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Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category

Telekom Malaysia TM Sucks

September 8, 2009 mindspring 2 comments

In my last post I shared the salaries of various CEO’s including the salary of the former TM CEO which was RM6.742 per day RM148,324 per month.

Now for that sort of salary things in Tm better work but alas as we all know, it doesnt.

TM had proposed to list all its clients in its directory and if you wished for privacy and not be listed, you had to pay TM RM25 to not include you in the listing.  Of course they have back down and now you can down load a form, fill it in, email it to them and they will remove your name at no charge. (see here)

I duly downloaded the form, filled it up, and emailed it to the address supplied: tmxd@tm.com.my

Here is the reply I get from TM:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

tmxd@tm.com.my

Reporting-MTA: dns;SMSGVS25.tm.my
Received-From-MTA: dns;KLJ06SVRGW01.tm.my
Arrival-Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:31:11 +0800

Final-Recipient: rfc822;tmxd@tm.com.my
Action: failed
Status: 5.2.2
X-Display-Name: TM x Directory

All I can decipher from the above is that the message did not get through.

So there you go, for a salary of RM148,000 per month – the CEO still cant get an email link to work.

Want RM2,000?

August 24, 2009 mindspring 1 comment

If you are or know of great JAVA/AJAX programmers – you can earn RM2,000. Here is the deal:

Quickschools.com is looking for JAVA/AJAX programmers with 2 -3 years of experience and we need your help looking for such talent.

If you are or know of such people, click here, fill in the form and you may very well be RM2,000 richer.

Does MAS Service Really Sucks? – part 3 the office replies…

July 17, 2009 mindspring 3 comments

In Does MAS service really suck part 2,  I wrote:

I emailed my complaint on MAS service to their Managing Director, Mr Idris Jala. This was done on Thu Jul 16 00:40:23 2009.  I got a reply from Mr Jala at  5:17:13 AM.

In his reply Idris had instructed an officer to get in touch with me.  Well the officer finally did do so at 230pm.  Here is the officer’s reply: (Remember MAS is MH – Malaysian Hospitality- see how the reply matches to MH)

Thanks for the feedback. I will get back to you soon.

In the meantime, can I assist you in the Langkawi booking. We can offer you the same rate as you saw in the internet.

Best regards

Note that no where in the reply is there a hint of remorse or apology for the situation.

Contrast this to Idris Jala’s reply:

I am sorry for the unpleasant experience and I can understand your frustration. I don’t know what went wrong here. We will get to the bottom of this. Please give us a chance to win you back as a customer.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. This kind of details makes it a lot easier to do trouble-shooting.

Idris is truly a class act on his own. His takes ownership for the situation, expresses regret for it and very openly asks for a second chance.  I truly felt comforted by his reply.   The reality is that MAS is still MAS and it is the sheer determination of Idris that is making the difference. MAS is not MH, Idris is.

My online message back to IDRIS JALA:

Dear Idris, I have been applauding you all this while for you fantastic work in MAS and I will continue to applaud you. But I have come to realize that MAS is not IDRIS although IDRIS tries to be MAS.  MH is a beautiful slogan but with no legs to it.  At every touch point, MAS gives an unbelievably painful experience.

In 2008, one day after I bought my KL – LHR – KL “C” class ticket, I changed the return date and was charged Rm2,800 for it. I never complained.   In Feb of 2009  changed the date on 2 “Y” class tickets and was charged Rm1,800 per ticket. This I grumbled  and they reduced it to RM800 per ticket

The reason I don’t complain is because I totally understand why you are doing it. You have a business to run and you will run it in the way that is best for your business.  It’s a free market and people have to just make choices. But  I do expect reciprocal respect. I now have decided that it is very difficult for me to have a  relationship with MAS anymore because MAS is prepared to take but not to give. That is not reciprocal.

In Malaysian Hospitality we don’t screw our guest instead we go the extra mile to help.    But when your very senior officer can’t even apologize – it means that he doesn’t see my problem as a real issue. Like many other in MAS he probably thinks that I am another troublesome customer that is not deserving of MAS.

Cheers.

Does MAS Service Really Suck – part 2

July 16, 2009 mindspring 1 comment

Following my earlier post, does MAS service really suck,  I emailed my complaint on MAS service to their Managing Director, Mr Idris Jala. This was done on Thu Jul 16 00:40:23 2009.  I got a reply from Mr Jala at  5:17:13 AM.

For that, I must take my hat off to him. In the email he has asked one of his officers to follow up. So lets see how long that will take.

Here are other postings on MAS:

LP’s Korner: MAS sucks

Nester’s blog MAS is Suck

Does MAS’s service really suck?

