HSBC teller sends Miel on a spin

Soon after I posted my gripe about DBS today, I read  this Facebook posting below by my friend and ex-colleague Dengcoy, popularly known by his  cartoon byline Miel....

"Dear HSBC, your service sucks! it's called Inconvenient Banking.

WHY? went to the Claymore branch this morning to make a transaction only to be told by the teller to call an 1800-number. But I told her that I am here and now ready to make that transaction. She insisted that I still have to call the 1800-number. Okay, fine. So, I called said number from the office only to be told by some call-center chap from Mordor that I have to go back to the bank to do my business! WT...! "

  I was really incensed after I read the post as I know Miel to be a mild-mannered and obliging guy and can easily be taken advantaged of by many people.   I am sure he was in this case because he obeyed what the teller told him to do!!!

Many of his friends have reacted to what had happened to him. One said he should have thumped the table and demanded service. Another  thought a better line of action would have been to curse the teller in  the Hokkien dialect.

Maybe Miel should do what he does best --- draw a cartoon to show up the bank for its mindless service and post it on social media. After all, he is  a world-class cartoonist. And a so-called global bank like HSBC surely does not deserve  anything less..

Inflexible DBS over a simple matter

The joy of getting a new credit card from DBS was short-lived for me.

Almost two months after I had the DBS Altitude card (see the last posting below), I discovered that the credit limit set for me was much too low to make any substantial payment. In this instance, I didn't have enough "credits" to pay for a cruise that our travel group has planned.

I also realised that being a Treasures member does not make things easy -- even for simple things. Worse still, if  you are a retiree with no employment income and income tax returns to back you up.

But what about all my hard-earned money that I have deposited with the bank over the years, earning pittance in terms of interest????

Apparently, that is not good enough for me to obtain a higher credit limit.

So I called my relationship manager (RM) Leonard yesterday to protest. He promised to ask the higher-ups for approval.

One day later, there was no word from him. His mobile was not answered. I left an SMS for him to call me back urgently.  Nothing happened.

Meanwhile, I decided to call the Treasures hotline and gave a sweet-sounding girl named Susie a earful (well, in a pleasant way).  She tried to fob me off with her usual line -- "I will ask the RM to call you back".

I wasn't in the mood to be taken in by a voice, sweet though it may be.  I asked to speak to the manager. She said the manager was not available. So I asked for the CEO.

When she realised that I meant business, she said she would put up my request for a credit limit increase. I told her it was urgent. She said she would get back to me in an hour.

And she did!  But, alas, it was only a temporary increase and there was a time limit, i.e. I had to use it by a certain date.

I asked why it was not a permanent one.  For that, she said, I had to fill a form to apply. 

And the form would require me, a retiree, to fill in my employment income or submit my income tax returns. Sigh! Back to square one!

This whole saga clearly shows up the inflexibility of the bank.  Why is it treating all retirees the same way, even those who are Treasures members?
The message I get is this:  "Yes, deposit all your cash with us, but don't expect us to be reasonable with you."

I would equate this inflexibility to pure laziness and a total lack of initiative. Surely a quick check of a retiree's history with the bank and his background will instantly allow any manager worth his salt to make a fairly accurate assessment of the risk factor.

All of which makes me wonder:  If a bank that makes its living from being able to assess risks, and it is obviously unable to do so for a simple credit card case, what are the chances of it making it big in Asia???

I hope I am not being unfair in coming to this conclusion, but this is how I feel at the moment.

Shara of DBS -- sent from above!

Ms Shara of DBS Bank made my day today.

She surfaced like a breath of fresh air just as I was getting increasingly irritated by the unavailability of my relationship manager (RM) and a telephone voice that kept telling me to hold on as "all our officers are busy". 

When it seemed like all my efforts were ending up futile, I decided to call the bank's 24-hour service hotline. Right move --- an angel in the form of Shara came to my rescue.

The moment I heard her voice, I knew somehow that she was going to be the person who was able to help me. 

 I told her about the difficulty I encountered in getting hold of the RM and what I wanted from the bank -- a credit card that would reward air miles against my spendings.

"Not a problem," she chimed, before showing me an easier way of doing it without even having to fill in any document as I was already a card holder.

All it took was less than 10 minutes for me to log on into my account, indicate the card that I wanted and the request was approved.

Before I rang off, I thanked and complimented Shara on her cheerful attitude, patience and EQ.

She certainly deserves a bouquet for displaying that special personal touch! 

Miniinthebox: A warning

I was bitten by the online shopping bug after I was given a HD plasma TV and needed two HDMI cables so that I would be able to enjoy its full benefits.

 I thought of going to Sim Lim Towers to get them but decided against it as it was too much of a hassle at this time of the year.

 

Then, while surfing the Net, I saw an unsolicited online shopping email from an outfit called Qoo10. My search for HDMI cables at the website threw up a whole range. 

 

As I wasn't sure about the reliability of the products, I went for a brand name (Sony, but made in China) as I wanted to be careful.

The cables, which cost me less than $20, arrived three days later, all carefully packed. I was so pleased with  the purchase as everything worked out well.

The following days saw me scouring various online sites randomly looking for things that interest me.

One caught my eye -- a car camera that had good reviews and cost less than $50. With my confidence boosted by my TV cable experience, I decided that I would make another purchase, this time from another website, Miniinthebox.

 

The car camera was delivered promptly.  Setting it up the camera (see picture below) itself was not difficult although the instructions left a lot to be desired.

The nightmare only started when I tried to get the camera to work. Nothing I did was successful. After countless attempts, the screen finally went blank. Nothing I did could revive it!!!

 

I decided that I should write a review to warn people who were contemplating on making the same purchase. After sending it in, I did not see it in the Reviews section. So I guessed it had to be moderated.

