I had sign up for a 2 year postpaid plan with Maxis in July 2012 when I purchased my Samsung Galaxy S3. When I went to inquire about switching to an iPhone 5S at the Maxis center in The Gardens Mall Mid Valley, the staff there informed me that I would need to switch to an "iValue" plan. It seems that with Maxis, iPhones must use its own unique postpaid plan. Although the monthly minimum payment was higher than what I was already committed to, I deemed it to be worth what I was getting, and so proceeded with the change.
The staff at the Gardens Mall Maxis center processed my change in postpaid plan diligently, albeit with horrible attitude as expected from Maxis, and I received my brand new iPhone 5S within 40 minutes. I then proceeded to the "iPhone activation counter" as instructed, and watched another staff take my iPhone out of its package and "activate" it in a slew of touches and slides that I probably could've done faster myself.
Anyway, I was satisfied. Knowing how horrible service is in Malaysia and Maxis in general, I was happy to be out of there with a new phone at a significantly discounted price.
All was fine until I received my Maxis bill the following month.
RM2,169.80
I had already paid for the phone on the spot, mind you, which means this absurd amount is inexplicable.
I continued to read through the invoice and saw 2 lines on it that rendered me speechless.
"RM1,000 - Early termination fee: Voice Plan.
RM1,000 - Early termination fee: Data Plan."
It seemed that I was being penalized because I had terminated my previous 2 year contract by switching to the iValue plan for my new iPhone.
Here are a couple of problems I see.
- Is it truly the business ideology of Maxis to penalize loyal customers who continue to use their service by purchasing a new phone from them, change to a more expensive postpaid plan, and bind themselves for yet another 2 years??
- No one at the Maxis center in The Gardens Mall Mid Valley felt compelled to utter a single word of warning of advice to me that I would be penalized RM2,000 big ones for giving them more business.
Let's think about this. Had I known that I was going to be charged 2,000 bucks to buy a new iPhone, what are the chances I would've gone through with it? I mean, who in their fucking right mind would go for a discounted phone purchase just so they can pay more than double the next month?!
Maxis just appointed a new CEO a few months back who is attempting to bring the company back to reality -- to stop it from its snobbish path of immersing in its own recent success.
IT'S NOT WORKING.
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind Maxis that customer loyalty is what wins long term business, not how much market share you had in the last couple of years. If Maxis is in the telecommunications business for short term profit, it will crash and burn in the depths of customer dissatisfaction hell.
Yes, it's true that all the telcos in Malaysia are pretty lame when it comes to customer service and satisfaction, but you know what? Maxis is the largest (for now), and from what I see, they're trying the least.
It's the "we're on top so we don't have to work hard anymore" concept that we see so much in this country.
Here's a shocking business ideology for Maxis (and every other Malaysian company out there).
It's when you're on top that you need to work your hardest to stay on top.
But then again, why would Maxis give a shit about what I have to say? After all, I'm just one customer out of its HUGE clientele.
For this one puny customer, though, Maxis is no longer a business. For this one insignificant user who used to put forth all of his loyalty to them, Maxis is now just a large organization who sucks up money however they can with no consideration for how content their customers are.
