SingTel mio TV promotion - not signing up after all

A few weeks ago, a SingTel mio TV promoter came to my place and told me I was eligible for a SingTel's mio TV promotion as I was a mio plan user. After he told me the benefits of the promotion, I proceeded to sign up. I distinctively remember that it was a six month free trial, but I had to subscribe to at least one channel. To me, that means I don't have to fork out a single cent for it, right?

First problem - loss of DSL signal from my modem/router

On the day of the installation, the tech guy came down to do the set up, but he noticed I has lost my connection. After checking with his colleague and some testing of the phone-line, he concluded that there was a misconfiguration at the back-end for the mio TV. This resulted in the loss of the DSL signal. He wrote down some stuff about the failed installation and ensured me I won't be charged for the follow-up installation as it's not my fault. He also told me the connection would be back up within the day and gave me a number to call in case it didn't .

As it turned out, the connected failed to resume and the no one picked up the number. The following day, I called again and was told to call the mio hotline. Conveniently, it was Sunday and there was no one to service me. The next day, I called up the hotline again and was told to call the mio TV hotline. The tech support wanted to step me through the troubleshooting process but I was at work. By the time I got home, I was finally reconnected.

Installation date - no arrangement

I was told that someone would contact me to arrange another date for installation. I waited a few days but no one contacted me. In the end, I called up the hotline again and asked them about it. I also told them I was disconnected for 3 days and was seeking some form of compensation. So after an exchange, I thought my problem was noted and waited for a reply. But there was none.

Checking for date of installation once more

After a few days, I called the hotline again and told them my problem once more. For some reason, the CSO told me they don't have a record of my previous call and was unaware of my problem. But she did finally manage to get someone from the installation team to contact me. That was after I found out it's not entirely free after all.

What kind of free are we talking about?

I was browsing through the hardwarezone forums when I came across the following exchange.

nWo:

Hi guys,

I tried to access the MIO webpage, but I had to fill up the information and select the channels? Seems to be that it will bill me for the full amount.

Will it be a free trial offer as you guys are having?

alanchia67:

you may have misunderstood the offer. the miotv promo is that they will not enforce the minimal billing amount. if you get miotv without DVR (digital video recording) and no pay-channel, it will be free.

I called up the CSO and she confirmed that the promotion is the waiver of the minimum charge for 6 months and some additional discount for mio plan users. What kind of "free" is that? I promptly told her I do not want mio TV after all. I hope I will get my compensation for 3 days of loss connectivity.