My One2Free Experience

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  1. #1

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    My One2Free Experience

    In August, I decided to switch my mobile service to One2Free because of the Next-G Bundle that is currently available. I had been with Sunday/PCCW for about three years, and the prospect of having 3G voice and data service on my phone + HSDPA internet access for my netbook sounded good, especially since it was going to work out to about the same price as my previous package with PCCW.

    I called One2Free's sales hotline once, and explained what I wanted, and was told I'd receive a call when the USB modems were back in stock. I never received a call from them, so I called again and talked to someone who was more than happy to help and called me regularly to keep me updated.

    I walked into a One2Free store on a Sunday evening toward the end of August and made the switch. Everything went as planned until I realized I'd been billed an extra $434 on my credit card.

    Call 1: I called One2Free and the CS rep transferred me to a customer's handset. Fortunately, the person I was transferred to spoke English, so I figured out what happened.

    Call 2: I was told by a male CS rep that I'd be called back because they 'had to check' why I'd been billed twice. I never received a call back.

    Call 3: I made this one a few days later. I spoke with a Pinky Chong and she told me she'd have to call me back because she could not access the computer systems at night. I attempted to speak to a manager and she said the manager was handling an online case. She promised to call me back on the Saturday (and never did).

    Call 4: I made another call to One2Free CS and was told that it was possible the salesman had not given me a proper explanation of the problem, and I would be called back. Again, I never received a call from One2Free.

    Then, after three weeks of trying to get a response from One2Free, I decided to e-mail One2Free CS. I did not receive a reply and I still haven't received an e-mail response, and the e-mail was sent through their website two weeks ago.

    On Saturday, September 26th, I went to One2Free's store in Causeway Bay and waited 10-15 mins to see a rep about my problem. The rep told me he could not access the billing records since it was a Saturday, so I lost it and cursed him out. I had spent 3 weeks attempting to get a response out of One2Free about the charge and I told him I wasn't leaving until I got my money back. I made a hell of a scene and finally was allowed to show the CS rep my credit card statement on his computer to prove I'd been billed twice, since his computer didn't even show a record of the second charge, even though everyone I'd called at One2Free CS prior to that had been aware of the second charge.

    Finally, I had him sign a sheet saying I would receive a call back on the Monday. I did receive two calls on Monday, but because I was running classes at the time, I could not answer my phone. I called back on Tuesday and the "Retail" department had no idea who I was or who had called me, even with my name and mobile number. I cursed the guy out again and then finally got a call back from the original guy, who told me it was One2Free's fault and they would credit the difference to my account--in four weeks' time.

    I wasn't happy about that either, since it was One2Free's fault in the first place. Their excuse was that since I'd signed up with a single number from PCCW and then had my plan switched to a dual number plan, they'd billed me for both accounts separately rather than as a bundle.

    Today, October 3rd, I received another call asking me to confirm that the extra charge was $434 and I would be getting it back in four weeks. They promised it wouldn't happen again, but it took me a month to get a response out of One2Free and it will take another month to get my money back. IMO PCCW's CS was much better than One2Free's, no matter how much flak PCCW gets. I just want everyone to know about my experience and what to expect if you switch to One2Free and have a billing issue. CS in HK has a long way to go, as do One2Free's CRM systems.

    Last edited by jayinhongkong; 03-10-2009 at 10:06 PM.

  2. #2

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    In my experience if you have any billing problem at all with any phone company in HK (meaning the network operators) or internet providers then there is only one way to proceed - you have to go to one of their shops. Trying to sort it out by phone or email is just frustrating and very unlikely to lead to any results.


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    In my experience if you have any billing problem at all with any phone company in HK (meaning the network operators) or internet providers then there is only one way to proceed - you have to go to one of their shops. Trying to sort it out by phone or email is just frustrating and very unlikely to lead to any results.
    That's just terrible, since I work seven days a week and could only find time to make it to their store during lunchtime on Saturdays. Customer service here really does suck.

    PCCW has helped me out when I've had billing issues in the past though, and without the need for numerous calls (and false promises of callbacks).

  4. #4

    I left One2Free long time ago due to my frustration with their billing system, its not as transparent as it should be and looks like things are still the same. I still get stories from a mate having billing issues where extra items where charged to the bill and took weeks to argue and get a refund.


  5. #5

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    That's interesting - my experience is that One2Free is fine - certainly far, far better than PCCW Mobile (which isn't really part of PCCW - it's still pretty much Sunday); PPCW Mobile was such a disaster, bith in terms of service delivery and customer service that I actually paid a penalty to get out early.


  6. #6

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    Yup, that is interesting--we've had completely different experiences. I could never fault PCCW Mobile's CS, but One2Free's been a royal PITA.


  7. #7

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    My contract with Smartone ends next month and here I was thinking long and hard about whether to move to PCCW or 1010.
    I have a friend on PCCW who tells me she gets a lot of missed calls (calls not coming through even though her friends swear they've called).

    I'm not sure which way the ball's swinging at the moment, but if I can get an unlimited data (or at least high data usage) plan on Smartone, I may stick with them. I do agree that their CS is pretty darn good, and I get calls back when they say they will call.


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blueman:
    My contract with Smartone ends next month and here I was thinking long and hard about whether to move to PCCW or 1010.
    I have a friend on PCCW who tells me she gets a lot of missed calls (calls not coming through even though her friends swear they've called).

    I'm not sure which way the ball's swinging at the moment, but if I can get an unlimited data (or at least high data usage) plan on Smartone, I may stick with them. I do agree that their CS is pretty darn good, and I get calls back when they say they will call.
    Well, look at the $250 unlimited data plan on smartone (which is what i'm no). no complaints from me on this.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Well, look at the $250 unlimited data plan on smartone (which is what i'm no). no complaints from me on this.
    But does that including downloading files and uploading to FTP, for example? I was on 'unlimited web page surfing', something like 20mb a day but suddenly downloading a file was an extra charge!!!

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Blueman:
    But does that including downloading files and uploading to FTP, for example? I was on 'unlimited web page surfing', something like 20mb a day but suddenly downloading a file was an extra charge!!!
    everything.

    well not quite, but its just not webrowsing. have a look on the website and see the full t&c.

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