Consumer Complaints and DTI webpage

I have been browsing the webpage of the Department of Trade and Industry (www.dti.gov.ph) to look for a link where I can post my concerns on certain products like the Bayantel Wireless Landline (Dial up issue which I posted days ago). I can't find it in the DTI webpage. Isn't it supposed to be there? Where should I lodge my complaints?

Today will be a great day!

I woke up late today as felt so lazy going to work. When the clock strike at 7am, I immediately took a bath and ate breakfast. I did it in just 10 minutes! I even managed to prepare my daughter's breakfast.

This day will be a great day. I have a new signed up today in my AMWAY business. And it's the month-end of Amway. I hope to reach 3% today.

Have a great day everyone.

ASUS EEEC LAPTOP

My sister in law got an ASUS laptop from Taiwan. I like the weight, it's very light. It looks very robust and with the 512MB RAM, applications such as OpenOffice run fast. She like the Operating System very much which is Xandros Linux. Except that, the characters are in Chinese or Taiwanese. I don't even know what language is used. So, I thought of installing a new OS particularly Windows XP or Ubuntu. But I was not able to do it last night because the laptop does not have a CD drive.

On my way to office, I was contemplating on what to do. When I got in the office this morning, I thought of searching Google for possible help. And there's really a way to tweak the language to English. Here is how I did it.

I pressed CTRL ALT T and type this code in the console /opt/xandros/bin/locale_dialog. A new window popped-up and I chose the first button. The system auto restart and it now display characters in English. Wow!

You can get Rich by David King

I bought a book last night entitled YOU CAN GET RICH, written by David King. I read a few pages and I really like the book already! I will be reading it tonight again and see what I can get. Few points I learned from the book:

1. READ and SAVE
2. PERSEVERANCE IS A MUST TO SUCCEED
3. DISCIPLINE IS A MUST TO SUCCEED

Will post some of my learnings anytime today.

Car Plan

My boss offered a car plan for me that is payable for 4 years. A certain amout per month. Probably a KIA Avella car. Wow. Sounds great. But I have to think twice though given that I have other payables to take care of.

Bayantel Wireless Landline Weak Signal

It has been weeks already that I experienced a poor signal of Bayantel Wireless Landline. Everytime I call the house where my Bayantel Wireless unit is, it's either they can't hear me at all or they can't understand me because it's choppy. When will this service improved? Sun Cellular signal is far better.

My sweet and loving daughter

It was the first time that I went to my daughter's school to get her report card. First time because it was my husband who always have the time to do it. And it was the first time that I cried in front of my daughter's very nice teacher Karen. I cried for several reasons.

First, my daughter excels in school and that is something that a parent is proud of. It was tears of joy. Second, I cried because despite my being busy and not having ample quality time with her, she did great in school. I want to slap myself in the face for not giving her the time that she deserves. For not being with her during school activities. It was always the "yaya" that accompanies her in the important events of my daughter's life. It was tears of both anger and self-pity. Third, the teacher said that my daughter is a very nice and sweet child. At home, she always get a spank for not listening to me, for being hard-headed. The teacher said it might be sibling rivalry. I cried because I realized that I'm not acting the right way I should towards my daughter. I cried even harder because I love her and I know that I am wrong. She needs me in every moment of her life. She needs my understanding. She needs my love. She needs my attention.

I said to myself, from this day onwards, I will be with her in the important moments of her life. I will be more patient with her. Be more loving. After all, they are the source of my joy and energy and I know that someday, my daughter will be proud of me for being such a great mom!

Davao - a colorful City

The day is so bright. I feel great with the beautiful landscape of Toscana Subdivision. The feeling is amazing when you first see beautiful people and beautiful place. Everything just looks so beautiful. As I was in the jeepney, sitting and silently observing, it was the first time that I was able to notice the color yellow in every establishment that we passed by.

Such a great day. Davao City is clean and so beautiful. The city is indeed so colorful.

Bayantel Wireless and Dial-Up Internet

It is Sunday morning and the place is a bit cold. It was raining last night. It was last night also that I got disappointed with the service I got from Bayantel. I'll tell you why.

