Maxis recently unveiled a telco plan for Sabahans and Sarawakians which came in line with the newly improved MaxisONE plan. Customers from East Malaysia could then enjoy unlimited data from 1am-7am, and up to 12GB daily, from RM68 per month.
What was meant to be a cause for celebration soon began to turn sour when a customer wrote a lengthy post on Lowyat about how East Malaysians are getting a better telco offer as compared to West Malaysians.
The post detailed how when existing customers wish to port out of their telco service, Maxis counter offered them with offers like a free mobile phone, or a lower monthly plan, even offering up to almost half of its original price plan, which was RM128 monthly to RM68 monthly.
As a result of this, many existing customers took to social media to rant their dissatisfaction. CEO, Morten Lundal and Head of Consumer Business, Dushyan, even went on Facebook Live to address how not just new, but also existing customers, will receive a free upgrade. That meant that by the end of the month of April, all existing MaxisONE plan customers with a 1GB plan will be upgraded to a 5GB plan, and 3GB customers will be upgraded to 8GB.
As the upgrade will only happen later in the month, the Maxis team shared that to tide customers over, by next week, all MaxisONE plan customers would receive free 3GB of data. “I hope that you’ll be happy with these changes and innovations that we are launching soon,” they said.
“Thanks for making my port out decision firm.”
Customers though weren’t too happy with the upgrade as one Facebook user commented, “Thanks for making my port out decision firm.” Another commented saying, “Dear Maxis CEO if you guys still sleeping, you will lose this Games of Broadband.”
The rest of the viewers of the Facebook live update by Maxis weren’t too thrilled either, as within 60 minutes of the video going live for all to view, it had already recorded more than 1,100 angry Facebook reactions.
Maxis’ telco competitors, Celcom is currently offering users RM80 for 10GB, and DiGi, is offering RM78 for 7GB. Meanwhile, Maxis is offering their plan at RM128 for 3GB, and now with the free upgrade they will be extended to 8GB.
Perhaps what Maxis could do in the midst of this telco fiasco is to offer lower prices as compared to their competitors and use that as their strength to further build the brand. Only time will tell what will happen next with Maxis, but one thing’s for sure is that they really need to get their act together.
