SingPost: slipping standards of service

Overview
Since the days of the young, letters sending and waiting for mail by the postboxes was something that was a necessity, if not a mere pasttime. Those were the days that preceded the onslaught of computers and mobile phones, and those were the days when envelopes + stamps were basic essentials lying around one's homes.

I had my fair share of penpals (both local and overseas), and sending of letters, greeting cards and tiny gifts to friends on a very frequent basis.  So, I am no stranger to SingPost's (formerly known as Singapore Post) level of efficiency.

We seldom encountered lost mails or mis-delivered mails (at least my friends and I did not). Even when we made small mistakes pertaining to wrong postal codes, wrong block numbers and even wrong unit numbers at times, the friendly Mr. Postman (who must've been familiar with us because they brought us our mail so frequently?) would simply circle the mistake and correct it in red ink, and our letters still get posted without much issue.


SingPost's Recent Service Lapse #1
I have cut down on using SingPost considerably recently. Having heard many accounts of parcels getting missing, I could not comment since I seldom order things from online, and on the rare occasions I do, I receive my goods in decent order.

However, my recent stint at trying to get a parcel mailed out frustrated me to the max. To cut a long story short, I was mailing that particular parcel out because I could not meet the friend who stays rather far away, and we both have packed schedules. So after the initial meetup, the next best option was to send out the parcel by SingPost's registered articles services.

I tracked the parcel everyday after I visited the post office, and to my surprise, it was declared "Undelivered" a week later. I called up the customer service counter at 1605 a couple of times to inquire, and each time the CSO told me it was a different mistake (ranging from block number to unit number to postal code).

Finally we realized I'd made a single-digit mistake for the postal code, nothing that could have warranted a non-delivery. I mean, SingPost is the postmaster, the source of deriving postal codes from, and the block + unit numbers were accurately printed. If the postman had went down to the respective block, they would've located the unit number and the recipient without any difficulty at all, so did this mean that the postman did not even bother to make a trip down before marking my parcel as "undelieverable"?

The best news was, they were going to send my parcel to the central branch (i.e. Paya Lebar) for me to collect, with a fee of SGD22.00. Yes, I paid money for registered mail that didn't get delivered, and now still had to pay a ludicrous sum of money to retrieve my own parcel? Don't be shocked- most people whom I complained to shared the same sentiments.

No way was I going to bear the brunt of this daylight robbery, hence I bypassed the helpless CSOs and branch managers and wrote to the VP directly. Within days I had a call to apologize and a waiver of the ridiculous $22.00 I knew I would not be paying under any circumstances, and my parcel got mailed out the very next day - successfully.

SingPost's Service Lapse #2
Nearly concurrently, I had another parcel enroute to a client whose office was situated at a Construction Site Office, somewhere very far away in the East.

It was sent as a registered article as well. On the address itself I have written clearly it was a Construction Site Office (in no smaller font than the rest of the lines spelling the address out). I'd also specially formed another line at the bottom of the envelope stating "It is a Construction Site OFFICE, so your postman can drop off at security counter. Do not return to Sender".

A couple of days later, I found the parcel back at my table, with the remark "construction site".

Yes, I know it is a construction site, and the lady at the post office counter knew it too, so if they do not deliver to construction site offices,  we the senders should  be informed before payment was made and a promise to deliver was sealed right?

Furthermore, a construction site office is a well-functioning office with air-conditioning and every other type of imaginable device one could think of - and has its postal code so its a valid site (they do get other supplies such as stationery, pantry supplies, materials etc delivered there too).

SingPost called me back to apologise and promised to get my item delivered. I was even promised that someone from SingPost would come to my office personally to take the rejected parcel and get it delivered to my client smoothly.

After three days of hiatus from the CSO who made me that promise, I called in again, and was informed that it was not do-able because it was a "matter of life and death" for the postman. I wanted to guffaw so badly but shock kept me in place.

Do they not know how a construction site office look like? And I kept trying to reiterate that they could just stop at the security post outside and have my client come out to sign for the package. Hell, I went there for appointment a couple of times, did not even need to change into safety boots or wear helmets, and came out in one piece didnt I??

Nothing seemed to get into the CSO's head, so I had no choice but to speak with the senior management again. The manager in charge immediately apologised on his behalf, and made me the same promise he had, after I explained the situation to her.


