Tag Archive for complaint

SingTel Home Phone Fault

25 October 2014 Apartment No comments

Well it is always annoying when there is an issue with your home line – especially when you are not home to fix it. Luckily the broadband internet and mioTV was still active, and it was just the phone line (which had ‘static’ when you picked up the receiver). Anyway, my mum tried to resolve it but visiting the local SingTel store in Novena Square and they were kind enough to raise a fault with the SingTel Engineers.

My mum was able to arrange an SingTel Engineer to visit my property, they acknowledged that there was a fault outside of my property that would impact the whole building. They went away and we thought after a few days it would be resolved. However, about 4 days later, the fault remained. After I returned, I took over the issue, and noted that there was still not ETA for a resolution – even after contacting the Engineer and them committing to be resolved on the following Monday (which didn’t happen). The Engineer then contacted me on the Tuesday (after a call from me chasing an update) stating that they needed to visit my property again later that day – I said that I would not accept this, as I would only allow another visit once the issue has been resolved (to test the line), but I advised that as it was on the SingTel network, that they don’t need to visit my property to resolve. I didn’t want to waste more time waiting for another Engineer visit to simply tell me that the line issue was still active and the problem was unresolved (silly for them to even offer this ‘solution’?). Anyway, after having a go at the Engineer, they continued to look into the issue and late on Tuesday (after a week of an outage), the phone line was back operational. I did find it amazing that a simply line fault would take 7-8 days to resolve, especially somewhere like Singapore, and especially when the root-cause was previously identified (unless they were unsure whether they had isolated the issue in the first place?)

I then emailed a complaint to SingTel to provide feedback about the service provided and the delays in repairing. I had asked for a month’s compensation, but they offered a 2 week rebate, which I accepted. I guess they know when they do wrong, and at least it wasn’t all bad!

Wild Honey Cock-Up + Freebie

21 November 2013 Food No comments

After visiting Wild Honey with a friend for coffee, it kinda ended a bit of a mess. It started as a pleasurable visit, and we tried to order some pastries/desserts, to accompany our coffee.

20131227-151531.jpgHowever, after we ordered the waitress returned stating that our first choice was not available (had run out) and to choose something else. We did so, re-ordered and continued to chat. About a few minutes later the waitress returned stating that our second choice was also not available, at which point we then asked what actually was left on the menu. After explaining that only a couple of desserts/pastries were now available, after all it was late in the day, we decided to go with a late brunch snack.

This then arrived and we tucked in; it was indeed very tasty. We continued and then asked for the bill to leave, as I was with a friend, I glanced at the bill, settled it and we left. When I arrived home, I took a closer look and then realised that the bill was incorrect, as they over-charged me. They still kept the dessert on the bill, even though we had cancelled it (as they had run out). Anyway, with true Aaron style, I emailed the place, to ask for a refund and for an explanation, advising that they should remove an item as soon as it is cancelled.

20131227-152049.jpgA couple of days later, I received an apolgetic reply from the Co-owner/Director – and I actually felt the email was quite comforting that they decided to put their hands up and admit the cock-up they made and remediate this by agreeing to send me a voucher. Subsequently, I received a S$25 voucher from the guy. In fact a few days after that, I received another voucher, so in total I had received S$50 for the mess-up. Not bad, after all. I hope they simply accept and deal with the feedback, as ultimately that was the aim of complaining 🙂

Wild Honey Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road #03-02
Singapore 238897
Tel: +65 6235 3900
URL: http://wildhoney.com.sg

Poor Experience at Boulevard Bar – Marina Bay Financial Centre

3 May 2013 Entertainment, Marina Bay No comments

Well it started like any other night, a nice gathering with work chums to celebrate the success of another hard days at work. We ended up going to the Boulevard Bar in Tower 1 of MArina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC), and it kinda snowed balled from there.

We ordered out drinks which came pretty promptly, we also ordered a pizza and a side dish of fries.

Issue 1 – Smoking in a non-smoking area
We noticed that the table next to us continued to lit off during the first round of our drinks. As one of the members of our group suffered from asthma, we reported this to the staff member. The first one said that we were in a smoking area (which was not true, as the law forbids smoking in any ‘covered areas’. They then walked away. After another cigarette was lit, we again reported the breach to the staff, this time they advised us that they would asked the other table to refrain from smoking in the non-smoking area – but this fell on deaf ears. After they lit up again, the staff advised us that they couldn’t enforce the ban – even though we reminded them that the establishment was also liable for any fines if the smokers were caught by inspectors.

