Dance like no one's watching

this week has not been off to a good start. got into a mega fight with DBS yesterday over the replacement of my DBS ATM card. i shall let the letter i sent them do the talking…

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Salutation: Ms

Name: UptownGal

NRIC/Passport No: ___________

Email Address: __________

Country: Singapore

Home Tel: __________

Office Tel: __________

DBS Customer: Yes

I lost my wallet during the wee hours of 6 December 2007. I called DBS between 3-4am to report the loss of my ATM card. To date, I have received replacement credit and ATM cards from all the other bank, i.e. UOB, HSBC, Amex, Citibank, and even POSB, except DBS.

I called at approximately 10:30am today to check why my DBS ATM card has not been sent to me. After waiting for about 10min, I finally got to speak to someone called Anne. Anne tried to verify my particulars by asking me the following questions:
1) What is my account number.
2) What is the last account transaction I did
3) Do I have any GIRO on this account.

I told Anne that:
1) I do not remember my exact account no. but I know it starts with XXX-, and there is a “XXXXX” somewhere in it.
2) The last transaction I did was probably the transfer of $200 from my UOB account to my DBS account, of which it was about 3 weeks ago, and thus I cannot remember the details.
3) I believe I had an ez-link card linked to this account, but that has since been terminated.

Anne, despite my best attempts to explain the situation to her, said she could not disclose any account information to me, because she could not verify my details.

I told Anne that I did not need her to disclose any account information to me! I am clearly aware that this account probably has not more than $200 in it, and my question to her was – HAS A REPLACEMENT CARD BEEN SENT?

Unfortunately, Anne seemed to have difficulty answering this simple “yes or no” question. As we were getting nowhere, Anne decided to pass the buck by transferring me to your bank’s Lost Cards section.

Once again, I was put through the same 3 questions by your staff Kenix Yin, to which I gave the same 3 answers. Does DBS NOT have any other ways of verifying their customers’ identity? Whatever happened to other type of information that banks typically ask – e.g. mother’s maiden name, etc?

Kenix said she would go ahead to CANCEL the ATM card, but she could not arrange for a replacement card to be sent to me.

This is where I deplore DBS to use a little common sense in its replacement card procedures.

1) I am NOT asking for a replacement card to be sent to some new mailing address. I am asking for my ATM replacement card to be sent to the mailing address in DBS’ records.

2) If DBS is unable to verify my details, hence implying that this may be a fradulent call, then by terminating the card, isn’t DBS acting on wrong instructions? Moreover, if I really were a prankster, isn’t DBS going out of its way to inconvenience its real card holder by NOT sending a replacement card to THE ORIGINAL MAILING ADDRESS IN DBS’ RECORDS?

3) EVEN if I were the thief that stole my wallet, and I am making this call to DBS in an attempt to get hold of a new card and pin no., may I know why DBS cannot send a replacement card to THE MAILING ADDRESS in the bank’s records? Does DBS think that Singpost’s operations security are so lacking that a petty theft is able to hijack its mailbag and steal the replacement card & pin no.?

4) I have a police report with me that says I lost my wallet. Would it not suffice for me to fax in police report to DBS?

We are now coming to the end of the year, where many companies are having their financial close, and it is common knowledge that people are extra busy at work. If DBS can CANCEL my ATM card, I take that to mean that DBS believes the card was lost. Since DBS took my word when I said card was lost, why can’t DBS send me a replacement card as soon as reasonable practicable? Does DBS not see the simple logic here?

Also, since POSB and DBS are now considered 1 bank, and DBS can access my POSB records (which was what Anne revealed to me even though she claimed that she cannot reveal any information to me because my identity was unverified), then should’t DBS KNOW that my POSB supplementary card was cancelled last Monday and a replacement card was sent to my MAILING ADDRESS IN THE BANK’S RECORDS 2 days later?

I hope to get a sensible and satisfactory answer from DBS soon. And I expect a replacement card to be sent to my house. If you need a fax of my police report, I can do so immediately. But do not ask me to call in to DBS’ call centre again. There are only 24 hours a day. I cannot keep wasting my time being put on hold first, to speak to a call centre agent, and then repeatedly asked to wait because your staff was unable to “verify my details”.

Please also note that this complaint may appear in various online forums hence you may want to formulate your reply carefully. Thanks.

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I really don’t get what DBS is trying to do lor. Do they practise selective believing or something? I mean, they believe me when i say my ATM card is lost… but they don’t believe that i’m the real account holder and hence refuse to send me a replacement card? It’s just damn freaking ridiculous man!

some pictures from my N82.  🙂

Iceman and i were amazed by this retro-looking phone.  heehee.  (taken at Yew Mei Green)

A Christmas display at Tangs.

My new wallet.  It’s by comic illustrator Jimmy Liao.  Love the embroidery on it.  🙂

Pinky prancing about the garden.

Pinky likes pandan leaves.

Still has a slipper fetish.

That’s the way to spend a Sun nite!  Under a brolly, away from the moonlight.  (Taken with Xenon flash).

Coffee… in night mode.

