Archive for the 'Complaints' Category

06
Nov

Yet, Another Short-Sighted Policy

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints, observation and rants and raves

While reading newspaper yesterday, I noticed the following news with header that shouted “EPF down from 11% to 8%”.

PETALING JAYA: Employees can choose to reduce their EPF contributions to increase their disposable income next year.

The Government has allowed employees to reduce their contributions by three percentage points from 2009 to 2011.

Presently, the employer’s EPF contribution is 12% while employees contribute 11%.

“With the reduction, the total contribution is still at a reasonable rate of 20%, which is 12% from the employer and 8% from employee,” said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said if all contributors chose to reduce their contributions, it would come up to RM4.8bil annually.

“Assuming that only 50% of contributors take up the option, private spending is expected to go up by RM2.4bil,” he said.

“A person earning RM2,000 could gain an extra disposable income of RM60 monthly, while one earning RM6,000 will have an extra RM180 to spend.”

On the RM5bil fund injection into government investing agency Valuecap to stimulate capital market activity, Najib said similar moves had been implemented in other countries such as the Tracker Fund in Hong Kong in 1998, and recently by Qatar Investment Authority and the largest pension fund in Korea.

“The extra fund is acquired from EPF loans which is guaranteed by the Government. Therefore, the loan does not only guarantee higher returns compared with deposit rates from banking institutions but is also a minimum risk investment to EPF,” he said.

But, some workers’ unions felt that savings will be reduced and it will affect the people’s retirement funds.

National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) secretary general J. Solomon said he hoped that the voluntary offer was only for the time being during the economic crisis.

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said that reduced savings would not benefit contributors.

“When savings go down it will be followed by a decrease in dividends.”

[Source here]

Hmmm.. so for a person who earns RM 6,000 per month will be able to take home RM 180 extra for that 3% reduction in EPF contribution. Hurray! That’s like I can pump my petrol twice extra per month! Hurray! That’s like I can buy one more shirt!

See, that’s another short-sighted policy from our beloved government.

Let’s be honest, not many people will make RM6,000 and if they are in that income group, they would be comfortable. And for those who earn RM 2,000, they are only taking back RM60 from the reduction, so does it make sense? What can RM60 do? A full tank of petrol for Perodua Kancil will cost more than that (of course, those government people won’t know since their cars are provided and the petrol is fully provided, so they might not even know how much it is to pump a full tank for their cars). So what problem does it solve but to let people have that extra RM60? That’s like RM2 per day, so how is that going to spur the economy in any scale?

How about creating something more long-sighted? How about reducing the import tax for automobile so that we don’t have to pay so much in our loan repayment to the bank? How about removing the toll for our highways? (By the way, don’t get me going about the highways. We are paying tolls but the road condition is horrendous) How about upgrading the public transportation so that people can travel around with ease and not needing to purchase a car? (To be honest, without a car in KL/PJ area, its not that easy to survive. But try that in Singapore and you’ll find that you don’t really need a car)

For lower income group, I don’t see how this reduction in EPF contribution is going to help. Maybe in the short term that these people can do a bit more, like having lunch twice a week or something. But in long term, it will have dire effect because we are facing inflation and aging generation. When a person retire, they have to have as much as they can in their retirement fund in order to survive. With a reduction, let’s say for 3 years, that’s RM2,160 (that’s RM 60 x 12 x 3) less before any interest gain, and in longer term, it will make a big impact.

So if any of you so-called politicians are reading this, please remember this:

We elected you into the office, and you are suppose to provide long-term growth for the economy and help the people. If you really want to spur the economy of the country, please do something more constructive than being just superficial, like reducing the import tax, eliminate the corruption so there’s no wastage in public fund (i.e, our hard earn money), stop wasting money on mega projects that we don’t really need, and provide a long-term investment strategy for the country.

15
Oct

Carlos @ Pavillion

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

The other day we went to Carlos Mexican Canteena, the celebrated Mexican restaurant located at Ground Floor at Pavillion KL for dinner, and boy, let me tell you how disappointing the dining experience it was!

The truth is, the dining experience was pretty good last time, but this time round, it was really bad.

We stood outside Carlos Mexican Canteena for more than 5 minutes to be seated, but no one, and I mean, no one at all, came to us to ask us for any sitting arrangement. I walked into the restaurant, grabbed one guy (literally) and he just pointed to one empty table and left quickly.

