AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES SERVICE

Experience by Bob way back 2009

For the very first time, I had experienced having a flat tire last Sunday, 15 Nov 2009 — happy birthday mom, that day!
My family and I were on our way to church to hear the Sunday mass at around 0930H when I noticed this heavy feeling while driving. As we reached the parking area of our parish, my wife immediately noticed that my rear left tire is flat. Being an AAP (Automobile Association of the Philippines) member, I immediately called their hotline and asked for assistance. Not that I cannot change my flat tire by myself, but a medical condition (back problems) prohibits me from doing such thing. The dispatcher at AAP, by the name of Rodelyn (dunno if the spelling is right) accepted my call and had advised me that she will inform me via my mobile once the two truck is near my place already — this was at 0930H. My family and I then proceeded inside the church to hear the mass.
An hour later — 1030H, I asked the security guard of our parish if the AAP tow truck had arrived already, and he replied that he saw nothing, yet. I made a follow-up at AAP’s hotline, and I was advised that the tow truck is still at Cubao, Quezon City attending to someone else’s vehicle. Wow! Only if the AAP dispatcher had advised me the help will be coming Cubao, when I am at Makati City, I should had accepted the help offered by some of my friends at the church earlier.
Driving to work everyday, the AAP tow truck(s) parked at the foot of the Sales Bridge (Nichols) is quite noticeable. So I asked the AAP dispatcher (Rodelyn) if any of these trucks can be sent to help me change my tire, and she replied NO, those trucks are exclusively to be used inside the Expressways — which I find stupid, since my location is just near Magallanes.
Another hour, I made another follow-up call to ask if the tow truck is already heading my way. The AAP dispatcher was so sorry to advise me that the tow truck will no longer be heading to Makati (from Cubao) since it suffered a breakdown. WT*?! I asked the dispatcher (this time, it was Alma — Rodelyn may had already been pissed off by me) on how many tow trucks do they have, and she gave me something like 37. Of all those 37 AAP tow trucks, 36 were all busy and 01 had died along the way going to Makati?! What a coincidence. Could it be that the drivers were all very busy waiting for the Pacman-Cotto fight on TV?
Instead, Alma promised that AAP will be sending one of their guys using a car to help me change my tire. This time, the AAP car will be coming in from Boni Ave. — this is around 1130H, and by this time, I had sent my wife and child back at home via a cab, and my dad’s team had already arrived to assist me. Hoping to get my AAP membership’s worth, at 1200H (that’s 2.5 hours since my initial call for help to AAP), I made yet another phone call to their hotline, and I was advised that the car is already somewhere in Ortigas, on the way to me. But wait! I though the help will be coming from Boni Ave., and I’m at Makati City, but what the h#*l, why is it at Ortigas?! AAP, I think your dispatchers need a lot of (re)training, or perhaps, they should be provided with an updated road map of Metro Manila, at least. Ortigas Ave. is way too far from Boni Ave., and you won’t have to take the U-turn slot at Ortigas Ave. just to get to Makati City for CheeseWhiz’s sake!
To cut this long story short, my dad’s team helped me in changing the tire (oh, by the way, my dad’s people brought the spare tire to a nearby vulcanizing because it does not have the proper pressure). Some 30 minutes later, that’s around 1230H when a guy wearing a shirt with the AAP logo on it approached me and asked what was my problem. Too late, boy, you’re very much too late!
Did I mentioned that it was the 60th birthday of my mom that Sunday? I was supposed to pick-up her birthday cake at the Glorietta, but thanks to the unreliability of AAP (Automobile Association of the Philippines), the cake was too late for the celebration. I do hope, AAP tow trucks will be as fast as their collection agents when your annual fees are due.

VILLMAN @ TRINOMA QUEZON CITY

Experience By Roger

Villman Trinoma : Never go near this store. I bought an Asus EeePC 900 last week. Specs. say 20 gig Hard Drive and 1.0 gig memory. I spent sleepless night for one week trying to make it work.. What is unknow, the primary drive is 4 gigs + 16 gigs secondary drive. Load WinXP home plus a few programs, the disk is full on the 4 gig. it wont run anymore because the disk is full to the neck. Then switch slave drive as the 1st drive 16 gig and the onboard 4 gig as the secondary drive. It worked ONLY it should process commands as what a 1 gig ddr2 memory should do. It was so slow like a 32 mb ram . One command at a time. you wait 2-3 minutes to open application after another. They are selling LEMON units. Here is the thing- i went to the above mentioned store. I told them it is not a software issue- the kalbo technician immediately answered me, you can leave it here and wait for ONE MONTH or go to Pasig and Mega Mall Asus Service Center and submit the unit yourself. In short BAHALA KA SA BUHAY MO kung ayaw mo mag antay ng one month. This happened last Sunday, October 03 2008. I run my fist on the key board and thrown the laptop hard on the floor of VillMan TRinoma. Gusto Mo Ba manyari sa iyo ito ? While i was in that store when the kalbo tecnician try to show off his his trouble shooting skill. There were several customers returning printers and Inks they bought. My conclusion VILLMAN store must be re-cycling returened items untill they meet people like me to get rid of it. A sign it was a return item, there was a sticker at the back which say july 04 2008 on the code.

