Off topic rant on Singtel and Starhub

I just wrote the following complain email to IDA.... just too frustrating as a customer.

Background

I had be previously been a Starhub Hub club subscriber and started to terminate both the broadband and cable tv subscriptions as I no longer required them. I had kept my Starhub digital voice number active as my parents still use the land number. Subsequently, I decided to cancel this digital voice subscription and move it back to Singtel (it was originally a Singtel number) to replace my current MioTV number. The logic was that, there was no point for me to keep 2 numbers and paying for both when the MioTV number was solely just used for the TV and not used for telephony reasons.

I went down to Singtel "Hello" shop in Westmall around the first week of November to query about making the change and what I needed to do. The queuing took me quite awhile as Iphone 5 was just launched and they didn't have a priority queue for customers who wanted other services other than mobile. I was told to do the following:

1) Cancel Starhub digital voice so that the number can be returned to Singtel.

2) Come back again after it's cancelled so that they can do the processing to streamline my 2 numbers to 1.

3) The number would be unavailable for use during the time of change

Note: Singtel cannot do the number porting on behalf of the customer and requires the customer to liase with Starhub on this. (I'm quite curious why this can't be done between the Telcos since they can easily do it for Mobile lines)

Thus, I went to cancel my starhub line on the 14th November.

After about 1+ week, I went back to Singtel Westmall to check as I happen to be around. They told me that the number hasn't been returned and they can't do anything until Starhub returns the number. She told me to next time call up Starhub to check before wasting time and queuing up again.

This morning, a couple of things happened:

1) I called Starhub to check if the number has been returned to Singtel. The CSO told me over the phone that the number had been deactivated since 16th November and that they have no control over the number.

2) Thus I called Singtel to check since now Starhub is claiming that the ball is in Singtel's court. I explained to the CSO what had happened and was advised that I was to proceed to a Hello shop and complete a Number Porting form to do the porting from Starhub to Singtel. I was very frustrated at this time and was wondering why didn't Singtel tell me this weeks back when I was there??

3) I went back to Singtel Westmall and was served by a friendly CSO (Alvin). I explained my situation and he duly filled in the number porting form. But as he was completing the form, he noted that my number was still with Starhub and told me to get Starhub to cancel the number porting since the number was originally from Singtel. As he went to check with his manager, I took the opportunity to call Starhub and a CSO (Fu Xiang) answered. He repeated to me that the number had already been cancelled and that he needed to check with the operations staff why the number wasn't transferred back. He said he will drop an mail to the department and will inform me once the change is effected. After the call, Alvin advised me that the number returning can take between 2weeks to 3 months!! And that the bottleneck is at Starhub.

Please advise if you can help to expedite this request as it is UNREASONABLE to be required to wait 2 weeks to 3 months just for a simple transferring of numbers. I personally 1 week is already very generous. Imagine, if I'm expecting an important call and number previously provided was now the invalid number? My Dad is also seeking employment and runs the risk of the potential employers calling this invalid number! I feel that I have been very patient with this as it has already been more than 1 month and I have yet to even submit the form to streamline the 2 phone numbers.