buyer beware - 2 scoops is is not charge as double scoop @ swensen's - Caveat emptor

I must say we had a interesting event at Swensen's over the weekend.
We frequent Swensen's almost on a weekly basis. We usually ordered 2 ice-cream to share among 3 persons. (The evil wanna eat but still afraid of putting on weight)
Our typical order is always plain scoops of ice cream for the one who does not like any topping at all and an other type like cookie summit, coit tower, mighty nutty etc.
This time, we asked for 2 scoops, one vanilla & one macadamia flavour. The other order is a might nutty. The waitress took it that we wanted 2 separate single scoop ice cream and proceed to send us in separate cups. Unknowingly, my boy ate up the 2 cups of ice-cream  and I did not give much thoughts to it except commenting that 'so funny, why she must separate the ice-cream.

After settling the bill, I then realised that we were charged 2 single scoops ice cream of $4.50 each (total $9) instead of the double scoops which cost $6.50.
What I wanted to put across is the poor service then took place. I feedback that I wanted 2 scoops and not 2 single scoops, however because I have made payment, the cashier refused to reverse the bill. She asked if they were served in 2 single cups and i replied yes. So she insisted that I ordered wrongly and hence it was my fault and there was nothing much she can do. She even had the cheek to said I must order using the word DOUBLE and not 2 scoops.
What kind of service is? I am utterly speechless.

It gave me a feeling that double scoop order will be lesser than a single scoop!!!
Is that why they won't reverse the mistake?

I wondered if I have ordered a double and separate them, what would they charge me?

It is a buyer's beware market !!! Caveat emptor!

Bad driving attitude

Trans-Cab driver of SCH5984S driving attitude on the road needs improvement. 
It is very dangerous thinking and he needs to change his mindset that there are many people sharing the road he is using.

On 1 Sept 2014, Monday around 7.25am on CTE bound towards Yishun. At around AMK exit 3, the lanes are split into a few for exits. This driver knowing that he is exiting AMK5 did not attempt to slow down while still on lane 2 and high beam + honk to attempt to overtake. He ended up jamming his break after he overtook because of the many vehicles on the road. 

His attitude will cause danger to other road users including his own passengers.

Experience with F&B service

Today lunch I was ordering pepper rice for takeaway  and realized that in today world (where I am living), seller is always right!

I ended up being lecture by the cashier.

My order was double beef pepper rice, upgrade rice/corn, add egg, no pepper, take away.


Extract of her lecture as follows:-
'No pepper must say early, if receipt come out already, use hand written kitchen will scold me, why got computer don't use must write' 

I smiled at her with no reply. She continued repeating it. I said ok! And the fact was that while ordering, I had not pass her the money for transaction, she hasn't punch the final sale yet, receipt is not out yet. So, I just take it that she was having a bad rainy day and let her vent her frustration on me, if that made her feel better.

So I guess next time my order should be NO PEPPER double beef pepper rice, upgrade rice/corn, add egg, take away. I hope she wont lecture me again on takeaway must say early else blah blah blah...whatever excuse!

Kinokuniya gains a member

Today I want to talk about my experience with Kinokuniya Singapore. I always find the membership too expensive and by not signing up, a way to prevent me from buying more stuff (books, stationery etc).

Recently I bought a copy of a Japanese magazine that came with a complementary gift. However, when I opened the gift, the quality of the product was very bad. The zipper was totally slanted.

I went on internet to look for the magazine publisher contact but could not find it. So i decided to write to Kinokuniya where I bought the magazine and asked them to feedback to the publisher. Surprisingly, Kinokuniya actually offered me an exchange for the item. The customer service was beyond my expectation and I actually decided to sign up as a member. yeah! Cheers to good services!

A 'smart' note to travelling friends who shop in foreign currency using credit card

For those who travel often and shop in foreign currency using credit card, this is an important information.
If you purchase an item and decided to return it later for whatever reason, do note that you need to inform the merchant to cancel your credit card transaction instead of performing refund into your credit card account.
Last month, I purchased a pair of heels from Macy's and upon returning to the hotel, discovered that there were defects on it. I returned the item on the next day. Today I received my credit card bill and noticed that that the purchase and refund currency conversion actually has a 3.5% difference. In layman words, I am paying 3.5% for nothing with the hassle of buying and returning a defective item. How sad!

