Suria KLCC Ramadhan 2011

Irfan finished his kindergarten classes at around noon, while Idlan at 3. So, this three hours today was spent taking Irfan for lunch at KLCC. He wanted pizza. We stopped at Pizza Hut. Since it was still Ramadhan, I spent the half-hour staring at him gobbling the round cheesy thing down.

Right after, I had the chance to explore the decorations on offer at KLCC. A couple of years ago, Suriar KLCC enrolled the brilliance of Dato' Lat for the decor, and the result was unforgettable. Just peruse this link just in case you dis not have the chance to experience it.

This year, things were scaled back. I mean waaaay back. But it was not as lame as Mid Valley. They had a replica Malay kampung house - with a gamelan troupe playing during lunchtime. There were of course, the obligatory stalls around it - again selling food, biscuits and clothing items as with other venues.

According to the information at the counter, they had activities all through the month reflecting the local Aidilfitri celebration. I was sure they had the tourists in mind.

View from the third floorPersonally, I did not think it was worth the effort making a special trip to look at the decor. The one featuring Lat from two years ago was definitely a one-off. As a central tourist attraction in the Capital, I thought they could have done a lot more. For God's sake, they even had a four-story Christmas tree a few years back ......

Sunshine Sunday

Woke up to such glorious sunshine, even though it was not such a smooth night, with both Idlan and Irfan coughing all evening. Idlan was still carrying a fever. At least it made waking up for sahur that bit easier.

Now that Astro is back, the boys were looking forward to Animal Mechanical and Imagination Movers at around noon. And as usual, Dad would join in. The fever is still there, but both of them had a hefty breakfast. Idlan was running around a bit earlier, which was good.

So, enjoying the sunshine at home while I can. Rather do that than joining the crowd doing Hari Raya shopping at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The place would be packed, and the weather would be searing! Happy Sunday all!

Mid Valley Raya Decor

I was actually expecting more from Mid Valley. I remembered their spectacular Raya decors of yesteryears. Their amazing Chinese New Year effort, as well as Christmas. I went to Mid Valley this morning, armed with my camera with high hopes.

I parked at Gardens, and made my way across via the Lower Ground Floor walkway. At the middle area, where the corridors met, were filled with stalls selling mooncakes. It was nice and colourful, and so I ventured forth to the main foyer. And what did I see?

A lame effort to turn the central gallery into some sort of an Arab Market. It was basically a collection of stalls - around a dozen of them - selling cookies and clothes. The kind of things that you can easily pick up at bazaars. And the collection the sold there was not really that exclusive either. At least not as exclusive as Bangsar Village. Right at the centre is a small island with date trees - supposedly. Err .... That was about it.

Told you that the mooncake stalls were much more interestingThere was a small stage - it being morning I wasn't expecting a show or anything - tucked on one side. I can't see much attraction there at all. They ought to put more effort I guess. I actually enjoyed the spectacles at the mooncake stalls more than the Raya decor. Thumbs down, most definitely.

Customers Are Just a Bunch of Suckers

I waited until almost noon before contacting Astro, and guess what, they had to make a fresh report before any action can be taken. They were not even sure if the technician has been dispatched to sort my case out. Again, a promise that everything would be sorted out in 48 hours. This time, I was having none of it.

I insisted on speaking to the on duty manager as the lady on the other end of the line was clearly not able to sort the situation out. 10 minutes later, she relented. The initial excuse was, she had to trace out all the previous calls and contact the technical unit. I said, she can do it while I stayed on the line.

She assured me that the manager would call me in a bit, but again, I insisted that I would stay on the line while waiting for her to get her act together.

I only agreed to hang up if I was given the name of the Manager and how to contact him through a direct line. None of this 1300 number with touchtone selections business anymore.

The Manager did call me after 30 minutes to apologise. He realised that this was my sixth call, the first being the 10th of August. We agreed that the problem would need sorting today. I thanked him, but asked if he agreed that if I did not insist on speaking to him, it would be another few days before my problem sorted out. And that is if I was lucky.

At about 2.30 pm, a technician rang to inform me he was coming. I then asked for his name and whether he was informed by the central office about my issues. His name was Yap, and no, the only clue he had was he was referred to check what the problem was. No, a set top replacement is only possible after another green light from Astro. And this was despite the previous visit by his colleague on Tuesday confirming that the decoder unit needed replacing.

I called the Astro manager from earlier, a gentleman called Fauzi. Told him to inform the technician that he would need to come with a decoder, otherwise not to bother coming over at all. It would just be wasting both his and my time.

So, Mr Yap came over with a new decoder. He agreed that the decoder needed replacing. He did that. And everybody went home happy. It only took him literally 3 minutes to get the job done. I was also informed by the manager that during the time my service was cut, I would get a refund. I told him that that was the least he could do. The decent thing would be to give the whole month free, but then again, Astro is not in the business in making their customers happy. At the end of the day, the customers were just a bunch of suckers!

The morale of the story? First, the Customer Service advisor is very efficient in calling if you miss your bills. As for sorting out your problems, be prepared to call multiple times. Second, if you want things sorted out after a second phonecall, insist on talking to the manager. Third, the computer system in terms of recording our complaint stream with Astro left a lot to be desired. The funding might have gone into making their advert instead I guess. Those adverts in HD must have cost a bomb!

Fourth, Astro Customer Service does not communicate sufficiently to their technical support. And vise versa. Fifth, be prepared to mess up your Saturday just to get what should have been a simple problem sorted out. To be honest, from now on, I don't trust Astro customer service anymore. They made promises they couldn't deliver. Repeatedly. It would take more than a lip service to won me back. It's a shame that they had such a monopoly.

Things to do

Things to do this morning? Pretty simple. First, stay with Idlan who had been running temperature overnight but was in great spirit this morning. And second, where is Astro? I had to call them again yesterday - call number 5 - as apparently my case had been closed.

So, they promised me that there will be a new a technician with a new Astro Decoder unit at my house by 10 am this morning. Well, it was past that now ..... I'll give I until noon before I call them again I think.