Dubai Sunshine

The news over the past 10 days has been about Etisalat's Blackberry patch fiasco that has drained the batteries of many BB users. And to add insult to injury, it turns out that the patch is not really a "sofware update patch", as originally claimed by Etisalat...it was, in fact, a spyware patch that gave Etisalat access to BB users' email and messenger information (which should have technically been secure).

Now, the fact that Etisalat is trying to "spy" on its users is disturbing to begin with, but what's even more disturbing is Etisalat's ridiculous response to the whole fiasco. If ever there was a PR case study made out of this, it would be to showcase how NOT to handle a crisis situation.

Newspapers, the blogosphere, Twitter, word of mouth...EVERYONE was talking about this, but how did Etisalat choose to respond? By avoiding the situation. By not releasing a statement until a few days later, downplaying the story, saying only "300 customers were affected".

In an era where dialog with the consumer, transparency and honesty are key in ensuring a brand's credibility, Etisalat has got it all wrong...really!

I was not affected by this because just a week before the patch was released, I switched my BB service to Du...Yep...Du...And in all honesty, I am very happy with their service so far.

1) The coverage is good (there was only 1 location where I had Etisalat coverage but no Du coverage at all).
2) They are MUCH cheaper than Etisalat...even their international calling rates are better.
3) Turns out that changing my number to a Du number is not so complicated after all...All it took is one email and a few messages to advise my contacts that my number has changed. I still have my Etisalat number for a couple of months, and then I plan on completely discontinuing it.

I do hope Du benefits from the whole Etisalat mess. Not because I love Du (refer to some of my previous posts), but because any company that acts in such a moronic manner NEEDS to suffer some consequences!

I've said this time and time again, but there is a serious problem with customer service in this country...and this is applicable to almost anything, from moving companies, to banks, to restaurants...and of course, telecom companies. Given that Etisalat is practically a monopoly, it doesn't really make the effort to invest in its customer service.

Case in point, my sister wanted to get her phone service changed from prepaid to postpaid, AND she wanted to get roaming service as well. Did she manage to do both these things at once? Of course not. She had to change to postpaid first, wait for a couple of days, then go back to get roaming service. And of course, she had to present a passport copy every time, because God forbid Etisalat keeps these on record in their files.

A couple of months ago, I also switched to postpaid. I had a business trip during the month of April and needed to expense some of the calls I made. I waited for the bill but did not get it. I got an SMS from Etisalat telling me what the total amount was, but I did not get a detailed bill.

I thought it was an address issue or something along the lines, but then I got my May bill, and the address was fine. So I called Etisalat to ask them for a detailed bill for April. You'd think that it would be a simple request...I mean, how hard is it for them to contact their billing department and ask them to send me a copy of the bill? Or to give me access to my detailed bill on my online account?

Noooo....of course not...because that would make it too simple and far too efficient...

Instead, I have to go to an Etisalat office (and not just any branch at a mall...it HAS to be an actual office), with a copy of my ID of course, to get them to either give me a copy of the bill OR to get them to give me access to my detailed bill online.

Totally, absolutely ridiculous! Almost as ridiculous as having to go to a bank and fill up a form in order to set up Internet banking!