Issue 2 – Appalling Service
Whilst we chatted away with our drinks, we started to notice that our food dishes did not show up. We asked one of the staff members, and was brushed off with the “it is coming excuse”. A few minutes later (about 15 minutes wait) the pizza arrived, and we chatted and enjoyed this. After another 20-25 minutes we noticed that the fries had still not yet appeared. We asked the status and again was told “they were on their way”. Another 10-15 minutes passed and we again asked, only to be told that there were some delays at the dish would take another 15 minutes – at this point we asked for the dish to be cancelled. The waitress then returned with the dish. We told her that we didn’t want the dish and to return it to the kitchen. We also asked to speak to the manager, he offered no support and allowed us to voice our concerns, but simply asked whether we wanted to cancel the dish, which we once again repeated (third time now) that yes we did.

We then asked for another dish that “was quick” to order, and duly ordered this from him – which he agreed to waive. A couple of minutes later, the other bar staff returned and then asked us “if everything was okay”, which of course, we responded as “sorry no it wasn’t” – not knowing what to do, she simply rolled her eyes and went away. How insulting, you don’t ask that questions (which would result in a negative response) shortly after a complaint has been filed to the manager.

Issue 3 – ‘Discretionary’ Service Charge
During the evening I considered asking for the service charge to be removed, but was told by the establishment that they couldn’t do this – advising it was a fixed charge. I am not sure of the Singapore consumer law, but in the US, UK, Australia and Europe, you can request this to be removed if the service being provided was significantly sub-standarded.

Issue 4 – confusion on soft drink happy hour
One of the group ordered a soft drink and settled before leaving, and didn’t realise that it was not under the ‘happy hour’ rule. What I found interesting is that the soft drink happy hour starts at 4pm but ends at 5pm, but whilst the alcohol happy hour (actually hours) started at 4pm and ended at 9pm. Talk about injustice for those that don’t drink alcohol. Either way, it is fine if 1 or 2 of us misunderstood this, but all 5 of us!?!? Therefore, something must be wrong with the way they presented this to the customer.

Having written a formal complaint to the Boulevard Head Office on all of these 4 concerns, I was invited to meet with the owner, their servicing head and the manager of Boulevard Marina Bay. They attempted to discount every single point I made, blaming the rain, unenforceable non-smoking law (which the landlord, not the establishment was liable for), that they didn’t feel the service issues was their fault and the service charge was indeed fix – and quoting this to be a “stealth tax”.

With Compliments from Boulevard Bayfront

With Compliments from Boulevard Bayfront

Relating to my request for a fully refund (S$138), they then advised me that if was really that dissatisfied that they actually would consider not serving me again in the future – this wasn’t exactly the best way for them to ‘deal’ with a complaint, trying to make it sound like it was my fault that I was unhappy, not theirs. I did explain that none of the 5 people who were present enjoyed the experience and it was multitude or failures that they needed to learn from – ranging from a recap for the non-smoking law, education and re-training. They then decided to offer a bottle of wine as an alternative ‘way’ of settling my complaint.

All in all, I found the owner and the experience extremely unsettling, and actually would personally consider stopping going they myself. After all there are plenty of nicer places to visit in Singapore than this :). But more importantly, it was the altitude of the owner and the way they tried to quash all elements of the feedback that caused me more concern – basically implying that they don’t care about the customer satisfaction!! How wrong can they be…

Moet and Chandon - Lovely Huvly Bubbly

Moet and Chandon – Lovely Huvly Bubbly

Funnily, they then agreed to give me this free bottle of wine – which turned into a bottle of Möet and Chandon…

The bottle costs around S120 – so covers the majority of the meal that we were complaining about (yes I know that the wholesale prices is a portion of this – but still, I never say no to a freebie)…

I guess the magic question is whether I want to go back to the Boulevard Bars or not in the future 🙂

Well we’ll see how I feel after a few weeks…there’s always plenty of places to drink in Singapore, so I am sure I won’t miss the place!!

Boulevard Bayfront
Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1
8 Marina Boulevard #01-02
Singapore 018981
Tel:      +65 – 6634 8761
Email:  info@boulevard.com.sg
URL:   http://www.boulevard.com.sg

 

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