Starhub and BlackBerry activation issues

I have been using M1 blackberry service for sometime, it is good and I don’t have any significant complaints so far.  As I have been curious as always, I wanted to try BlackBerry service on my Starhub line.  I recount my experience with StarHub.

1. Approx. 20.00: Called 1633 and requested activation of BlackBerry service. Was told it’ll take 1 hour
2. Approx 20.15: received a call back, was told that it was Sunday and it’ll be activated within 24 hours or tomorrow.
3. The following day 08.00: Called 1633 and asked when the activation will be done. Was told it’ll take 4 working days

Do you see a formula here? 1 hours -> 24 hours -> 96 hours. Given this exponential increase, I withdrew my request and spoke to a supervisor/duty-manager to highlight the service lapses. He promised that he can activate in 1 hour if I give him an opportunity to do so. I kindly declined the offer.
Was this a case of incompetent customer service officer where they are not well informed or simply a miscommunication between ‘departments’ within starhub.  Regardless, I find it Starhub very hard to disappoint me in the past and they did this time.

Good work !

Upgrading PS3 Software, StarHub and Earth day

What does PS3 Software upgrade, Starhub and Earth Day have to do with each other? They are well connected, in fact.

Last night, I tried to upgrade my PS3 system software to 2.70. As it doesn’t yet support Wireless 802.11n which is connected to Apple Extreme Base Station and SingNet 10 Mbps service, I used Starhub MaxOnline 8Mbps service connected to Linksys Wireless 802.11g.  Guess what, It takes forever, each percertage increase takes at least 2-4 minutes. The whole update should only be about 100 MBytes.

So while I’m upgrading the software, I can’t do anything with the console. It takes more less an hour and generated a lot of heat on the console. If I recall, PS3 uses about 300+ Watts about 3x what Lenovo Thinkpads and Apple Macbook Pro uses.  Given the slowness of Starhub Broadband, I am thinking that I should have used my SingNet service.  I pulled a long ethernet cable and connected my PS3 to Apple Base station. Voila, very fast about 1 megabyte/sec or so.

So I just wanted to highlight: Slow ISP will use more of your electricity and takes a lot of your time. Change to a faster one even with some price premium, you’ll be glad you did. Not only that, you’ll use  less electricity and save the earth !!!

UOB Buana Nightmare continues

After I posted the previous blog entries, I immediately received a few missed call. I was too upset to talk to anyone, not after that 45 minutes on call with an agent that put me on hold as long as 15 minutes!.

UOB Buana representative managed to reach me the following day to apologize for the inconvenience and so on, but could not comment why none of the agent never returned my call.  She also explained that a missing refund was indeed credited but in a different month and a different card account.  While I am no longer in the interest to verify the past bills, I still would hold UOB Buana for this unnecessary argument.  If they have indeed credited the full refund, the five or six officers that I spoke too in the past would have been able to advise me and suggested me to check again the missing refund.  All they did is just ‘We receive your report and will be investigating it’.

I couldn’t help to think that these officers are either not empowered to do anything that receiving a call or simply not motivated in serving customers which is their job.  How could a bank can get away with such poor customer service? How could a customer rely on the bank during emergency situation (e.g. transaction declined at point of sales where payment must be done immediately for urgent issues or reporting a loss card).  The difficulties in getting an agent will definitely put all UOB Buana credit card hold a greater risk when reporting stolen/loss card.  

Imagine if I loss my card, I still would be liable for any unauthorized transactions until I reported the card loss to the officer and the officer of the bank terminates that card. If I couldn’t get to the officer promptly or the processes is such that include a long verification questions (> 6 questions) and passed on to another officer with another holding time, the thieves may just done a lot of transactions in such a small time windows.

I made up my mind – I’ll be cancelling my account once all pending issues are resolved and perhaps review in the next 2-3 years once their processes become mature.

I got a call from Ms. Fanny while I was in town, but I didn’t speak to her well as I was in another bank.  Till date, the vouchers never arrived on my home, which already takes 6 weeks to process.  

Let’s revisit this:

1. Very difficult in getting to customer service officer.
2. More than often, officers are not really helpful as they only create reports and no follow-up.
3. Processing times just get ridiculous for any requests.
4. Flaws in both Credit Card centre PABX system and their Card Centre office which may result in looping menu (callers thrown back to main menu when holding to speak to an officer).

