Organizations dress themselves up to look good. A whole army of individuals – from marketing specialists to those focusing on corporate communications, plus all kinds of spin doctors – are dedicated to ensuring that organizations send out the right message to the public. The right message means more customers. More customers means shareholders can line their pockets with your hard-earned money.
But talking the talk is vastly different from walking the talk.
Organizations must deliver.
MyRepublic offers 1Gbps fiber broadband at an affordable rate. Clearly it has over-promised and under-delivered. I am not privy to insider information but MyRepublic obviously has a capability issue – for some reason or other, it is not able to deliver what it is promising.
I will spare you the painful details, but to say that my experience with the fiber broadband provider has been a horrendously bad one is a gross understatement.
Suffice it for me to just point you to MyRepublic’s Facebook page. You will not find another organization with a Facebook page that is inundated with so much negative feedback and vitriolic comments from customers. Look at Posts to Page to see what I mean for yourself.
MyRepublic claims to be “Singapore’s Bold New Internet Service Provider, purpose-built to deliver you the best Fiber Broadband experience!”
Yeah, and pigs can fly.
MyRepublic does nothing else, fiber broadband is its only business, yet it is incapable of keeping its customers satisfied.
In this era, the Internet should be regarded as an essential service much like water and electricity, and for my case, interruptions in service actually place my clients and patients in jeopardy. These are people who email me their charts and reports.
MyRepublic doesn’t seem to understand that. Comments on its Facebook are all about poor customer service, lack of response, long waits for resolution of problems, etc – the kind of issues one would expect in a third-world country. Despite public smackdowns on its Facebook, it continues to blatantly behave rather nonchalantly with regards to its customers’ plight.
What is even more shocking is that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore seems rather toothless. IDA’s raison d’état is to pull the chain attached to loose cannons like MyRepublic so as to exert some control over quality and performance but so far it has proved disappointing. It is a body with first-world aspirations but third-world attitude. Just look at its fancy website. If only it delivers a tiny percentage of what it promises! This disrespect and utter disregard for end-users’ welfare permeates all the way to the top. My repeated emails have not resulted in any solution pertinent or effective enough to my liking; MyRepublic’s coordination with OpenNet, now re-named NetLink Trust (what a joke!) is also dismal at best, and customers are caught in the crossfire. Tales of frustration voiced by subscribers who sign up for fiber broadband but having to wait for months before OpenNet or NetLink Trust can do anything proliferate the web. Hard to imagine for a country like ours. Senior management at IDA does not appear to be interested in complaints by consumers like me and the minister in charge (Yaacob Ibrahim) has not even bothered to reply. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even acknowledge my email. Guess I’m just another nobody. Well, has he forgotten that even one vote counts? Come election time, many of these overpaid and inefficient bureaucrats seemingly more interested in high profile politicking that makes them look good on TV screens and the state-controlled media will get their comeuppance. I kid you not. In the first place, I shouldn’t have expected much from someone who couldn’t distinguish between a flood and a pond.
If organizations and their leaders are not serious about keeping their promises, it’s a matter of time before someone finds out. In this day and age, it will go viral in a moment of seconds.
Dissatisfied customers can bring an organization to its knees.
That will be so satisfying.
When MyRepublic promises “Satisfaction Guaranteed” on its website, is that what it means?
That it will be such a satisfying experience bringing it down.
Never in my professional life have I been so flummoxed and exasperated by an organization as mismanaged as MyRepublic.
Organizations cannot thrive on lies.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
For those considering going to MyRepublic for fiber broadband, my advice is a one word “don’t” and for discontented, existing customers, do stand up for your rights and send a warning to those who try to deceive you and not deliver that they promise.
And when politicians you elect don’t have your best interest at heart, make sure they don’t ever get elected again.
Mark my words, MyRepublic is a ticking time bomb that will one day implode. Unhappy customers have already put MyRepublic at the precipice of losing its reason for existence.
The company is at a tipping point – all it takes is a few more disgruntled customers for things to boil over.
I have already set aside a bottle of Krug Clos du Mesnil 2000 to pop open when that day comes.