Astro is a subscription-based direct broadcast satellite TV service in Malaysia. It transmits digital satellite television and radio to households in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. It is the only one providing satellite TV serice in Malaysia and thus is in a monopolistic position.
Customer Service Hotline
Have you ever called the Astro customer service hotline 1300 82 3838? Recently I have a technical problem where I called them for assistance. As with other call centres of banks and telcos, you will be greeted by a recorded voice the moment you are connected. This is briefly how it goes;
“Selamat datang ke Astro, welcome to Astro, untuk Bahasa Melayu tekan 1, for English press 2,…………….”
So I press 2 for English.
“For Astro package and.…..press 1, for billing enquiries press 2,…..”
By the time I listened to all the instructions and get to speak to a human customer service consultant, it is already few minutes gone. This phone call is chargeable to the customer actually, NOT toll free.
My two cents: this process of getting to the right menu or speak to the customer service consultant simply waste too much time. Don’t you agree?
Reporting technical problem: no signal
After getting through to the customer service consultant, I highlighted that my decoder did not receive any signal and therefore no channels could be watched. They promised to get the technical department personnel to call back to me to troubleshoot the problem. It went on for two days and I made another 3 calls and still the technician never call back. I then decided to send them an email feedback through their website and within 2 hours an email response was received and a call from customer service consultant called me. Now they promised to get the technical person to come to my house for repair the next day. Happily I waited for tomorrow and I did receive a call from the technical department the next day, saying they would only be able come the day after, citing all technicians already scheduled to go other places.
The technical team finally appeared the day after and solved the problem. The mother boards of the decoder were changed and something on the satellite disk was replaced as well (it was stricken by lightning they said).
My two cents: the whole process of getting the technical problem solved took four days and I have to pay RM85 for the repair. And I missed two important Fifa world cup matches viewing though Astro, i.e. Uruguay vs Netherlands and Germany vs Spain.
How to complain about Astro services
After this experience, I would like to suggest for those who has any complaints not resolved fast by Astro, to do the following:-
- Call them many many times to “bark’ them
- Write an email to them through their official website, saying you would bring this issue up to the press media or Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) if the issue is not resolved fast. This was what I did.
- Call or write or e-aduan to National Consumer Complaints Centre which should be effective in tackling your complaints. [I did not use this service for my problem as I did not know of its existence until this morning]
Tags: astro, complaint, customer service, customer service consultant, how to, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, MCMC, NCCC, world cup
