Dance like no one's watching

The Nokia Customer Care in Singapore really really sucks.   I think it would be a challenge to find another helpdesk more lacking and inadequate.  I asked @NokiaSg on Twitter who should I send a complaint letter to.  They requested that I told them my problem over e-mail.  Fine.  So I did. 

I sent an e-mail to Text100, which is the PR company in charge of Nokia’s branding & PR in Singapore.  This was my e-mail.

==================

Hi,
 
I know you guys are the PR company handling Nokia’s branding, etc, so this really isn’t directed at you.  However, it appears to me that the Nokia Customer Care in Singapore is outsourced and the helpdesk folks are really really crap.  Is there any one who’s really from Nokia that can look into this?  My request is a very simple one actually.
 
This is my complaint:
 
My N8 came with a Channel News Asia app which allows me to read the news (note – this is not the WebTV app).  The app became unstable and kept hanging so I uninstalled it.  Thereafter, I was unable to find the app on Ovistore.  I contacted Singtel who said I had to refer the matter to Nokia.
So I emailed Nokia.

1. Joyce T. told me to download the app from Ovistore & copied & pasted some standard instructions on how to download apps from Ovistore.  This obviously shows she doesn’t even know what apps are available on Ovistore which is unacceptable.  Even if she doesn’t know all the available apps, surely it wouldn’t kill her to check before replying a customer?

2. After I replied stating that this app is not available on Ovistore, Arnie S. replied saying he has validated and the app is indeed not there.  Didn’t I say it already?  Why repeat information that I gave to Nokia back to me?  Arnie S. also suggested that I updated my firmware.  Another stupid suggestion because the N8 has no firmware updates to be done. The much hyped PR1.1 is not out yet.  There was a software update but that was only available today – after Arnie S’s suggestion. 

3. I replied again informing Nokia that my firmware is currently the latest version.  I also asked if Nokia was 100% sure that the CNA app will be restored if I reinstalled my firmware.  Yen G. replied affirmatively and told me to do a backup of my N8 before reinstalling the software.
To prove to Nokia that it wouldn’t work, I did the software update.  And it doesn’t work.  So what happens now?
 
 
Regards,

==================

The best thing is, Nokia actually sends surveys to people who have written to the helpdesk for help.  Well, I gave them the worst grading possible for every single question in the survey.  I also reiterated the above in the survey.  Wonder if anything will actually be done?

The last time I gave them a damning survey, the research company handling the survey called me from the UK.  They made 2-3 calls actually and seemed genuinely interested to find out more.  I applaud them for that and I noted that the no. of staff in their helpdesk has doubled since then (that was about 2 years ago).

Unfortunately, quantity is obviously not quality.

I have to confess that my e-mails to the helpdesk staff were sarcastic but  my tolerance limit was breached 2 years ago. 

Argh.  When can Nokia improve their customer service?

Have you seen the CNY Calsberg ad? The one with the huge bunny falling from the sky? Gosh! That must be one of the worst ads I’ve ever seen. Contrast that with the Tiger CNY ad where drinkers start multiplying everytime people cheered and clinked their glasses. Seriously, companies ought to consider their ad campaigns carefully.

According to this blog, the last time I went salsa was 4 years ago! ! In Jan 2007! I’m absolutely astounded. Where did the last four years go? Can I even still dance? Keep count? Do spins? Gosh! Salsa this Fri will be a baptism of fire! *Aghast*

Haven’t really spent much time on my blog over 2010.  Decided to clean up my blogroll (that’s the links to friends with blogs).  So I removed some blogs that have been dead for some time now and added a new one.

It’s interesting what people use their blogs for.  Some use it like a diary, sharing their happy and sad moments.  Some create a really happy world, which makes for a nice, uplifting read.

What does my blog appear to you? 

I can’t decide.  I often rant online because it’s a channel in which I vent my frustrations.  Things that I don’t say in real life and things I may say, if the opportunity arises, get blasted online.  I think I share some para-personal stuff online too, though as my identity gets more “open”, I find it difficult to write too much about my life or my work.

