July 31, 2013

One Direction–“Best Song Ever”

Finally, I was able to watch the latest music video of my favorite boyband these days – One Direction. The title of their latest song (and MTV) is “Best Song Ever” and they really let their hair down!

I don’t know who the marketing guy behind the success of One Direction but h’s definitely brilliant to market the Fab Five as a group that is synonymous with FUN. The “Best Song Ever” video has reached 43,842,839 hits as of today.

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One Direction–”Best Song Ever”

Picture taken from www.onedirection.net

July 30, 2013

One Direction for GQ Britain

My favorite boyband these days, One Direction, is on the cover of GQ Britain. I probably mentioned this a lot of times, but Niall Horan is my favorite member of One Direction. I also can’t wait for their upcoming movie, “This Is Us”.

Check out the Fab Five!

HarryLiamLouisNiallZayn

July 13, 2013

The HB 1180 From A Call Center Agent’s POV

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Picture taken from http://depositphotos.com/

This is the 3rd time that House Bill (HB) 1180 is being filed in Congress. It was recently re-filed by Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon. It’s known as the BPO Workers’ Welfare and Protection Act of 2013 and it has 4 main objectives:

  • Regularization of all BPO workers upon the sixth month of employment as trainee or apprentice, or upon the completion of a maximum probationary training period of six months.
  • Standardized restroom breaks not shorter than five minutes each, with intervals of two hours during their working hours.
  • Entitlement to medical benefits upon entry in the BPO company and not merely upon regularization.
  • Right to Self-Association, to engage in Collective Bargaining, and to participate in Democratic Exercises

I’ve been in the call center industry since 2007 and I’ve worked for 7 call centers already – Alorica, Sykes Asia, Convergys, Teleperformance, Sutherland, Transcom and now, Sitel Philippines. Let me try to recall which of these call centers doesn’t follow the 4 main objectives of HB 1180.

For #1, all of those call centers do regularize their employees upon the completion of six months EXCEPT Alorica Philippines. This was in 2007 when I worked for Alorica Philippines for almost 8 months and I never received any regularization papers.

For the #2 objective, I don’t have any problems taking a pee whenever I feel the need to, in all 7 call centers.

For the #3 objective, not all the 7 call centers provide medical benefits (particularly an HMO or health card like Maxicare or Intellicare) upon Day 1. Alorica doesn’t provide it upon entry, as well as Sykes Asia, Teleperformance, and Sitel Philippines.

I received my Intellicare with Convergys since Day 1, as well as Sutherland (Maxicare) and Transcom (ActiveOne).

For the #4 objective of HB 1180, all these 7 call centers have no Union, as far as I know. No one talks about forming or joining any Union in all these 7 call centers and no one is recruiting the newbies.

Therefore, I support House Bill 1180, especially because of the 3rd and 4th objectives. I see no reasons why Congress should not approve this excellent bill EXCEPT if these call centers (BPO) are opposing the formation of Union and giving out the medical benefits (HMO card) upon Day 1 or the New Hire Orientation.

Electro: The Next Spider-Man Villain

Entertainment Weekly revealed recently that Electro will be the next Spider-Man super villain to appear in part 2 of The Amazing Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield version).

I can’t wait for this movie. I loved the Andrew Garfield version better than Tobie’s. I’m definitely a Spider-Man fan.

Electrospider-man vs electro

July 11, 2013

Harassment from Cases Corpus Law Office and HSBC

Today, I received a text message:

For Mr. Elmer xxx

This is from Cases Corpus Law office. Please be informed that your account with HSBC was endorsed to us recommended for Litigation. Please call 8171656 look for Atty Paulino Cases jr for out of court settlement. If non compliance you will subjected for legal visitation in your Home & Company add for possible small claim suit.

A few months ago, I was terminated by Sufferland Global Services for abandonment of work. I filed a case for illegal dismissal at the NLRC and 6 months after, I received the verdict of Elias Salinas dismissing my case. In other words, I lose my case. I was no longer interested in appealing my case because it’s tiresome. So I went to Sufferland a few weeks after, got my backpay and signed the Quit Claim form.

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Image taken from www.ctb.com.ph

Due to this incident with Sufferland, I had financial problems and my HSBC Credit Card got cancelled because I failed to pay it in time. I was looking for job and struggling with money (up to now). So I ended up with a P30,000+ debt with HSBC.

This is not my first time that I received such a demand letter from a law office. I have a subscription before with Smart and I wasn’t happy with the service. My Smart account was terminated and I ended up with a P4,000+ debt with them. I receive harassment letters from a similar law office but I simply ignored those letters. It eventually stopped.

I got curious on this current law office that HSBC hired to harass me. I Google their name and found nothing – no Facebook profile, no website, no office address. I only found similar stories about harassment from this law office from other credit card holders like me. They too received such harassment calls from Cases Corpus Law Office. Some are customers of Citibank.

Having gone through 6 months of labor case with the NLRC, I pretty much know how long the legal process is involving our courts. In fact, I would love to undergo the same experience with HSBC and Cases Corpus Law Office so that I could write something on this blog.

If you have similar cases of harassment from law offices regarding your credit card debt, feel free to share it on this blog. Based on your own experiences with such harassments, did you actually ended up in court or you accepted an amicable settlement?