I recently moved to a new condo somewhere in Taguig. Last 18 July 2010, I received my bill for my Globe Landline + Broadband account ("Globelines"). In the bill there appeared charges for 27 calls which were made to various cel numbers on June 7(Monday) and 8 (Tuesday) and July 2, 2010 (Friday). For said calls, I was charged an additional P814.68 on top of my regular plan.
I did NOT make those phone calls. I know this for a fact because:
(a) I do not know any of the numbers reflected in the bill. I have been a Globe mobile subscriber for many years. I have never called any of the numbers I supposedly called on June 7, June 8 and July 2, as can be shown through my previous bills.
(b) The calls were made in the late morning, noon or early afternoon on WEEKDAYS, when I was in the office. The people in my office (and even some clients) can attest to my presence in the office during the times the calls were allegedly made. Moreover, during those days, no one else was in my house who could have made those calls.
(c) In addition, I own a cellphone (which is also from Globe). It does not make sense for me to go back to my house in Taguig - during office hours - only for the purpose of calling a person with a celphone through my landline when I could easily call whoever these people are using my celphone which I have with me all the time.
I disputed the charges. When I went to a Globe center to complain, I chanced upon another subscriber who was there. He told me that he worked for the property management arm of a major real estate developer in the Philippines and experienced the same thing in some of the condos he is handling. It appears that the problem is unique to those who live in condominium buildings whose units are "telephone or broadband ready". In these cases, there is a central station in the condo ("a Cable Room or Cabinet") where all phone lines from the units are connected. A linemen will just need to connect their main line (Globelines for example) to a particular unit which subscribes to their service. In other words, there is no need for the phone company to lay out all the cables from their main line to the unit.
As a result, anyone who opens the Cable Room or Cabinet can access all phone lines of all units in a condominium building. Such access apparently includes the ability to make calls using a subscribers' line without having to go inside a unit and use the supplied handset. Thus, according to the property manager, even if I lock my landline and put passwords, somebody who has access to the Cable Room or Cabinet can still make calls using my phone.
We explained all of this to the customer representative in Globe Mall of Asia. There, I was informed that Globe already reversed the charges in my bill, in response to my complaints which I relayed through phone, email and twitter (Ha!)Globe's CSR also told us that their linemen were "outsourced". Thus, if I find out who went to my condo on the relevant days, I should file a complaint with them.
On 25 July 2010, I asked the PMO of my condo to put locks on the Cable Room or Cabinet in my building. I have further asked that guards accompany a lineman every minute of everytime that he has access to said Cable Room or Cabinet. I have also asked them to list down in a logbook all people who open said room, whether connected to any telco or the PMO.
Today, I received my bill for the period July 7 to August 6, 2010. True to its promise, Globe did reverse the disputed charges. However, I found that 5 calls were made on July 22 to yet another set of cel numbers between 12.45pm to 1.36pm. Notably, July 22 is a Thursday. And no, I did not make those calls. Apart from said date, I am encouraged to note that no other unathorized calls were made from July 25, when I complained to the PMO, until August 6, the end of the billing period.
I will not rest until I found out who is committing these dastardly acts - this cheapskate, who, in this day and age of P20 peso sulit calls, can't even be bothered to pay for his own calls. In the meantime, thinking of switching to Wimax or Wi-Tribe so there are no cables for these thieves to hack.
No comments:
Post a Comment