* Of course the currency can be the other way round and I could be on the receiving end of the gain. But the fact is that I am now 3.5% poorer :)

Vine Vera

I was window shopping at suntec city the other day when I was approach by this promoter giving out free sample. She tried their nail file on my left thumb, assuring me that the shine can last up to 30 days. I was and still am quite impressed with the results. It has been like 10 days and my nail is still shining looking very healthy compared to my others poor dull looking fingers. Now I am so tempted to go buy the manicure set!

thumb up to DNC

Excellent after the implementation of DNC
this trip compared to 8 months ago, i received so many less smses
and saved some money.
Actually the smses i received were mainly from the bank.
One particular bank actually sent me multiple time of the same message to verify a particular credit card transaction.
 
 

Standard Chartered Online banking review

The OTP sms did not arrive at least 5 mins after, made me wait and wait without knowing what''s wrong.
This problem is on and off. happened sometimes.

Ajuma online shopping spree

These are what i bought online in April.
From Qoo10, usually quality is pretty low. But these 2 pouches are quite good. Fit my requirement to protect my new iphone5s perfectly since I wanna 'show-off' my GOLD color phone, i couldn't buy those typical cover to use.

Love the sandal boots from Rakuten best. This item was also available on Qoo10 when I made the purchase, and Qoo10 actually was selling cheaper after factoring the shipping cost from Rakuten. :(
From ASOS, very sweet outfit, yet to try it out. Love the plaid pattern skirt. Just take delivery took a while, by then excitement die down.

 

ASOS online purchase review

before I made the zalora purchase, I bought something else from ASOS online  10 days before. As ASOS delivery is from UK, the goods normally took 2 weeks to arrive.

I made the order on a thur evening, and received my goods 13 days later on a tue, a time frame acceptable and consistent with my previous purchases.

The goods are usually of a higher quality compared to those on Qoo10.

However, this site is not for those last minute urgent purchase for the evening dress u need over the weekend or the trip u going away next week as u have to wait up to 2 weeks to receive the goods.

 

Zalora shopping

online shopping is always so tempting and irresistible.
u can simply buy anything anywhere,
and especially when the pictures are all so 'well-taken'
it is so very hard not to click purchase.

I also spent a considerable amount of time online shopping (window or not),
and sometimes as usual, I succumbed to those sales.

I am especially vulnerable to polka dots, plaids type of stuff.
It only took me less than 5 mins to decide to purchase this dress from zalora.

Can you see why I was sold? *smile

white and plaids is a sure killer to me as I will definitely fall prey to it.

The online purchase from Zalora is pretty fast, within 6 hours, I received email informing that the item was packed and in the hub for delivery. From past experiences, I normally would get my 'loots' by the next 2 working days.

However this time round, it took 2 days for the update to reflect that the item is ready for delivery. And I still did not see my dress on the next working day.

Quite disappointed.

Flaw in carpark

Location  United Square
Flaw: parking lot taken but vacant light still turn on, making drivers confused and slowing down traffic trying to locate the real vacant lot.

Review purchase process from Qoo

after a long while of not purchasing from Qoo as the quality of the items are usually quite low compared to other online websites like Rakuten, ASOS and Zalora, I decided to give it another try after viewing the recommendation from the page. But alas, the experience is still bad. Here is what happened:-

i chose my items i wanted, 2 pairs of shoes for free shipping.
confirmed my order and made payment.
dated was 29 March.
the items were updated as sent out on 4 April.
then on 7 April, i received messages from seller telling my one of the items was out of stock, asking me to replace with another if I want to enjoy free shipping.
that same day, i chose another pair for replacement, seller said will check stock.
seller did not contact me again
on 9 Apr, I dropped a message to the seller asking for an update.
first the selling sent a message saying items were send.
after a while, seller said no stock, order cancel.

it was very confusing from my point of view as I was given conflicting information. I personally think the service is very poor, the seller is freshline.

anyone need discount code for vPost?

bus peak hour suggestion

i noticed that during morning peak hours, when 3-4 buses all arrived at the same time to a bus stop, the traffic will build up terribly causing a long queue that usually took 5-10 minutes to clear. It was made worse when some of these buses (2 out of 4) were moving from bus stop on the left to 3-lanes across to the right in order to turn right in less than 50m.

another thing i observed was that sometimes there were only 1-2 passengers left on the bus. could they have gotten down earlier? or the volume was actually low?

one thing for sure, the bus was very slow in maneuvering due to its sheer size.


consider replacing some 'double-decker buses with low volume' even during peak hours to mini bus to improve traffic jam.

the passengers may also like this as the mini-bus will be able to move faster although it may increase cost for the bus company as each mini-bus with a driver will fetch a lesser number of passengers.

it is not easy to run a city!