By Lorenz S. Marasigan
AS the demand for sales and services centers continues to rise, multimedia conglomerate Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has decided to launch in Manila a payment center fitted into a mobile truck.
In a bid to enable speedy transactions and ease the waiting time of costumers during payment settlements, the telecommunications titan brought to Manila the PLDT Pay Express Van, the mobile service center that was piloted in Cebu.
The Pay Express Van is a sales and service center on wheels, where the customary-cashiering system found in a payment center is fitted into a mobile truck. Manned by three cashiers at the ready-to-process transactions, the setup triples the number of cashiers available during days when the volume of paying customers is high, serving as a service center extension.
“With PLDT Pay Express Van, we are able to supplement the number of available cashiers when customers need it most. We understand our customer’s busy schedules and how time-consuming bills payment can be. We want to lessen the time it takes them to transact with this invaluable service,” PLDT Vice President and Head of Credit and Collection Management Division Jonel M. Ladaban said.
Majority of PLDT subscribers nationwide still prefer to pay through service centers. Other preferences are through banks, Internet and other payment channels.
The PLDT Pay Express Van will be posted in Pasig City and Pasay City, the two branches with the highest number of customer traffic during peak dates. At its initial rollout, the mobile truck will be stationed in Pasay until February 5 and will operate in Pasig City by February 8.
From then, it will be stationed in turn between the PLDT Pasig branch along Bagong Ilog every 1st to the 14th of the month, and the PLDT Pasay branch along Harrison every 15th to the 30th of the month.
PLDT Pay Express Van is a joint initiative of PLDT and Customer Frontline Solutions, a subsidiary of Meralco and Bayad center.
“Those mobile vans will be stationed within the PLDT premises and we have perimeter security as long as customers are within our premises we can assure that they are protected,” Ladaban said.
(With Mica Ella Ornopia)