he said that he needed my credit card and two valid ID’s to photocopy, I gave to him my requirements and he went back again in the backroom in which the door was just in front of me. I saw the guy every time the door opens standing there and texting and seems like doing a Nokia troubleshooting for his former client or for personal reason etc. Fucking shit, I was really in the hurry as I already need to sleep but the people from Smart feels like they were the most important people on earth! While waiting, I heard the girl cashier shouting to one of the client who was wearing old, not nice, faded shirt; just like a poor company messenger. She strongly said “Di ba sabi ko pirmahan mo dito! hindi d’yan!” Wow! There was a transformation from a good girl when facing rich looking people to a bad tiger lady when talking to low profile people. It was my first time to go to Smart Wireless Center and I found out that their customer service representatives (most of them) were the worst ever. Meanwhile, the guy who was serving me went back again after sometime (years pare years!), then he do some computer computer encoding for my Smart Bro activation, after that he gave me the Activation number or password, and then I went home. Actually, not exactly I went home ‘coz I still ate lunch at Tokyo Tokyo. I ate 2 and ½ cups of rice due to my angry mood from Smart Wireless Center.

I finished my Smart Bro Transaction for around 1 ½ hour that was past 12nn. I arrived at home at 2pm and at 4pm I was already preparing to go to work for my training. Rrrr! I didn’t have enough sleep courtesy of nice Smart Telecommunications people. If this will be read by the Smart Telecommunications HR, my tip of advice is that even if your people do have the looks, it is more important for us customers that you hire people who do have the brains and the heart.

Twelve months of Smart Bro subscription:
Smart Bro Portal Account Authentication Error

Until now, March 2008, the company is still giving me a lot of headaches. It’s been two week now that I am experiencing hard time logging-in or authenticating my account in the Smart Bro portal. I am now like a superman again calling the Smart Broadband hotline number at 672-7277 once the error occurs. And you know what, I even get more irritated every time I will heard their hotline phone greetings says “Welcome to Smart Bro, the Amazing Wireless Broadband from Smart”. Yes, you Smart Bro guys, your Smart Bro products and Smart company are so amazing. Amazingly Bullshit!

I talked to the call center agent awhile ago, she says that Smart Bro is currently doing an upgrade or doing a repair with the Smart Bro Portal therefore some users might really experienced problem with internet connection. In my case, I already experienced unable to connect to Smart Bro twice and whatever cookies delete, computer restart, etc. that I do there's no effect. Smart Bro, a fucking poor amazing service from Smart. Shit! Shit! and shit!

*Posted this article through dial-up!