boon's log 4109.07: TNB Surprise

A while ago, I blogged about my less than satisfying visit to the Kedai TNB at Anson Road when I was on the receiving end of a whopping >RM500, wrongly delivered utility bill [click here for the entry].

Almost a month after that and when all the dust has settled, I received a unexpected and surprised phonecall from TNB [surprise #1]. He introduced himself as Tengku Hazman bin Tengku Hassan, the Assistant Manager for Customer Relations at TNB Anson Road. He wanted to follow up on the "bad experience" that I had with the branch and if everything was in order. Little did I know (not until later) that it was the first phonecall of a series of phonecalls - a total of 8 phonecalls to be exact! This guys really meant business and really wanted to make sure that he got all the details correct for his report - to the extend that he wanted me to pin-point the lady at the counter which re-acted rudely to me during my visit. I told him that she did not wear any name tags and I did not know who she was. It was then, during the last phone call (i.e. #8) that he invited me to his office to bersembang and perhaps to help identify the lady. And throughout the entire time, he was very apologetic about my "bad experience" with them. I was like... huh?! [surprise #2]

Okay, woah, horsey! Is this really happening? Houston, do we have a problem? You bet your bottom dollar it really happened, mate.

Anyways, I agreed with the Tengku that I meet up with him. I parked my car on the 7th floor as he suggested and called his cell when i arrived. I went throught the same doors as I did ~1month ago, but the lady that served me the other day was not at the front counter. It was a man this time. I waited for him to finish up with the person before me. I stepped up to him when he was ready. He looked at me without saying much and I said, "I'm here to meet with Tengku Hasman, please?". He immediately brightened up and spoke in English, "Please use the white doors on the right and then take the first door on your left." [surprise #3]

So off I went and as he saw me heading towards the doors, Tengku came up to meet me and shoke my hand. As we stepped into his office, he began again with apologizing for my experience and thanking me for coming to his office to meet him, saying that he was willing to come meet me if I could not make it. Anyways, as we sat down, he showed me a print out copy of boonspot, and particularly my blog entry about TNB (!!!). I was like, How the heck did he matched my complaints with my blog entry?! Someone in MCMC perhaps? Or TNB actually pays someone to surf the web and scoop for TNB-related blog entires? [surprise #4].


TNB tracked doown my blog entry...

He was telling how he (and his wife) thought that the write up was not rough or rude - in his words, "lembut dan tidak kasar". I replied that I just wrote it out as it happened, there is no reason for any "kasar" to be involved. He also showed me the "management report" and also the sequence of events that took place after I handed in my complaint form. It was then that he also told me that the VP down in KL had forwarded the blog entry to his Boss at TNB Penang and has given them a week to settle things with me. The TNB VP? Really. Honestly, I have my reservations in taking that in, but leaving some room for truth in that. [surprise #5].

Our meeting lasted for about 30minutes. He mentioned that the respective employee has been identified and warning letter has been issued. He also mentioned that she was in no position to advise me that I had to pay the RM500 before things have been confirmed. He regreted on her (and TNB's) behalf. But I had to agree that the entire episode from the wrong billing to the re-billing was carried out rather speedily - like in 2-3 days and I received my correct bill thru mail in like another week. And we ended our "sembang" session with (a) the fault of the meter reader and (b) the poor attitude of the front desk employee. I also made mention that it was a hassle to come in to report about something that it was TNB's fault. He gave me his card and asked me to call him or email him anytime with any problems with TNB, and he'd be happy to help me out.[surprise #6]

Oh, and just before i left, he requested to take a picture with me - I guess as a proof that he has met with me, when he reports back his Boss(es). Could I say no? Of course not... So we striked typical hand-shake pose for the camera [surprise #7]

Came back to the office and filled some of the folks in on what happened and they too were surprised and shocked! Is this the TNB that they knew? HT and JT decided to investigate on how they linked my TNB physical complain with my blog entry. They did a simple Yahoo! Search on "TNB Mistakes" and found my blog entry in the first page along with a Star write up (click here to read about the write up) about at similar issue of mis-billing by TNB Penang reported by a former Pengkalan Kota Assemblyman, Lee Hack Teik, where he was overcharged by RM30.34 (RM404.94 versus RM374.64). Apparently Mr. Lee went to the MCA about this. Well, I was overcharged by RM343.25 (refer to my blog entry) - perhaps I should have gone to Lim Guan Eng, huh? So anyways, according to my 2 super sleuths, HT and JT, TNB has been in a string of complaints - perhaps that is why they are so uptight and responsive about my complaint.

Well, all-in-all, I'm impressed and truly pleased with the way this was handled. As I mentioned to IL - seems like this is more effective that writing to CAP. :) Anyways, as the also Tengku mentioned, "Although TNB is the only Electricity provider, TNB should not take advantage of that fact and act irresponsibly." I sincerely hope that he means it - and not only himself but the rest of his colleagues at TNB and the rest of the utility service providers shares that same mentality... Kudos to Tengku Hazman.


boon out...