M1: You deserve better (Continued)

In my abscence in blogging, I found out what M1 is up to with their ‘You Deserve Better’ campaign. Well, it was a crap campaign and it still a crap for me. Not only the advertisement wastes viewer time by strange and weird plot, it does not convey any concrete or practical message.

Starhub on the other hand has been very consistant with their campaign ‘Freedom’. The TV ads is pleasingly viewable and relayed a message that it is offering a freedom in mobile plans (Starhub does offer 3 months no comittment from last PC show).  

M1 was the first operator to start the campaign, as probably it knows it stood to lose more when Full Number Portability kicks in. Well, again, to me it doesn’t work.  They did come up with some ‘tweak’ in the plan and call it ‘You Deserve Better’. Sorry, M1, users want a simple plan with better value. The DIY plan may be unique but ineffecitve (Do we expect consumer to picks services they want till the nitty gritty)?

Singtel has not done much. I saw multiple pages of printed ads in Straits Times, but that it. I don’t think it comes with any breakthrough like Starhub’s 3 months no-comittment plan trial. M1 comes with ‘full unlimited’ outgoing talk plan.

M1… Please do something if you want to get more consumer and stop the nagging ads. It’s not funny.

Platinum Concierge (American Express vs VISA)

I have always wondered if platinum concierge offered by Banks and Credit card would worth at all. This is the first of multiple posts on this topics.

When planning a trip to Japan, I wanted to purchase some items from a local shop there. Unfortunately, the contact person from the shop does not speak English and unable to reply my request even by Email. I called American Express Platinum Concierge and relayed my request for the staff there to translate and contact the shop’s person. Although I received professional service, I found myself waiting 1-2 days per each way of communication.

Amex seems to engage a service provider to translate my request into Japanese and contact the shop by phone. In a week, I managed to get 2 times end-to-end conversation through the concierge. Apparently, Amex doesn’t seems to have a Japanese speaking staff in their team. Amex call centre is based in Malaysia for Singapore customer.

Tired with the delay, I contacted Visa Infinte Concierge. As I suspected, they have multi-lingual staff in their call centre. I managed to get a reply from the concierge in a matter of 2-3 hours after they contacted the shop.  Their call centre is based in Australia. There are multiple phone number that you can call, each indicating the languages that you speak e.g. English, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Chinese, Japanese.

This experience also confirms my reluctantness in using Amex concierge and reaffirms Visa concierge’s credibility. 

Note: American express platinum concierge (Credit Card) only provide limited service e.g. restaurant, golf bookings, while it provides wider services for charge card customer.  For this request, I’m comparing the concierge for Charge Card from Amex with VICC. Visa also has its own call centre for platinum card customer, which I believe will do the same.

Practical advise:

1. Despite all the mention of concierge services, don’t expect a replacement for yourself and a good personal assistant. You’d have to direct the concierge on your request, provide them with as many details as possible and follows-up with them.
2. Familiarize yourself with what kind of services avaiable from your banks/credit card companies
3. You may ask for staff who speak your language, if you prefer to speak in other languange than English.
4. Try other concierge on your request if you find the quality of service you’re getting is not up to your satisfaction.