Current Payment Portal Account

It’s 5:38 PM Friday and it's avail. Thank goodness it's avail. For the past few weeks, we have been bombarded by calls about the latest website protocol that is mandated by EU for all websites offering credit card payments.

It's my 9th month on this account and is my 1st UK account. We handle the support for a UK-based merchant payment facility which is very similar to Shopify. So merchants apply for our service with a number from their banks.

This merchant number is then integrated on our system and we provide merchant a website for their developer to get the codes for their website. Once the code is on the merchant's website, whenever their customers enter their CC information, it is evaluated and verified using biometrics, password and other security.

The closest version of this is the Philippines is probably PayMongo. Although in the UK, it's just the 3 major CC -- Visa, MasterCard and Amex. No such thing as e-Wallet like GCash. Other options that our customers / merchants have is the use of an Online Terminal and Pay by Link on mobile phones.

What I don't like about the company is that there's no free dependent. You have to enroll your dependent to an HOM at 2.6k/month. The HMO is also not available unless you're regularized. The thing that I like about the current company is the voluntary retirement and the 11+ VLs that can be availed upon regularization.

The account just celebrated its 1st year so the process is still constantly changing. They just started integrating QA in the calls. We don't have First Call Resolution (FCR) or Customer Satisfaction Surveys (CSAT). We also don't have Average Handling Time (AHT) but the calls are fairly short.

We do handle emails though. We allot about 30 minutes to 1 hour of our time answering emails. Most of the changes that we initiated on the merchant's account is initiated by email because we need to have the request documented.

Most of my calls are about:

-Password reset
-Transfer calls to customer service regarding bills payment, physical terminal support and online viewing of their invoices
-Whitelisting IP and URLs
-Enabling the security protocol on their account
-Searching for failed transactions (merchants can view it on their end through the provided website)
-Adding additional contact person on the account.
-Referring website developers to the company's developer website which contains the scripting and coding guides

Our office is at the Trinoma area and our training was on-site. After the training, it coincided with the ECQ around September 2021. We only returned to the office last April 1 as mandated by the government. Working onsite is more expensive because I always have my lunch at McDonalds and meryenda at Ministop. However, it's more fun seeing my colleagues face to face, errr I mean, facemask to facemask.

Since the implementation of ECQ in Metro Manila, the company provided van service to agents even up to now that the Alert Level in Metro Manila is 1. I'm from Pasig and there's a pick-up point opposite Jollibee Rotonda that takes us back to the office and back.

Britain time is about 8 hours behind the Philippines. So my shift starts at 3 PM to 12 AM (DST time). This is considered mid-shift in the call center industry. We still have time to sleep like the rest of the population. Travel to the office, even if I commute via MRT, is light because it's not yet rush hour. Going home from the office at 12 MN is a different story though.

Over-all, I'm enjoying my stay at this UK account and I'm hoping to finish the minimum stay of 5 years to be able to get the Retirement Benefit.

Technorati Tags: Payment Portal,Payment Terminal,Trinoma,New Account

Payment Portal Technical Support

I just recently became a regular employee here at the payment portal account. The company is based on the Trinoma area in one of the towers there. The company is not well known unlike Concentrix, VXI, Sitel or Alorica. I can’t remember if I applied for the position on Jobstreet or Kalibrr.

 

This account is new to me since I never handled a UK account before. The company operates in Britain and Ireland and the support is for a payment portal or website much like Shopify or Lazada. A customer visit’s a merchant’s portal, orders an item and pays via credit card. The customer is then routed to our payment portal to take the CC information.

So far, our support includes:

· Resetting the customer’s (merchant) login password to their virtual terminal

· Changing the configuration on their account like enabling the Refund function or enabling the EU-mandated security feature on their account, which they need to enable to their website as well

· Verifying if a certain transaction is successful or not (even though the merchant can view the transaction on their end)

· The company also provides support for the regular physical credit card terminal like you see in SM but the support for that is with our customer care department. We only support the merchant’s eCommerce (website) account. So calls about the physical card terminal is transferred to them

We don’t speak to customers in general but instead we talk to the owner of the business or their administrators and website developers. If it involves scripting and coding on their website, we normally transfer the call to our Level 2 support.

This job is far from the hectic customer service post I’ve handled for a US airline company wherein we book tickets for passengers. In this payment portal technical support post, there are some avail time in between calls. In other words, it’s not queueing.

The only challenge I have so far is the British / Irish accent which I am not familiar with. Also, the domain that they have is relative new to me (I’m more verse with US domains) so on most cases I ask the customer to spell out their domain as well in their email addresses.

