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.

Get your copy of Paalam, Cory

ABS-CBN Publishing has released a special commemmorative issue about the late President Cory Aquino.

This special collector’s issue summarizes the life–both the highs and lows–of a well-loved president. It also captures the five days of Aquino’s funeral with more than 100 memorable images. It also features the eulogies given by people whose lives Cory touched like Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros, Cory’s physician Dr. Alex Ayco, Bishop Socrates Villegas, and many others.

Many times, while reading my copy, I found myself on the verge of tears.

 

And while you’re at it, do pick a copy of Star Studio, where the life of Cory Aquino is also featured. No, Star Studio and Paalam, Cory have different contents so don’t think that it’s just the same material.

Paalam, Cory is now available in the local magazines/newsstands and bookstores.  Get a copy! This will be valuable many years from now!

Side Topic: Up to 92% less fine lines in 6 weeks?

I just received my press kit for the Celeteque Advanced Anti-Wrinkle Facial Moisturizer. I admit I’m not very conscious of aging and have never tried those anti-aging treatments. But when I learned about this product, I was excited to try it out for myself.

Why only now? I understand marketing and when a product claims that it can lessen your wrinkles in seven days, I instantly become suspicious. From the testing that the brand managers conducted, there were probably just one or two persons, who claimed that their wrinkles were gone in seven days. And the very few comments that support that claim was probably what the brand manager took and instructed the ad agency to build on.

Seven days, really? If it was true, then that product should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for science. It would have been the closest thing to discovering the fountain of youth.

And this is what attracted me to Celeteque Advanced Anti-Wrinkle Facial Moisturizer (what a long name!). Six weeks is not so bad to claim. In fact, it’s quite reasonable. I’m taking up the challenge and would like to see if the results are true, that up to 92% of my fine lines would be reduced. I’ll keep everyone posted!

You can also watch the TVC here.

2009 Goals: A Review

At the start of 2009, I listed down our goals for 2009 (see story). Goal-setting is an important component of financial independence as you need to see where you want to be and be able to keep track on how you are doing.

Since this is the middle of the year, it’s time for me to check on the status of our goals.

1) Additional personal savings of PhP120,000.
*** Status: Done. I expect to save more from my salary before the year ends.

2) Ebay net earnings of at least PhP10,000 (earmarked for travel)
*** Status: 60% complete.

3) Add PhP12,000 to our mutual funds in Philam Fund, Inc. and GSIS Kabuhayan Fund.
*** Status: 33% behind. We are running behind in this goal. This is largely because of the unstable market and I’m quite nervous of placing more money in our mutual fund.

4) Start a retirement account of PhP12,000
*** Status: 50% complete. Just right on track.

5) Completely get rid of hubby’s credit card debt.
*** Status: 26K left. We expect to complete get rid of his CC debt by August 2009, four months ahead of schedule.

6) Pay off our car debt in full by November 2009.
*** Status: One month ahead of schedule. We expect to fully pay off the car loan by October 2009, one month earlier than we committed.

7) Save at least PhP140,000 from hubby’s salary.
*** Status: 50% complete

Optional goal: Travel to a foreign country
*** Status: Our Singapore travel is scheduled on October.

How about your goals?

SMARTalk is not for me

Browsing the papers yesterday, I saw an article that said SMART has unveiled its SMARTalk service. From June 26 to September 30, 2009, all SMART subscribers can make unlimited calls to any SMART number.

I admit I felt excited with this one. My husband and I regularly call each other and the unlimited calls would be great for us, especially since we are both post-paid subscribers. Searching the SMART website, I found out more about this new service. And then the bubble burst…

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) indicates that to avail of the service, SMART Gold subscribers can buy SMARTalk Load 100 or 500 from any SMART load outlet. P500 is good for 30 days of unlimited calls while P100 is good for five days. But the load is on top of the monthly service fee that SMART charges its post-paid subscribers. In my case, this is either P100 or P500 more than my regular P800 monthly service fee.

This disappointed me because I try not to exceed my monthly allocation and I certainly don’t want to add on to it. The monthly service fee that I pay for already includes about 40 minutes of talk-time and about 200 free messages so I really don’t have a need for this new service.

SMARTtalk is potentially good for prepaid subscribers, who like calling their friends and families. Unfortunately, this is just additional expense for post-paid subscribers like.

Turned down by BPI

Every February, I am charged by BPI the annual fee for my BPI World Perks credit card. This is the second year that I am using this credit card. In February last year, I was granted a 50% waived in the annual fee.

This year, I requested to waive the annual fee again. So I emailed BPI via expressonline@bpi.com.ph and made my request. After all, the annual fee for World Perks is P2,500! To my dismay, I received this email, informing me that BPI will not waive the annual fee.

Dear Pinay and Money:

We received your e-mail regarding your request for the reversal of your membership fee. We regret to inform you that we cannot grant your request for Annual Fee waiver. Please use your BPI Card more to qualify for Annual Fee waiver next year and enjoy more perks such as free Goldilocks signature dish for a minimum single receipt of P1,000 from any establishment or cash advance transaction using the BPI Express Credit Card.

If you need further assistance or have other concerns, you may send us an e-mail at expressonline@bpi.com.ph. Thank you for choosing to bank with us online!

Sincerely,
The BPI E-mailbanking Team

The key words are “Please use your BPI Card more to qualify for annual fee waiver next year.” This simply means that I haven’t charged enough to my credit card. So I replied and inquired how much is required to qualify for the annual fee waiver. Here’s the reply:

Dear Pinay and Money:

Greetings from BPI Express Online!

For the BPI Express Credit WorldPerks MasterCard, simply spend an average of PhP 30,000 per month to qualify for an Annual Fee waiver next year.

Sincerely,
The BPI E-mailbanking Team

Wow! This means PhP360,000 worth of purchases a year! I wonder what compelled BPI to give me a 50% waive in my first year. I certainly didn’t charge even half of PhP360,000 in the first year. Otherwise, I would have earned enough airline miles to get tickets anywhere to Southeast Asia.

Side Topic: Kim Chiu’s Happiness

Have you guys seen the newest TV commercial of Enervon featuring teen star Kim Chiu? It’s such a cute TVC. In the first few frames, you’ll see Kim Chiu sliding down the floor. In the succeeding frames, you’ll realize that Kim Chiu makes use of this sliding when she sees a one-day sale. Sliding through as the door accordion goes up, she becomes the first person to buy a nice pair of shoes.

This TVC is the cutest I’ve seen in years as Kim Chiu shows a very sincere and enthusiastic emotion after getting that nice pair of shoes. The TVC ends with Kim Chiu feeling giddy about her new purchase and shouting “HAPPINESS!!” . Here’s the TVC for your viewing pleasure: