No Replys...

[RBM]

Due to the high heat being experienced recently I have decided to fit a retractable awning to shade parts of the kitchen, at least until trees have risen,

Google search revealed two idea places in Cebu. Both had offices in Manila and glossy sites extolling the virtues of of their products. Great I am in luck.

Sent off an e mail to each with  measurements and asking approximate costs including fitting. Sat back waiting on replies....Walla....After two days sent the mail again, half expected no reply first time so jazzed it up a notch second time, cash buyer bla bla...

Guys still no reply....Not overly surprised just wondering what is in their heads, I mean rent in AS Fortuna is not cheap, one could expect a reasonable effort is made to sell their product to pay rental and other costs....Can they really be so busy....Have experienced this with hotels, half expect as receptionist are on face book 24/7...but.....

[Mike In Canada]

I also have sent emails to a couple of helicopter companies asking for rates to fly me from Manila to Ilocos Sur so I dont have to travel 8 to 10 hours each way when I visit. That was 2 months ago still no reply. 

[scott h]

5 minutes ago, Mike In Canada said:

That was 2 months ago still no reply.

Gentlemen, gentlemen.........gentlemen.

This is the Philippines,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if it isn't texted, it doesn't happen

I am of course joking,,,,,,,,,,a little, but I have noticed that phone calls wont be answered, or returned. Emails the same unless its an auto reply or spam. I seriously suggest you try texting. 

Voice calls take load, and emails require a computer if you know what I mean. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

You have to go to the shop and ask for the man in charge and then go back when the man in charge is actually there.  Any information you get from anyone else in the shop is useless and incorrect.  Such is my experience with that kind of thing here.  Nothing else has ever worked for me, except when another expat tells the guy "we got a winner here, go to talk to Bruce"  In which case the man in charge will come to your house and give you a quote which is about double what you would have got doing it the first way.

[manofthecoldland]

2 of hotels I managed to contact for reservations this year had very nice websites with listed contact number that DIDN'T work to connect me. Maybe they were set up for out of country calls, or who knows.... I kept chopping off layers of prefixes and redialing , but to no avail. 

Both sites mentioned that they had FB pages, and it was there that I found working, complete contact numbers for local in-country phone reservations. 

I also  sent a reservation into the MNL hotel twice, on their website reservation page with a 10 hour split between the two. No reply by the next day, so I tried calling. (see above) and only succeeded with the FB listed number. The clerk needed 3 repetitions to  get down my dates, and never mentioned the email, despite my telling her that I had sent them the info the day before. My conclusion is that many don't attend to their emails at these places. 

I do have good luck with texts, however.

[Jollygoodfellow]

I've had mostly success with replies from hotels but not all. I think part of the problem is that someone builds them a website, sets up webmail though their hosting but no one knows how to use it or has the passwords to get into it. Then you see others with a business but with like a gmail email address which is not professional in my view.

Facebook is more widely used by Philippines business, even the BI reply to my messages very quickly so always search Facebook for what you're looking for.  

[scott h]

This info is four years old, but when we were getting ready to move we got my wife her dual citizenship while still in the states. Worked with the Consulate in Los Angeles. They sometimes answered the phones, and the website was sometimes updated but what I did notice that they had different officers and branches listed with email addresses. All of them were yahoo, Gmail or AOL. They didn't even have a networked .phil.gov system (at that time anyway).

I knew right then I was in for one heck of a ride

[Crocodile]

I got this with the Bureau of Immigration, almost.

On the BOI website, they have phone numbers and their email addresses in their offices are Yahoo or Gmail emails! http://www.immigration.gov.ph/contact-us/other-immigration-offices

I emailed an office in a province requesting directions to their address, as the website address was not helpful to find the BOI office.  They did get back to me, after 3 days.  When I went to their office, there were about 5 people working there and I didn't see any other customers the two times I went there and the staff looked "relaxed".  Ah, yes, the Philippines has its own timetable.