You judge for yourself on this experience I had. CIMB management, if you are reading this, please do something.

Monday:

Call Officer: Hello, boleh saya membantu? *although I press 1 for English*

Me: Yeah I cannot view my credit card info on my CIMB Clicks online account for the past 1 week. I have been using it for past 1 year.

Call Officer: I need to do a verification check….bla bla bla. What is the amount you last withdraw on your ATM card?

Wah lauuuuuu??!!! How can I remember? Note to self, must withdraw the same amount every time just to pass this verification. I had to login online to check the answer.

Call Officer: Ok, have you tried linking your credit card

Me: Yes, after I click it. It said, I don’t need to link my credit card on the page. By the way, I was able to see my credit card transaction for the last 1 year and now it is showing error. How come I need to link it again?

Call Officer: Please hold while I check.

After about 5 minutes, he came back to say that it is a maintenance problem and someone will look into it. Check back online after 5 working days.

After 5 working days, nothing happen. Why I am not surprised? I called the helpline again.

Call Officer: Boleh saya membantu? *again I did press 1 for English, maybe I should answer him in mandarin*

Me: I cannot see my credit card information on the CIMB clicks online account.

Call Officer: How may I help you?

Me: Do you understand what am I saying?

Call Officer: How may I help you? *going to vomit blood soon*

Me: I just said that I cannot see my credit card information on the CIMB clicks online account. *repeat very slowly*

Call Officer: I need to verify you.
• He asked my ATM card number
• He asked my full name
• He asked my IC number
• He asked my handphone number
• He asked my credit card number
• He asked my last withdrawal amount
Isn’t he annoying or what? Usually I will be asked at most 4 questions for verification.

Call Officer: Looking from the error, the problem is with the credit card department. I will ask them to look into it. It will be fixed in 3-5 working days.

Me: I called on Monday, the officer said the same thing. Now it is already 5 working days and the problem still exist.

Call Officer: I cannot do anything, you have to wait for the credit card department to fix it.

Me: What if after another 3 days, the problem is not resolved? I have to call again and it will be repeated all over again. Please can you check with the credit card department now.

Call Officer: Sorry, I really cannot do anything because it is due to the credit card department. *he sounds very reluctant to help.*

Me: Please can I speak to another officer or passed me to your credit card department.

Call Officer: All other officers are busy now.

Me: Can I speak with your supervisor or manager?

Call Officer: He is also attending call.

Me: Please can you tell your credit card department about this problem and see how they can resolve this.

Call Officer: They cannot do it now, it has to wait for 3 working days.

Bla bla bla….he probably got fed up with me and he passed me to credit card department without relaying my problem to him.

CC Officer: Hello, how may I help you? *sigh, I have to go through the vicious cycle…lets skip to after verification check*

Call Officer: Hello, how may I help you? *after verification, he passed me back to the CIMB Clicks officer*

However this officer did promise me to get back to me next Monday or Tuesday to get it resolved. She provided me her name so I can call her directly.

Can I sue the bank for stress they are causing me?

I was at KL Sentral and it really needs improvement. It is suppose to be where travelers go to take transport to and from the International airport. Lots of tourist will go there.

First, it is so crowded like a night market. It is difficult for people to walk, not to mention hurling their big luggage around.
Secondly, it has only 1 lift to go down to the bus stations. Why can’t they build more or build extra escalators? The lift is small and very torn down.

Thirdly, the taxi station does not have enough taxis. When I got my ticket, the cashier told me I can wait for a long time. What can I do but wait. There is no other transport to my destination. Some taxi came by but didn’t stop. Some were parked near there fishing for people who can pay more. I can see some tourists were frustrated because a few taxi went passed him. He and his family were waiting, poor children must be hungry there.

Finally I got into one myself but the taxi driver was not very happy because the place I was going to is a congested area. Since it was a festive month, I gave him extra tip for the ride. That’s make him happier and it was the only time, I saw a smile in him.

Lastly, when I got down from the Air Asia bus at KL Sentral, there was a taxi ticketing counter. The cashier just told me “no taxi”. Wow! I got shock by her. However I saw a lot of taxi men fishing for customers asking for extra. This is so typical.

I wanted to get a point and shoot camera because the current Canon camera is giving me battery problem. It seems that the battery always showing low very quickly. I saw a Lumix point and shoot I like. I read up some preview on the ZR3 and FH20 model. Most reviewers are saying good things about Lumix. I like the intelligent feature in the camera where I do not have to adjust any macro shots. Everything is done on the fly.

I made up my mind to get the ZR3 and I went online to see how I can get it cheap. US pricing was USD$230++ and here the local store was selling RM1299 with some free gift like SD card, tripod and leather case.

