Maxis iPhone Crash Day 10...contd

Well I am still waiting for the call from Maxis to tell me my iPhone is ready for collection. I was told one week but it's been Day 10.

When I called Maxis to ask for an immediate replacement, I was told there is no policy for immediate replacement. Then I asked for an iPhone on loan. And the Maxis staff at the call centre told me to go to the nearest Maxis Centre and ask for one. So I went to Maxis Centre at the Gardens. There I was made to wait for my turn while some of the staff were not attending to anyone. Then my number was called and I was quickly told there is no such thing as a loan phone while my iPhone is being fixed. The staff did not even bother to get down my name or phone number. I was told I wasn't the only one with iPhone problems. The Maxis Call centre have been telling its customers to go to Maxis Centre to get their problems sorted out there because they can't handle the problem and Maxis Centre then turns customers away because they also can't handle the problem. This method really works cos I am so fed up by then I have no energy left to follow through with this iPhone nightmare. (Come to think of it, its the same feeling when dealing with Astro..) I was even told at the Maxis Centre, hey, it is a warranty and not a guarantee la. And I was told, Maxis is itself having problem even getting in touch with Apple in Singapore. And I am just baffled at how absurd Malaysian consumerism has gotten to. I have paid the full sum for the iPhone and now made to listen to this rubbish. I think both Maxis and Apple legal counsels need to address this issue and quickly brief their staff about their responsibilities under the sale of goods law. How can Maxis sell the iPhone and collect the money and now wash its hands by saying, I don't know, the supplier Apple is not even talking to me. And how can Apple make these iPhones that couldn't even last for a year and totally washes its hands. If you go to the Apple website and where it says troubleshoot, I was shocked to see, it says, contact your service provider. There isn't even a contact number by Apple for one to call.

I have quickly gone from loving the iPhone to hating it through all this saga. I have to write this down so I will not forget. I must remember not to transact with any company that has no honour.

Plaza Pantai and the wonders of trains

With our new office located at Plaza Pantai where the kerinchi station is, it is fun to be able to hop onto the light rail transit and stay connected with so many places. Earlier in the week, I took the putra lrt to meet my friends for dinner at Nikko Hotel. The idea to park and ride made a lot of sense since we live just a few minutes from there. But I got to the kerinchi station at 9.40pm and waited quite long for the train. It's like 3 to 4 trains had passed going the other way before our train arrived and it was an old short carriage train. So it was strange to have to get onto a full carriage at that hour. When a seat became available and I sat down, claustrophobia hit me and I had to distract myself looking at things to occupy me on the phone. I don't know why the train was so crowded at that hour and why there couldn't be more frequent trains and why there wasn't a longer carriage like the trains going going the other way.

Today, my husband and I thought it would be interesting to hop on the lrt for coffee midmorning since we missed our breakfast. But we got tied up with work and didn't get to leave the office till 11.30am. I was getting quite hungry. So instead of stopping at bangsar lrt station to have kopi-o at old town coffee, we decided to continue to the next station and get off at klsentral to check out Sooka since I've not been to Sooka. The train arrived quite quickly, it was a nice new long carriage one, i think about 5 car carriage. It was refreshingly cool in the train after waiting at the station platform which was quite warm. And very quickly we were at Sooka which was just a short walk from klsentral along a covered path although the clear roofing material hardly shielded any heat. Could we grow some bougainvilla over the clear roof? Sooka was surprisingly pleasant. Nice coffee places and a lot of places to 'sembang' or to while away time. We opted for chicken rice mainly cos we wanted to see if it is nice and we can 'ta pau' lunch for the kids. It was quite nice. But we decided on burger king mainly cos it is easier to carry on the train back.

After wondering around klsentral, we got to main lobby to the train stations but found ktm stations on both ends. There, ktm is very well marked and has clear signs on when the next trains are for each line. Where is putra lrt station? I guess we were looking out for the old putra logo but couldn't find it. Then we saw right next to ktm station is the rapidkl station. We had forgotten the trains are now called rapidkl. As we got on to the escalator to go up to the platform, we couldn't help but noticed that the escalator had a creaking sound. Where's maintenance? I think with the high usage, more maintenance is probably required for the escalators to work smoothly. The airconditioning at the station was also not working well and it gets a bit uncomfortable with our work attire. Would be nicer if the airconditioning is more effective. Not sure if the design of the building is partly to blame.