Just read 2 of my friends’ blogs and found out that 1 just broke up last month.  Dropped the said friend a message on Facebook.  Perhaps I need to catch up with friends more.

Also saw photos friends posted of recent salsa events.  Sigh.. I miss salsa. but then again, I’m damn lazy to go out on Friday nights sometimes.  Hehe.

Oh well, it’s a brand new year… maybe I’ll be a little more active, visit the salsa folks a little more… but first, I need to find out WHO amongst my old friends still salsa.  Haha.  It’s been 2 years since I last danced!!

Horlicks had a health scare in Nov last year.  The fur on the back of her legs and around her butt area had fallen off and the area was reddish.  My dad and I took her to the vet immediately.  Thankfully, the diagnosis wasn’t too serious – the vet suspected it could’ve been an urinary tract infection (“UTI”), which led to her not being able to pee “cleanly” (when rabbits pee, they “lift” their tail upwards and the pee shoots out, thus they don’t dirty themselves).  The UTI probably caused the urine to drip onto her tail / hind area resulting in a skin infection and the fur dropping out.

Horlicks was given antibiotics which my dad fed faithfully.  The antibiotics were sweetened so Horlicks loved to eat it.  Phew! 

Anyway, I’ve been checking on Horlicks on a weekly basis but the fur on her hind still hasn’t grown back fully (though the fur on her legs have).  We decided to take her to the vet again to ensure that the UTI wasn’t something more serious like bladder stones (which would require an operation to remove).

Ooh.. Horlicks hated the visit to the vet – she wasn’t bothered by the other cats & dogs in the clinic.  What she hated was when the vet cradled her tightly (like a baby) and did a physical examination of her bladder (to check for stones). 

In the end, the vet said he still doesn’t feel any stones and the good thing is, the skin on her backside isn’t reddish anymore.  It looked normal, except that there was no fur.  The vet said that there was a possibility that the prolonged loss of fur caused the hair follicles to go “silent” and the fur may only grow back during her next molt. 

I told the vet that the furless butt doesn’t really matter.  What’s most important is that Horlicks is healthy.  She’s about 5 years 6 or 7 months old now (can only estimate her age ‘cos pet shops seldom give you the right age) which is kind of like middle age for bunnies. 

I’ve been praying for Horlicks and my other bunnies – that the Lord will bless them with good health.  They’re such a delight to have at home.  Pinky turns 5 years old on 16 Jan 2011.  Wonder if I should buy some treats to celebrate his birthday.  Heh.

I seriously don’t know whether applying face masks will bring any benefits to my face…  I guess it’s one of those “no harm trying” kind of thing.  Unfortunately, being the lazy person I am, I hardly apply masks, though I’ve bought and have been given quite a few. 

Anyway, there’s this temporary stall at Icon that was selling these 我的心机 masks.  The stallkeeper says it’s been feature on 女人我最大 and since it was selling for $2 per mask, I decided to buy some to try.

Just tried the mint collagen mask above.  Loved the tingly feeling on my face.  My skin as pretty hydrated but once the lotion was fully absorbed… I felt it wasn’t moisturised enough so I apply a bit of my SKII moisturiser.  Maybe I’m paranoid.  Haha. 

One funny thing I noted – the Chinese name 我的心机 was translated as “My Scheming”.  Hehe.  Just sounds so wrong.  Wakakakaka.

I dreamt of my maternal grandparents last night.  I dreamt that I visited the place where my grandparents used to stay.  In my dream, I knew that it was in Ang Mo Kio, though the neighbourhood and the blocks of flats look quite different from what they look like in real life.  I guess you could call it my dreamscape AMK.  The road to my grandparents’ place is pretty much always the same in my dream.  I have to pass through this wet market into a carpark serving 3 blocks of flats and my grandparents lived in the middle block.