We sat down, and another waiter dropped by to take our orders, and he wasn’t smiling or anything. The whole place was filled with waiters or waitress, all appeared to be busy, running around and stuff, yet the place was only half full. I wonder what would happen if they have a full house.

The food that we ordered were nothing ordinary. The taste was just acceptable, and to be honest, I think my Mexican cooking is way better than what they were serving me.

Half way eating, a cockroach crawled up to the table. It always crawled into the plate and I squashed it dead using the serviette, and I called one of the waiter over to complain about the cockroach. The waiter went off to the supervisor and the supervisor just came by and asked us where we found the cockroach. After we informed him that it crawled up to the table, he just said, “Oh okay!” and walked off, without a single apologize nor taking any action.

Then when we were done with dinner, we couldn’t stand it anymore and asked for the manager. He came to us after 2 minutes and we complained about the lousy service, the long waiting period outside, the lack of attention from the staff, and the cockroach that crawled to our table and almost went into the food. But most importantly, we complained about the bad service and the lack of apology from the supervisor even after complaining about the cockroach.

He apologized profoundly and offered a discount. How much? 20 percent discount! Wow! Like.. a lot! Niamah! 10% service charge, and 5% government tax, and 20% discount after that, so what did we get? A grand total of 5% discount! Woooohooo!

For me, there will be no more next time. I will not visit Carlos Mexican Canteena again.

17
May

Customer Service

By Adrian 1 Comment
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

The other day I suddenly had the urge to test drive the brand new Honda Accord (which I wrote about here), and to be honest, I had been checking it for quite some time. I was thinking to visit the Honda showroom, give it a test drive, and then go ahead with the purchase (like settlement on my current car, the sales and purchase procedures, etc).

So I set off to view it at the nearest Honda Dealership just nearby my office:
Sumber Auto Edaran Sdn Bhd
76B, Jalan Universiti, 46200, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

I don’t want to waste my time to describe in details of my customer visit experience there. But the summary of this whole saga is just this: extremely disappointed.

For the whole 20 minutes while I was viewing the car, checking the interior, sitting on the seats to find out how comfortable it is, peering into the engine bay, turning the knobs to get a feel, and not one, and I mean NOT a single sales representatives, walked to me to serve me. Some of them were just sitting around, ignoring my presence, and some were pretending to be busy doing nothing.

I stood there, looked around, sighed deeply, and just walked back to my car.

Okay, I might not look like rich guy (even though a lot of people said that I do look like one), but at least have a freaking courtesy to come and talk to me. No, not even a single person came to me to say HI or at least ask me “Hi sir, how can I help you?”

If this is the kind of customer service I am getting from Honda, I fret to imagine how they would serve me when my car got a problem.

My other Honda showroom experience at The Millennium Auto & Carriage Sdn Bhd (2007, Wisma Mofaz, Jalan Damansara, 60000 Kuala Lumpur) was just way better. So I think I will go back there to have a look again some time this weekend.

15
Apr

The Rambling

By Adrian 1 Comment
Categories: Complaints, about me, people and rants and raves

There are many type of people surrounding all of us. But sometimes I just can’t stand certain type. All the way on top of the list are stupid people. Now, stupidity comes in many form but I am not talking about those mentally challenged. I am talking about people that don’t think when they do things. If they are naturally born with lower IQ, I have no problem with them. But today I am not going to talk about these type.

I am going to talk about the second type of people that I can’t stand.

The second type of people that I despise are those that promised something and never deliver. Now, the worse part is, even after they promised you that something, later they will find excuses. An example is, the night before you asked these people for help, they said OK, and next day, they will tell you stories on how they are being dragged to somewhere, some place, and at the end ask you to settle things yourself.

A lot of times, we might have to make arrangements to settle some issues, and because of these type of people, our plans are all screwed upside down and inside out.

Niamah!

Anyway, if not willing to help, why promised to help in the first place? If not willing to help, just say NO. I mean, isn’t it better so that person who required help can seek other plans? If you don’t want to help, why add more troubles to the other party and let him/her being screwed upside down and inside out?

So be nice. If you cannot be nice enough to help, at least be nice enough to say NO as not to screw other people around.

Anyway, I’m be going to Singapore for the next few days so expect very little blogging activities from my side until I am back. How I wish I have a SLR digital camera so I can snap some pretty pictures. Oh well. Adios!

15
Mar

OMFG!!!!!