Conclusion
Not wanting to risk getting disappointed or any further delays again, I checked out FedEx, DHL and Ta Q Bin, and got the latter to do the job for me. Despite the heavy rain, my parcel was safely delivered to my client with no fuss at all! It might have cost nearly twice the price of what I paid for SingPost's registered article, but the most important thing was that they delivered. Well done, Ta Q Bin!

When has SingPost start becoming so dysfunctional and disappointing? Since it privatised its services or since the days of letting less-than-efficient talents take over? Whatever it is, my faith in them has been lost and I would gladly give other courier services a chance for my future courier needs. Goodbye, Mr. Postman!

Movie Review: The Other Woman

All right, this is my first time doing a movie review and also a little prognosis of  my thoughts in relation in this movie, so disclaimers are in order :-
(i) Should what I mentioned herein bear any resemblences to your real life situations, it is strictly coincidental
(ii) Do not take offense at feedback from an amateur movie commentator's point of view, pardon begged.

The Other Woman

Photosource: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1880541696/tt2203939?ref_=tt_ov_i#

Starring Cameron Diaz as Carly Whitten (a successful lawyer), Leslie Mann as Kate King (housewife), Kate Upton as Amber (well-endowed third party, occupation unknown), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Mark King (self-employed) and Taylor Kinney as Phil (Kate's brother, a contractor) - this pretty much sums up the important characters in this light-hearted flick.

The plot on IMDB is simple - Carly discovered her boyfriend Mark was married when she met the wife. The two women discovered another affair and somehow befriended the mistress. The three of them team up to plot mutual revenge on the three-timing SOB.

Photosource: http://adventurerswanted.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52541

My Summary and Thoughts 

The movie happened exactly as the plot described above.  It focused very well on the pain of the women upon discovering that the same man they were all seeing was a two, three timer. The self-loathing of the mistresses who thought they were stupid and hated the fact they had nearly wrecked homes - were played up. The denial that the wife faced, suddenly feeling like the world (and man) she knew was crashing in on her, all lost and heartbroken in a whim - another aspect of the pain the movie portrayed well. Even the way she prattled and tried to keep herself occupied, and had to turn to her mistress for solace and a shoulder to cry on because she had no friends of her own.

While certain aspects of this movie were funny, it was a rather touching flick and one's heart goes out to the women being cheated on and living in a world of nothing but lies concocted by one man.

Well, as movies go, things that happen within are often more dramatic in nature and far-fetched  There were a couple of points that did not add up at all. 

Photosource: http://article.wn.com/view/2014/04/22/WATCH_
Kate_Upton_Called_A_Whore_Booed_Off_The_Red_Carpet_At_/

Firstly, Cameron Diaz, while being a good actress and able to convey the necessary emotions for different scenarios herein, almost as good as she has been in The Counselor (where she played a wealthy and cold-blooded woman with underground ties and set out to destroy greedy men) - looked a little old to be chosen as a mistress. She looked even more haggard and mature than Mark's wife, Kate. My first thought was that someone younger could have been selected to be cast in this role, or a reversal of roles between Cameron and Leslie would be more fitting.

Secondly, the three women actually became very good friends - as far as love affairs went, things usually turn out very hideous between women sharing one single man. But then again, I am guessing the gist of the movie could be to focus on the vengeance and not the bond between the women. That said, I do know of a few ladies in reality who somehow manage to befriend their ex-boyfriends' wives or ex-wives. Hence, if we look at that angle, it may not be that far-fetched a theory after all.

Finally, another point that I found somewhat off was Carly's dad dating 22-year old Amber. But being extremely worldly and open-minded, I had to remind myself that anything was possible, and this film came from the States. In today's context, aren't we also seeing a lot of young ladies dating (supposedly rich) pudgy old men in Singapore too?

Photosource: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2014/04/24/306437557/the-other-woman-when-terrible-movies-happen-to-funny-actresses

Commendations

Having noted the tiny discrepancies, I still must go on to commend that this show plays out the emotions and stages of pain rather well, depicting a rather realistic light. Especially that of the dilemma of the wife - constantly oscillating between wanting to forgive her man and torturing him.

I also liked how they used the character of a successful lawyer as one of those who has been duped. It would have been rather unoriginal if all of Mark's mistresses had been dumb blondes or bimbos who wouldn't have suspected anything at all. Using someone successful and having brains on top of beauty addresses the grievance that not all women who are smart won't fall for men out to cheat them - it happens to everyone. Internet scams, lies, careful concoctions etc. 