I brought my laptop home because I was planning to connect to the internet thru dial-up. I don't have a DSL at home so dial-up is the alternative. It will appear to be cheaper when compared to the per minute rate of Bayantel. (Note: My cellphone (SMART) internet rate is even cheaper compared to Bayantel's).

I tried to used the program ZTEConnector which is automatically installed after you install the driver from Bayantel. I supplied the username and the password and tried to connect. The message was, "the remote computer did not respond". I pick up the telephone receiver and dialed the number directly from my telephone. To my surprise, the remote modem responded. I tried connecting again. This time, I used my laptop. Still, I can't connect.

I decided to call 171, the helpdesk of Bayantel wireless. I was able to talk to a lady who's name is Marie. I asked her why I can't connect. She told me that I have to have my internet service activated before I can make any internet connection. I told her, I will only be connecting to a local number and not with Bayantel internet. I explained what I wanted to do. I only want to dial to a local number using my laptop. She got the same answer, I've got to have my internet activated. So I ask her, "does this mean the internet connection is exclusive to Bayantel only?". She answered "YES".

I still don't want to believe it because when I purchased this unit, I was told that this unit can act as a USB modem as being reflected in their manual. So, if this is a USB modem, I should be able to use this to connect to a remote computer which uses a local number only. I was told to dial 181, their technical call center. But.. you won't believe this. THEY'VE GOT THE SAME ANSWER! BAYANTEL'S SUPPOSED TO BE USB MODEM IS EXCLUSIVE TO THEM! How unfair! I asked, does DTI know this? Did you get the same complain from other people? Or, am I just the only one complaining on this?

Here's another suprising thing. 181 forwarded me back to 171. A lady told me that they can't activate my internet because I still have a bill to pay that's 1,700+ just for this month. I said, "WHAT"? How come? And I was told I've called cellphone numbers from my Bayantel unit. I said, "WHAT" (again)? I realized my helpers could have used my unit to call their text mates! (But this is a different story. So homeowners, guard your phones!).

Anyway, I was exhausted having talked to Bayantel help line. After all, they were not able to solve my problem. I was just so desperate I told them I am going to report this to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). But will DTI act on this? Will our right to be able to choose providers be safeguarded? Or, am I talking the right thing here?

Should I just report this to the councilors of Davao? I was thinking I'm going to report this to Councilor Peter Laviña who is known to be a fighter for people's rights. Or, am I just out of sync here?

Please let me know your opinion beecause if this is not worth discussing for, I will have my mouth shut.

Information Technology - To where I currently belong

Some issues IT departments are facing are:
- Customer thinks IT always force changes on them
- Unclear as to why the changes are necessary
- IT keeps clients in the dark..No info of what happened
- when IT fixes something, they usually break something else
- poor follow-up skills (don't always deliver what we commit to do)
- poor client expectation management skills

What makes IT reliable and predictable?
1. Be responsive and follow up very well. listen objectively; don't try to rationalize
2. IT goals should be in line with the business goals. focus on business, not technology
3. Deliver projects successfully
4. Communicate very well what we are doing & why it is necessary, what IT is getting accomplished and render pro-active status updates

Why should we do this?
Well, for our budgets to be easily approved!

Blogging & Google

It was June 29, 2007 when I first learned about Blogging. I learned it from Google's page itself but heard it through Ailleen Apolo, Google's representative in the Philippines. Today, bloggers in the Philippines are everywhere. They have found a way to express themselves online. Most of all, you get paid because of your articles. If you don't have a blogging page yet, start making one now!

2007 Christmas Party @ Waterfront Insular Hotel

Our Christmas Party was held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Lanang Davao City last December 22. We enjoyed it very much. The place was great. The ambiance was dominated by pirate-wearing participants and the well-decorated pirate-inspired venue. Thanks to the bosses also for the so many treasures that had been raffled off. From entertainment showcases, Aigo cameras, refrigerators, TV sets, electrifan, magic sing, and a lot more.

The dance competition also was very overwhelming. It was the first time that Decoarts won over Citihardware Matina and Bajada.

More parties to come please! Hehehe.