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

There are many kinds of liars. But the best ones are those who will make themselves believes in what they said. They will look into the mirror in the morning and bluff themselves to believe what they are telling people. Do you want to get the best examples? Look at the top guns in BN and alliances. They are screaming that they will investigate why they lost so many seats in the 12th General Election.

Before the election, the BN people kept telling the media how the country has developed and how happy the people were to BN and such. Then after the election, the results were speaking otherwise and they said they wanted to investigate the reason. Oh come on! As the governing body representing the people, are you telling us that you didn’t know how the people feel? You kept telling yourself that the people are feeling good and you just made yourself believe in it. So when the results are speaking otherwise, you want to launch an investigation? So you suspect that there is a foul play? How about the numerous rumored foul plays that we heard about unfair election by the governing bodies? Will you investigate that as well?

And you still can say that you want to find out the reasons? You should know better than that. If you still don’t know why we, the people of the country, are not happy and wanted a change, then you should step down and quit all your positions in politics.

Be an adult. Admit the defeat, take the responsibilities and do the necessary things to change. Taking responsibilities means that you admit your own wrong doings, and correct what you have done wrong, and start to acknowledge the people that you are representing. You should know why we, the people of the country, are not happy, and you still have few years to do the right things. If you continue to blame the us, the people of the country, and God, then good luck in the next General Election.

Before the election, there was this one representative (whom lost, luckily) came to me to shake my hand while I was taking dinner. I had never seen this guy before, and while we shook hands, he didn’t smile. He appeared reluctant to be there, and he was looking elsewhere. Dude, do you think I will cast my fucking vote to you? What had you done to the people? Appear once in a while in some shop opening ceremonies, is that it? Before election, you come out from your mansion and shake the peasants hands, and you feel disgusted but it is mandatory for all politicians, is that it? Now do you know why you lost your seat?


As I had mentioned before, I hardly write any political subjects in my blog. But when I see something that will set me boiling, I just can’t resist to write about it.

In The Star Friday (March 14th) news Call to scrap mega projects, it was reported that,

PENANG: The state Umno will “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all the mega projects in the state in view of the people’s clear rejection of Barisan Nasional.

Since Penangites do not want development, the Federal Government should not force it on them, said state Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim.

He said that this was not Penang Umno taking revenge “but we are actually giving the people what they want”.

“They voted for change, so let us see what the DAP can do,” he said after the party’s emergency meeting at Menara Umno yesterday.

Azhar, who is Penaga assemblyman, was appointed the state Opposition Leader at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Umno liaison committee deputy chief Datuk Abdul Rashid Abdullah hit out at the new administration for its decision not to practise the New Economic Policy (NEP)

I am not the kind of person who will mutter “Oh my God!” all the time, but this time, OMFG! Can we just sack this Azhar Ibrahim dude? Can we please make it mandatory for all politicians to take IQ tests before they can participate in politics? I mean, is this only solution they can think of after the “emergency meeting”? Why didn’t they say that they will persuade the government to blow up the Penang bridge? Oh how about persuading the government to blow up the LDP, Kerinchi Link, Penchala Link, close down Federal Highway and dismantle Middle Ring Road (MRR2) as well? That sounds like a “logical” solution since BN lost Selangor to the opposition, so might as well, right?

And for everyone’s information, this sounds exactly like a revenge. Can you please be an adult, and take the defeat like an adult. You said this is what Penang people want. Did you talk to them? So a closed door meeting to discuss on what you think they want is the only solution? That’s what you think they want, but did you even bother to keep a pulse on your own people? Can I even trust people like these to run the country? Either you are an idiot or you just lied to yourself and made belief on what you wanted to believe.

Another piece of news, again on The Star Friday news, PKR “no” to 8 slots for DAP, it was reported that,

PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said in a statement that the composition of the state exco must reflect the composition of Perak’s population.

OMFG!!!!!

Harlo! PKR, which stands for Parti KeADILan Rakyat (and I emphasize ADIL, which means fair), didn’t you pledge for one nation, one race, one unity or something like that? That statement sounds exactly the opposite of what you pledged. Does it mean that you are pledging one thing before the election, just to get the votes, and then practice another set of mantra after it? Can you please walk the talk? If you don’t, then how different are you to the politicians that we didn’t want to vote? So you are still not learning from other peoples’ mistakes? If you don’t practice what you pledge, how can people have the trust in you and vote for you in the next election?

