I applied for my broadband connection from Time.com on Aug 20. The technician only came to install my Internet connection on Sept 18. It took them a whole month just to process my application and even then, I had to ring several times to inquire and prod. The company gave an excuse that the RM98 per month package I subscribed to was a newly introduced product. Still, it was gross inefficiency on their part.

Time.com billed me pro rata for the month of September beginning the 19th even though for a week-plus after the said date, my broadband was still not operational. In fact, after calling to complain, I was initially informed that my subscription would only be activated in October.

In the relatively short period I’ve been using Time.com, I’ve experienced simply too much difficulty trying to connect. On a bad day, I might need to call the Helpline three times. I’m flashed the messages Error 678 or Error 691.

In one follow-up call from customer service, I was given the explanation that their equipment covering the area where I live was faulty. I’m also told other clients in the same housing area also have connectivity problems – so I’m not alone in my exasperation.

Each time I call their Helpline, I have to go through several time-consuming steps with the automated telephonist and her irritating mechanical voice intoning, ‘For English, please press 1', ‘Untuk Bahasa Malaysia, sila tekan 2', ‘For this, that and the other, press 1 or 2 or 3' and so on and so forth.

And then, I have to wait for a human voice to come on at the other end of the line. But sometimes the ‘customer service consultant’ is busy ... so got to wait some more.

Each call requires a tedious identification process – name, user name, service number, address, contact number. If anyone from Time is reading, my service number is TBBH4978 but I would appreciate any respondent to this letter to keep my personal particulars confidential.

The Helpline (different staff members pick up) would then ask the same set of questions. I repeat the same set of answers: ‘The modem I’m using is XYZ model, I’m not using a router, status: the four indicator lights red, yellow, green, green are all lit, yes, I’ve already tried rebooting the computer, yes, no, yes, etc, etc’. Then I’m put on hold.

Next, the Helpline would instruct me to shut down my computer and try accessing again in another 15 minutes to half hour, again wasting my precious time. After the quarter to half-hour has passed, I try again and am once more met with the identical error messages, necessitating yet another call to the Helpline.

I would like to know whether this 1-800-number is toll free when calling from a mobile as otherwise, I would additionally be wasting money, on top of my time.

As of this morning, they are still checking on the cause of the fault. Overall, I’ve found Time.com’s service to be abysmal. I would really prefer using some other ISP but living in an apartment, I’m told by the condo management I’ve no other option except Time.com which snagged the monopoly.

Well, so much for all the talk about Multimedia Super Corridor lah, Malaysia’s advanced IT lah, Bill Gates’ interest in the country lah, yadda yadda.

I recall when Time.com first came onto the scene, there was some controversy regarding its entry into the market. Now after my own experience with this crony company, I can only think that it has still to live down its lousy reputation.