OCTAGON COMPUTER SUPERSTORE

Experience by dataclese (2007)

In October of last year I bought my wife Jean a computer from the Octagon store in Ozamiz City. I was assured that it was covered by a warranty but did not get a copy of it. In March of this year the computer started going south. When I came in April it was not working and we took it to the store.

They said they needed to send the parts to Manila to "verify" they were broken. Initially the problem was a hard drive, and they tried to sell me a hard drive. Then they said the motherboard was bad. Looking inside I could see one of the two memory chips was bad. So they sent the hard drive and motherboard to Manila, promising to fix the parts.

Well weeks and week go by and they keep saying "Oh yes it will be soon". Eventually they told me that they have a repair center in "Manila" and that the parts would be attempted to be "fixed" as opposed to replace. This whole time we keep paying P999 per month for Internet service cause we don't want to incur a re-hookup fee.

Finally after three months and lots of sales pitches to replace the whole machine, the parts were returned. The motherboard apparently works now (at least Jean thinks so) and the hard drive was presumably replaced. However they did not actually reassemble the computer, expecting more money for that. Jean instead has hired a third party to come over...put the parts in....and set the computer back up for her with software and configuration.

The people at this company lied to and ripped us off all through this process. They did not replace the bad memory chip either, although the computer will run on one it won't run as well...however Jean primarily needs it to talk to me. She might still get some use of it for school.

The failure of the parts I am pretty sure is the result of the heavy salt air, humidity, smoke, and such where she lives; this does not however free the company from thier warranty obligation. At one point I asked for a copy of the warranty and they said they don't have "Copies", just one store copy and they would not provide it or furnish us with our own copy.

I am now determined to alert other potential and current customers of the scam and lousy customer service we were put through. It is despicable to lie to good paying customer all along and then in the end screw them out of repairs they are entitled to. You mileage may vary but this company is a dog and I would highly reccomend not doing a single peso worth of business with them. If you do (or with any other store) get copies of any warranty i writing. Because of the legal system in the Philippines and this being a big store the odds on actually getting a legal victory are slim to none.

There is another way however...make sure that you hold companies accountable for bad service and lies. Tell your friends as well of your experiences. If lots of people did this they would be driven out of business and only the ones who treated people with respect and fairness would remain.




Experience by Pangit ster


My story is this, I bought a PC from them (Octagon Cagayan de Oro) last February and it runs good but then five months after the PC was slowly have problems. It came to the point where in the PC no longer boot. So I brought it to their store and and they run some test. After that they said that I have to used a power supply with bigger wattage and so I did bought one. The next day, the PC is back again which would not boot so again I brought to their store. This time they said they will test my Graphics Card and then they said it may be the cause of the problem. While I am not contended on what they say, I looked for ways to test it with my own. I bought another Graphics card to test it. But still the problem was never resolve. Finally they said, they will ship the motherboard to Manila to replace it as they say. From the time of the problem till the time they said they will ship it to their main office was almost a month. And so, I let them brought the motherboard to their main office to replace it. They said they will call me if it will arrive. They haven't gave me any service PC. One month and half later, the package arrived. When I got there they said that they have to send it back to Manila because the box is correct with the wrong Motherboard model. I was really pissed at that time. That was really a negligence of those whoever packed that box. Till Now they haven't gave me back my motherboard. What a shame on them, a big company with a zero customer service attitude.





Experienced by Linda

I also have a bad experience when i visited OCTAGON Computer store LIMKETKAI MALL in Cagayan de Oro City last November ... the store has a lot people and the sales man are busy at that time so i look around check out the laptops then this fat ugly security guard saw me looking at the laptop and start sales talk me to buying one. My budget is only 20 thousand pesos so i asked him if there is a cheaper laptop maybe a price of 20 thousand or below but he insulted me and giving me a bad attitude saying " Maam sa surplus ka dapat pumunta mga bago ang mga tinda namin dito. doon ka dapat pumunta sa american surplus sa labas ng mall. so walk out and being insulted by a security guard i cant forget his tag name in his uniform SG NAPULI i will never go near this store again. He is not doing hes duty guarding the store instead he acts like a sales man not only that hes rude person i dont know why they hired this kind of person.