I surfed into ebay to check out the price there. A brand new one cost only USD$210 (est. RM$655). Wow, so I ordered one. I ordered it when I was in Kuala Lumpur, on Friday night. I thought it probably will take 2 weeks to arrive. Guess what? The camera arrived at my place in Penang on Monday. Talk about super efficient from the ebay seller. I am so very happy that I saved 50% on this camera. What a GREAT deal!!

Two months ahead of Mid Autumn festival, the moon cakes supplier started selling their moon cakes. They are all out to get your money. It is ridiculously overpriced. I used to get it for RM5, now it is selling for over RM13-RM15 (~USD$5). The cost price I believed is not more than RM5 per piece.

Every year, the price goes up by RM1. Maybe the supplier put a lot of money into advertising. It is wasted because it is getting to be too commercialized. They make beautiful boxes but if I buy a piece, I don’t get any box. You need to get 4 to get 1 box.

Oh well, I am still hunting for a good old traditional moon cake at an affordable price. If you find any, let me know. RM8 for a single yolk lotus moon cake is reasonable.

Finally the box arrived last Friday. That is my new work notebook and it is the EliteBook 2540. Some of the great features in comparison to my old notebook are:

1. The DVD-RW is attached to it. I don’t have to carry separate devices.
2. It comes with a camera. Yeah I can do video conferencing with my family when I am traveling.
3. It comes with double the amount of disk storage. I was running out of storage with my old notebook.
4. It has a strip of touch screen panel for adjusting the volume, Wifi, etc…still figuring out.
5. The size is smaller but screen looks bigger.
6. It has the fast Intel Core i7 chip.
7. Spill-resistant keyboard. Let’s hope no water or dirt can fall into it.
8. Longer lasting 6-cell battery.
9. It doesn’t generate a lot of heat.
10. It has the cool LED light for night reading. Not for the screen, for the keyboard.

I’m liking it. For once, my notebook wakes up faster.

I don’t know about you but I like my toilets dry and clean. I really cannot stand people wetting the entire toilet or bathroom after they shower. Why do they have to do that? Isn’t it more comfortable if it is dry?

In my wish list, I hope to have a “Atlantica” Steam & Jetted Shower Enclosure. Just imagine, you get a water massage while you are bathing. It is so cool. Here is a picture of it.

With this installed, after a shower the rest of the bathroom will be dry because it has an enclosure. In fact I tried one of these in the hotel and I kind of like it.

In Penang, there are quite a lot of vacancies for production jobs because there are a lot of manufacturing plants here. I remembered when I went for an interview to get a job here in Penang, I was shocked to see there were over 100 applicants. I was nervous because I thought my chances are low. However, I found out that they were all looking for production jobs.

Do you know that I was the first applicant to arrive for the interview? All the managers who interview me remembered that. It is good to set good impression for being punctual. In fact, I was only one who made it through and got the job. If you are looking for a job, think of something that make you stand out from the rest. It helps!

I must say the Malaysia Immigration for passport renewal has improved. Kudos to all the staff there in Penang!! First they sent me a reminder stating my passport is about to expire. I will travel soon so it really helps me to get it renewed. I don’t want to be at the immigration gate only to find out my passport is not valid.

Secondly, I can download the renewal application form from their website. I remembered I used to queue for that form and also need to pay RM1 for it. It is also a waste of time because a number is given only after you filled up the form.

It only took me 30 minutes to get everything done. However it still takes 2-3 hours before I can collect the passport on the same day. I collected the next day instead.

Next is the US Visa application. The online form is driving me crazy. Imagine I filled up half of the form and it all vanished into thin air.

You can download the form here.

My iPhone wifi went cuckoo again, I meant it is not working. Well I read a lot of problem with wifi after it has been upgraded to 3.x firmware. It looks like it is looping to find wifi access. I am running out of my wits to fix it permanently.

I didn’t have this problem when it was 2.x firmware. What is Apple doing? I thought they were improving the operating system but it looks like it is degrading.

Last approach that I was very reluctant to try was to freeze it. I heard because it is looping, it caused the chip to heat up.

I had to freeze the iPhone in the freezer for 5 minutes. After that, it goes back to normal. I can detect the wifi and get connected. However this is not a permanent solution. I had the final fix in mind but I do not have time to try it out yet. When I do, I will post it here.

TNB has just provided a way for us to check the payment or status of the usage of electricity in our home. Lately there were some news about tenants not paying their electricity bills and it was amounted up to a shocking RM50K (~USD20K) without the land lord knowing it. After the tenants left, the land lord is left with a great debt. Worst is the land lord cannot sell or rent out the property with money owing TNB. The land lord must clear the bill.

However, most of us will wonder why TNB didn’t cut the electricity when the tenant didn’t pay the bill. Worst was, one of the case were related to an employee of TNB where he went through the back door to have his electricity re-connected back after it was cut. More stories here for TheStar newspaper.

If you are a land lord, better go sign up to the TNB Online and monitor the bill of your property closely. You can go to www.tnb.com.my and look for the e-service.