So, you finally made the choice to switch from prepaid to postpaid. But the big question is, is it worth the “upgrade”? This blog post enumerates all the cons of having a Smart postpaid subscription.
Smart’s postpaid services will be compared with the competitor Globe Telecom and another network outside the Philippines which I am subscribed to–Olleh KT.
1. Horrible customer service–BOTH ONLINE and OFFLINE
Everything that the subscriber should know are not on the web site.
Who knows how much are the call rates and text message rates if you are on postpaid? Who knows how much are the incoming call rates, outgoing call rates and data charges when you arrive at your country of destination?
With most people subscribing to Smart Postpaid are at least college undergraduates or at least have jobs and who are not technophobic, I don’t understand the reason why they can’t put all these features into their web site.
And have I told you about the blockbuster lines and the at least one hour wait time at the Smart Stores to get customer service? The main verdict: Most of the service modifications can’t be found online.
2. You can’t customize your cellphone number unless you’re getting Smart Infinity.
If you want to get the cell phone number of your choice, it’s either you choose one of the SIM kits available from the Smart Store, which is for free, or you have to pay PHP 336 pesos to change your cell phone number once you are subscribed to Smart Postpaid.
If you opt for paying the PHP 336 fee, the staff at the Smart Stores will only allow you to choose the last four numbers, unless the store staff you are talking to will be glad to assist you to enter all the cell phone numbers you want to check whether a number is already taken or not.
And have I told you that you can’t change your mobile phone number online and charge it to your Smart Postpaid bill? (Read #1 again LOL)
4. You need to memorize a lot of keywords and numbers to avail a particular service.
Depending on your mobile plan, you may have to memorize a lot of phone numbers and keywords everytime you want to avail services that are under “promo”.
Have I mentioned that there are three numbers that you should memorize? 9990, 7577 and 2207?
5. No pre-activated international roaming.
Yes, if you want to go outside the country and if you want to use your Smart Postpaid Plan think again. International roaming is not pre-activated to postpaid subscribers below Plan 2500 EVEN IF you have shown a proof of financial capacity. If you are interested in Smart-Conexus data roaming rates, there’s no other way except to pay a PHP 2,500 deposit, which I don’t know if you can get it as soon as possible when you don’t use your phone for calling and texting while outside the country.
Have I mentioned that you need to fall in line in their blockbuster Smart Stores in order to get international roaming? It would be great if Smart develops a module for international roaming activation where you can apply, upload documents and pay the corresponding roaming deposit fees.
6. All calls are charged by the minute.
Same with Globe, all calls are charged by the minute. If you subscribe to any of the call offers from Smart, all calls will be rounded up to the next minute. If you call someone from another network, not only will you be charged for one full minute, but you will also be charged a more expensive rate (7.50 if you are not subscribed to any bucket subscription).
There was an NTC order to change the way mobile networks charge their subscribers. It seems that the networks aren’t following.
7. Their Smartphone App is Useless.
Their app is more of a sales application, rather than a self-service account management app. Their smartphone app available at Google Play Store and AppStore are actually useless because similar to #1, the app won’t let you do the essentials.
8. Getting help? Get ready to memorize your service reference number!
What I don’t like when I have a complaint with Smart is that you can’t do anything if you did not write the freaking service reference number. From a database designer’s point of view, it’s very easy to create a one to one relationship between a service request and a subscriber.
They should have put a “My Requests” in their web site where it lists down all the requests that you have and the current status.
9. The help content in Smart’s support site is confusing.
The people who manage Smart’s support site I think do not know how to review their articles. Some of the articles can be dated back as old as year 2009. Some of the help articles show how you can do things back in their old site. They should put when was the last time the article was updated.
10. There’s support for roaming…hidden though
Unlike Globe postpaid which has roaming preactivated for all postpaid plans and which also gives you a toll-free number to call when you want something fixed while you’re away from the country, Smart does not provide any kind of support once you’re outside the country if you take a look at their support web site. But you can take a look at my Smart Postpaid Roaming Review here.
Any more features you want to be added to the Pros and Cons? Post them below.
This is part 3 of 3 of my blog posts about my review on the Smart Postpaid Plan.
As this blog post was last updated on July 22, 2016.