Singtel may be one of the biggest telecom companies in Singapore, but being massive does not necessarily mean delivering great customer service.
Their official hotline, 1688, appears to be largely routed to outsourced customer service teams in the Philippines, and honestly, I feel this has been a costly mistake for customer experience. The company has tried very hard to automate everything with auto-verification, OTP authentication, and scripted processes, yet there is still a lot they need to catch up on in terms of actual service quality and problem resolution.
The biggest frustration is that the focus seems to be more on procedures and repeated verification rather than understanding and resolving the customer’s issue efficiently. Support feels reactive rather than proactive, and issues are addressed slowly with poor ownership and follow-through.
Technology and automation should improve the customer experience, not leave customers feeling trapped in endless processes while simple matters remain unresolved.
Singtel has the resources and scale to do much better. Hopefully, they seriously review the effectiveness of their outsourced support structure and overall customer service standards.