 

To be fair, I am haven’t got any significant issues with BCA credit card although I don’t use them as much, and it was not a Platinum card.  I haven’t really try any other banks in Indonesia, so could it be that just the baseline or it was just UOB that need to catch-up?  Leave a comment if you have any experiences with any banks.

UOB Buana Credit Card Nightmare

 

UOB Buana Credit Card Nightmare.

 

If you’re a current holder of UOB Buana Credit card or considering to get one, you may want to read this article.

I have been a UOB (Singapore) customer since early 2000 and have a very good impression and experience with it.  In fact, it is my favorite and primary bank among all others.  A couple years back, Bank Buana in Indonesia has been acquired by UOB and I decided to take their Visa Platinum credit card.

From the very first, I had terrible experience. It has my name misprinted on the cards.  When informed about this error, the officer suggested either I use the card with incorrect name printed, or reapply going through all the trouble. This is the first sign of a very un-organized credit card company.

During the course of the usage, there was a lot of teething problem including bills not sent at all or missing enroute. The amusing response that I got from UOB is that it is all within their Service Level Agreement that bills comes latest 3-5 days before it was due. They also always say there are not in charge or in control of their courier service, a convenient excuse.

It is quite interesting to note that the SLA allows only less than 1 week for customer to see, check and pay their bills. This is way different than over 20 days period in Singapore from all major credit card. They are also not responsible when the bill didn’t come to us and obviously finance charges apply when we overlooked to pay due to bill not received.  There is also no internet banking access for credit card customer.

Recently, the bill has been arriving well, a sign that they did have problem in mailing system but never admitted to have one.  The worst is yet to come. I was charged annual fee for all my card. Usually this can be waived upon request, but UOB Buana seems do not need to retain customer and refused to waive it at all. It also rejected my request to close down my account as I have outstanding annual fee.  In Singapore, we can just cancel our account if we do not wish to continue with another year even we had been charged for annual fee.

After going a long route through UOB Singapore, I got a call back from Ms. Fanny from UOB Buana Indonesia. She promised that she will waive off my annual fee if I stay for another year. I did give them a chance for another year.  Is this the end? Not really.  It turns out one month later, It has refunded two of three my annual fee. I made a number of call each spaced in one month interval, as they need to investigate.  

They never called me again, nor replied with what is the cause of missing refund on the annual fee. Today, it was explained to me that the approved refund for indeed for two out of three cards.  Well, Why no one has told me before on that? And why did Ms. Fanny promised to waived full amount?

I also tried to redeem all remaining points that I have, it takes 4-6 weeks. It has been 5 weeks but no vouchers arrived in my home. I guess, UOB Buana process just as screwed up as 4th world company. What kind of work needed to get a voucher issued within 4-6 weeks.

Another incident is that, I can’t close my account due to error in card charges. One of my subcard holder swiped UOB Buana card instead of UOB Singapore for a Singapore transaction. When he realised that the wrong card was used, he immediately asked the store to void the transaction and pay with UOB Singapore card. This is all done in less than 30 minutes.  Guess what, we have pay the difference about 80 SGD for a cancelled transaction within 30 minutes.

Lesson learnt: UOB Buana Credit card simply doesn’t have what it takes to run a credit card business in professional manner.  I would even think that I have been cheated, wasted a lot of time for this 4th world service.

Never get a UOB Buana credit card (even Platinum) unless you agree and willing to experience the problem above.  I just stick with my UOB Visa Infinite for all my transaction, knowing that only 2% maximum exchange rate (not like 5% or more with local UOB Buana card).

iPhone: What have changed in my perspectives and iPhone for Toddlers/Babies?

I had the excitement waiting for iPhone to be released in Singapore but that went off after it was released. The pricing was not attractive and the SingTel monthly plan would cost me as much as 50% more expensive from what I’m paying now for the same talktime/data plan.  I have also read about horror stories from a local hardware forums that many early consumers reported physical defects on the units.  Some users reported exchanging their set up to 5 times.