Anyway, I rest my case.

08
Dec

Never Use Sime Tyre Again!

By Adrian 3 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

Roughly six months ago I went to a tyre shop near where I used to live. I got some very serious puncture due to (now this must be a record of some kind) 6 nails on my front left tyre and 4 nails on my front right tyre. Now the funny thing is that I have yet been to any construction yard or went near one. So I have no idea how the hell I got so many nails on my freaking good tyre!

Anyway, I went to the tyre shop and asked them what was my best option. They said, “Sir, too many holes. Cannot repair. Must change new.” I agreed, and asked them what they have. They checked their stock and came back to me, “Sir, we only have SIME tyre right now. The rest are out of stock for your size unless you can wait 2 hours, we order for you.”

I looked at the watch, and I had an appointment to catch so I didn’t have the luxury of time to wait for other brands, so I asked them to change it as soon as possible.

After I changed the tyres, I noticed that they are very noisy and the grip level on dry is not as good as the Dunlop that I had used before. Wet handling? What is wet handling? These SIME tyres are afraid of rain, so they don’t handle at all.

Now, 6 months later, today, I noticed that the front two tyre, the SIME tyre, are “pregnant”. Now please don’t be sick and think that I was humping them until I got them pregnant. But the effect of a pregnant tyre is the same. After 10 months, a baby SIME tyre will come out when the pregnant tyre exploded.

[NOTE: The term "pregnant tyre" is actually used to describe a bulging sidewall or other places on the tyre. It is a kind of defects and it is very dangerous as the bulging part is weaken and the tyre might explode any time]

After checking with a few friends, they all told me that SIME tyre are very susceptible to pregnancy as if SIME manufacturer do not use enough rubber protection. A source also told me that SIME tyre are locally manufactured by a local company. Now I cannot say if this is true (if anyone knows, please feel free to drop me a note to confirm if SIME is really a local company), but IF this is true, then it sucks to be Malaysian.

First we have lousy national cars such as Proton and Perodua. The government has jacked up the taxes on automobile so that not everyone can fucking afford a Japanese car, or Korean, not to mention continental cars or those German brands. If you are a normal salary person, you have no other options but to buy Proton and Perodua, or some 3rd hand 15 years old Japanese car.

The 2 P’s (Proton and Perodua. But in my very honest opinion, Perodua is better by a small margin) are basically junk and you feel like you are driving a trash can on the road. When you drive it, you will suspect that the material used are found from the trash or from some third world country.

Okay, credit has to be given to Proton and Perodua. At least every year they make a lot of money for the government, and of course some special well connected individual, and most importantly, they also help the government to check on the population level. We cannot have too much of a population increase, can we?

So besides building cars that can’t even fucking kill a dog when you run them over (it happened, really. My cousin ran over a dog and the dog didn’t die, and she got a big dent on the bumper), now they are building exploding tyres so that those tyres could explode anytime and cause an accident? So you go imagine why the government kept mentioning about fatality rate on the road.

Hello? Excuse me! Unsafe national car and unsafe national tyre. Do I need to say more? Hell, do I need to draw a picture for you? So stop talking cock and start asking why the 2 P’s are making cars from materials collected from junk yard and start asking SIME to start using more material and stop pocketing the saving in material cost. Then you might see a decrease in fatality on the road.

Mahai!

Now I have to fork out the extra money to get those front tyres replace.

For the fun of it, I am attaching a YouTube video showing review on Proton Waja by Top Gear UK after the jump.

Continue reading

10
Sep

Please Help Us To Stop This Cruelty

By Adrian 3 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

Please sign the petition here. Please broadcast this message/blog/website to everyone you know so we all can participate and stop this cruelty. Thank you!

Please Help! Please Help Us to Stop the Cruelty!

Majlis Perbandaran Selayang has announced a Dog Hunt Contest, and first prize offering RM15,000, second prize RM13,000 and the third prize is RM11,000.

