Telkom promises better service to customers

Telkom promises better service to customers

JAKARTA (JP): Chief of the Jakarta office of the state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom, John Welly, told a special gathering of customers yesterday that the company is always trying to give better service to its customers.

"We realize that we have to be more open to feedback about the company's service," John said, adding that the gathering was one means of providing better service.

John urged the public to report instances of unsatisfactory staff behavior. "If you can prove it then just make a report to the company," he said.

John said that the welfare of the company's employees is so good these days that there was no excuse for them to bring dishonor on their position in order to supplement their incomes.

The gathering, which was attended by about one hundred customers, was co-sponsored by the Kompas daily and was held at that newspaper's auditorium, the Bentara Budaya Hall in Palmerah, Central Jakarta.

Also present were five Telkom regional office chiefs: Sigit Pramono of Central Jakarta, Darwis Fadila of North Jakarta, Dody Herdiaman of South Jakarta, I Nyoman Punia of East Jakarta and Jimmy Vilanueva of West Jakarta.

John and the five chiefs carefully listened to each question, complaint, and criticism -- even condemnation -- from the audience. They answered all questions patiently and cheerfully. Some of the chiefs even promised to send their men to attend to problems of the complaining customers that same day.

Agus Mulyana, an employee of the home affairs ministry who lives in the Bintaro area, South Jakarta, told John that he suspected that his phone line was being used by someone else, because his telephone bill had gone up dramatically even though he and his family rarely used the telephone.

"I used to pay a monthly telephone bill of around Rp 50,000 (US$22.7), but since October 1993 the bills have increased to between Rp 200,000 and Rp 900,000 per month," he said.

The angry customer said that it was impossible that his telephone was being used by other persons in his family without his knowledge, since he lives with only his wife and their two young children.

Agus said that his suspicions had grown after he installed an answering machine to his phone. "The machine receives many wrong calls. It has also recorded many unknown conversations, some of which are long distance calls," Agus said.

The problem had grown worse when the South Jakarta Telkom office declared that Agus had to pay the bills, since no disturbance was found to his line.

"This month the bill reached Rp 900,000 and I decided to stop paying the bill, not until the company resolved the problem," said Agus, who now uses a cellular phone from another telecommunications companies.

Responding to Agus' complaint, the South Jakarta Telkom office chief, Dody Herdiaman, promised to investigate Agus's case.

Anton Yohanes, a retired banker living on Jl. S. Parman, West Jakarta, has the same problem as Agus, and Mrs. Nelly Suparno said she had had to wait 20 years to have an additional line connected to her tiny shop in the Blok M area.

"How come I had to wait that long while some of the posh buildings in the neighborhood had dozens of lines shortly after they applied for them?," Nelly asked.

Robertus Kuncoro complained that his office lines were blocked for no apparent reason.

Mrs. Sundardi, a resident of the national atomic energy agency housing estate in Pasar Jum'at, South Jakarta, said she had been waiting for more than nine years to get a telephone. (mas)