BAYAN BROADBAND CUSTOMER SERVICE

Experience by MS_Sulit

Maganda signal ng Bayan broadband sa Makati, mabilis pero wala silang customer service whatsoever! I called their hotline. Mga call center agents dun, di marunong mag troubleshoot. Ang alam lang nila sabihin "Try to restart your PC". Yun lang daw kasi ang tinuro sa kanila. (Di kagaya ng sun broadband. My sister has Sun. Magagaling yung technical assistance ng Sun over the phone.).

Anyway, back to my story, sabi sa hotline, di daw kasi sila technician and di rin daw sila nagpapadala ng mga technicians for home service. I have to go to the Bayan wireless center daw.

Pagdating sa Bayan wireless center (Waltermart Pasong Tamo), sinubukan ng teller yung broadband. di rin niya mapagana. tumawag siya ng lalaki. Tinry ayusin. Ayaw din. Sinubukan niya ng ibang broadband sa laptop ko, gumana. Binalik niya yung broadband ko, ayun gumana na rin. sabi ko anong ginawa niya bakit gumana na? di daw niya alam. di daw kasi siya technician. i tested it, changed the settings, restarted the computer and retyped the settings. ayaw nanaman gumana. I asked them to fix it. di daw nila maayos dahil di naman daw sila technician. marketing agent lang daw. so sabi ko asan ba yung technician? wala daw.

so i said, palitan ko nalang yung usb ko. sabi nila, di daw nila pwede palitan. dapat daw tawagan ko daw yung agent na nagbenta sa akin. sabi ko di ko naman kilala. i just called their hotline and inquired the Bayan broadband. Malay ko bang 3rd party agent yun. sabi nila dapat daw tinanong ko ang pangalan kasi yun lang daw pwede mag change ng unit. iba raw sila. sabi ko, "iisa ang hotline niyo, malay ko bang hindi bayantel ang sasagot".

Sa bwisit ko, sabi ko ayoko na talaga. cancel nalang. kahit mabilis broadband nila, kung 2 years ako mag su suffer ng ganyang service, wag nalang!

Ang good lang sa kanila may 15days trial sila. pwede mo isauli yung unit. And totoo nga, kasi that same day, sinauli ko. binalik nila agad 1,000 ko. pero mukhang sanay na sila sa mga nagbabalik eh kasi no questions asked na sila.

CD-R KING STORE @ CEBU

Most of us here in the Philippines definitely have heard of CD-R King, a CD/DVD and computer hardware store located in most shopping centres and malls throughout the nation. The store has become quite popular to the average consumer when it comes to the purchase of blank CD/DVDs. What I don’t understand is how a typical person can endure the long waiting lines and crowded small stores in order to get what they want. Imagine waiting in line for roughly 30 minutes! Furthermore, the priority system is mismanaged and disorganized. The management should have designed two priority systems, one catered to the sale of blank media, these are the CD/DVDs, the other to the sale of hardware and accessories.

Here’s what I experienced with one of the CD-R King stores in Cebu, I’m talking about the SM Cebu City branch. A few weeks ago I walked in the store and grabbed a priority number. I headed towards the CD/DVD section. At that time we were all packed and squashed inside the store. I had a hard time moving around and I can clearly remember repeating the usual phrase,”Excuse Me” a number of times. I reached the “desk” and I noticed that there were only a few more numbers before mine. So I patiently waited for ten minutes. Once my number was called I gladly gave my priority number to the sales girl, only to find out that my number was from the second batch. Wait, there are two batches? They told me I had to wait for the first batch to end. In other words I had to wait for an additional one hundred priority numbers before mine would be called. Why in the world would you make a customer wait so long?

As a dissatisfied customer I complained to these group of “ya-ya” (typical Filipino term for sloppy) sales girls. Of course when I usually converse, I use my mother tongue, English (I can barely speak Cebuano dialect). Can you imagine that one of the sales girls questioned me asking why I was speaking English (What they didn’t know was that I can grasp a little bit of Cebuano, so I understood what she said). With that, I threw my priority number on the “desk” and left the store.

