Archive for the ‘SHIT!’ Category

Taiwan Visa office in Hong Kong

October 25, 2009

0910 taiwan visaI have recently changed my nationality to Chinese and have a HKSAR passport now. This makes most of my traveling visa/hassle-free. But I need a permit to enter China or Taiwan for the first time. Last week I had the priviledge to visit Chung Hwa services’ office in Hong Kong to apply for a permit for Taiwan.

I had all the necessary documents, photos etc. with me. And I was told if I can submit my application before 1030, I could be interviewed at 1130. You cannot download the application form; you can only collect it at the office. So I reached the visa office at 0945 to be safe. Out of the five counters, only two were operational. One to collect your visa, the other for collecting and submitting forms. There were about 15 people in the queue, and I had no idea I’d be doing four rounds in the same queue:

Round 1: The lady reviewed all my documents and issued a form. I quickly filled up the forms, leaving my ‘name in Chinese’ blank. I also saw a section where you had to paste the front and back copies of your ID card into the exact boxes. In the absence of any scissors or glue, I just clipped my ID copies with the form and queued up again – in the same queue with almost the same 15 people.

Round 2: The lady showed me a corner where a pair of scissors was chained to the wall with a pot of glue (more…)

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Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF)

December 26, 2008

This event attracts hundreds of local and international publishers, and over 200,000 visitors every year. Our company is participating as an international publisher for the second time, together with our local distributors.

The set-up day today was a major disaster, obviously a result of total lack of organization and absolute mismanagement!

The first shock was the lack of security despite the recent events in the country. Any vehicle could enter the gates unchecked and come all the way near the main entrance to the halls!

Secondly, there was no lighting in the halls except for some sunlight. And no power supply for the exhibitors! We kept complaining all day, and got different explanations from the organizers every time:

We want to be careful that nobody gets electrocuted!
The Expo Center electrical staff is off in the morning due to Christmas – you’ll have lights by 1 PM.
There is power failure.
The staff is off today due to Christmas.
The Expo Center wants to save on power. You’ll have power tomorrow!

All exhibitors worked in darkness and heat and humidity all day. Our team left around 7 PM, without setting up our lighting, computers and audio-visual stuff! (more…)

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Cable TV Hong Kong: Unsubscribe Impossible!

October 29, 2008

Time and again, Cable TV Hong Kong has disappointed me with their termination policies. In this modern era they still insist on FAX as the only way to send in a signed confirmation of account closure which will always be guaranteed a month delay no matter how much you attempt to time this. So apart from the agony, you lose a month of service fee without any reason. Why can’t companies learn to create it easy for users to close accounts (which are charged real money) by simply a phone call, online click or something easier than filling in long forms? I ended up paying 4 months of bills for services i did not use a single bit just because they did not make it easier for me to cancel my subscription when i really wanted to! (more…)

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Cathay Pacific Hong Kong: Shit Service Again!

September 24, 2008

I don’t work for a rival airline. I am a salesman who does a lot of traveling, mostly on Cathay due to easier connections from Hong Kong. I even have a gold status with Cathay. And I continue to witness how the service standards on this airline have gone from WOW to SHIT.

On a recent flight from HK to Colombo, via Singapore, I had three more SHIT experiences:

  1. When we were served dinner, the passenger next to me asked for his special Muslim meal. He was told off by the crew ‘we don’t have it, did you request?’ The passenger told them that he had not only requested it but reconfirmed at checkin time. Once again, he was told ‘sorry, we don’t have it; please take the pasta, it’s vegetarian.’ He refused to accept it, saying ‘i don’t want to eat anything if you don’t have my Muslim meal.’ He had been fasting all day (about 13 hours of no food or drinks). Half way through our dinner, the crew appeared ‘sir, here’s your Muslim meal!’ No apology, no explanation!? Go figure.
  2. The same passenger had his video console (that you pull up if you are in the first row) falling off every couple of minutes. So he at his dinner with one hand, while holding the video console with the other! (more…)

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iPhone – Somewhere in Between!