Below is the screenshot from the MPS website:

MPS

I can’t say I am good at the translation, but it is roughly this:

The Residence Dog Catching Competition

  1. This competition is open to all the residence residing under Majlis Perbandaran Selayang.
  2. The capture can be done by the residence themselves or with the help of approved organizations. The Majlis Perbandaran Selayang will not be hold responsible for hiring hunters.
  3. The dogs must be those that do not comply with Small law(?) code 10(2)(A) of Dog Law
  4. The dogs must be captured and submitted alive to the competition department for calculation/audit. Pictures of the captured dogs must be published as well.
  5. This competition will go on indefinitely.
  6. The winning prize is:
    1st Place: RM15,000
    2nd Place: RM13,000
    3rd Place: RM11,000

First, let’s ignore the fact that this kind of competition is plainly inhumane and cruel. I mean, what the fuck are these salary-paid-by-taxpayers fuckers thinking anyway? Or are they too fucking dumb to think? Stray dogs or not, animals have their rights and feelings as well. They are not some dead objects or whatsoever. They do have a life and this kind of Dog Hunting Contest MUST be banned and whoever that came up with this idea of Dog Hunting Contest must be shot to death.

There will be some fuckers who want some pocket money, and they need more dogs to feed to the Majlis Perbandaran Selayang. But there are not so many dogs out there, so what do they do? They will start stealing the dogs from neighbors, other residential areas, and etc (pets, in other words). If any one of these fuckers dare to touch my dog, I sure as hell gonna blast them deep into the hell and mince them into billion pieces. Those mother fuckers.

So what’s next? Cat Hunting Competition? Yeah, there are a lot of horny pussies around my area and when will these municipal people start hunting these cats down? After that, are they coming to a round of “Homeless People Hunting” as well? There are some homeless people around too, so should they encourage us to start hunting them down as well? So what the fuck are these fuckers thinking? Maybe they should be organizing a Mat Rempit Hunting as well. Yeah, jail those fuckers who blocked the whole highway to perform their stupid stunt [more info on Mat Rempit can be found here].

[PS: A friend has just informed me that these fuckers have a brain size of a peanut so they are a bunch of idiots. I think that's rather true.]

Anyway, there is a more constructive way to stop it (than my cursing and swearing. But damn it, I feel good after blasting them with words), and that’s by signing the petition. Please go to this website:

http://www.petitiononline.com/doghunt1/petition.html

I have signed it, so what are you waiting for? Please sign the petition. That is something that will take just a few minutes of your time but it will make a big difference in this world. Thank you.

Related Links:
The Star - Animals Have Rights Too
The Malay Mail - Inappropriate to hold dog hunt
SPCA Selangor - Press Release [PDF Version Only]

03
Aug

A Visit to the Police Station

By Adrian 2 Comments
Categories: Complaints and rants and raves

We just came back from the police station after an accident in the parking lot compound of Ikano Power Centre. No one is hurt. It was only a minor accident.

We reached the PJ State Police Station at 4pm, started logging the report on the PC (Malaysia has a very advance Police System. You go to the counter to take a piece of paper, fill up the information, the police officer will key in your information, give you a number, and you take the number to the PC stations to key in the report yourself. And then when you are done, you have to go back to the counter and let the police officer to print out the form) and it took about 30 minutes to complete the process.

By the time we printed out the police report, it was 4:30pm so we proceeded to the next building block to wait for our turn to be interviewed by the sergeant. We waited and waited. By the time it was our turn, it was already 9pm. Yes, we waited for 4 hours and 30 minutes just to be interviewed by the sergeant. By the time we were done interviewing, it was already 9:45pm. Don’t ask me why it took us so long as it was just a simple accident. They provided us with an A4 blank paper to draw the map, 2 car models to play with to show the sergeant on how the accident happened. Simple and straight forward? You bet. But it took us almost one hour nonetheless.

Was it a busy day? I don’t think so. When we were at the waiting lounge, there were 10 people waiting for their turns. Out of the 10 people, maybe there were just 8 really waiting as the other 2 (including myself and an uncle) were companying our beloved ones.

We were dead tired after the police report. We were extremely exhausted just by waiting for our turn. So if any of you have a very minor car accident, avoid reporting to the police station at all cost. It won’t worth your time.

It shows the efficiency level of our police force. I mean, look at it this way, why the fuck do we have to wait 4 hours and 30 minutes just to be interviewed? There were 2 sergeant working that day, and it took them so long. So why the fuck is that?

——————————————————-

When we were at the Police Station, I went inside the interviewing area to check on people, to make sure those sergeants were not lazying around. Then I saw this young Chinese dude, around 18 to 20 years old, donning a very stylish hair with 3 colors, wearing dark T-shirt of some rock band, and he was describing the accident in Cantonese.