Hopefully I’ll spend a few more years in this account.

Technorati Tags: Payment Portal,UK Account,Tech Support

My VOIP Account

Tonight's our 1st day at the production day. I'm nervous. Last Friday was our "graduation" from almost 1 month of training and 2 weeks of nesting.

This new account, and the training that came with it, is unique because it was done through online meeting all through out. We're 6 in class but two of them have other plans.

 

Drei from Bulacan had issues with his Internet connection for several days and decided to resign. Jimm (I forgot where he's from) decided to go back to school.

We are Wave 21 of this VOIP account -- Voice Over Internet Protocol -- and I'm surprised that it can do a lot aside from making and taking calls.

I have a Cisco Certified wavemate named Jhoda, a bubbly guy named Tom and a former collection agent named Mark. Me? I'm just your average tech support guy. They are very fun to be co-trainees.

Our trainer Dennis is very patient and knowledgeable with the product. There were no questions left unanswered. He's was very eager to share his knowledge.

We skipped the basic grammar, pronunciation and speech class and went straight to product-specific training. It started with the company's history, the technology behind the product (how it works), features of the product and how it helps the customer (mostly businesses), common call drivers and solutions.

Our trainor explained how VOIP technology works and how it's integrated to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). I'm surprised that VOIP also has option to have electronic Fax (eFax) capability. Customers just need additional hardware to connect their old school fax machines.

Then came the different phone models that we support. Good thing we only have 3 suppliers of VOIP phones and few models each supplier. After learning the hardware part of the support, we learned the software part. The software includes the softphone – like Skype – so that the customers can make and take calls from their computers and even mobile phones.

Our training lasted about a month from Monday to Friday 9:00 PM to 6:00 PM. We do ice breaker in between modules which are fun. The training atmosphere is “chill” eventhough we’re only hearing each other in the online meeting. It’s not required to have video enabled during training which is great. I’m a bit shy.

Anothing thing that is unique about this VOIP account that I have is the mock call AFTER the 2 weeks nesting. On most accounts that I have, the mock call or certification comes immediately after the training. This time it’s different and I guess it’s better. We’ve already handled some difficult customers which made the mock call a bit easier.

In the two weeks nesting that we have, I’ve handled calls regarding:

• Follow-up calls on existing repair tickets (transfer to Tier 2)
• Guiding customer on how to use the password reset option on the website for their account
• Billing questions like having a copy of the bill in PDF format (transfer to Billing)
• Customers wanted to terminate/disconnect their account and port their old telephone number to the new service provider
• Customers wanted to change some settings on their account
• Customer wanted to know more about the service they are paying for (details of their account)
• Guiding customers on the basics of using the service – like forwarding an unanswered call to a voicemail or mobile phone
• Customers wanted to add / remove phones in their account either in the same location or in a different location or branch/office
• Misdirect calls to the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS). We only support customers who availed of the VOIP service
• Customers not seeing the details of their incoming or outgoing calls
• Figuring out error messages that customers are getting in their phones, either the hardphone or softphone
• Customers wanted to set up their electronic fax (eFax)
• Resetting the PIN on their phone or voicemail. Setting up voicemail
• Blocking phones to make International Calls
• Setting up cordless phones (connected to a base station and to their network)
• Navigation to the website to change the settings on how calls are handled

These are some of the calls that we will handle moving forward. I’m looking forward to our regularization 5 months from now. Wish us luck!

Technorati Tags: VOIP,New Account,Quarantine,Work From Home

The 4th Internet of Things Summit, SMX SM Aura

I was fortunate enough to get invited to this year’s Internet of Things (IoT) Summit at SMX SM Aura, Taguig. It was my first time to attend this event and this year is about the adoption of IPv6 protocol and 5G technology. This year is also the 2^nd IPv6 + 5G Global Summit. I’m surprised to know that India is the leading country in Asia when it comes to the adoption of the latest protocol, IPv6.
I’ve seen a lot of exhibitors in this summit and learned new technologies. There’s the usual 3D printer company and Samsung has a booth that displays their latest WiFi routers for Business/Enterprise customers. There’s a robot that’s very interesting, a home-innovation tech and a hologram-projection software company. It’s nice to attend seminars like this. It helps me keep up with the latest in technology and the Internet.
Again, my gratitude to Evy Raquion of IOT Summit PH for the invitation.

IPv6 and 5G technology to feature in the 4th Internet of Things Summit 2019

Manila, Philippines, The biggest Internet experts gathering will convene at the 4^th IoT Summit PH which is co-located with the 2^nd IPv6 + 5G Global Summit on a two-day event in Manila on September 18-19, 2019 at SMX Convention Center, SM Aura Premier, Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City.

