This will be a lengthy post on how Singtel tried to smoke customers like me.
On 25 Apr, I received an SMS regarding my data has exceeded. I checked the Singtel app and it was indeed 6.23GB (subscribed Combo 3 with 3GB and DataX2, so I have 6GB every month). Minimised my data usage, using only Whatsapp and iMessage the whole day till 8:30pm whereby me, my husband and some others were at Downtown East watching Infinity War till 11:30pm. Throughout the entire movie, I wasn’t even looking at my phone. At 11:30pm, I was reading my Whatsapp and sent an iMessage at 12:15am then went to sleep.
At 6:18am the next day (26 Apr), I saw a screenshot sent by my sister, of my data exceeding to 25.23GB at 12:38am. Called Singtel that very morning and apparently the customer service personnel told me that there was a video streaming captured by their system from 11pm (25 Apr) to 3am (26 Apr). Which definitely illogical when there was no video streaming on that day/night itself and screenshot of data was done at 12:38am. Tried messaging them through the app for two weeks on a daily basis and yet they keep on saying that their system captured it as video streaming and couldn’t waive off the charges, and kept trying to tell me on possibilities that maybe I did not quit an app which could still be running in the background, or maybe I am not connected to Wifi, asked me to check my Wifi Assist etc.
Today, I guess they tried to shut me off by offering a 50% waiver with one condition that I have to sign up Data X 3 which cost $9.90 monthly (on contract of 24 months) on top of a one-time activation fee of $10.70, which is a difference of $4 from what I am paying now for Data x 2 ($5.90/month). $4 x 24 months = $96, where in the end I had to pay to Singtel more that what they are offering me for the 50% waiver of 19GB excess that I did not use.
So tell me, is it ethical for a company to be charging customers for something they did not use and what their system shows does not tally with the timeframe given? The only video apps I have on my phone are Toggle and Netflix, which runs only if I am connected to Wifi (you can set it in your settings). What kind of service recovery when you give some conditions then you will be able to do a waiver?
Apparently, I am not the only customer that had encountered this problem.