SingTel sent me a few offers until one that I can’t refuse – S$ 200 off and 2 months subscription free. I took the iPhone as It is reasonable up-front investment.   My first two weeks usage experience was not so positive. The battery would die in early afternoon from a full charge in the morning. The battery is non-replaceable and in times where I’m not in the office, I can’t charge the phone.   The software itself also not stable v2.0.  I wrote pretty negative blog articles from those two-weeks period of usage.

What have changed now? The latest software v2.2 is more stable and becoming useful. For the battery life, I learnt to be less ambitious and turn off wireless, Location services and push/pull mail. The battery can be used up to late afternoon now.  I have also bought Sanyo Eneloop mobile charger which can charge an iPhone to full charge in an hour or so.  With this, all the immediate concerns can be dismissed. This, however, does not change the fact that I have to be near a powered USB port throughout the day or bring an extra portable charger and data cable everywhere I want to go.

Despite all the inconveniences, I was fortunate to get a good set in Singapore – batch starting with 888xxxxxxxx. This batch as discussed from the forum, is the first batch in Singapore that has less quality problem.  

Things started to change my perspective on iPhone when I browse a lot on it. It has one of the most fantastic browsing experience that I ever had on mobile devices: Large screen, bright, easy zoom-in/out, rotation, etc. I simply don’t get the same experience with any of my Nokia mobile phone.  Next, Email browsing is also nice due to the browsing engine which I can review pdf and rich-formatted/HTML emails right away as I would on a normal computer. Fantastic.   The apps store made a difference too, I can buy application that I want easily although there are plenty of ‘useless’ applications there.  

Up to this point, I wrote nothing new. Here is what amazing, a 20-months toddler can use iPhone just like adults do.

1. She can press unlock button on the top and slide a finger from left to right to unlock the screen without any assistance.
2. She can also browse to pages of application by sliding her finger and launch desired application
3. She is able to return to main menu by pressing home button when she is done with particular application

If a phone is so simple that a toddler can use it, then it must be a very good User-friendly interface.  My iPhone now is about 20-30% with my daughter. She would ‘demand’ the iphone when she want to play with her application: Bubble, BubbleWrap, Animal Farms, A+, Jelly Cars, Trace, and some more.  She enjoy watching her movies from Youtube also, but of course, I’d have to open it for her.

iPhone is still not my primary phone, I would use it with at least another Nokia phone. I simply can’t reply on a phone that can’t forward SMS, limited battery life and low-camera quality.

More reasons why American Express is not the largest/top credit card

American express has been baffling me all this years. I had their first blue (basic) credit card about over 10 years ago and was so dissatisfied then cancelled it. About 8 years ago, I gave it another try when I relocated to another country, which presumably things are handled better. I was wrong, I again terminated it.  About four years ago, Amex seems to be doing an aggressive campaign and the number of merchant accepting the card has increased, I took one of their platinum card and adequately satisfied within known limitation.

Amex still not universally accepted as Visa or Mastercard. Those who accepted American Express often offer dis-prefferential treatment (read more on next paragraph). In some countries, things have not progressed at all where Amex is virtually close to Diner’s Club i.e. not accepted in almost any store.  It has highest fee that merchant usually don’t bother accepting the card.

Recently, I went to one of Apple reseller store in Singapore and purchased an iMac. The store, who is a platinum partner and offers 10 + 10 times rewards, gave me an option – Use Visa/Mastercard/Cash and get free memory upgrade or Use Amex but get no memory upgrades worth S$ 200.  After some negotiation, the store managers allows me to use Amex with memory card upgrades but no further discount, which I would get if I have used Visa/Mastercard.

One week later, I came again to purchase a Macbook and the samething happens. Extra S$40 off if I use visa/mastercard and nothing if I use Amex. It just won’t stop.  Bear in mind that this is a Platinum partners merchant of American Express, who should be bound by certain contract to promote the use of Amex instead of other cards.

Just now, all of us were travelling overseas and we maxed out our credit limit unknowingly. I called Amex and they didn’t do a proper check that my limit was hit, instead they insist the merchant’s terminal has a problem.  Only after few minutes, the customer service officer checked that the limit was hit.  This is so incompetent of the officer.  I requested a temporary credit limit increase as I need to pay something immediately. With Visa, this process would only take a phone call and be approved within less than 5 minutes due to my excellent credit history and payment worthiness.  With Amex, I need to speak with another officer, who asked so many questions that already been asked earlier and I need to wait 3-4 hours for a ‘management review’.

