Crap Service and Response!

Whenever I come across extremely bad service, I never fail to complain to the company via their website. Usually I get a satisfactory response. But this sure was one eye opener.
The story (or rather, the complaint) goes:

On 22 Nov I was feeling unwell in the morning, and I left office to see doc at Clementi Polyclinic. It was 1130am by the time I left office, and I took the precaution of checking the website to see what time your polyclinic closes for lunch (stated as 1pm on the website). I reached Clementi Polyclinic at 1215pm only to be told, due to large number of patients, the registration had closed so that doctors can go off for lunch at 1pm sharp and we can only see doctor at 2pm. This is unacceptable! There was no pre-notice abt cut-off for registration time. And who was to know when it would be peak ? It was mid-week, i understand usually its monday that is peak period. The registration staff argued that the website timing is 'operating hour', ok, but there was no information on registration hours. What if some days , there happen to be alot patients in the morning, does that mean the polyclinic will impose a cut-off registration time at 11am? This adhoc cut off time is not fair to patients. I had to take transport to rush to the polyclinic, only to be told that i have to wait til 2pm, and my house is not nearby, so I either loiter around in discomfort or pay more for private GP. Please look into better practice so that patients will not be unfairly inconvenienced!

Here's the ultimate response you can get from a Department in charge of Quality:

Dear Ms XXX,

Thank you for your feedback. We would appreciate if you could provide us with your particulars (Name and NRIC No) for the clinic to look into the matter and reply to you.

Best regards,
YYY
Quality Management Office

Huh? How come you need my exact name and IC to look into the matter? Haven I given you the date, time, place which it happened? Does my name and IC matter? I din see the doctor in the end becos I couldnt wait. I dun wish to hear any more of ur excuses to say that if my case had been urgent, they would hv let me see the doctor. This is not abt the seriousness of the patient's condition. This is abt your F*** U* process, u get it? Secondly, as the quality department, shouldnt you be the person in charge of looking into the matter to give me a reply? *shake head*.. i should have known to expect such sub-standard service since I couldnt find the 'Singapore Quality Class' / 'Service Class' logos in their corporate info.


Since I am the in the topic of complaints, here's another incident:
One day, my bf and I went to Jack's place for dinner. I ordered a grilled fish and it turned out fishy n mushy. I suspect 1) fish was not fresh 2) fish was not properly thawed. I feedback to the manager that my fish tasted weird. The manager promptly took it back to the kitchen... 5 mins later, the cook served me the fish himself - slathered with lots of butter n cooked again.. still the same fishiness n mushy texture.. the liberal doses of butter was to cover up the smell. I vowed never to go back there again. NEVER !

Further Update: Looks like I am not the only one who thinks NHG has a problem in responding to customer issues.

Extract from ST Forum, 28 Nov, letter from reader Chua Koon Ngee:

Why medicines cost more at polyclinics
I REFER to Mr Tan Bee Loke's letter ('Why the big difference in subsidy?'; ST, Nov 15) and National Healthcare Group (NHG) Pharmacy's Ms Ng Mok Shiang's unhelpful response ('Polyclinic patients enjoy higher subsidies'; ST, Nov 23) on subsidised medication sold at polyclinics and restructured hospitals.
Mr Tan was referring specifically to subsidised medicines but Ms Ng clouded the issue by digressing into the cost of subsidised consultation, laboratory fees, etc.

Secondly, she said there is a long list of medicines where prices are not identical, without offering any explanation on why this is the case, especially as both institutions referred to are part of the NHG cluster.
......

Wedding Woes

It all started with my impending ROM in dec 06. I thought a wedding is between 2 persons - the bride and the groom. Hence I planned a simple ROM with no wedding banquet. My mum insisted that there must be a banquet. Fine, we'll do it for her relatives in Malaysia, ie, hold a wedding banquet in Malaysia. U want banquet, I give u banquet. That's it. Now she says, must also have the day tea ceremony where the groom picks the bride fm her place.. I dun need that, and I dun want that hassle! My mum thinks its all very easy - the groom will take care of it. During her time, her father arranged it all for her brothers' weddings, while her own wedding, my father's side took care of it. All the bride has to do, is wake up, makeup , get dressed, look beautiful and the rest will take care of it.
But not in these days. The bride has to do 50% of the planning , coordination etc... Just that my mum doesnt see that part, and she still thinks its very easy.. Puke blood..
my insistence to have things as simple as possible, was not accepted. She threw out reasons like " I am marrying my daughter / you are siding so soon with ur in-laws by helping them save $" .. ok, 1st reason has a moral fillial ring to it.. so now a wedding is not between 2 pple.. a wedding is actually a parent marrying off his daughter and the other receiving a daughter in law.. so that's why the elders want such the day tea ceremony... 2nd reason - again, its outdated. My friends all paid for their weddings without the parents help. If there is any loss, they have to absorb it. And on top of that, the groom has to give the bride's family a specific no of tables so that the angpows will go to the bride's parents. If its money u want, fine! I give u a specific sum straightaway, why bother with the hassle of collecting angpows , having banquet etc.. worse, my future mother-in-law unintentionally offended my father previously and petty him has been badmouthing her , poisoning my mum abt her such that my mum believes it. She thinks that my in-laws who are ok to not having a banquet etc, are doing so becos its to their advantage. But i see it as, they are liberal and they gave us the freedom to choose. Not like my mum who insists things must be done her way. And my mum has this 'poisoned view' that my future MIL is a mean woman etc, who will bully me. But I know its not true (becos i cannot be bullied!) .. so anyway, this wedding tussle is making me very exasperated...

Rewards Redemption

I am sure most of us have more than one credit card. To get the max out of the card, it is best to concentrate your expenditure in one card so that you are able to accumulate sufficient points for redemption of rewards. Me, I prefer food vouchers. Citibank used to give a good deal. For $560 citidollars, I could get a $20 voucher at Olio restaurant / Dome cafe. Most of the other credit card companies require easily $680 - $780 card dollars for a $20 restaurant voucher. So I happily concentrated my spendings on my citibank. Lo behold, its time for my redemption, finally accumulated substantial reward points... and .... citibank raised their redemption points needed. No more $560 citidollars. It now requires $780 citidollars to redeem the same $20 Dome cafe voucher. Even a $20 sakae sushi voucher required $1000 citidollars! I went to UOB website n checked, their $30 sakae sushi voucher required only $930 uob points and both citibank and UOB have the same computation for their points - every $5 charged to the card gives u 1 reward point.What the $%#*&@!~@

Here are some other obvious ones:

Din Tai Fung $20 voucher = $1000 citibank points OR $750 uob points
Jack's place $20 voucher = $890 citibank points OR $750 uob points

UOB also provided more choice if you have < $500 points. There were more variety for $5 - $15 food vouchers that catered to those with fewer points.

It's just unfair to us consumers when they change and raise their rewards redemption points quietly!! I'm taking my expenditure back to UOB!