Nowadays, almost every company has a customer service dept. But does it really function as it suppose to be ?
I went to have a 6 monthly regular medical checkup today. Arrived at 9.15am. There’s already 7 people ahead of me. WAITED for 25 min, summoned by the registration assistant. She adviced me to go run my errand as it will take another 1hr 15 min before it’s my turn.
Oh well….
Since I subscribe to the fundamental of debt free living, I thought I might as well take this time to go terminate my credit cards which I have not been using for a long time. 1st stop, 
.
It seems to me, nowadays, if you want to cease membership, you are required to fill up some sort of forms. Why ? They want to know why you decided to leave them. Isn’t it too late ? Ok, nevermind. I filled up the form and asked if it is immediate effect. What’s your guess ? NO !!. I have to WAIT 2-3 weeks, then call up their HQ card center to check. Doohhh…..!!!!
Next stop. 
. The well known aloof bank. I had some not so good experience with them when I had my fair share of financial disaster about 5 years back. It was an experience that truly confirmed what Robert Kiyosaki said : when you need money, you go to the bank. When you don’t need the money, they will come to you. That’s why I call them the legal Ah Longs. I later discovered that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way about them. A candidate of mine gone through tremendous hassle & stress with them when her father suddenly passed on and left some accounts. After that bad experience, she & her family vowed to never used Standard chartered again or to endorse it to any friends. That’s not all. An ex-colleague of mine, she was in the finance team with an O & G company. She confirmed of the same attitude. Of course the list goes on. So, ever since I recovered from the disaster, I never used their credit card and accounts again. All were left dormant. Then I received a statement last Fri, slapping me with RM175 annual fee for a card which I never used for 4 years! Yes, more compelling reason to terminate all the accounts with them. I was directed to its upstairs credit card dept. But it really is a narrow square, a one man counter. Ahead of me was another 5 people. Out of which, 3 are disgruntled customers. One of them was also terminating the credit card because not enough credit limit. The customer service girl said he can always call & request for it. Too bad. He said he has done many times, but nothing was done & he had enough. When I presented my case, the girl asked if I will stay with them if they were to waive the annual fee. Of course not. What do you think happen next ? She made a call to a “mysterous” dept and passed the call to me. Mind you, I was present in person infront of their customer services, yet the girl on the line have to do the verification steps…doohh…. The more ridiculous is yet to come. She explained that she will proceed to request for waiver of the annual fee. But it is the rule of Standard Chartered that once the fees is waived, I have to WAIT for another 10 months before I can cancel my card despite whether I use it or not. What ??????????????? So, they just want me to be part of their statistics ? Of course, I put a block order on the card & registered in my pda calender to call for card cancellation next June. So, like I said, customer service : really is in conveniencing the customers and making them WAIT !!!
That reminded me to follow-up with another membership termination. I was 
member since 2005. I subsequently become part of its freelance instructor team. As such, my membership account was automatically went into suspense as I meet the minimum quota of 3 classes a week. However, with my move into new firm lately in my headhunting job. I have to have my 3rd class temporarily covered by others from 2nd week of July till end Aug. I didn’t give up the class! But guess what ? They charged RM351 for that 7 weeks without being informed ahead of time. When I present the case to their front desk, justifying that I shouldn’t be charged for something I never use. The manager has the cheek to say, ”Ma’am, we have a lot of members who signed up and do not use the facilities, but they are paying.” WHAT ??? No, I don’t subcribe to such ill personal financial management philosophy. So, I brought it up to the top management. The answer I got was nothing can be done becuase it is the RULE !!!!! Right. Should have believe in all the complaints that was flyling around in the internet and did something earlier. I learn my lesson so I proceed to cancel my membership. OMG…I was told I need to fill up a form. Then the club manager will call to make an appointment with me. That’s the procedure. Procedure ? How stupid ? You want inconvenient your already disgruntled customer and yet thinking a meeting with your club manager will change her mind ? Anyway, I did as told and WAITED. 5 days past, no call. I certainly won’t let it slip another month & being charged again. So, I decided to be proactive. Gosh, I made another discovery !!! The form I filled is a cancellation request form for the club manager to make appointment & meet me to fill the cancellation form. Are they screw loose somewhere ? Finally, with me pressing hard, I do not have to meet the club manager but I still have to go & sign the cancellation form !!! Yes, another inconvenient !! Wanted to be sure, I asked when the cancellation will be effective. Well, I will have to WAIT for them to UTILIZE my deposit before it can be effective. So, all in all I make them RM509 richer with that stupid rule which is out to rob the members. RM509 will take about 10 classes to earn back !!! How RIDICULOUS !!! Day light robbery.
The moral of the story is :
- never be a member of any sort with any institution unnecessarily. Terminate un-use membership the very moment you don’t need it.
- large corporates with the Customer Service depart is but just to make it nice. But really, they are to take more money from you which I call it day light robbery, to INCONVENIENT you making your life difficult and to make you WAIT. Nothing about restitution with customers and ensuring satisfactory services & making customers happy.