Okie… time to sleep soon… *yawn*.  Nitez.

bought the Nokia N82 as a replacement hp last Sat.  was hesitating whether to get a new phone initially… or to make do with my Sony Ericsson… but the SE died on Sun so just as well.  heh.

no complaints abt the N82 so far.  was attracted to it ‘cos the specs are even better than the N95… and it’s retailing for the same price as the N95 8G!!  the Xenon flash is fantastic and the Nokia Maps software (a GPS navigation s/w) is excellent!!  the phone can log onto the GPS satellites even when i’m in my bedroom!  it’s simply terrific!!  a huge improvement over the crappy Navfone software of the N95… that used to take about 5-7min to log onto the GPS network when i’m in the car!  bleah.

click here to see the specs of the N82.  i would recommend the phone. 🙂

really strange thing happened.  someone mailed my road tax renewal notice to me.  the renewal notice was in my Coach bag that was stolen last week.  so i was really surprised when it came in the mail today.

my dad thinks that the thief wants me to renew my road tax, before stealing my car, so that the thief can drive the car across to JB and sell it.  but if the thief is even semi-professional enough to know contacts across the causeway to sell the car… then shouldn’t the thief also know that you don’t need the renewal notice to renew the road tax?!

i’m more inclined to think that the thief chucked the renewal notice onto the floor somewhere… where it was picked up by a kind hearted soul who mailed it to me.  but then again… the renewal notice looked pretty clean to have been chucked on the floor… sigh.

i called the Changi Neighbourhood Police Centre to inform them that someone mailed my stolen road tax renewal back to me, and asked if they wanted to do anything with it.  answer is no.  i guess they don’t care… since bags get stolen everyday anyway.  damn u lousy police!

my dad says i should get a steering lock to protect my car against theft… or install a car alarm with immobiliser… but i just changed my car alarm!  cost me $145!!  just that… i forgot my licence plate was found on my road tax renewal that was stolen together with my bag… and so the thief knows my car plate… (which means he doesn’t need to rely on the remote to find my car… he can just zoom in on my car and use the key to unlock the doors.  though that would trigger the alarm, if he was experienced enough, he would know how to disable the alarm, cut the wire, etc.)

sigh.  so i’m in huge dilemma now.  what should i do?  steering locks are troublesome… should i spend another $250 to change another car alarm that comes with immobiliser??  🙁

worked pretty late last night… left office about 11:50pm.  saw the Christmas tree in the reception area of the office.  the tree this year was decorated with seashells… or what looked like seashells (i was peeping into the reception area through the glass door at the lift lobby).  looked really pretty with all the lights and presents around the tree.

i remember staying back late to work 1 night last year too.. and while no one was in the reception area, i took a photo of the Christmas tree.  unfortunately, i accidentally erased the photo before i uploaded it to my computer.  i would’ve taken a photo of the tree this year (it looks better this year anyway) except that i lost my Nokia N95… and am using this old Sony Ericsson hp with a VGA camera only.  :(  the picture wouldn’t turn out nice even if i did take it. 

while standing and admiring the Christmas tree, i concluded that material items will always be perishable.  i lost my hp, LV wallet, coach bag, Legolas ez-link card, white tissue pouch with black polka dots, car and house keys, victoria secrets mint lip gloss, etc.  i am very sad because they were items that i cherished very much.  some were expensive… very expensive… others were cheap, even free (gifts from others)… but they were still items that i carried daily because i liked having them close to me.

nothing much i can do about it now.  the memory of the picture of last year’s Christmas tree still remains in my mind… the red flowers that adorned the tree… just like i can still recall how it feels to dig about my coach bag for my stuff…

sigh.  my dec bonus is "gone"… ‘cos i need to get a new hp, and am considering installing a car alarm + immobiliser.  the photos and videos in my hp that have not been uploaded to my computer are gone too… don’t think there’re any shots that can’t really be replaced… except for some (possibly compromising) videos of my colleagues letting their hair down at Eon Canteen… oops… and videos of Iceman’s colleagues at Oktoberfest.

i hope the dastardly thief erases all those images.  quite a gross thought thinking that someone can peek so closely into my life by exploring the contents of my handbag.

material items, once gone, are lost forever.  what i’m glad is that during the few hours that i was "missing" (uncontactable ‘cos my hp was gone), i had good friends & colleagues who called and sms-ed to try to find out what happened to me.  and of ‘cos even more thankful for Iceman who came to meet me immediately after i managed to get a phone to call him.

may the Lord bless you this Christmas.

Was telling Iceman about my "new discovery" and he says it might be due to MessengerPlus!.  Frankly, i don’t know.  But i did find this setting…  Plus – Preferences – Main – Conversations – Enable commands (special messages beginning with "/").

So maybe it’s not MSN after all.  Hmm…

This may not be anything special really but i just found out about it so am posting about it here. Heh.

Long time ago, when MIRC was still the rage (that’s my personal assumption that it’s no longer a rage and that MSN has taken over MIRC too), there used to be this function where if i u type "/me", it appears as "MyNick".  So for example if i were to type

"/me is going to drink water"

MIRC will display it as "Uptowngal is going to drink water".

I tried the above function on MSN before but it didn’t work.  "/me" was just "/me".  However, I tried it again just now… and realised it works in the latest Live Messenger version 8.5!

Well, it’s not really a big deal but.. heh.  It’s something new i discovered right?  Heh.

Oh… but for users who’re using the older version of MSN, the "/me" appears as a  <<I on their windows.  :/

I sincerely apologise to all for the lack of posts this month.  If u think it’s got to do with Iceman… er, nope.  I think Facebook ought to bear most of the blame.  And not just Facebook, but the application called Fighters’ Club (note – not Fight Club!!).  Just think of it as a simplified Warcraft.

So if u have Facebook, drop me a note and add me… and join my Funky Bananas Gang.  😛

sometimes i just feel like screaming – i cannot take this anymore!!! 😛

bigmac (quoting me): for a person who doesn’t snack, u hv a lot of food on ur table.
kid’s meal: but it’s chocolate.
me: but chocolate also considered snack what!
kid’s meal: is it?
me: YA! if choc is not snack then what is it?
kid’s meal: i thougt it’s happy food.
me: snacks are happy food what!!!
kid’s meal: oh ya. i guess it is.

*pengz*