July 16, 2009 mindspring 1 comment

The answer is YES.   I applaud all the work that they are doing and the awards that they are winning for best cabin staff and all, but that is what happens in the AIR.

My experience is that its the on the ground stuff that really really sucks.  For all the cheering that I do for MAS, actually as a paying customer it is really hard to deal with MAS.

I am not even going to start on cancellation fees etc, but just trying to do an internet booking is so so painful.  I have spent 2 hours trying to make a booking and it just wont work.

First I try to book for 6 pax, and it rejects saying maximum is 4.

The I split the booking into 2 parties 4 + 2. I thought I was smart but MAS was even smarter. When I try to pay it says that the the person paying must be in that party. So now I can only pay for the group I am in. It just doenst make sense at all.

After everything is said and done, my credit card gets rejected.  The issuing bank says there is no problem with the card.  Then I call MAS and they say “oh it may be a problem with the MAS server…..” Then, get this, I call MAS, the proceed to confirm my booking including accepting my credit card that not 5 minutes before they had rejected. What the heck kind of business is this?

So, if you have any nightmare stories on MAS please share.

Broadband Speed – Maxis really sucks

July 7, 2009 mindspring 1 comment

I am no internet whizz but I know Broadband in Malaysia really crawls.  All this while I have been jumping on the popular bandwagon and bashing streamyx. Today I decided to measure.  The contest was between streamyx fixed line costing my RM88 per month and Maxis broadband costing RM99.

Well here are the results and as you can see, Streamyx by far is better value for money.

Maxis to KL – Download Speed 0.40Mb/s

Streamyx to KL – Download Speed =  1.42Mb/s

So now I need to make the move and see if CELCOM can give me better speeds than Maxis.

Categories: Customer Service

From Hare Speed to Tortoise Speed

June 19, 2009 mindspring 1 comment

Wong Sai Wan published this artice in the STAR which essentially laments  the poor state of our internet infrastructure. The thing about Malaysia is we have been conditioned over time that it is good to pay a lot of  money for mediocre quality/service. We see it in our internet, cars, insurance, you name it. But of all, the lack of internet speed is what will send us back  to the dark ages and I have to blame the government and regulators for  this sorry state of affairs.

The fastest growing area in technology is SAAS or software as a service. It is esitmated to be growing by 25% a year. Examples of SaaS companies are like salesforce.com, basecamp, wufoo, kashflow and even internet banking. The proposition is that with fast internet, software can be delivered like any other utility. But key to this growth is SPEED.

As a Malaysian based businees, we are unable to capitalize on the benefits  of Saas as our speeds are too slow. Thus we have to invest in overpriced  hardware, have IT people on our payroll to manage all this hardware etc while our competitors are just paying for usage. The cost and speed  advantage they have over us is phenomenal.

We are currently working on a SaaS project  www.QuickSchools.com which is a fresh approach to school management. While we have been trailblazing in the US market , it is simply too painful and slow to be working in KL. What we can do in under a minute in the US takes us 5 minutes here. That is a huge competitive disadvantage to have.

The governemnt needs to wake up from dreamland and embrace the 21st century. Our brain drain is not simply a matter of better pay.  Productivity and competitive advantage also counts. If left as it is, our company of 20 will soon end up in Singapore and if not, then the US simply  because of internet speed. And when that happens we will be ‘branded’ by the  government as unpatriotic instead of frustrated. Thus the real problem  never gets solved. So MCMC and the Governement, please listen to Mr Wong Sai Wan and do something about our internet speeds.
Saiwan on internet

Firefly will change the game

After a long wait, 1st of July is almost here. Firefly (www.fireflyz.com) will commence 4 daily flights from KLto Singapore. What is remarkable about this is that C: the flights are from subang and C: the price.

Unless one lives near KLIA, Subang is clearly the way to go. Its a small airport, so not much walking, its a small aircraft so boarding is fast. You can be in Changi literally in 120 minutes from the time you leave your house. Then there is the fare…. which is a down right steal relative to the time saved.

I think it is fantastic that MAS is taking this brave step and I wish Eddie and his team at Firefly all the succeess they deserve.

firefly ad

TNB – This looks like an accident waiting to happen

This box has been open quite a while. Tnb needs to get it locked up before an accident happens.

This box is located just before the traffic lights as you come down from Damansara Damai to join the MRR2. It is on the center divider.

tnb box at corner of mrr2 and dsara damai

TNB  said they would get it fixed but unfortunately 24 hours later, it still as it is.  I passed this box again just shortly before midnight on 21/5/09.

21.5.09 – TNB has now clarified that the box is owned by MBPJ and is used for control of the traffic lights.  NB have contracted MBPJ, lets see how long will it take for MBPJ to close this up.