 

A day or two later, when I logged on to check on the status of my review, this was what I saw...

 

 

 A creative way indeed to keep out the unhappy customers. But why was I kept out of the website when all I wanted to do was to check whether my review had been published??  One can only speculate on the reason for the lockout.

Did I try to contact the website to inform them about my complaint? You bet, but it would take the patience of a saint to learn how to do it.  I failed.

One thing's for sure. I will never purchase anything from this Miniinthebox website.  By the way, it is also known as Lightinthebox.

Happy Christmas shopping but please keep away from this product, if not the website.

 

 

 

 

 

 



LTA's mind-boggling rule

  The Land Transport Authority makes a distinction between the Singapore identity card and Singapore passport when the two are used to establish someone's identity to effect a transfer of vehicle ownership.

  I realised this when I went to LTA's office in Sin Min last week to transfer the ownership of my wife's car to the buyer.  She had misplaced her IC and despite searching for it, was not been able to find it.

  As the IC was needed to effect the transfer, I was in a dilemma over what to do next.  I decided that her passport should be a good substitute as it was just a matter of confirming her identity.

  So off I went to LTA with her passport and the signed transfer form, confident that I would not encounter any problem. But I was wrong.

  The LTA officer who attended to me said my wife had to be present if I was using the passport for the transfer, but her presence was not required with the IC. 

   I asked her why the IC was given more credibility. Her short reply: it was the rule and clearly stated in the transfer form. As expected, she was not able to give me the rationale.

   That ended our conversion.  And the end result? My wife, still in her exercise outfit, was summoned to LTA to show her face.

   Mind-boggling!!!

 

StarHub replies --- two months later...and 'it's not our fault'

I posted an item two months ago -- Dec 14, 2012 to be exact --- about
StarHub springing a surprise on me with this message on my computer screeen...

"Your PC/router DNS settings is currently configured to link to our decommissioned DNS server, and thus being re-directed to this webpage.

Please note that as your PC/router has been set to manual DNS settings, your internet access will be affected and must be re-configured to automatic DNS selection in order to restore normal internet access to your computer...."

It went on to instruct me on how to solve the problem without realising it was dealing with a non-technical person. Ultimately, I had to call the telco to send a technician before I could regain my internet connection.

After all the hassle was over, I decided to write about it. I also alerted StarHub to the posting,  titled:  "StarHub springs a surprise -- go reconfigure yourself".

There was complete silence for more than two months UNTIL today when, surprise, surprise!!! , I got this reply from the telco:

"We refer to your blog entry dated 14 December 2012 at
http://boo-n-bouquet.blogspot.sg/ and we sincerely apologise for the
delayed response to your feedback.

We would like to clarify that any change in StarHub's DNS settings is
meant to be transparent to customers as computers and network
equipment will retrieve the new settings automatically via DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). DHCP is used all over the
world to dynamically assign IP configuration settings to end-users.

From your description, it would appear that your equipment's setting
was hardcoded with a static DNS setting which resulted in the loss of
Internet connectivity. Unfortunately, we will not know who edited the
settings on your equipment since this will usually require physical
access to it.

While the settings on your equipment is beyond StarHub's control, we
sincerely apologise if this episode had given you the impression that
we have disconnected your internet without prior notice.

Please feel free to write to us if you require further clarification
on this.

Thank you.

Warm regards

Howard Toh
Service Manager, Technical Helpdesk"

What is StarHub telling me???  That I or someone in my house had tampered with the setting? 

I like the sensitive manner in which Mr Toh put it: "Unfortunately, we will not know who edited the settings on your equipment since this will usually require physical access to it."

Hello, Mr Toh, I am the only person using the computer in my household and, for the life of me, I have absolutely no idea what is meant by "hardcoded"  or "static DNS setting" let alone knowing how to reset the equipment.

What intrigues me now is why the telco has suddenly jumped to life and decided to respond to my complaint.  

If you were to check my blog, there are many which they have not bothered to do so.

And I have many more complaints which I have not blogged about StarHub

StarHub sucks --- again!!!

While reading some of the postings by hotelier Loh Lik Peng in his blog,

Loh and Behold, I spotted one that commented on StarHub's poor service.   

 

My friends and I have written and complained ad nauseum to the telco about its service but to no avail so far.  So when I saw Loh's story, I thought I would lift it wholesale (I hope he won't mind) and post it in my blog.

 

A bit more pressure would make the telco see the light, I hope.

 

Below is Loh's posting last December....

 

StarHub Sucks!

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Lohcifer

"I’ve terminated my StarHub fixed broadband service and some dude named Adrian Koh from their Retention Team had the balls to email me to find out why.

To all the clowns at StarHub, here’s why:
Service from StarHub has always been inadequate commensurate with the price charged. For example to cancel my StarHub fixed broadband service, I first phoned in October to inform StarHub.

I phoned again in November, just to make sure. (In the past, my experience with StarHub has been you need to remind them over and over again for the slightest shit you want done.)

And in December I phoned yet again. Each time I phoned I was told that my request has been noted. But way past the last date of service (which was December 15^th) the fixed broadband service was still available and I had to call once again to request for termination.

Finally spoke to a person named “Heuer” on the other end of the line and he was the one who eventually terminated the fixed broadband service for me on December 17^th.

How any times does a customer need to phone and phone? This fucked-up level of service – I can’t imagine anything more shoddy that this - is among the reasons why I decided not to renew my fixed broadband service with StarHub.

Besides, other providers now offer fiber with NO contract at cheaper prices.
For those still stuck with StarFucks do consider moving. And check your bills.

My son’s cell phone bill recently had a charge for roaming in Malaysia and he wasn’t even in Malaysia.

StarHub, please get your act together. There are enough clowns in Singapore already. No need to add to the ballooning population of jokers, retards and morons here."