Poor customer service

Since I am having holiday until early in March, I would really like to enjoy this precious period by doing something else besides communicating with the world via Internet. As an ASTRO user, I used to subscribe to some channels that I prefer to watch such as sports channels and documentary channels. However it would be wasteful to keep on subscribing to these channels considering the fact that I was staying in college for months while none of my family members is interested in sport or documentary. Now it is time to resubscribe to those channels.

On the last day of 2010, I browsed through the official website of ASTRO to gather some information and found out recently there is a newly introduced package called high definition (HD) package which includes some sport and documentary channels! I was so delighted. I made some calls to seek for customer service, and as expected, we will need to reinstall the hardwares. However the installation fee and the cost of new hardwares are waived as long as you are bound to an one-year-contract with extra RM20 added to current subscription fee per month, which is quite reasonable. I was promised that their technical team would reach within 10 days. What? 10 days?

"Maybe this HD package is in a high demand in Alor Star nowadays," I thought.

So the days passed by until it was the seventh day of waiting. I was wondering, if they do take care of customer satisfactory, they wouldn't choose to perform the installation procedure on the last day of promised period. I tried to reach the customer service again, and he confirmed with me the technical team will surely contact my father as the account holder in the next few days. So I kept on waiting. I hoped it wouldn't take long because there were some interesting football matches I would really like to catch up. Moreover, my holiday is going to end soon with everyday passing by so swiftly.

It was the tenth day, and I realised they had missed out the important phrase. The "ten days" was meant to be "ten working days". Thus I was again told to wait for a few days in frustration. However we didn't receive any phone call even though we had been waiting for their service for more than 10 working days!

I constructed an email to voice out my anger and disappointment. Having called ASTRO for more than 8 times, I wasted about RM10 as I needed to key in the numbers, listening to the repeated instructions for a considerably long time that charges during the calls. To my surprise, it was clearly stated my email would be read and replied within another 3 days. I recalled my customer service with Dell when I discovered my newly bought laptop was having some problems with a faulty hard disc inside. I sent an email on the first day, and got the hard disc exchanged on the second day. I was so shocked by their efficiency.

I couldn't wait anymore. I got the phone numbers of the technician in charge of my residential area and started calling him. However, the office number directed my call into irritating voice mails, whereas no one picked up my call when I dialed the cell phone number. This lasted for 3 days.

When I was about to cancel my subscription, they contacted us. Right at the time I was constructing this blog post, 17 days after my initial call to subscribe the HD package. Typical customer service in Malaysia, I would say. Don't ever think you can always dominate and monopoly the market when the fundamental support is actually from customer's trust.

And, customer's trust is earned, not given.

Censored

This is how the front cover page of TIME magazine gazetted in the first week of October should be.

I received it. But it has been censored by marker pen.

IELTS

In case you don't know what IELTS stands for, it is actually the abbreviation of International English Testing Language Testing System.

First of all I would like to critic my previous IELTS lecturer once again.

Disclaimer: If you have been following my blog for a certain period you could notice how intensely I have been criticising many aspects of my current college, but that doesn't mean I was showing my sheer hatred towards KTT. In fact, I'm concerning the issues that annoyed me, and having an urge to share it with my nearest people. I could have ignored all the flawed, the preposterous one happening around me. But after all I felt it might be better to voice my dissatisfaction and disappointment in order to let myself out.

I had never seen such an irresponsible lecturer in the sense that she had cancelled 90% of her classes since I enrolled in A-Level program 6 months ago. Just imagine I was supposed to attend 2 lectures per week, but I ended up by having less than 5 lectures during the six months. If this doesn't sound shocking, listen to this one: she had fled away all in a sudden with some money that students paid to purchase IELTS reference books! Seriously it can be considered a crime. Consequently, a new IELTS lecturer is taking her place now, bringing both great news and bad news, where there is a resurgence of IELTS teachings but we have to pay for another IELTS reference book of a different version.

Back to the title, all of the scholars in preparation to travel aboard to India, Polland, Czech Republic etc. for tertiary study in medicine or dentistry have to pass certain cut-off points depending on the university we apply. IELTS includes four main tests - reading, listening, speaking and writing, with the achievement of each represented in band form ranging from band 1 to band 9.

I had a listening test in this afternoon and I find it challenging to recognise and read the British accent. I take IELTS more important than any other subjects I'm taking now.

Revealing unpleasent sight

It was a lovely afternoon when my roommate was enjoying the breeze in the balcony. Suddenly he smelt something. To his surprise, he saw a guy holding a lighted cigarrete above him in another balcony.

"What are you looking at? Strange? I'm not going to die because of this lah!"