And then the train arrived and voila we were back at Plaza Pantai, and back at work in no time at all. It's a nice change not to have the hassle of driving through traffic and looking for car park. Which is the main reason why I had not checked out Sooka all this while. Hmm, where should we next go for our lunch on our next train ride? Further upmarket to klcc or go the other way towards paramount?

iPhone Maxis 3G

I have no idea how Maxis got its telco licence to operate 3G. What I am paying for using Maxis 3G now is no where close to what I was getting using Digi Edge. I feel so silly getting drawn into switching to Maxis all because I wanted to get an iPhone. Such a mistake.

Now I am reliving my misery all over again. My iPhone crashed today, or rather yesterday. It wouldn't switch on at all. I went to the Maxis shop in telawi bangsar where I bought the iPhone and was told that it would take 3 weeks for the phone to be sent to Maxis for repair. And I am well within the warranty period. After much persuasion I was told Maxis will resolve the problem within 1 week. I have no idea who is looking out for my interest in this day of consumerism but i feel conned. 7 years or more ago when I had a Treo 600 and it crashed, this small retailer in klcc that I bought the phone from agreed to meet me and immediately gave me a new replacement unit immediately. Have we regressed? Have consumer rights been short changed? Or is it just a matter of which multinational is more honourable. Are we again left to the mercy of big corporations. I can't help but feel Apple and/or Maxis has reneged on the contract to deliver a product without any inherent defect. I have paid the entire sum for the unit. And I am now told to wait 1 week while this big corporation figure out what is wrong with my phone unit.

Klia ekspres/mas

22 july thursday - i flew mas to kuching. I was all nicely checked in. Even had an e-boarding pass on my iPhone.

From bangsar it was just a short hop to klsentral. As i got to the station there were all these erl boys in purple so i waved for one to help me with the luggage. This guy did a great job and even loaded the luggage bags at the check in counter for the luggage drop after waiting for me to buy the train ticket.

At check in counter i asked the mas staff if i could have a boarding pass printed and he said no. I was kind of puzzled why not. Anyway, i forgot to ask him which gate to board at and he also didn't tell me. Would be good if the mas staff could be trained to prompt passengers on important information like boarding gate number. It was not given for web check in.

Yippee i thought. I could drop off the luggage so i did not have to rush to klia to meet the 60min baggage drop deadline. So i thought i must have saved 30 minutes there for me to browse at the shops.

Turned out that it was a luxury i didn't have. I should have factored in time WAITing for the train. Not sure why i had the impression that there'd be a train at least every 10min, if not every 5 min. Maybe it used to be. It was a thursday afternoon at 3, not a weekend.

So it was annoying when i went down to the platform and found out that the next train would only leave in 18min! And there were a few passengers there waiting. So it could be more than 18 min. There i was sitting waiting, my schedule was out of whack, fretting about about missing the flight. And nothing to do in the dinghy platform as I got there waiting for the train. I felt kind of silly. I wanted to get a novel to read on board thinking i'd get something at the klia bookstore. But all that time was now just used to wait at the platform.

There should be a big light box signage showing the immediate 2 train departure times at the ticket counter. S'pose I should have asked when the next train would be when i bought the train ticket. Why didn't the erl staff prompt me? A little service like that does not add any additional cost and there was no one queuing. It's these little questions like where are you heading or what time is your flight, that adds that caring touch.

Another annoying thing, as i was walking along the platform, i actually saw a sign flashing with arrows that read train boarding here. So the kwailow lady in front of me started hurrying and i started hurrying. And of course when we got to where the sign pointed there was no train there waiting. In a normal average day, i would have been able to share a joke with the lady. But today i was simply fretting deeply inside.

