I am posting this here just in-case somebody encounters the same issue with their Metrobank OTPs (and probably other same issues).
As far as I know, the official support FAQs of Metrobank doesn’t have an entry for this specific issue yet. I also think this might also save you from the hassle of being queued in the customer service hotline.
The Problem
I don’t receive any OTPs from Metrobank even if the registered mobile number is active on the phone I’m using.
Pressing “resend OTP” doesn’t help either.
Check These First
Check if you are actually using the registered mobile number. If you’re not using it, you should either get access to the SIM of that number — or have your registered number changed by Metrobank.
Check if your device (phone) can detect the SIM with that mobile number. If you can’t see your carrier name, try to “re-sit” the SIM card by taking it out, wiping the contact point with cloth (the shiny gold part), and then make sure it’s seated and inserted properly.
Check if you have a healthy network signal. I personally don’t take any chances with just one or two bars.
Check if the SIM can actually receive messages. Have a friend call or send you a text message. If not even your friend is coming through at this point, the problem might be with the SIM or with your phone.
Check For SMS Fragments Stored In Your SIM
You should also check for SMS fragments in your SIM’s built-in storage. If you see some — delete them.
Initiate another OTP transaction and you should now receive Metrobank’s OTP messages.
Why This Probably Happens
I’m guessing that SMS messages from Metrobank’s come in “concatenated”. That means they’re split up in to smaller parts because they tend to go beyond 160 characters: the usual limit for single SMS messages.
Devices handle long SMSes differently. Basic “burner” phones show long SMSes as separate text messages. These might be indicated with “1/2; 2/2” at every end of the messages.
There are times wherein burner phones reach full capacity and some messages seem to get stuck in the SIM’s built-in storage.
Not deleting the stuck messages shouldn’t be a problem. But it seems like it becomes problem for the kind of SMSes that Metrobank sends.
I transferred the SIM to a Redmi Note 7. And I can only guess that the SMS fragments stored in the SIM is confusing the phone. I think the phone tries to reconcile incoming SMS fragments to the fragments already stuck in the SIM. The phone somehow understands that they can be related.
But when the phone fails reconcile the SMS fragments — maybe because of other conflicting data — it decides not to show the message to the user at all!
I’m not an expert at this in any way, but that’s my best guess. I’m also not sure if this is the behavior of other devices in interacting with concatenated SMS fragments stuck on the SIM storage.
But if you want to make sure your Metrobank OTP comes through (and other types of long SMSes), check your SIM card’s built-in storage and delete any SMS fragments that might have been “clogging” it.
Dear Metrobank
Would it be OK if you make the OTP SMSes shorter? I think they are pretty lengthy for something as simple as OTP messages. We’d appreciate it!
References
I’ve done a tiny bit of a research in formulating my guess. You can visit my references in the links provided.