Categories: Customer Service

Food from the Microwave is not safe….

May 8, 2009 mindspring 2 comments

Here is the article:

If you have ever wondered whether or not microwaved food is safe, here’s an experiment you can do at home. Plant seeds in two pots. Water one pot with water that has been microwaved, the other with regular tap. The seeds that received microwaved water won’t sprout. If microwaved water can stop plants from growing, think of what microwaved food can do to your health!

In 1989, Swiss biologist and food scientist Dr. Hans Hertel studied the effects of microwaved food. Eight people participated in the study. For eight weeks, they lived in a controlled environment and intermittently ate raw foods, conventionally cooked foods and microwaved foods. Blood samples were tested after each meal. They discovered that eating microwaved food, over time, causes significant changes in blood chemistry: 1 a decrease in hemoglobin and cholesterol values, in the HDL (good cholesterol) versus LDL (bad cholesterol) ratio and in white blood cells, weakening the immune system, and an increase in leukocyte levels, which tends to indicate poisoning and cell damage.

Overall, the study suggested that eating microwaved foods can cause degenerative diseases and/or cancer. 2 “The measurable effects on man through the ingestion of microwaved food, unlike untreated food, are blood alterations, that can also be found at the beginning of a pathological condition, also indicative of a beginning cancerous process,” wrote Dr. Bernard Blanc, who assisted in the study. 3 Microwave ovens “cook” food by forcing the atoms, molecules and cells within the food to reverse polarity billions of times per second, causing friction-the more the friction, the more the heat. This oscillation tears and deforms the molecular structure of food. New compounds are formed, called radiolytic compounds, which are not found in nature. Interestingly, microwaves are actually used in gene-altering technology to deliberately break cells and neutralize their “life-force” so they can be manipulated. Microwaves destroy the life-force that gives food its vitality and nourishment. When this life-force dissipates, microorganisms start breaking food down and it begins to rot.

In early 1991, a lawsuit was filed against an Oklahoma hospital because a patient died form receiving a microwaved blood transfusion. Hospitals routinely heat blood for transfusion, but not in a microwave.

The effects of microwaving breast milk have also been researched. John Kerner, M.D. and Richard Quin, M.D. from Stanford University said that “Microwaving human milk, even at a low setting, can destroy some of its important disease-fighting capabilities.” 4 After more research, Kerner wrote in the April 1992 issue of Pediatrics that “Microwaving itself may in fact cause some injury to the milk above and beyond the heating.” And a radio announcement at the University of Minnesota said that “Microwaves are not recommended for heating a baby’s bottle. Heating the bottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in the milk. In infant formulas there may be a loss of some vitamins. In expressed milk, some protective properties may be destroyed.” 5 Another study in Vienna warned that microwaving breast milk “can lead to structural, functional and immunological changes,” and that microwaves transform the amino acid L-proline into D-proline, a proven toxin to the nervous system, liver and kidneys. 6

In Russia, microwave ovens were banned in 1976 because of their negative health consequences and many studies were conducted on their use. Here are some of their findings on microwaving food:

1. Microwaved foods lose 60 ~ 90% of the vital-energy field and microwaving accelerates the structural disintegration of foods.

2. Microwaving creates cancer-causing agents within milk and cereals.

3. Microwaving alters elemental food-substances, causing digestive disorders.

4. Microwaving alters food chemistry which can lead to malfunctions in the lymphatic system and degeneration of the body’s ability to protect itself against cancerous growths.

5. Microwaved foods lead to a higher percentage of cancerous cells in the bloodstream.

6. Microwaving altered the breakdown of elemental substances when raw, cooked, or frozen vegetables were exposed for even a very short time and free radicals were formed.

7. Microwaved foods caused stomach and intestinal cancerous growths, a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues, and a gradual breakdown of the digestive and excretive systems in a statistically high percentage of people.

8. Microwaved foods lowered the body’s ability of the body to utilize B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics.

9. The microwave field next to a microwave oven caused a slew of health problems as well.

Aside form these studies, many people find that microwaving their food doesn’t help them feel good. Stephanie Relfe, Kinesiologist, found herself feeling “grey and rather low” one day and discovered that she had inadvertently eaten microwaved food at a restaurant. 8 In her practice, she found that all of her patients gave body signals of having allergic reactions to microwaved foods. Another Kinesiologist, David Bridgeman, said, “Of all the people I test for allergies, 99.9% so far show severe sensitivity to any microwaved food.”

In conclusion then, the safest way to heat your food is to use your stove top and throw away your microwave!

MicrowavedWater-SeeWhatItDoes_1 (here are the pictures of the 2 plant experiment)

Categories: Customer Service