The co-located events is made possible in collaboration with Internet Things (IoT) Summit PH, IPv6 Forum Philippines and the IEEE 5G . It will showcase tech-based companies and start-ups at the exhibits while also offering professionals and participants the chance to meet and talk with international tech experts at the conference proper.
This year, the 4^th IoT Exhibition and conference will focus on 5G and IPv6 implementations, deployment strategies, and challenges met among participating countries. The speakers are 5G and IoT experts coming from Asia & Europe headed by the President of the Global IPv6 Forum and IEEE 5G IoT, Mr. Latif Ladid.
Devices and services enabled by IoT is expected to hit a major surge as the tech world and researchers work around the impending saturation of IPv4 address, as more and more smart gadgets connect to the internet daily. The development of 5G networks together with the IPv6 is expected to push international tech innovators to deploy new ways of accessing the internet and implementing IoT services.
The IoT Summit Ph is an annual gathering of tech-based entrepreneurs, researchers, and professionals where they scout for exciting new ventures and development in cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of competition and prepare for new business horizons.
“5G over IoT will power the next internet. With the implementation and deployment of IPv6, the network infrastructure will benefit the global connectivity and it’s a good start for the Philippines as we are being valued by our global alliance in this initiative to make the Philippines ready for the future” said Medel Ramirez, President of IPv6 Forum Philippines.
“We also want to present the importance of 5G in of Internet of Things, it is more than a technology but it is a backbone for IoT applications such as Virtual Reality, Smart Cities, Smart Homes and others” according to Elaine Cedillo added, the Founder and Project of IoT Summit Philippines.
“5G will become mainstream, and businesses need to start now with developing and reimagining services and products to leverage 5G's superior capabilities and that includes the IoT deployment, Cedillo added.
The 4^th IoT Summit PH is organized by Redwizard Events Technology, in partnership with IEEE 5G IoT and IPv6 Forum Philippines and supported by PLDT Enterprise.
This year, IoT Summit PH will also conduct network engineering workshops previously offered abroad in partnership with Sixcape.. The training is comparable to Cisco CCNA, but all related to IPv6.
IoT and IPv6 + 5G Global Summit aims to promote and empower IoT ecosystem and 5G Adaptation in the Philippines. Interested participants can take advantage of the Early bird rate promos and discounts for groups or corporate, and are also available for a limited time.
For more info, you may visit their website at http://iotsummit.ph. You can also check out, http://philv6forum.org/ or https://www.ieee.org. For further inquiries, you may contact the Redwizard Events Secretariat at (02) 2189023 or at 09209734926 and 09179048777.

myPhone’s my85 DTV: A Piece of Junk

I really felt sorry for buying a myPhone smartphone particularly the my85 DTV. It has all these great specs and all like it’s Android 6.0 Marshmallow, 1.3GHz Quad-Core, 1GB RAM (memory) and 8 GB internal storage but these all goes down the drain because I can’t utilize it.

First, for some strange reason, Facebook Messenger is not working. I’ve already uninstalled, re-installed, updated my Google Play app and download the latest FB Messenger App, but for some weird reason, it really won’t work. Either it will give you an error whenever you launched it or will just give a blank message screen.

Second, it keeps telling me that it lacks memory to the point that it can’t event save a screenshot. However, when you check the disk space in Settings, Storage or if you use Ccleaner, it will show that you’re only using half of the 8 GB internal storage and half of the 8 GB MicroSD card that I placed.

Third, it’s slow. I played Clash Royale and it’s slow. I played Star Wars Commander and it’s also slow.

Lastly, the camera takes forever to focus. Plus, the quality is not that great (although the specs told you it’s 13MP Auto-Focus Main Camera and 5MP Front Camera.

myPhone my85 DTV is currently priced at P3,000 but I highly suggest that you skip this phone to your choices. It’s definitely not worth buying this piece of crap.

Stuck on this screen after it made an automatic update. Just a sec…

Current storage space according to Ccleaner

Facebook Messenger keeps on crashing on myPhone’s my85 DTV smartphone

Error when playing DomiNations

I also tried to move some of the apps from phone storage to the microSD card but it’s also saying it’s full, although it only consumed about 4-5GB (out of 8GB).

Technorati Tags: myPhone,my85 DTV,Junk,Orange

Facebook Gameroom

Facebook released a new software today designed for gaming – Gameroom. I’m still checking it out but so far, it’s nice that Facebook created this to synchronized all the games we’re playing on their site.

Download and install Facebook Gameroom today.

Technorati Tags: Facebook Gameroom,Software