Also, I believe that she was the key ingredient to the successful revenge plot they exacted eventually. She had the resources and know-how, making it possible to bring about downfall to someone who deserved his dues. If the plot used all housewives and young bimbos, the kind of revenge they probably came up with would be to, I quote Amber in this movie, "Kick him in the balls". 

Lastly, the strength of this flick also draws out the fact that everyone has tolerance levels. The wife, Kate, might probably have forgiven him and disregarded Carly's advice, but it was Mark's own actions of hurting her repeatedly that sent her over the edge. Women are more soft-hearted and give chances, probably believing certain explanations and sweet talks more readily, but Mark's own shady actions and careless attitude drove her to see what a rotten man he really was, and hence deserved to get a taste of his own medicine. To quote her, "Why should I be the one suffering when I didn't do anything wrong?"

The ending was a cheer for females, of course, bringing about the downfall of a pathological liar with his endless strings of affairs. I thought the victorious ending was awesome, and reminded me of other fabulous shows about women finally standing up for themselves to defeat men who inflict pain or harm - such as Sleeping with the Enemy (starring Julia Roberts) and Enough (starring Jennifer Lopez).

Finally, we get to see luscious scenes of gorgeous Bahamas, so yes, these are perks for sure!

Note that all materials herein are written by the blog author herein, subject to copyright. No part of this may be republished without consent from the author. Copyright © TheArcticStar 2014. All Rights Reserved.

The Truth about SaveTheDeals

Does the above name or logo appear familiar in your email or some pop-up site? The famous tag-line for them is you pay SGD$1.00 to enjoy benefits such as cinema tickets, cab rides etc worth SGD$35.00.

Not one to shop online (not because I am too atas or what, but because I really am a technology-idiot and paranoid-freak when it comes to all things online, especially when it involves sensitive personal information) - I had given each new site a try to see if they are real or scams. Some companies like StreetDeals have a very tiny check-box upon payment transaction that allows you to "accidentally" opt into the membership subscription. At least this one allows you to request for a refund (according to sources).

For Save the Deals, when you sign up and make your SGD$1.00 payment, you need to understand that you also need to subscribe to a SGD$34.90 monthly membership before they would refund you anything at all.

So, every month you pay SGD35.18 in total for membership, plus whatever amount you need to pay to enjoy your discounts or cab rides etc. How you get a refund is if you scan a copy of your receipt to receipts@savethedeal.sg within thirty (30) days' of purchase.

So I paid, and happily scanned my receipt over to them, hoping to beat the system and get back a refund via my Paypal account before they deducted another month's of membership. No such luck - I emailed them thrice at the above email address, filled up online forms at their website and called their customer service hotline.

Till now, I have yet to receive a single email reply - not even one to inform me that they have received my receipt and are currently processing my refund, thanking me for the support etc. What a good first impression! As for their hotline - half the time no one picks up, and when someone does, they give misinformation ,such as how the refund would be made within 7 days (website states 30 days).

Then light dawned on me and I was able to grasp their rather clever method.

In order to be able to view any deals or promotions at all, you MUST be a member to access their VIP Members area. Meaning to say, regardless of whether you like what you see or not, you have to pay SGD$35.00 in order to know what deals they have ongoing currently.

If you purchase a deal, you scan the receipt over within 30 days and it takes another 30 days for them to process your payout (if they do at all), by then which another month's subscription fees of SGD$35.18 would've been debited from your bank account. Membership is auto-renewed unless you write in to cancel.

Meaning to say, you've effectively paid SGD70.00 to enjoy a half-price refund.

The process repeats on every month, and you need to stay a VIP member in order to receive the refund - meaning, even after you scanned the receipt and paypal address, as long as you terminate your membership they will NOT pay you a single cent back.

Read their Terms and Conditions and FAQs herein:
https://www.savethedeals.com/pp/privacy-policy/savethedeals.com/
https://www.savethedeals.sg/fq/frequently-asked-questions/

The best thing is, either they are still new, or they don't bother to secure better deals - the weekly promotions are limited and not attractive at all. Remember that you paid SDG$35.00 to view this though, so some people would rather make a purchase to utilize their VIP membership rights fully.

So it rolls on - the monthly membership fees, the purchase, the waiting for refund period. If you really monitor, you would realize that you're essentially paying everything by yourself plus one month's extra of SGD35.18. There's no benefits or perks at all.

It's been three (3 ) weeks leaning towards four (4) but I ain't hearing shyt from them. Observations concluded, theory discovered - time to unsubscribe from this Rip-off company that has cleverly made its scheme look legitimate.

Let's see how long they can hold out.