February 25, 2008

iphone.pngI had been happily using a Palm/Treo for about ten years. I ditched it last week when I finally succumbed to the temptations of iPhone. Being a Mac user and fan for a few years, I had very high expectations from the iPhone. I expected it to seamlessly sync with my mac’s Contacts, iCal, Mail, iPhoto and iTunes…which it did beautifully well with a touch of a button! It even copied my bookmarks from Safari! I finally browsed the Internet, logged into my blogs, checked the stats, looked at flight schedules, browsed the movies in local theaters, watched a couple of trailers and even booked movie tickets – none of which I’d ever do on any other handheld! Now I also open the attachments to email – even Excel looks pretty on iPhone! Plus other cool features like the intelligent keyboard, Mac-type widgets, scrolling and twitching and turning pages, are all WOW!

treo.jpgNow comes the SHIT part: It has blue tooth but only for headset; can’t transfer files! It has SMS but can’t do group SMS; plus there’s no outbox for unsent messages! There’s no copy, cut and paste function. So I can’t copy numbers or info from a text message to contacts or calendar – I need to have a PAPER and PEN! Notes in iPhone can’t sync with any application on Mac; so there’s no backup! And it doesn’t have multiple color-coded calendars like in Mac or Treo. No more red dots showing trips, or purple dots showing birthdays, or green dots for commitments with family or friends! I miss my Treo :(

While iPhone is way ahead in lot of things, it’s a step back for me in a lot of ways. So I say, it’s both WOW and SHIT, or somewhere in between! I should have listened to you, Hamza :)

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Remit2Home.com: Big Fraud!

November 17, 2007

My Fiancée lives in the Philippines and I live in America. I often send her money for some support, or to build up some savings for when I arrive there to live. I have used a few of the money transfer companies available on the internet, which I will not mention except Remit2Home.I had been happily using a company before Remit2Home started flooding the internet with their ads. They said their fee was less so I decided to try them out.

I signed up, and proceeded to send Elena some money. They did their test of my account sending me a small amount then taking it back. I then got a phone call from them wanting to know everything about me except maybe my blood type. One thing they did ask was the test transfer amount to prove I was the account holder. This all happened within 2 days after I signed up. Then we waited a week, nothing. Then 2 weeks, still nothing. They advertise 24/7 support. WHERE? Their phones are never answered and their Chat Live crashes or never works.

Oh, one time they answered the phone, and the girl said she would contact someone in the customer service department and have someone return my call. NEVER HAPPENED. I would send emails and 2 days later I would get a promise they are investigating. 2 days ago, I get an email saying the money has been deposited. Well, my fiancée went to her bank and NO, NOTHING THERE. Also now all I get is their auto-response email, but nothing more. It has been ONE MONTH and no money. BEYOND SHIT!

[Contributed by Bruce - http://filipinainamerica.com/?p=17]

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Cathay Pacific Hong Kong: From Wow to Shit!

October 24, 2007

Cathay has been my favorite airline since 1997 when I first started traveling on it, up until recently when I finally made up my mind that I don’t like it any more. And it’s the little things that seem to be slowly disappearing – like the genuine smile at the check-in desk, the passion and enthusiasm of the cabin crew and the real care for the passenger.

I have had faulty AV systems on my seat twice in the last six months – they say, “Sorry sir, would you like to change your seat.” I don’t, because I am sitting on a first-row aisle seat – the only comfortable seat in the plane for someone who is tall and suffers from back pain.

Most cabin crew don’t hear English very well, so you almost always have to repeat yourself if you ask for anything other than water. People making cabin announcements often sound like kids who have just learnt how to read.

What peeves me the most is when you press the call button and nobody bothers. I have often had cabin crew pass by without stopping, even when they see the call light turned on above my seat. One of my colleagues often tells the attendants who show up after a long time, “If I had a heart attack, I’d be dead by now”. Most of them don’t seem to understand what he means by that.