This so called management review hampers any capabilities to pay in urgent situation e.g. medical, hospital admission, etc. Even if it wasn’t emergency and I need to pay something on the store, Would I have to wait 4 hours in store or come back later to pay?  How does the cardholders worthiness/credibility looks like in merchant point of view. Not good of course.

The card the I’m holding is Amex Platinum Charge card, the highest tier that is accessible by public. The Centurion is not included in comparison as it is so exclusive. Still, paying S$ 1200/year for annual fee for a limited acceptance and crappy support during travelling is simply not worth it.  This incident will be considered before I renew my membership next year.

48 hours with iPhone 3G (Singapore) – Thoughts and Review

Following-up my post on iPhone 3G which certainly was flawed in some ways, I managed to get access to iPhone 3G for 48 hours.  I will write what I encountered during the usage with iPhone. (PracticalLife)

SingTel recently made an offer that would make an appeal to ‘resistant’ potential customers.  As we know that uptake for iPhone is quite not as-fantastic.  This is apparent from the availaibility of iPhone which never had any kind of ’sold-out’ situation and the fact that SingTel has been very agressive in lowering the prices and matching future competitiors price plans if they are lower. 

In previous post, SingTel offered to match any future iPhone plan by Starhub or M1 if they are better until end of thi year.  On that follow-up, SingTel dropped the price of iPhone by S$ 200 and provided 2-months free subscription when a customer port-in their number from Starhub or M1 to SingTel’s.The offer that should run only one week and “will not be extended/repeated” turns out to be extended. The last run was on 10th October.  All these signs imply that they are really getting all the customers they can before StarHub or M1 launched their iPhone plan (which can be very soon).

Nevertheless, I managed to get an iPhone 3G and may be I was fortunate. I did not see any dead pixels, yellowish screen or dent in my unit.  It can also be that I’m not as fussy as the other early users.  Another possibility is that I have the latest batch started with 888. This batch seems to have better probability of getting a good unit.  So make sure you get unit equal or newer than 888 prefix even in M1 or Starhub in the future.

Let me start with the good things about iPhone:

1. Apple bring its innovative charactiristic to iPhone.  The user interface is really appealing and revolutionary.  Think about it, Microsoft PocketPC then Windows Mobile has been around long time before Iphone does and it never match the UI iPhone offers.  Apple does get it right when it comes to user interface.
2. It is simple with only a ‘home button’ to return to main screen. All other operations are basically done throughout the generously sized touch screen.
3. It has a pair of decent speakers to listen to music.  Definitely a plus compared to iPod touch or iPods.

The main reason to buy an iPhone would be the User Interface and to combine the iPod with a phone. I owned many Nokia phones before, it has a great software but when it comes to music player, iPod still have a slight edge over it.  iTunes software is also a plus, one software to manage all iPhone, ipod Touch, iPod. it is a double edged sword though, as you’ll see shortly.

What’s not so-good about iPhone

1. Battery life is really pathetic (I hope I could use a stronger word).  On a full charge, it lasted less than a half day (3-4 hours) when used with a short phone calls and intensive data usage e.g. browsing, installing application from app-store.  This is a phone that you can not rely on in daily use. Think about it, you bring the iphone outside and before you can recharge, it went flat and you have a dead iPhone that needs to be recharged. Where does that leave you?  To aggravate this, the battery is non-removable, means you can buy spare batteries and install them when needed. Even for my Nokia phones, I have at least one spare battery and these phones at least lasted 8 hours on intensitve data usage.  I am using the latest software that promises better battery life, so I dare not imagine what it was before the patch.
2. It gets warms quickly when 3G or Wireless lan is used. The warmer it get, the more power it uses to power on the usage.
3. Only one application can run at a given time.  You can not open few applications at the same time, you’d need to “close” it before opening other application. Despite the issue, some applications remember when you close it.
4. There is not ‘calibration’ feature for finger tap.  I found that I need to tap on the right side of each alphabet in ‘virtual keypad’ to get the right one.  It would be wonderful to have a calibration so that I tap on the angle that I’m used to.
5. The menu sometime is counter-intuitive. You’d see choosing a network carrier is put on two different menu then the Access point definition, etc. There could be better groupings in System setting panel.
6. When i travel to Bangkok, I found out that the phone was unable to make/receive any voice call, even it has a full strength signal. It took a few restarted and 30 minutes to get it to roam correctly. Simply put, iPhone had dropped 3G calls and problems with basic phone functionality. So in this kind of roaming/uncommon situation, it may not perform reliably.