On the train i was trying hard to relax and enjoy the view and not fret about the delay. After the initial slum section of the city, the view began to get greener. We went past the beautiful university pertanian grounds with its paddocks and open fields and cows and streams. And i was relaxed. Then the big sized guy seated across from me was talking on the phone. And he said something about not being able to check in at klsentral and would have to see if he could check in at klia.

We got to klia and I ran towards the lift. I was quite fast. Then I saw the big sized guy quickly got into the lift too and so did the kwailow lady and some other guys. As the lift opened at the departure floor the 3 of us started dashing out, i couldn't help feeling like we were in one of those movies where the story line covered lives of different people who do not yet know how their lives were to be connected. And i felt i knew these people. Our commonality was running late.

So i ran to look at the big board to search for mh2528 and i found that boarding was at gate B 4 and it was still open for boarding. Now the thing about klia is it is big and it took a lot of steps to get to the domestic doorway entrance. Luckily the guys in blue did not take long to check boarding pass and screen bags despite a queue of 5 in front. So it was a relief to find B4 was not that far to get to and finally to be greeted by the super friendly mas staff at gate B4. i asked, do i have time to go to the toilet. And he smiled and said yes, just out there. And another mas staff waited for me to finish talking to my husband on the phone as i told him I made it to the boarding gate and then the mas staff so politely showed me which side of the skybrige to use.

As i got on the plane i told the mas staff at the pantry i had dry throat could he toss me some water. He actually filled up a cup of water for me and another staff waited at my seat and helped put up my backpack in the overhead compartment. I flew economy yet from the ground counter to the plane it felt like business class. And i was more than happy to have a lovely free meal on board of satay with fried rice together with pink guava juice and fruitcake and 3 ferreros. It was all too irresistible for someone with blood sugar issues and i ate everything but made serious effort to save the ferreros. (I'll deal with the doctor another day.) So there I was enjoying the flight (even without a good book). I couldn't believe i paid a lower price than if i had flown airasia for this journey.

Airasia Lcct

This evening we were at lcct to send off our daughter and nieces to melbourne. It is our daughter's first flight to melbourne. We expected pandemonium with the announcement by airasia that they are going manual for 3 days due to their computer upgrade. So we got there 4 hours ahead of departure time.

When we went to the check in counter to queue, a non uniform airasia personnel came to inform us that the counter will only open 3 hours before departure and that we don't have to stand in queue so early and he assured us that the manual system is working smoothly.

So we went to McDonalds to hang out. Sadly the airconditioning at lcct didn't seem to be fully functioning. We checked out Chocolate Lounge and all the way down to the Old Town Coffee but everywhere it was warm and humid. Why is the lcct air conditioning not working properly eventhough the terminal seems to be doing well with a lot of passengers and with many shops opening up.

Then it was time to queue up for checking in. For one flight to melbourne, airasia had opened up like 6 counters and while we were waiting they opened up one more. Amazingly, the queue moved faster than on normal days. Eventhough everything was done manually, and the airasia staff had to check through a physical list of passengers to tick off the names of the list and then paste a sticker onto a manual list the staff was very polite and appeared focused on the job. The ticket was printed off by one staff who then calls out the name to the staff at the counter. Checking in was a pleasant and smooth experience. We were impressed with airasia's staff appearing to be well trained and coordinated and its ability to deliver good service eventhough their computer system was down. That was impressive and the kids also made the same observation.

After checking in we had 1.5 hours of waiting before the girls went in to the departure lounge. So we decided to take our chances with Chocolate Lounge. It did get very marginally cooler after we sat for 15 minutes or so and had a cold drink. But it did still leave a lot to be desired in terms of the airconditioning. Could the lcct terminal ever be better? It is sad that 27 years after I first boarded a flight to melbourne departing from kuching I still can't say now that we have anything to show when we a flight is taken from the lcct. Why can't the klia be used until a proper terminal is built for lowcost aircrafts. I just can't get over the makeshift feeling of the lcct terminal. And I can't help feeling why airasia's passengers need to be so badly treated in Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia Airports. Only in Kuala Lumpur. When we arrive or depart from any other destination besides kuala lumpur using airasia, the airport facilities are satisfactory and of a much better standard than lcct. It saddens me each time I am at lcct. Airport terminal is the pride of the country and the first impression a traveller gets. I thought that was the explanation for spending so much money on klia. But why leave so many travellers in the discomfort of a terminal like the lcct. I feel disgraced to be host at such a terminal. I was prouder of our small kuching airport then 27 years ago.

