Lessons from Ondoy and Pepeng

A few weeks have passed ever since tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng hit the country, causing massive damage to many Filipinos. Until now, many are still trying to recover from the magnitude of the damage.

Allow me to provide some perspective. Aside from the environmental lessons, there are financial lessons, as well.

I know a very devastated husband (not mine) who lost his entire FHM Philippines collection. He diligently collected every issue from day 1 and it was all swept away by the flood.

Another husband’s comic collection was also badly damaged. His wife narrated that her husband started his comic collection ever since he was young. When the flood reached their home, they weren’t able to save anything. All was left was the loose pages from the collection.

Other stories I heard include the rock-bottom prices of houses in subdivisions that were badly hit by Ondoy like Provident Village. It seems that in their desperate attempt to just get rid of their houses and to start moving forward, many homeowners are dropping the prices so low. One is even offering her two-storey house for just P1 million.

What is the take-away from all these?

I believe that calamities like these are a wake-up call from God to focus on the more important things like your loved-ones and your own lives. Maybe we have spent way too much time and money in shallow things like collections, a grand home, etc. when we could have pursued more important things. Sure, we all want to live a comfortable life but we also have to realize that these material things should be balanced with spending more time with our family and loved-ones.

I feel so sorry for those collections and houses damaged by the storms. I have my own Archie comics and snowglobe collections and I would probably be just as devastated. But the storms also serve as a wake-up call to me to focus on the more important things in life.

SMART increases credit limit

Dear Valued Subscriber: In view of Typhoon Ondoy’s aftermath, we have given you a temporary 50% increase in your existing credit limit. This increase will be valid until 04 Nov 2009. If you require a different credit limit, please call *888. Thank you.

This was the text message that I received from SMART. For Ondoy- and Pepeng-affected families, this is a welcome occurrence. Since they would want to check on their relatives and friends, an increase in credit limit would allow them to do so.

But it would be much better if SMART also implements a similar program for prepaid subscribers. I assume that majority of its subscribers use prepaid and SMART should also have something for them. How about no expiration for loads until November? Or free texts/calls for prepaid subscribers?

Reward yourself with SMART

Now, this is one promo that I can vouch for. SMART Rewards has been going on for the last several months but recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of its TV commercial. I think SMART is hyping up its campaign again.

It’s very simple, really. For SMART Gold and SMART Buddy subscribers, you get reward points every time you use your line, whether texting, surfing or sending MMS. For every P1 transaction, you get five reward points. So what can you get from the points?

* P50 bill rebate for every 12,500 reward points
* P300 Buddy Prepaid Phone Kit discount for every 30,000 rewards points (when you buy at the Wireless Centers)

I regularly use the P50 bill rebate, which is reflected in my monthly bill. I think SMART also offers discounts but I’m not sure about that. If you’re interested to know more, text REWARDS to 9800 for FREE. Check how many Rewards Points you have by texting INQUIRY to 9800. Text DISCOUNTS to 9800 and enjoy more rewards from your favorite establishments.

Another complaint about BDO

Regular readers of Pinay and Money know my worst experience with a BDO manager. Recently, a friend posted a very frustrating experience with BDO. My friend gave me permission to repost this in Pinay and Money.

BDO sucks big time

Why?

Just a couple of days ago, a close friend made a cash advance on her BDO credit card. The ATM did not dispense any money even if it was online and it was just newly “fed” with bills. Yet, the money was deducted from her account. Sweet, ain’t it?

So, she made the necessary calls to the ever-so-nice and efficient (yes, I am being sarcastic) people at BDO. The first person my friend was able to talk to told her that it would take 7-10 banking days to get her money back and that she would just have to wait because it was “the process.” My friend obviously got pissed so she asked to talk to the supervisor, hoping for a better answer other than “because it is the process.”

The girl made my friend wait for a god 15 minutes and never got back to her again. To even make things worse, when my friend followed-up the following day, she finds out that her report was not logged in by the girl she talked to. AND SHE WAS GIVEN WRONG INFORMATION REGARDING THE PROCESS. BDO employs really efficient call center agents, no?

Wait. It gets better.

Apparently it doesn’t take 7-10 days to get the money back. It takes 75 BANKING DAYS TO GET THE MONEY BACK. You read that right. 75 BANKING DAYS to get your money back. That’s a good two and half months. Considering the many holidays that are coming, it will take my friend up to 2010 just to get her money back. Wow. Quite a lot of time considering she doesn’t even get to charge interest from BDO for each day she has to wait.

Now where is the fairness in that? Credit card companies charge you exorbitant penalties if you pay a day late. AND YOU CAN’T EVEN CHARGE THEM FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!! Tell me, where is the fairness in that?! And their excuse is because: it’s the process. What sort of banking process requires 75 banking days to do, when it takes them no less than a day to call and pester you to pay up your credit card bills when you are a day late in paying? Really sucky process if you ask me.

And their tag line goes, we find ways.

I say BDO sucks big time.