Common problem with iPod Touch, Iphone and iPhone:

1. Grossly overpriced accessories.  A US$ 28 for a silicon skin for your iPhone/iPod/Ipod Touch, additional $10-30 for a screen protector, $40 for a multiple plughead for different countries, $20 for a USB cable. All these prices do not make sense at all.
2. Inferior material.  For some reason, Apple has not really chose a good raw material for the exterior casing. If you buy a iPod touch, you’ll see the beautiful glossy backcover can easily be scratched even with a dust being wiped on the surface or may be by nails.  With this, users are indirectly forced to purchase accessorices that usually comes into two parts: Screen protectors and body covers. The combination of these costs about USD $ 40 onwards for a reasonable quality and we are not talking about the premium ones.
3. iTunes. It has plenty of error messages that misled the real issues e.g. update your payment profile, etc. We can only sync devices to 1 computers, which is really doesn’t make sense. I have my contacts in my business PC but all my music in my personal PC. iTunes doesn’t allow me to do this. It asked me to erase and sync to one of the pc.

 

Conclusion

If you’re an early adopter, get the iPhone and experience the revolutionary user interface, but don’t expect this to be your primary phone. The battery life just can’t make it for full day, unless you have access to laptops or power source to recharge your phone every few hours or so.

The limitation of running a few application on the same time is also ‘annoying’.

Heartless People – Tainted milk, Maid abuse and others

I always wonder why do some people lost their humanity and did what they do to others. In this peaceful time, we should be enjoying and appreciating what we have instead of making things worse.  While the word is not perfect and without wars, I am happy that I have been lucky to be spared from World War 1, 2 and other wars that followed.  Imagine what our grandparents, parents went through in those times! In 1960s, I recall that one would need to queue to get milk for children even if one has money.

The case of tainted milk in China should have never happen in the first place. Milk are mostly consumed by children and they are our future.  Now, we have a situation where some heartless people (who I believe no longer have any conscience left) that willing to sacrifice these children to enrich themselves.  As you may have read in newspaper, The milk was diluted to make it more than what it should have been. To elude any checks on this, Melamine was added so that the protein looks in the right amount without diluted.  Melamine is a solid substance and it would need to be mixed with formaldehyde (Formalin, in some countries called) to be liquid for mixing with milk.

There has not been any conclusion who did this, but once they found out, I really hope the responsible parties be brought to justice.  Children died and tens thousands are sick… They have the right to be treated the best they can and mould their own future. 

This was not the first, there was pet food from China that was tainted with Melamine and tainted toothpaste.  It just not right.

Moving from tainted food, we should try to look at modern slavery.  I recall there are hundreds of young men forced to work in brickhouse, practically for nothing. Kids were sold and forced to work everyday, long hours, in kiln to make bricks. The scandal broke out and perpetrators were brought to justice. Again, should it happen at the first place? No, It shouldn’t.

In Singapore, I had been saddened by maid abuse that keep on going almost now and then as long as I can remember in the past 8 years.  Thumbs up for the authorities, who has brought to justice many of the ‘cruel’ employers.  However, I don’t see it is deterrent enough due to more and always more maid abuse case being discovered.  Irregardless the incompetence of the maid, they are people and should be treated as one.  I couldn’t understand the cruelty of employers who either rape, molest, extract maid’s tooth, hit, deprive from food and sleep their maids. In a very subtle abuse is to make the maid work in multiple household without compensating for the extra work.

I used to live in a country where having a maid in each household is common.  We treated our maid as they where almost our family members. Their food and rest are being taken for and in return we want them to provide us with a good services and being able to be trusted. Of course, We met a share number of bad maid who steals or lazy, but we just need to terminate their service instead of subjecting them to abuses.

So, in these maid abuse cases, how these are different than old slavery time? They are not considered as human but and maybe an animal who does work and can be subjected to any abuses.  I simply don’t understand what are on these people mind.

