New PLDT Late Payment Policy

[hk blues]

11 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

 

I would disagree.  Internet is almost like other utilities now.  Like water and electricity.  It provides for many essential services and right now, especially online school.  Your kid has to miss a day of school if you are a day late?  I know, maybe it can get turned back on right away.  Maybe not.  Regardless, this appears to be a "no warning" system.  If you are late one day on water or electric and they shut if off without a warning, would you be pissed off?

I'm ok with shutting it off if you haven't paid by the next billing period.  That is basic utility protocol in most of the Western world.  Don't pay the water or electricity by the following month, off you go.  That is the way PLDT was before.  I didn't pay on-time a few times and on the next bill, it would say "Disconnect Notice" or something like that.  If you don't pay up by X date, shut off.  A "no warning" system a bit harsh and 3rd world, in my eyes.

My PLDT bill came today by e-mail and I paid it today.  So they did get my attention!   When I was late a few times before it was just due to procrastination.

At least in my area,  the main difference is that Globe give me 16 or more days to pay the bill - that should be enough notice for anyone, surely?   If you are not around to pay on time then you probably won't need the internet anyway.  On the other hand my water company give me no more than 7 days, and often less so it may be more problematic if you only go to the mall once a week to pay the bill.  Electricity, the same if not worse - we have on more than one occasion received the bill after the due date which means we have to pay in the supplier's office rather than other ways.  

To be fair, neither my water company or electrical company give notice or reminders either, they simple state the policy and if you don't pay by the deadline they will disconnect your supply without further notice.  This isn't really any different to what PLDT are doing, although they give a little leeway on the late payment deadline.  It happened to us with water, we paid the bill before the deadline but the clerk at Robinson paid it to the wrong company (by the way, 6 months later we still haven't got the money back!) - about a week after the payment deadline the water company arrived to cut off the water with no warning - we resolved this by paying immediately at the office.   

All that said, I do agree 1 day late is a little tight but it will have the desired effect. 

 

[Jack Peterson]

7 minutes ago, hk blues said:

All that said, I do agree 1 day late is a little tight but it will have the desired effect. 

 I talked to PLDT This morning over this and they tell me that we actually have 5 days to pay, the Cut off day for me is the 10th of each Month and is on my online account on that day, the Payment Due date is the 15th and that is the Payment date (or Before) whilst I realise that not all have a PLDT online account but we should all know what date the Bill comes out and the Due date for Payment, All to many times people seem not to know the difference between cut of Date for Invoicing and Due date for Payment. We should all know this from our own contracts  

[hk blues]

50 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 I talked to PLDT This morning over this and they tell me that we actually have 5 days to pay, the Cut off day for me is the 10th of each Month and is on my online account on that day, the Payment Due date is the 15th and that is the Payment date (or Before) whilst I realise that not all have a PLDT online account but we should all know what date the Bill comes out and the Due date for Payment, All to many times people seem not to know the difference between cut of Date for Invoicing and Due date for Payment. We should all know this from our own contracts  

Same with me and Globe, Jack - account available on the App. the day after cut-off, by email with 3-4 days and a further 16 days to pay after receiving the email.  

[OnMyWay]

53 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 I talked to PLDT This morning over this and they tell me that we actually have 5 days to pay, the Cut off day for me is the 10th of each Month and is on my online account on that day, the Payment Due date is the 15th and that is the Payment date (or Before) whilst I realise that not all have a PLDT online account but we should all know what date the Bill comes out and the Due date for Payment, All to many times people seem not to know the difference between cut of Date for Invoicing and Due date for Payment. We should all know this from our own contracts  

I guess it can be different for each customer or perhaps some are grandfathered to different dates, etc?

My billing date is always the first, and this month it says "due on or before May 27th".  My neighbors are saying they got shut off the day after the due date, without any 5 day allowance.

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, OnMyWay said:

My neighbors are saying they got shut off the day after the due date, without any 5 day allowance.

 Of Course they were but your neighbours should never ( as anyone) wait until the dead on due date, they have had all month to pay the Bill, we ALL know what we need to Pay and for me PLDT and others do give us notice of the amount payable, Sorry OMW but we all have a duty  to pay things in good time to maintain our services BTW the Due date is the Last day to pay, the grace period was given before that date, 

[Jack Peterson]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

BTW the Due date is the Last day to pay, the grace period was given before that date, 

 Instead of this Topic going round and round in circles I would humbly suggest that everyone with a concern on this issue talks to their supplier and find out the CUT off Date and the DUE date for payment, then the difference between the two 2 dates are their grace period  

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, hk blues said:

To be fair, neither my water company or electrical company give notice or reminders either, they simple state the policy and if you don't pay by the deadline they will disconnect your supply without further notice.  This isn't really any different to what PLDT are doing, although they give a little leeway on the late payment deadline. 

So perhaps we have been spoiled here in Subic Bay Freeport.  Our providers, Subic Enerzone, Subic Water and SubicTel (formerly a subsidiary but now PLDT) have always operated on the Western standard (what I experienced in USA and Germany) that I described in a previous post. 

