Globe Telecom: Rants of an Identity Theft Victim

I know this isn’t travel-related but I wanted to post this in my blog with the hopes of reaching Globe Telecom management and other victims of identity theft.

I’ve been a Globe prepaid subscriber since 1999.  In 2004, I have subscribed for a postpaid line which I just recently terminated due to a new Globe postpaid line provided by the company I’m working for. I also have a Globe MYFI postpaid line which has been active for 18 months now.  

Last December 10, I applied for a DSL +Landline subscription. I have been patiently waiting for their feedback until I received a call today, December 12, from this number: (02) 739 2222. It was the agent from Globe who introduced himself as Ely.

I was expecting that he’d bring the good news but instead informed me that I can’t push through with my DSL +Landline application until I settle my outstanding balance amounting to 9k++ for a Wimax subscription.  I have heard of Wimax's existence but it never cross my mind to apply for one so I was shocked and had to ask the agent to repeat what he said and so he explained it to me in detail.

The 9k++ was for a Wimax subscription from April 2011 – November 2011 in Carcar, Cebu. Yes, you read that right. I've been to Cebu City and Bantayan but never been to Carcar. I was born and raised in Mandaluyong and most of my relatives are from Pampanga. I gave the agent my tattoo MYFI (which I applied for last year) account number to verify that my registered billing address is in Mandaluyong.  So it can't be possible that I have subscribed for Wimax to an unknown residence. And so he told me he’ll verify the information and will call me again after 30 minutes.

Less than 30 minutes have passed and I got a call again from the same agent and he was still saying the same thing. I asked him to spell the name which shows up in the account and it matches mine.  At that point I started to raise my voice especially when he uttered the words, “Ma’am sure kayong hindi kayo ‘to?”  I told him, “Bakit naman ako magsisinungaling eh sa hindi nga ako nagapply niyan?” I also explained to him that the billing address I used in my Tattoo account was in Mandaluyong but still he insisted that the Wimax account was also mine because we had the same name.

I asked him to give more information regarding the said account like date of birth and mother’s maiden name and his only reply was, “Ma’am limited lang po kasi ang access namin sa information.”  I got mad again, told him to verify the information first before calling their clients and hanged up the phone.

After 20 minutes, he called again. As if sharing a full name with another person wasn’t freaky enough what shocked me more is that the birthday of the account holder matches mine. And you know what the agent (Ely) suggested? (I can’t remember the exact words that he used though) “Ma,am ipangalan na lang po natin sa iba yung DSL application para maprocess na or bayaran ninyo na lang po yung outstanding balance. Sure po ba talaga kayong hindi kayo ‘to?” 

I was really mad so I just told him, “Pinapainit mo talaga ko ulo ko no? Kung gusto mo ikaw na lang magbayad ng balance.” And then I ended the call. I haven’t heard from Ely anymore so I called the Globe customer hotline 730-1000. I can’t get through the line so I decided to use their live chat facility.

I was able to talk to an agent and told her about my concern. I gave her all my information and she told me that though the Wimax account owner and I had the same name, we had different billing address so there’s a big possibility that the account is not mine. She even told me that I can still apply for a new subscription with them. That was a great relief. I was then about to ask how it happened but the internet connection wasn’t stable and our conversation was cut.

The investigator in me wanted to know what really happened so I called the hotline number again and thankfully I got through the broadband department. I followed up my DSL application but was informed of the same thing.  The agent instead gave me the account number of the Wimax subscription that was apparently under my name and assisted me to get through the billing department. 

The girl from the billing department was more than happy to address my concern. She informed me that the billing address and my mother’s maiden name do not match the account owner’s.  She even told me that I am not required to pay anything if I can prove that I did not apply for that subscription.  She asked me to go directly to the nearest Globe business center and submit my documents such as IDs, birth certificate, proof of billing, etc and from there I can continue processing my DSL application.

Haaay Globe. Have I not applied for a new subscription, I will not discover this anomaly in your system. Somebody has used my credentials without my knowledge and your staff approved it. It's IDENTITY THEFT! And now you expect me to pay for a service I didn’t use? Add to that the hassle that I would have to go through – DSL and landline installation delays, submitting of documents just to clear my name, etc. 

Seriously, Globe, do you really care about your clients?