Tenaga Nasional hospitality

As I wrote about Petronas, i recall one incident way back in 2000. This time it is Tenaga Nasional. Our gratitude remains and our only regret is that we did not take down the name of the officer who went all out for us that day and we could not write to Tenaga to formally extend our gratitude. Maybe Tenaga could help us to identify this officer.

That day we were driving down to KL after a weekend stay in Cameron Highlands. About halfway down, our car radio starting waning and so did the indicators and the air condition went off. Hubby was very instinctive and saw Tenaga station and he quickly turned into Tenaga carpark and at that moment the car engine died. What were we to do. Turns out it was the alternator. One would never expect the mercedes to break down in that way, simply dying on us without any obvious alarm or signal. It was a sunday and we were no where near any shop. Those days the mobile signals were also weak and only celcom which hubby was using could receive signal. I was using digi which could not receive any signal. At that moment, a Tenaga staff drove by on his motorbike and asked if he could help. We told him our problem and he quickly offered to take hubby down to the Tenaga workshop. He told me to wait with the kids at the Tenaga club house where there is a canteen and also a phone. So we were quite comfortable while we waited. There was food and the kids were small then. They went to the playground and played with the other Tenaga kids.

That officer took hubby to the workshop and from there he picked up a mechanic and they then drove all the way down to Bidor which was about an hour down just to buy an alternator for the car. So it took about 3 hours before the men came back with the alternator just to get the car going again. By then it was about 7pm and we were able to drive back. In our haste to leave quickly as it was already dark, we did not get down the name of the officer and the mechanic who went all out to help us that day.

Since then we have always felt that if anything happens in the outskirts always turn into Tenaga stations or camps if there is no police station around. We felt grateful for the hospitality that Tenaga staff had extended to us. Hospitality that no money could buy. It also offered safety and security to us with a young family. It felt good to know that if we ever do road holidays, there will always be a Tenaga power station somewhere in the vicinity throughout the country.

Astro beyond means...

If we get a hospital bill, we should send it to astro. It's been frustration all the way since we signed up for astro beyond. We now call it astro beyond means beyond the control of the voice that we are speaking to, whether it is the technician that installed the setop box or the technical assistance we call.

Here's what happened... astro sends a very young team of technician to install the setop box. That was 2 days ago. They also adjusted the existing satellite dish. Whilst the technician is here, the viewing is interrupted constantly with the message...'invalid smart card..' every few minutes. My son tells them it's the setop box and the smartcard. They are faulty and need to be replaced. The technician insists it will normalise automatically. He says leave it on and it will normalise. An he left. With our old setop box for regular astro. 48 hours later the problem is still there. In the meantime we call the technician, he says it is beyond his control, call astro.

So we call astro, wait for a long long time. That was last night. No one picks up the phone. Then we call astro again, wait for a long time again. We got to speak to technical assistance. The technician says they'll do a diagnostics from their side this morning. Then they find it can't be resolved. They'll send someone to pick up the setop box within the next 48 hours to take it for diagnostics. But. They can't give us a replacement setop box. So it must mean we won't be able to watch astro at all. The voice says it is beyond his control...

I guess in our kind of big is better and where there is no competition, this is what we have to put up with. We become sitting ducks for bad service. As if it is a free service. The system has no sense.

If you sign up for beyond and you get a faulty box, bad luck. You are stuck with that box until that box gets fixed, even if it was faulty from day one. That we think is the most ridiculous system. I guess with a low income society like Malaysia coupled with monopoly, any bad system no matter how ridiculous, still sells. What is a few disgruntled customers amongst millions, right?

We are talking about an enhanced service from normal satellite tv to high definition tv and yet the service level is pretty much third world. And the way customers are treated clearly needs to be taken up a notch higher. We may be a low income society but that does not mean that the country is filled with senseless non thinking idiots. Give the customers some sense of dignity.