So yeah, Cathay is consistently moving from WOW to SHIT on my scale. So why do I still travel Cathay? For it’s convenient connections from Hong Kong, where I (mostly) live. And for crew like Athens, who still care and love what they do. Today he recognized me and remembered that few months ago, I had given away my favorite seat so a mom and child could sit together. He treated me really well today.
[Written during a Cathay flight from Hong Kong to Karachi on Oct 19, 2007]

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Liberty Books Pakistan: Don’t Try Us Online!

October 11, 2007

Two-week saga of buying a gift subscription…

Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 2:37 PM
To: subscriptions@libertybooks.com; info@libertybooks.com

I have just wasted almost an hour on your website, then on two international calls from Hong Kong to your shops in Forum and Park Towers. All I want is to send a gift subscription of National Geographic for Kids to my niece in Karachi. I live in Hong Kong.

Firstly, this magazine is not listed on your website so I can’t do it online. If it’s listed, I can’t find it. There’s no category for “kids” magazine.

People at Forum shop failed to understand what I wanted to do. Francis at Park Tower was very helpful but he couldn’t process my order through my credit card unless I come to his shop to SIGN!

Here’s all the info you will need to process my subscription (full details of credit card and delivery address was provided). Please charge my card for the amount of PKR2500 and start the subscription as soon as possible. Please reply quickly.

Thanks
mush (very frustrated!)

On 24 Sep 2007, at 5:01 PM, Liberty Books Pvt. Ltd. wrote:

Dear Sir,

Please refer to your email dated 23/09/2007 regarding your interest in subscription for national geographic for kids. I have sent your credit card for approval to the bank and as soon as we have your credit card charged, we shall start the subscription to your niece immediately. I would take this as an opportunity to apologize for the inconvenience caused by our employees.

We look forward for your valued order.

Kind regards,
Customer care.

Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 11:02 PM

Dear Mr. Whoever at customer care,

I am still waiting to hear the confirmation of the subscription. How many days do you need to obtain a bank approval on a small credit card charge?

Thanks
mush

On 1 Oct 2007, at 4:10 PM, Liberty Books Pvt. Ltd. wrote:

Dear Sir,

Please refer to your email dated 28/09/2007 regarding your credit card to be charged for your subscription.

This is to inform you that Citibank is in receipt of the approval and they might require signatures as the card to be charged is not of a local resident.

As soon as we get a reply from the bank as to how they want to proceed on it we will let you know.

Your patience is highly appreciated for.

Kind Regards,
Nabiha Jamil

Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 1:20 PM

Thanks, Nabiha. I’ll wait.

Dealing with Liberty Books is a good lesson in patience for me :)

And I hope it’s a lesson in customer service for you. A customer has made three international calls, and sent two reminder emails for a simple magazine subscriptions!

Regards
mush

On 6 Oct 2007, at 4:16 PM, Liberty Books Pvt. Ltd. wrote:

Dear Mushtaq,

Please refer to your email dated 01/10/2007 regarding your interest in subscribing for National Geographic for Kids.

We want to inform you that your credit card has been charged with an amount of PKR 2500/-. I would also like to add here that without putting your patience into further test, the first issue for the said magazine will be delivered to your niece in Karachi by Tuesday.

We, at Liberty Books Pvt. Ltd. want to apologize for all the inconvenience caused in the process.

Kind Regards,
Nabiha Jamil

Date: 6 October 2007 9:25:32 PM GMT+08:00

Nabiha, I’ll believe it when my niece actually sees the magazine :)

Thanks in advance!

The magazine was finally delivered! What do you say? WOW or SHIT?

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Galleria Suites Manila: Inflexible Room Service!

October 11, 2007

10:30 Saturday morning. I called room service to order breakfast. The lady said, ‘Sorry sir, we only serve breakfast till 10:00.’ I told her all I wanted was some fresh juice and cereals. She kept saying ‘Sorry sir, we don’t serve breakfast after 10:00’. I spoke to the duty manager and asked him if they would make an exception for a regular guest. And guess what? He said, ‘We can serve you juice but not cereals!’ SHIT!
[February 2004]

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