I have gone through a very frustrated experience when
Singtel deactivated my SIM card without informing me.
On 29th Jun, I found that I could not use my smart phone to
surf the Internet and thought that it is due to problem in Singtel data
service. But on the same day when I need to make an urgent call to my wife, I
found that I could not get my phone to register to Singtel network. When I
called up Singtel customer service, I found out that they have deactivated my
SIM card since 27th Jun.
On 27th Jun, I have re-contracted my mobile plan and have
told the officer not to send me a new SIM card as I will be using my existing
SIM card. The new phone will be delivered to me on 4th of July. Although it is
still one week before they deliver the new phone to me, Singtel has deactivated
my existing SIM card without informing me. This is not the only case that
Singtel has deactivated user SIM card without seeking user approval first or
informing user their SIM card will be deactivated. I have other friends that
have experienced the same frustration. Although Singtel had finally reactivated
my existing SIM card after my complaint to the customer service, however, I
could not know how many phone calls I have missed. As this phone is used for
business, there might have miss business opportunities that involve financial
loss. I am not sure who is responsible to such financial loss arisen from the
misdeed of Singtel.
I think the existing procedure that Singtel could deactivate
user SIM card without user approval is not acceptable. Singtel should seek user
written approval (email, chat message or SMS) before they are allowed to deactivate
user SIM card. Before deactivating user SIM card, they should send a SMS to the
phone number so that user could have at least 2 days to reply with an SMS to
agree to the deactivation. Singtel should also only deactivate user existing
SIM card after new SIM card has been activated. Without the activation of the
new SIM card, Singtel should not deactivate user SIM card without any user
written approval. Internally, Singtel officer should not be allowed to
deactivate user SIM card without their supervisor approval.