In that standard, you don't get shut off until you miss two due dates.  E.g., if my May 1 Electric bill is due May 27th.  If I don't pay by May 27th, my June 1 bill will have in large letters across the page  DISCONNECTION NOTICE.  "If not paid by due date (June 27) your power will be shut off.  Similar with Subic Water.

The majority of residents in my neighborhood are expats and are used to that standard.  So apparently, post merger, PLDT has converted the Subictel Western standard to the local Philippines standard, and neighbors were caught off-guard.  Of course, no pre-announcement of the change in policy.

I don't really care, but I do have empathy for poor people who have been forced to get internet, or their child gets no school.  Sure, rich, mostly retired expats have the resources to always pay right away, but most can remember back to our younger years when we lived paycheck to paycheck and sometimes had to juggle the bills.  Especially during Covid, there are a lot people struggling, and they might have to make hard choices.

Side note.  When we were Subictel, we had great service and a dedicated office.  I used to pay my bill there (using a US credit card) and would always take my girls with me so they could play in the un-crowded office.  All the staff knew them by name.  Our bill looked like a normal PLDT bill, but was printed and hand delivered to the house.  I had an online PLDT account, but the bills were not available there.  Another perk was that I had the number of a guy in the technical support.  If my internet was slow, I could call him and he would fix it right away if it was a local problem.  He was like the Wizard of Oz!

So that office is now closed.  If we need to go to an office, it is a super crowded office in Olongapo.  And now we are just another part of the giant PLDT monster, with poor customer service.

Edited May 4, 2021 by OnMyWay

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

So perhaps we have been spoiled here in Subic Bay Freeport.  Our providers, Subic Enerzone, Subic Water and SubicTel (formerly a subsidiary but now PLDT) have always operated on the Western standard (what I experienced in USA and Germany) that I described in a previous post. 

In that standard, you don't get shut off until you miss two due dates.  E.g., if my May 1 Electric bill is due May 27th.  If I don't pay by May 27th, my June 1 bill will have in large letters across the page  DISCONNECTION NOTICE.  "If not paid by due date (June 27) your power will be shut off.  Similar with Subic Water.

The majority of residents in my neighborhood are expats and are used to that standard.  So apparently, post merger, PLDT has converted the Subictel Western standard to the local Philippines standard, and neighbors were caught off-guard.  Of course, no pre-announcement of the change in policy.

I don't really care, but I due have empathy for poor people who have been forced to get internet, or their child gets no school.  Sure, rich, mostly retired expats have the resources to always pay right away, but most can remember back to our younger years when we lived paycheck to paycheck and sometimes had to juggle the bills.  Especially during Covid, there are a lot people struggling, and they might have to make hard choices.

Side note.  When we were Subictel, we had great service and a dedicated office.  I used to pay my bill there (using a US credit card) and would always take my girls with me so they could play in the un-crowded office.  All the staff knew them by name.  Our bill looked like a normal PLDT bill, but was printed and hand delivered to the house.  I had an online PLDT account, but the bills were not available there.  Another perk was that I had the number of a guy in the technical support.  If my internet was slow, I could call him and he would fix it right away if it was a local problem.  He was like the Wizard of Oz!

So that office is now closed.  If we need to go to an office, it is a super crowded office in Olongapo.  And now we are just another part of the giant PLDT monster, with poor customer service.

I can certainly sympathise with those here who are struggling to pay 1st world prices off of 3rd world income, but that's a different issue.  Again, we can probably look at how things have been handled here compared to our home countries and it's not a favourable comparison for here Covid-wise.  Again though, that's another different issue. 

We have a choice of a smallish provider or Globe.  We had Globe from Day 1 and didn't move to the new provider when they opened up.  There is mixed reports on them, as is always the case here, but my instinct is they are not as good as Globe (or should I say less bad?).  We have been lucky in that we make a point of having the technician's contact number and can make a quick call and he'll pop over and fix it if he can. As for customer service, we're probably the same as PLDT, can be patchy but I must say things have improved significantly in the past 2 years or so.  

 

[Mike J]

16 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

So perhaps we have been spoiled here in Subic Bay Freeport.  Our providers, Subic Enerzone, Subic Water and SubicTel (formerly a subsidiary but now PLDT) have always operated on the Western standard (what I experienced in USA and Germany) that I described in a previous post. 

In that standard, you don't get shut off until you miss two due dates.  E.g., if my May 1 Electric bill is due May 27th.  If I don't pay by May 27th, my June 1 bill will have in large letters across the page  DISCONNECTION NOTICE.  "If not paid by due date (June 27) your power will be shut off.  Similar with Subic Water.

Do they require a deposit when you begin service?

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, Mike J said:

Do they require a deposit when you begin service?

It's a good question - we didn't pay a deposit with Globe but are billed in advance and we have a credit limit so we'd need to have 2 months more or less without payment to be in arrears.