Great Customer Service and Painting, Thailand.

As I blogged before I am currently repainting the house. My other half Miss Noot had been away visiting her grandfather for a few days. This gave me peace and quiet to do some painting.



Miss Noot returned yesterday, around 2pm. This is what the old room looked like with stained, off coloured walls.

My poor rabbit, Cola is a little bored as he has been restricted to his room a lot the last few days. Usually he has the run of the entire house and can hop where he likes. But with so much stuff in the lounge room and without time to keep and eye on him, means he has been locked up to say. This is such a shock to him.



And now this is the finished renovated room. It was completed yesterday and is now being left to air for another day before we sleep in it. I am actually sitting typing this from in the room and I do feel a little giddy, so their must be some residual fumes floating about. This weekend we will be off to the market for some new blue curtains.

The real challenge came today when Miss Noot of course wanted to change the layout of the room. Again it wasn’t too much of a headache but did require a trip to the hardware shop, so I could extend the phone line.

Actually pulling the room apart to paint, was a bit of a godsend. It meant cleaning up all the absolute crap I had stored away. It is funny picking up something and thinking, “Why the hell have I kept this for?”

After 3 or 4 bags of rubbish were removed, we now have a much better set-up in the room. I really like the new layout and it also makes it easier for me to tap away at the keyboard and also watch TV.

Now for a shock! I have complained and so have many foreigners about this topic in Thailand. That being customer service. Over the last few weeks the internet has been a little slow. It is mainly later at night. I have had really good luck with my ISP provider over the last few years with hardly any down-time being TOT.

Then yesterday afternoon I went to log onto the internet and there was nothing. There was no dial tone on the phone to be exact. It was dead. I rang there customer service hotline 1100 and spoke to a well spoken man in Bangkok and he took my details and said he would pass all this onto my Ubon Ratchathani provider.

Now I have dealt with there customer service before when I have had small problems and the promise of a technician being sent out can be just that, a promise. So this morning I had to pay my phone and internet bill and their office is only 1 klm away from my house, I ventured there personally.

I lined up and paid my bill and then went across to the customer service area. I sat in a chair waiting while a lady was dealing with another customer. While she was dealing with this customer an elderly gentleman entered the office with a young girl and there were Thai greetings and pleasantries. The other lady was filling out paperwork and then this guy handed the customer service lady a heap of paperwork that she started looking through and then typing away at the computer.

I told myself to breathe deeply, and I did and waited. The other lady finished her paperwork and left. This queue jumper then took the seat at the desk and the conversation continued like they were good old friends.

After 3 or so minutes the paperwork was finished. The lady then turned her attention onto the young girl. She started chatting away to the young girl asking her a thousand questions. She then pulled out of a draw a packet of miniature Cookie and Cream biscuits. That was the last straw as she opened them and she and the young girl started to eat a few.

I stood up and walked to the desk and said as politely but sternly as possible, that I had a problem that needed fixing and I also had been waiting for at least ten minutes. I was offered a ‘sorry’ and then ushered out the back to another lady who had a heap of paperwork scattered across her desk.

She immediately apologized. I wasn’t sure why, to start with. Then she said, ‘my English is not very good. Can you speak Thai?’

I told her my Thai was bad and we will get through using both if need be. Well it was a shock. I went through the problems of the slow internet and then the phone not working. I noticed a man had wandered over and was watching over us. I politely greeted him and then was introduced to him.

The customer service lady, Miss Kan Chana then briefed him in Thai. There was head nodding and was then told that a technician would be at my house very soon. I was going to be a little skeptical but the boss was on his mobile and telling a technician my address.

I then enquired about the slow internet problem of late. I have been on what is known as Goldcyber 1 Mbps for a long time now. It costs 1,000 Baht a month. This runs at a supposed 1024/512 Kbps. There were some signs plastered about the place with different internet deals but the one I was interested in was on my actual phone bill.

TOT Hi Speed Internet, Super Speed 8 Mbps for 1,000 Baht per month. I was then told that this cannot be done here in rural Isaan as the lines don’t cater for this speed. The boss and Miss Kan Chana then did some more deliberations and I was then informed.

The fastest internet possible was 3 Mbps, I would be getting this upgrade and also the price was being reduced. Hang on; this is too good to be true. The new monthly price was going to be 690 Baht per month.

I filled out the new paperwork and was informed that this upgrade will be completed tomorrow. I have checked the connection and it is still informing me that the connection speed is 100.0 Mpbs.

So, customer service is alive and well in Thailand. I was a little shocked and even more so when I returned home to see a TOT truck parked outside and a man working on the phone. A small box that the phone line ran into and then out of to the computer had an apparent loose wire. This wire had probably caused the at time slow connection or at times cannot find website problem I was having. The box was removed and some new wiring completed and at the moment it seems to have done the trick.

So that is just a little on the past few days of life here in sleepy Isaan, Thailand.

Brunty.