It is quite an unexpected as well as unpleasant sight to me, considering the fact he is a JPA scholar, the educated one who is going to traverse into medical field, and has the responsibility to advise people to stop smoking. However he is not the only person practising something ironic and contradicting to his prospect in my present college. They are a lot including seniors. Moreover, it has been stated smoking inside the college compound is prohibited and penalty of RM100 would be charged towards violator. Well, I haven't come across any news that any kind of penalty had been charged on them since I was here six months ago. The guards ignore that too, so do some lecturers and wardens. I can't tolerate indifference shown by the administrators. Honestly I have no prejudice towards smokers, but in my point of view, smokers are not qualified to contribute himself in health care related career seriously. Even if they are, don't you think that their patients would surely doubt their credibility in diagnosing ailments or prescribing medicine?

Put this aside, I would like to share another thing that was annoying. It happened for days continuously in the last month. When I was in my mood of revising and there came a deafening bang inside the hostel. Apparently someone was trying to get into our nerves by lighting firecrackers. My instinct told me that was another immatured scholar, but I could never identify the nuisance maker. In my previous secondary school, if you tried to challenge the school rules by having such explosives, you would be expelled without any tolerance or consideration.

Please return me the serenity of my lovely tiny college :(

Another incident

It was an afternoon when my housemate wondered what's happening to our newly bought washing machine. The water clogged inside the wash tub instead of draining out. The clothes were still soaked after procedures of washing, rinsing and spinning. He was soon able to check out something bizarre - which you won't expect to happen.

There was a blockage in the end of the drain hose.

Imagine how you would feel knowing someone had the intention to spoil your washing machine. They are peels, egg shells and candy wrappers which are classified as rubbish.

This is the compartment which has been occupied as the "secret base", or the workshop of some resident kids aged ranging from 8 to 12 years old. They are creative to modify their bikes to a scooter-like vehicle and have fun at the inclined road in front of my college. That's why I have to tolerate the hammer tapping sounds almost everyday. You might be wondering why they are residents in my college, well, it will be a long story which I'm not going to share at this instant.

They did it mostly because of the intruding discharged water. We had informed them about that, and they have spacious compartment regardless of that corner we need, so I have no idea about why it led to the revengeful and ignorant act.

So they thought we would never notice the blockage? Hah, they are kids.

For KTTians : Pak Cik Parang definitely didn't tell them about that.

A shocking incident

It was about 3am when we had stopped playing poker card inside my room located on the 3rd floor of a hotel during a class trip to Kuala Lumpur three years ago. Feeling thirsty but having the water bottles empty, my friend Yu Wei and I decided to get some 1.5 litre mineral water from the nearby 7-eleven. We grabbed our wallets and went downstairs.

The street lights weren't functioning well, causing the street in front of the hotel to be enveloped in darkness. I walked slowly behind Yu Wei along the deserted street fully parked by branded cars. Suddenly Yu Wei stopped. Just when I tried to figure out why, I got my answer in the next second. To our surprise, a lady was approaching us without our notice. We stood motionless, exchanging glances but didn't say any words. She was about 28 years old with brown curly long hair. Although it was lacking of brightness, I could see the heavy makeup on her face and sense the strong perfume smell. The lady in mini skirt holding a handbag gazed at us and started speaking in Chinese.

"Can you come nearer to me?" she requested.

Yu Wei and I remained silent. We were puzzled - Who is she? What's her intention? Why is she still wandering around the dark street at midnight?

"Come here please," she reiterated it while moving nearer to us and stopped three feet in front of us, "I've something to show you."

Being alive to the situation that it was no longer safe to stay there, Yu Wei shouted, "Run!" and both of us fled immediately to 7-eleven, leaving the lady in darkness.

We gasped for breath inside the convenience store. The cashier must be wondering what was happening to us. We dared not to go back to the hotel as the street was the only way getting into it. We hid for ten minutes to discuss the possible circumstances we might meet again. We had reached a consensus - not to say anything and see anything, just run back. After purchasing our mineral water, we summoned our courage and sprinted to the hotel. The lady was still waiting there, but she was not alone - there came another lady in white standing beside, they sent chills up my spine but I didn't care, I kept running until one of my slippers was accidentally dropped on the road! You might not be able to imagine my fear in such an eerie situation. The lady giggled at me and I heard it was a male's sound! Gosh! I quickly grabbed my slipper by hand and hastened back to the hotel, trembling in fear.

It was dangerous to go out at night in such a urban area. We would have lost our property or even life if they were not prostitutes but thugs holding a knife but not a handbag. It was also our first time to have such a close distance with a prostitute.

Note : I want to title it as "Seduced by prostitute" but "A shocking incident" sounds better :p