“I stepped on the brake, but the car didn’t stop. The car skipped all the way and hit the car,” the boy said. I looked at the sergeant and was utterly surprised to see an Indian sergeant. I thought, “Wow! This Indian sergeant not bad, can speak Cantonese.”

The Indian sergeant looked at the boy, and he shouted at the young boy, “Apa you cakap? Saya tak faham Bahasa Cina lah! You Malaysian ah? Tak tau Bahasa Melayu, tak tau Bahasa Ingris. Apa Malaysian ni?” [Translation: What are you saying? I don't understand Chinese language! Are you a Malaysian? Can't speak Malay, can't speak English. What kind of Malaysian are you?]

The young boy smiled. Obviously he has no idea what the fuck the Indian sergeant was talking about. He looked at his companion and said, in Cantonese, “Hei gong mud lan?” [Translation" What the fuck is he talking about?]

The Indian sergeant said, “You nampak seperti Japanese. You tau Japanese ah? Tapi saya pun tak faham Japanese.” [Translation: You looked like a Japanese. You know how to speak Japanese? But I don't understand Japanese either."]

I stood there, bewildered and amused. I tried very hard not to laugh because I was just standing less than a 1 meter away from the Indian sergeant.

The Indian sergeant took out two car models and a piece of paper, and asked, “You tau bagaimana tunjuk saya accident itu?” [Translation: Do you know how to show me the accident?]

The boy answered YES to that question and they went on their business.

I walked away after that because I scared I couldn’t hold the laughter anymore.

Yes, the wait for our turn for the interview was a long and agonizing process. But at least it gave me a cheap laugh during the 4 hours and 30 minutes wait.

22
Jan

customer service?

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints

This morning I had to call Hong Leong Bank’s Customer Service line. Man, that was some experience to remember.

First of all, there was already a problem with their credit card; mine broke into half. Okay, I kept telling people that maybe I have a sharp ass so when I sat on the wallet (with the wallet at the rear pocket), my sharp ass just cut the credit card into half. But the problem is that all my other credit cards are still safe and sound.

Then, when I tried to call the Customer Service line this morning, the call was answered automatically by a voice recording announcing that “All our customer service representatives are busy at the moment. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered by our next available representatives.”

Hold I did. The first time I was put on hold for more than 5 minutes, and I hung up. I was thinking to myself that I would call back later. Half an hour later, I called and this time, I was put on hold for more than 10 minutes. I was getting pissed. I hung up and called back an hour later. This time, luck was definitely on my side as I was put on hold for 15 minutes. I thought to myself, “Damn! Either Hong Leong Bank is certainly making shitload of money or they have shitload of problems with customers.”

I gave up, and I called back after 2pm. This time, I was put on hold for roughly 30 seconds before a male Customer Service rep.

ME: “Hello. Hong Long Bank Customer Service?”
Customer Service Rep (CSR): “Yes sir. How can I help you?”
ME: “Is Hong Leong Bank making shitload of money?”
CSR: “Excuse me?”
ME: “Or is it because you guys have shitload of problems with your customers?”
CSR: “Sorry sir, I don’t understand.”
ME: “Is Hong Leong having a special deal with Maxis?”
CSR: “I don’t know sir.”
ME: “Let me put it this way. I have been calling since early in the morning and I have been put on hold for a total of 34 minutes. So is it you guys really that busy or just refusing to answer calls?”
CSR: “I am sorry for the long holding period sir, but…”
ME: [interrupt] “Nevermind. Anyway, your credit card broke on me. Either I have sharp ass or your card is low quality. It split into half.”
CSR: “Er… So would you like a replacement card sir?”
ME: “If not why am I calling? And how am I going to use your card?”
CSR: “Er… Okay sir. May I have your card details?”

Then I gave him the details and make arrangements for the replacement cards. Before we hung up, I gave him a lesson or two.

ME: “So… Since I was put on hold for more than 34 minutes, who will compensate my mobile phone bill?”
CSR: “Er… I am sorry sir.”
ME: “Sorry got no value! I will send you my phone bill when it comes okay?”
CSR: “Sorry sir, that is not our policy. We cannot compensate your phone bill for calling us.”
ME: “Stupid policy. Anyway, if you want to avoid this kind of compensation, make sure you guys pick up the call sooner next time. Not after 4 calls and more than 34 minutes of holding time.”
CSR: “Yes sir! Thank you for calling Hong Leong Bank Credit Card Center.”