Let’s us respect people and animals, they are living being and they should be treated as how we would others treat us….

How to get best (cheapest) subscription rate for Time/Newsweek Magazines

I will share my experience on how I get best discount rate to get subscription from Times and Newsweek Magazines. It may also applies to other magazines, you can try and let me know

Background

Magazines are really cheap and affordable if you subscribes to them instead of buying it from bookstore or retail.  One can really save anywhere between 20% to (whopping) 75% for a yearly subscription, so each magazine you buy can actually pays for two. 

It all started when I received unsolicited subscriptions offers from Times, Newsweek, Fortune, and others many years ago. I ignored them several times until one day they sent me their best offer – 75% discount. I took the offer and started my subscriptions. 

Present days
It’s two years later when my subscriptions are expiring and they sent me notices to renew but at must lower discount – 55% to 65% for 3 years.  Although it comes with a (rather useless) gift, a 10% discount is quite a saving to fight for.  I found out that it still work the same way,  If you ignore these renewal offers until the very last week of your term, they may send you another offer which is again at 75% or better.

Practical Advice

1. Wait until your term is expiring e.g. 4 weeks before and call your customer service
2. Quote that you paid a better rate last term or would only renew if they can offer the best rate for next term
3. Insist on 2) or call back at later time
4. If the above doesn’t work, you need to decide whether you need the magazine or just simply let it lapse.  When it lapses, I am sure they will send you offers again.

Magazines doesn’t really rely on subscriptions to get money, Ads are their main revenue. In the United States, magazines are offered as low as 1.99 USD/year which basically doesn’t even cover the postage.  This just shows how they need a bigger and larger readership (auditable) to command higher ads revenue.

Now it’s your turn to try and let others know if you have the same experience.

iPhone 3G Problems, Issues, Woes

In my previous post (iPhone 3G, No Thanks), I wrote why I didn’t go ahead and by the ‘much hyped, long waited, the killer-of-all-phones’ iPhone 3G. When I stumbled upon a forum thread, I am glad that I am correct.  I should stay away from iPhone 3G until they have ironed out the issues and the quality problems. Read more.

Here are the defect list from users’ feedback from the forum:

1. Dust under LCD
2. LCD light leakage
3. Wide range of cosmetic issues e.g. scratches, cracks, dent, etc.
4. Dead pixels
5. Yellowish screen

Those are on top of previous widely reported issues that deals with basic phone functionality e.g. poor 3G reception, poor battery life and so on.  It seems iPhone 3G is both plagued with software (must better now) and hardware issues. My impression reading people experiences is that the quality control is must less than desireable.  It is simply not a phone for someone who wanted to enjoy a reliable basic functionality and reasonable quality.

Reading futher, it seems that many consumers in Singapore had returned and exchanged their set multiple times up to 8 times to find an acceptable sets.  I also learnt that there are many replacements were, in fact, a refurbished set. This makes sense as they don’t do repair but instead offer 1-to-1 exchange.  With refurbished set, the comments were that cosmetic defects are present.

I felt that the yellowish screen would be the most serious of all hardware issues, it is reported that a black and white photo would become a sepia instead. Dead pixels often found not 1 but often 2 or more. Interestingly, users reported that the dead pixels are coming after used for a few days.  In laptops, LCD TVs, mobile phones, dead pixels are present but at a very low percentage. The number of users who complained about dead pixels may indicate that lower defect tolereance is used thus explain the prevalent of dead pixels.

Dust under the screen is also noticable in phones that I have used before, but usually after a long period of usage. Even so, it’ll not be seen in every phone as some phone has better cover sealing. Again the multiple reports on such incidents out from the box may indicate the factory environment may not be as clean as it should be.

Speaking about production environment, there was a funny incident where a factory worker took her picture (may  be part of testing or for fun sake) and forgot to delete/reset to factory default the phone prior shipping.  Read more here.

If you need more information why iPhone 3G is not at a desirable quality and may be a nightmare for perfectionist, read more here.

I wonder how many more ‘uninformed’ people will have bad experience buying a ‘dream’ phone. I thought I had googled well before going to Singtel last week, but I never found one post about defect list on iPhone 3G. This just convinced me to totally skip iPhone right away.

So do you still want to get a 3G iPhone?