Maxis

I've been a loyal Maxis customer since the very first day i owned a handphone. However in Maxis customer database, I'm only a Maxis user for not more than 5 months. Why? Because I've been changing my number quite frequent. I started out with prepaid, then a main line, a supplementary line and now a main line again!

These are the number I've used in the past....

012-4XX2131 (prepaid)
012-5XX1127 (prepaid)
012-2XX9127 (main line RM99 package)
012-6XX9127 (supplementary line)
012-3XX7781 (main line RM75 Standard package)

I started with hotlink, after some time, I found out that I am making more and more calls and using hotlink is not worth it. So i decided to switch to main line. At that time, Maxis doesn't allow hotlink users to switch to main line. Therefore I changed my handphone number. After that I changed my handphone number again because of the cheaper plan and some other reasons.

One of the reasons I changed my handphone number is because i have lots of unwanted phone calls. People kept on calling my handphone for Mr Tan, Mary, XXX, XX, XXX....... I therefore changed my handphone number recently. I thought I would have a peace of mind. I was wrong. The same thing happened. Then one day, I realized something! One of my friends told me that when she called one of my old number(012-2249127) someone picked up the phone! I was using that number a year ago! Maxis had given that number to other customer in just a year time! No wonder i received so many calls even I am using this "new" number. Someone might have been using this number some time ago.

It seems that Maxis customers are growing and they are short of "beautiful" numbers. Maxis had offered me 017-2772277 to me when i signed up for the standard package. i rejected, i want a 012 number! I think this is one of the problems Maxis is facing, most of the users want a 012 number!

Actually there's not much choice for malaysian left when maxis acquired Time and Telekom acquired Celcom. There are only 3 telecommunication company left, Maxis, Celcom and Digi. Why did i choose Maxis at first place? it's because of coverage. It has the widest coverage in Malaysia, as far as I am concerned when i first subscribe to Maxis. However Maxis call rates are expensive! Celcom's postpaid rate is 20cents per minute but it's on minutes basis. This means that every second of your call is fully utilize. However, Maxis is using block basis. 30 seconds per block. This means that if your call duration is 29 seconds, they will charge you 8 cents. if your call duration is 31 seconds they will charge you 15 cents. So you might as well talk until one minute and you will get the same charge of 15 cents! I've calculated my phone bill, if Maxis were to charge me using the minutes basis, my phone bill will dramatically decrease! Digi is also using block basis. However it's 12 seconds per block for Digi and it's better for Digi users.

Maxis always claim that they have the widest coverage! That's only for GSM network! Their 3G coverage is only limited in the Klang valley. And guess what? There is no coverage even in Cheras, Kajang and Setapak! However the launching of 3G by Maxis has forced Celcom to reduce its video calls rate. Maxis is charging video calls at voice calls rate that is 15 cents per minute. Celcom was charging its customer at a high rate before Maxis launch its 3G services.

Currently there is only 2 telecommunication company that owns a 3G license. However, there are 2 more 3G license out for bid. The bidding will end somewhere around next month. MCMC will announce the other two 3G owner next year. Digi is seen as one of the favorites to grab a 3G license.

Apart from the expensive call rate and the coverage, another thing i found out bad on maxis is their customer service! I would need to wait for quite a long time to talk to their operator! Yesterday night i called up Maxis centre. I asked them about my phone bill. My bill cycle ends at the 24th every month! Since I was on holiday last month, I made less calls. My unbilled amount up to 23rd is RM67. This means that I need to make some calls to avoid losing my call time! I therefore called my friend up to crap at 23rd 11.00pm. What came to my surprise is the amount was charged to the November bill! According to the operator, if my bill cycle ends on 24th, they will close the account by 23rd midnight and get the bill finalize by 24th. Any calls made during 23rd will be charged to the following month!

"wei....why early early din tell people??if like that you should have told me that my bill cycle is at 23rd mar.......$%#@%$#^*$*#@$!$%"

This had made me lost a total of RM8 last month since my talktime could not be carried forward! And my unbilled amount for this month is already RM16! Today is 27th, in just three days I've used up RM16! Actually some part of it is due to the call during 23rd midnight to my friend! I did not expect it to be charged to this month bill!

Maxis had also been overcharging me for my first bill. They overcharged me for the 3G streaming and the video calls. However they took immediate action to correct it in the following month bill after I called them up. What will happen if i did not notice the mistake in my bill? I might not be able to recover the amount they overcharged me! Please do not expect customer to check every details in their bills. Hopefully Maxis can provide accurate bills to customers!

Besides that, I also find it extremely hard to log in the Maxis website to view my bills. You can check Maxis site out and just click a few links. I guarantee you to thrash your monitor if you are using a dial-up modem! Maybe it's time for Maxis to upgrade their server!

Why am I saying all these?? Am I switching to other Telco?? No way! I'll stay a Maxis subscriber! Why?? Maybe this is what people call as "Brand Loyalty"!