Someone definitely got to learn their lessons.

17
Jan

deep thoughts

By Adrian 0 Comments
Categories: Complaints, common sense and rants and raves

How many of you sometimes think twice about a person? Like sometimes you think that some people are dumb, but later you will discover that they are smarter than you thought, or vice versa.

Every country in the world needs a smart leader to guide the country to a higher level and every leader requires smart assistants to help him or her to get things done and to form a think-tank in order to form strategies, domestic or foreign. The leader and assistants cannot live without each others and if something goes wrong, both the leader and assistants will be responsible for the consequences.

So I would say all the leaders in the world must be someone smart and with wisdom (maybe except George W. Bush).

You must be thinking that I have gone nuts and you are not sure what the crap I am talking about. Fear not, I am still insane, at least I think I am. It is just that sometimes I puzzle about the things that is happening around me.

I cannot say that I am a genius, and I certainly cannot say that I am smart (I still remember vividly that someone told me that self praise is not praise). But one thing I do know is that when I am in negotiation for a deal and if I were to sign a contract, I will not agree upon some muddy situation where I have no chance of winning. I will try to negotiate what is fair to me, or take advantage of certain things, and if the terms and conditions are not favorable to me at all, I will not sign it. Smart? I don’t think so. This is more or less a common sense.

The reason why I am writing this is because of the articles on the blogsphere (here, here and here) and that got me questioning myself if I was wrong about my common sense, and if I was wrong about getting a win-win situation in an agreement.

I won’t dig into the previous events, but will only comment about the recent outcry in 20% to 60% toll hikes. It seemed to me that our government, leader (current or previous) and assistants did not do their job in negotiating the best terms in the negotiation. I don’t see why the need for formula, period of toll collection and even a formula for price increase. Litak (the Government linked company, GLC) has an upper hand in everything. I mean, who negotiated the agreement and guaranteed themselves a concession of 30 years with guarantee price increase? If I were to get that kind of agreement, hell, I will build highways around the country, regardless if the highways are needed or not.

The purpose of a toll is for the Government, or GLCs, to recoup on the investment made to build the highways, bridges, or any public facilities. When the investment has been returned, the toll should be demolished and those public facilities shall be free for use to the public. So the question is this; why is there a formula for price increase and the 30 years fixed period for toll collection? Just fixed the god-damn toll price to an amount and let Litak collects toll until the investment they made were returned. Simple as that.

Those GLCs said “we are just honoring the agreement”, and our minister said, “we have tried to negotiate”. Okay, we may be as stupid as they had though, but why are we having this kind of agreement where the government is in a loosing end? Who was the person in charge of negotiation? Why the terms were favoring the GLCs? Isn’t our government should represent the people and negotiate what is in the best interest of the people? It seems to me that the agreement is for the best interest for the GLCs, 100%.

What strike me as funny, or ironic, is the fact that the GLCs are using the Government’s money (or the people’s money, if I may) and yet the Government has to pay subsidies for the toll.

At the end of the day, the public suffer the most. We pay for the road construction (in forms of income tax, and other taxes), and then we pay the toll. That is fair, but why do we have to pay for it for 30 years or more when in fact the investment could be recouped in less than that? The GLCs are guaranteed with shitload of profit and yet we are still paying our income taxes? What pissed me off more is the condition of our highways. The highways are uneven, bumpy, and the drainage system is very bad. Hell, I am not even sure if those roads can be called highways.

I read on some news and blogs whom reported about the recent protest in front of Litrak office (here and here), but why waste the time in protesting? That won’t get you anywhere, and that certainly won’t get anything done, and those representatives from GLC and government will point to the agreement and say, “Oh we try, but its all in the agreement.”

So, in my opinion, the smartest thing to do now is to question why such agreement was signed and agreed upon. And then someone has to dig out the detailed financial reports of these GLCs (including PLUS and the Penang Bridge) and we can calculate if the investment to build those highways were recouped. Those GLCs are public companies (I am not using the word “Public Listed Companies” here because they belong to the people of the country) so they should make the financial report available (to anyone who is interested, that is) and as transparent as possible.

On the other hand, is there a reason for those agreements to favor the GLCs to such extend? I don’t know.

So now back to the opening statement. Are the leader (current or previous) and the assistants smart enough to lead the country to a new high and be competitive in global market? My answer is that they got me fooled.

Or maybe not.

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