Myself and a friend were waiting in for this amazing promo by Digi, where they are promoting the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for only Rm99 and RM58 per month for the BerrySmart plan.. which is darn worth it! (link here)
The problem is this… Digi should have anticipated the largeness of the crowd and hype over this along with other of its promotions, especially from it’s first 2 days of experience they should have expected a crowd for the weekend and should have sorted out a system where it is only fair for those who wait in line to be able to wait and queue..
My friend and I were the first to come at 7:45 pm to queue up and the line later grew to 20 and 30 people and naturally we were told to leave there at 10:30 since 1U was going to close.
So we came up with a system where we had a list where those who came first and those following in at later times were to put our names on a list of paper where we know who came first, as we thought it would only be fair. We waited outside behind the FlyFm stage…
The security guards told us that we had to wait for them to open at 6 am which we did.. when it reached 6 pm we had 92 people on the list who have waited.. but all hell broke loose, as there were a bunch of guys who just ran in and caused people to get hurt.. my friend suffered the worst.. she was really the one who deserves the standing O since she first came up with the list idea and got assaulted by a guy who pushed her and she got whipped lashed and hit the back of her head and got her arms hurt and was pushed and shoved by the same guy.. wth??? He hit a girl!! I was really really proud of how though she was.. and she did well as she managed to hit the guy in the face.. and thank God there were others who pinned the guy who assaulted her to the walls and another trouble maker was also stopped by new friends that we made…
When we reached back in to the malll.. they had shutters down at the Oval… it was a first time in a long time 1U had shutters down at the oval in awhile since i work on recces and events.
We were shocked to see others there waiting as well.. i guess there were definitely over 200 people in total including those who were with us..so we just waited by the shutters and it was so packed like a can of tuna that I had to stand.. good thing my friend could have enough space to grab a seat… it was quite scary to see her hand shake so much from adrenaline rush.. when she was smsing on her phone… after the commotion with the assault…I have really realy painful limbs rite now… even as i write this …. I am aching all over….
According to one of the promoters who were lining up with us for friends.. she was told that the Digi people were trying to think of a solution to manage the “overwhelming response” … what in the world??? Such a big telco company and they did not anticipate and preamp the possibility of this happening… great… well done…
When the Digi people came… they came up with a decision that everyone had to disperse and get off the ground floor so that Digi can set up and open the shutters and discuss how they were to handle the situation with the security of 1U… Digi told us that they will let everyone line up when everyone dispersed from the Ground floor.. we though obviously it will take a long time because people did not disperse… some hid in the toilets behind evelyn and crabtree, some were obedient and went to the floor above.. myself we were obedient and we were outside of chatter box.. and we sent one person in consistently to check on the situation. then we a drink at Kluang station so that in case we did not hear the call from Digi..
To my shock… there was already a line waiting at the Digi shutters where there is the entrance into the queue behind the shutters, and the digi people and the security discussing in the Digi event floor area on what to do.. and the dispersing obviously was not effective as they did not get people to really disperse…
When the Digi people and the security have finished their discussion.. the Digi guy said: ” OK! the line starts here.” I was like.. what the hell???? He pointed at the line infront of him which had 30 plus people…
I was like.. wth???? people were not suppose to line up yet and there was not suppose to be a line???
We all rushed to the lines along with 200 plus other people and we were lined up pretty close enough for contention for the 44 Blackberry Curve which was the one that we wanted…
Then to my freaking shock.. the dude said.. “Priority is DIGI CUSTOMERS FIRST” Everyone in the line were freaking shocked and angry as it did not state anywhere that Digi customers had first priority!
Shoudn’t Digi open the lines as it is where there are others who were from Maxis and Celcom, Potential NEW Customers, who are willing to trade and SWITCH to DIGI.. I have been a Maxis user for 5 years since coming back from Overseas… and I was willing to pledge my allegiance to DIGI!
I saw bunches and bunches of people leaving and I saw tears streaming down this lady and she mumbled that it was not fair that she lined up for over 10 hrs and being treated like this .. what customer service is this??
TO make matters worse….. My 2 friends, one who came in the morning.. were in front of me, one was a digi customer for 11 years and he was so he was happy and my other friend who was with me for 14 hrs, were right behind 3 people who went in and when they announced that the 44 blackberries were finished!
And the guy who was in charge of the line said that we could not go in, and we could only go in to buy a HP Mini NetBook.
So they guy told us to get off the line. The Digi people were super rude not just the main guy but also his other staff..
What we found out later was that there were a few people who were blacklisted and also did not want the blackberry curve in the end… I was freaking furious! I was like.. If we were not told to get off the line.. we would have got our Blackberry! The dude freaking shooed us off and told us u can’t go in. you have to buy the HP mini then u can go in. WTH????
I found out from one of the promoter girls later that at the start of the queue for those who managed to enter beyond the shutters… that they just ticked what the people wanted… that’s how they determine what people wanted thats how they came up that 44 blackberries were finishd!
WTH??????
DIGI should have checked the phone numbers on the spot whether there were blacklisted or those who are outstanding !!
If they did that we would have been in line for the blackberry and not being freaking shooed off!
We were freaking complaining and there were others too who was complaining….
I was surprised to see my dad in 1U and i told him the torture that i went through.. and he was furious and shelled at the the digi managers (or whoever the person incharge is). Apologies are not enough…No matter how Apologetic they try to look… as the saying goes.. Sorry No Cure….
My friend who has been a loyal customer for 11 years, has decided to switch camp to another telco.. So Digi might have gaind more loyalty from their existing DiGi clients… BUT they definitely lost a lot of potential new Digi users the last few days… bad reputation… word of mouth does spread like a disease…
I can imagine the competitors looking at this as a big joke and a potential advantage point for them to pounce with a new promo of some sort… Wonder if it will hit the papers 2mr.. hint. saw a journalist there… Knew he was a journalist since he was the one that talked to me!
Blogs will definately be filled with an event like this…
to view my rants on twitter to Digi Telco @Dannyboy242 click here.
For a big big company like Digi, I am really shocked at bad event management, customers treated badly by the staff and yelled at…. and did not have a system..
Bottomline is.. my friends and I should have gotten a Blackberry if they had checked the registrations at the line itself… to see if people were blacklisted or had something outstanding… 4 people were blacklisted from the line in front and 3 did not want a blackberry in the end… we were next inline right in front.. when the guyed told us to go away…
Digi’s Tweeter Bio says:
“At DiGi, your needs are at the centre of everything we do. Whoever you are, wherever you go and whatever your needs may be, we’re there for you!”
This is such a contradictory statement from Digi as myself and definitely others who did not feel that. I was not treated like Digi was there for me, and definately did not feel that customers are not the centre of everything that they do.. as evident from this ghastly nightmare of an event that happened…
I wasted my time 14hrs, I’m aching all over, I was cheated.. and thrown aside like some rubbish.. thats how Digi treat customers?
The only compensation I will settle for the least is for the BlackBerry Curve 8900 that I came for, after my friend complained. Digi is getting one for her later during the week..
I want the same …. its only fair.. for what I have been through..
Here are 2 other bloggers who also have their accounts of what happend..
Joshua OngYS (click here)
Satkuru (click here)