To summarize things up:

• CD-R King has poor management skills
• They employee uneducated store personnel – Disrespectful, rude and impolite
• Long lines at all CD-R King Stores, thus, making the customer wait (Business 101 – Never let the customer wait)

LA TEGOLA: RESTAURANT @ CEBU

Experienced by a traveler;

I've been to La Tegola a couple of times, they have great cream/cheese based pasta dishes. The pizzas are just so-so. The main course and other meat dishes I tried were very flat and bland. Skip them as they are expensive and uneventful. Free appetizers were pre-made and soggy, drenched in olive oil. The tomato was fresh though.

The horrible staff were not knowledgeable so we did not bother with the wine list. After taking your orders the waiters avoided eye contact so it was pretty difficult to get any kind of service. We had to resort to raising our hands and voice, calling out aimlessly as the waiters seemed to be too "busy" doing something else.

Overall, the three cheeses pasta and ravioli dishes were very good but you have to put up with bad service.


BUT-------------------------------------------

experience by others;

La Tegola is an excellent place to eat in Cebu City. It also has a branch in Mactan. There are two branches in Cebu City, one in upper Busay (haven't eaten in this one since it's so far) and another in Cesar's Foodland Building in Banilad. Serves the best italian cuisine around. I recommend that you order a spinach ravioli if you like cheese. Pizza is also great.

if you want the finest and affordable italian cuisine in CEBU City, you should visit the LA TEGOLA, you will surely get a satisfying meal.

BDO BANK ATM @ SM MALL and everywhere

experience by almost all of the ATM user:

Ever since i had acquire my first BDO payroll account opened by our company, i always encounter BDO ATM in almost all places to be OFFLINE during payroll and SM Sales.

the sad part on this thing is it is common that pay day and sale day is people do need to spend and get some money on their bank.

how come you can spend if their is no available machine to withdraw with, and when you use your card as a debit card to buy and transact with the teller, it will be no good because BDO IS OFFLINE.

you have no choice but to find an available BDO ATM which surely outside the mall or worst is you going to walk farthest as possible and then you will also know that the ATM is also OFFLINE.

If ever you do have find that available BDO ATM luckily, you surely take time to fall in line for about 10-15 people only at that single BDO ATM and hoping that machine can accommodate you. the worst part was when you heard people in front of the lane said that (putcha OFFLINE na)....F*** na BD* yan...

how not reliable to use this bank if it is the same again and again.

my solution on this part was to withdraw to the OTHER BANK ATM which you will be deducted for a service fee because BDO BANK haven't done any improvement.

TOYOTA SHAW BLDV. BRANCH MANDALUYONG

Experience by a toyota user way back 2008:

Few months ago nakita ng brother ko na may nag leleak ng gas sa may ilalim ng innova namin... So sa takot niya dinala niya sa pinaka malapit na talyer then what the talyer did is to seal it sa isang radiator shop(Province po kasi)... then kanina nakita nanaman niya na nag leleak ulet... So I suggested to bring it to Toyota Shaw Blvd para ma repair... Eto na ang kinaiinit ng ulo ko....


Upon inspection sabi nung taga toyota Factory deffect daw and cover by waranty... Then ang sabi since pina tapalan na hindi na daw cover ng warranty... Ang Stupid diba... Ano gusto nilang gawin namin hayaan tumulo lang yung gas and Pray na lang na hindi mag spark at umapoy yung Innova sa lansangan habang papunta sa TOYOTA SHAW BLVD.... Then eto pinaka maganda hindi daw nila matatangap for repair or replacement today kasi Sunday although open sila pati service, balik na lang daw on Monday (Nag leleak nga yung Gas)... Bakit kaya may mga taong sobrang kitid at sobrang BOBO...


I'll Never Buy another toyota Car sa Toyota Shaw... I'll suggest you do the same... Because Before namin kunin yung Innova namin eto na notice namin, Damiing stain sa ceiling pati fortuner ng boss ko may paso pa nga ng cigarette eh... And im 100% sure Display unit yung binigay sa amen(kasi nilagyan ko ng mark nung 3 days before ng schedule for released ng innova namin)... Bukod dun Very Bad Service Even nag pa schedule ka na for simple change oil 1 day pa rin bago ma released sasakyan mo(nag pa schedule ka pa ganun din naman kahit walk in ka lang)... BTW Base eto lahat sa Personal Experience ko...

Although mabait yung sa insurance nila and priced reasonably plus sila mag sasabi kung saan insurance company na ok(they cave me coverage na .5% lang participation and cover yung fortuitous events plus towing and etc)...

tnx :http://tsikot.yehey.com