RIYADH: A number of STC subscribers, dissatisfied with the telecom company’s poor services, have appealed to the Communication and Information Technology Commission, the official telecom regulator, to intervene and ensure better services.
“Subscribers have complained of regular disruptions of DSL services, disruption in mobile networks, voice echoes and intermittent call drops,” said Marwan Sheikh, an STC subscriber.
“The services have gone from bad to worse and you can’t reach call center advisers, sometimes on days together, on their 907 helpline to address your grievances,” he said, while complaining about his DSL line that is not working. More intense is the problem with Syed Hassan, head of sales at Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance Co., who is subscribed to STC’s DSL Shamil. “I have been facing a lot of trouble since Aug. 14 last year, but despite repeated requests on 907 the service has been nonfunctional and STC keeps charging rental fees,” he said.
“The reason cited by STC over the phone was the malfunctioning of the DP box,” he said, adding that the telephone company decided later to install a new DP box at the beginning of December last year. His DSL was then only available after 5 p.m. After Haj holidays, the service was normal until Jan. 22.
“Since then, I have not been able to connect through DSL Shamil; the very purpose of taking the service has been defeated,” he said. “On Jan. 29, I was lucky to be answered by an operator on the 907 service and was able to register a complaint. I kept on waiting but the service was not restored,” he said.
Despite such a major problem, an STC call center adviser, identified as Khalid, was bold enough to say he could not waste more than 12 minutes with one customer.
“On Feb. 5, once again after waiting for more than three minutes… I was able to speak to a customer adviser on 907; the same Khalid was on the line once more,” said Hassan. “I was told there is a general problem all over Riyadh and that I was not the only person suffering,” said Hassan. Many customers claim that STC — in spite of inadequate infrastructure — has enrolled as many customers as possible. Referring to the problems, a woman customer, who did not want to be identified, said, “The 907 service is one of the most hopeless lines in the world… They keep on advertising their products, but when a customer wants to register his or her complaint, no one in STC takes care.”
Referring to a major promotion campaign recently launched by STC, she wondered how the company could claim to provide a trouble-free service to its new customers when it had failed miserably to attend to the needs of existing loyal customers. Arab News tried to reach STC for its comments. No official authorized to speak was available for comment.
