Wednesday, January 04, 2006

I'd rather talk to a human being, thank you very much!

I just got off the phone with the Bonuslink officer and it was, to put it in one word, EXASPERATING!!!

Gosh! I never knew it was so hard to TALK TO A HUMAN BEING. Erkk.. ok², I'm not starting my new year off with a positive tone by being patient here but still.. My patience was really being put to a test in those few minutes.

Let me elaborate (memang suka elaborate puuuunnn hehe..). I've been using my Bonuslink card eversince I started using my car.. and yes, I know some of you are saying, "Hadiah dia bukan bes pun!" but it was out of pure excitement of finally being 'eligible' to buy petrol AND gain some so-called points that I applied for the card and I've been using it eversince.. especially since I buy petrol every week, love the Secret Recipe and buy my skincare products (which cost a hand and a foot according to 'my' budget --> orang lain maybe rasa murah but to me and my student expanses, its quite.. errr, staggering.. but hey, its the only thing that works for me!) at Parkson!

Anyway, I found out that my points were expiring in the next few weeks so I thought to redeem some items I might want to use. After going through the website and choosing the item I wanted to get, I quickly clicked on the 'redeem' option on the screen. It was then that I realized I hadn't updated my address and it was still using the old one. Unfortunately, you couldn't change the address online and you had to call their member services hotline.

Well, that wasn't really a problem, I thought. Just a phone call away.. so I started dialing the given number.

Okay, first thing's first. I DID expect to hear the recorded message at first, asking for the language option ( 1 for english, 2 for malay) But then, it asked about my purpose af call with 5 options in all and so I chose membership information. From the membership information came another 3 options for apentah and from THAT came another 2 options for apentahjugak. Getting a bit impatient, I chose the option closest to 'changing your address' and that was the 'card application information'. I mean, the others were for basic imformation of the service la, application for replacement card la ape la.. But it turned out, that option I chose was only for applications of new cards or supplementary cards.

That's okay I thought, I'd just start again.. and ended in another different but similiar spot. By the end of 15 minutes, I had already tried so many options, I was kind'a fuming a bit (tapi control la jugak sebab tengah sembang ngan Husnul pasal tuition masa tu). All in all, I had called the 'Member Services Hotline' for around 7 times BUT with no sign of getting closer to changing my address. In fact, I was suprised they didn't have an option for 'talk to our representative'!

Throughtout those calls, I've had kak Win laughing at me, seeing how exasperated I had become and Ramadhan making a suprised face, as if selama ni dia ingat I'm a saint ka apa ka, yang tak penah hilang sabar haha..

I was on the verge of giving up when somehow, my mind told me to go to this option for 'Introduction to the Bonuslink Service' (and believe me, it took me a long time to go there!). Somehow, I was patient enough to listen to their 2-minute introduction, though it sounded more like 10 minutes. Only AFTER the introduction was the option to talk to their representative which thankfully is a HUMAN BEING and not the annoying recorded voice I was hearing for the past half an hour! Err, okay, maybe tak la sampai half an hour kot..

Good Lord! Susahnya nak cakap ngan a PERSON! I thought these recorded messages were for our conveniences but somehow, dah terbalik plak jadinya! Sabo je le..

And to top it off, I was laughingly telling the person,"Susahnya nak call" and I got a curt, "Habis tu, nak saya buat apa?". For God's sake, I was trying to calm myself la, not to spill my anger at you and trying to laugh and you boleh cakap kat me macam tu??!!? Ignoring her irritating tone (kan ke I'm the one whose supposed to be irritated?), I put a smile in my voice (bleh ape put a smile in your voice so you'd sound chirpy and all that) and proceeded with my purpose of the call. After a while, the representative pun gelak² jugak but still, tak boleh ke tone tu baik sikit masa awal² tadi? I mean, maybe dia takut I was going to 'pounce' on her ke ape ke, tu yang dia cakap macam tu siap² but please la..

Hehe, okay, maybe I'm over reacting kot.. But well, at least dah tukar alamat! Hope I never have to change the address again for a very long time :-)

P/S
Reminds me of yesterday when I emailed this company about something and they promptly called me clarifying the situation.. and very cheery la diorang that it was infectious! The both of us must have laughed quite a bit and put the phone down with a smile on our faces.. thats what I call customer service!

P/S 2
Why do I suddenly feel as if I'm such a complainer?

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