The Maxis social media crisis is all over the news now. I won’t go over the details about what happened but if you missed out on the whole thing you can catch up on it here.
Amid all the noise on this issue, the angry mobs and the feeling of being shortchanged, it’s important to remember exactly what it is that Maxis did wrong. And what it didn’t.
Let me first start with what Maxis didn’t do wrong.
- Maxis didn’t cheat or mislead us
I’ve been on Maxis for so many years I don’t even remember how long exactly but I think it’s in the range of 10-15 years. In this 10-15 years I have changed my plan with them TWICE.
Why? Every day we are bombarded with advertising on new offers that all telcos including Maxis are giving out. Sometimes those offers are even more competitive than the plan I’m on, so in two of those occasions, I did the math and just changed my plan.
The most recent time this happened was 6 months ago. I realized I was paying a lot more for data and voice calls then I should have been. That Maxis was very significantly more expensive than its competitors. With that in mind I wasn’t ready to drop Maxis completely because I did value their good network coverage, their good roaming coverage and their good customer service (I’ve only had good experiences so far).
So I structured my mobile phone plans to fit my needs.
a) I cut down my Maxis data plan from a 5GB plan to a 3GB a month one.
b) I removed all my bundled minutes from my Maxis plan.
c) I signed up with U-Mobile’s P70 for my second phone which gave me 7GB a month of data and unlimited calls. They have since bumped it up to a total of 15GB of data. I now use my U Mobile line for all my intense data stuff and all my phone calls.
My total monthly bill with these two plans? The same as what I was paying for my Maxis plan before but I now get more data and unlimited calls. So I’m happy.
The point is we enter into each mobile phone plan willingly and as educated as we can be. Before we sign a plan we do our own due diligence and we compare it with competing plans from other telcos and also from within Maxis. If things change in future (for example you use more data than voice or if there are cheaper plans outside) then we owe it to ourselves to make the switch.
Maxis or any other telco doesn’t owe us that responsibility to make sure we get the best bang for buck from them. We owe it to ourselves.
2. Maxis offering a promotion to new customers is something that many other companies let alone telcos do.
Much of the anger was directed at the fact that Maxis had a special plan for East Malaysia that gave much more for much less than what the rest of us get in the rest of the country. Companies do this all time to recruit new customers when they do promotions.
Being pissed off at Maxis for doing that is like being pissed off at Uber for giving its NEW customers RM50 in free rides whereas the ones that joined for free like me got nothing.
3. “Maxis treats you better only when you want to leave.”
Forget the fact that this is human nature. That we as humans tend to appreciate something more only when we are about to lose it.
Lets look at this in a business point of view. Counter-offering customers who are about to drop out as part of a customer retention strategy isn’t something new. Heck it happens all the time in business. A law firm I’m using just counter-offered me a lower quote when I threatened to use another firm. If I didn’t threaten, I wouldn’t have gotten this offer. It’s not just my law firm. Just about every telco in Malaysia and most globally does the same thing.
When I was studying in the UK I wanted to terminate my Vodafone contract for an O2 one, I got a call from Vodafone offering me a better plan. I didn’t take offense that they didn’t offer it to me earlier on. I just reminded myself that I owe it to myself to make sure I get the most competitive deal.
Now here’s what I think Maxis DID do wrong…
- Their initial response to the complaints that was posted on their Facebook page
What’s wrong with it? Well I think this article sums it up really well.
Since then the Maxis CEO has came out on their Facebook page to address this issue offering better value plans. There’s still a bit of confusion to the whole thing but essentially what they’re saying is give them time, they’ll work it out.
In conclusion here’s where I stand. Minus the PR response, I don’t think Maxis did anything the other telcos around the world don’t do. The main difference is that their plans are expensive. I personally have a threshold of how much of a premium that I’m willing to pay for its services and I think I’m in a comfortable zone right now with half my mobile usage on U Mobile and half on Maxis.
If you don’t think they’re worth your money then by all means switch and if the new telco doesn’t give you a good enough plan any time in the future then switch back. We will always have that choice.
Try not to take it out on their front end staff who manage their call centers or social media handles. No customer service ever wants to cheat its customers or intentionally treat them bad.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space