In my dream last night, I knew my grandparents had passed away and the visit I made to AMK was just to say hi to the familiar surroundings.  As strange as dreams get, I saw a man dressed as a gorilla in the wet market.  I also called out in Cantonese, “婆婆，阿公！我返来啦！”(meaning “Grandma, Grandpa, I’m back!).  It was my way of paying tribute to the memory of my grandparents I guess.

This morning, I decided to wear this cross pendant to work.  This was given to me by my grandma when she first accepted Christ in 1996 or 1997.  I’m not sure if she knew I was a Christian then but I think it was her way of saying she hoped I believed in Christ too.

This pendant was originally in yellow gold and my mom got it plated in white gold for me.  Anyway, this is just a short tribute to all the grandparents in the world.

God bless!

Read about WordPress’ challenge to bloggers – to either write a post a day (tough!!) or a post a week for the whole of 2011.  I’ve decided to take up the A Post A Week challenge.  Heh.  I got pretty slack with blogging ever since Twitter became a main feature of my life in Aug 2009 – 2010… so I’ll try my best to do a blog post a week.  Hope you’ll continue to support with your readership!

Took the 2 photos above with my Nokia N8.  Really really love the pics!

Went for my very first countdown event because I got wind that David Tao was going to perform 10 songs (I think he did about 12 songs in the end) and I thought this might be a good chance to meet him in person.  Heh.  The countdown show, in my opinion, was boring.  Most of the performers were green and unpolished.  Some event went off key!  Here’re the photos I took of the night.

The stage before the event started.

Some saxophonist from China who’s now studying in Singapore. 

The Singapore Char Siew Paus – no prizes for guessing once u’ve seen their size.  They were pretty good…

This group, Voodoo, made music out of banging metal tins & stuff.  They were surprisingly good.

The Dessert Rose – they were contestants in One Moment of Glory (thought I think Gory would’ve been a more accurate name).  They were doing belly dancing, supposedly, though I thought it looked more like Chinese dance.

Sylvia Ratonel – I quite like her voice actually.  She said she’s going to Shanghai to perform after this… though I wonder how she’s going to cope with the language barrier.

Jack & Rai.  Never been a fan but they were pretty good and professional compared to some of the other acts.

And presenting the best performer of the night…

DAVID TAO!!!!!

Other members of his band include:

Our Singaporean homeboy, David Tan, on vocals & lead guitar.

His drummer from LA – Brenden Berkley

Keyboardist & music director, Goh Kheng Long (yup!  Another Singaporean!)

Jingles the bassist.

On the left is Jamie Wilson, also on guitar.

Sylvester Sim and his band, Queen, also performed.  His singing seems to have gotten worse since his Singapore Idol days. 

Sezairi – still as mediocre as ever.

Skinny & short guys just don’t have stage presence.

Sheik Haikel.  He’s a big guy and he can rap!!

One Nation Emcee.  Wah lau eh… they really irritated 2010 out of me man.  Especially the minah’s fake American accent that had such strong Malay tones.  Argh…. couldn’t stand it.

Michelle Chia stumbled on her lines a little after we went live.. kinda strange ‘cos she was pretty natural before the show went live on TV.  I really admire her drop dead gorgeous figure though!!

David wishing Sheik a Happy New Year while Sylvester looks super left out.  Hahahaha.

Aiyoh Sylvester, mai so sore leh…

That’s all the pics I have – unfortunately.  After the show, 2 other DT fans and I actually went to the back of the building to wait for David Tao.  He came over to talk to us before boarding his van to leave for his hotel. 

Glad that I finally managed to say hi to DT in person (for those who don’t know, DT’s pretty nice to his fans.  He used to talk about his music on Twitter but has since moved onto Weibo.)  Sadly, he said I look more matured in my current hairstyle.. (i’m going to whack my hairstylist for this!!!)

Sigh.  Regret not asking DT for a picture together.  I thought it might be a little weird ‘cos we were separated by those grill barriers and his assistants seemed to want to usher him away as quickly as possible.  Think he only chatted with us for like 5 minutes?

Oh well.  I’m glad he remembers me from Twitter.  Haha.  Makes the $41 ticket price worth it.  WAHAHAHAHAHA.