Kuantan Getaway

Last week, my wife and I took a break in Kuantan. It was a long overdue trip and we had many things to do. Among them a break from work, grocery shopping, shopping for new work clothes, facial, etc. We started of with a night's stay at Bukit Gambang Resort City. You can read about it here.

Steamed Chinese Yam Cake that was served at the Arabian Bay Resort during breakfast. Not bad but I recommend the Caribbean Bay Resort's coffee house food over the Arabian Bay.

On our way to Kuantan we stopped by to see what the aborigines had made. They were pretty expensive... the ladel my wife's holding costs RM25. We didn't really need anything so we gave it a miss given the price.

My wife was craving for Japanese food so Sushi King is a must. We arrived at about 12 noon. The manager (I think) stopped us at the entrance and apologised, stating that they had a training and would need about 15 minutes more before the concluded and requested that we came back later. We waited nearby and when they were ready we proceeded in. As a gesture they waived off two of our most expensive dishes. Wow! Impressive!

And of course we had to have our fix of Starbucks as we don't have it in Terengganu.

Then we went to Berjaya Mega Mall as I wanted to have this Nasi Lemak. It hasn't changed one bit in terms of taste and portion consistency. Impressive, 5 years later and it's still good but it now costs RM2.80.

Before we left Kuantan we stopped by for Hoi Yin's Curry Mee at Teluk Cempedak. Again, this is one of those that managed to keep their consistency all these years.

We will be coming back to Kuantan again soon as this is the nearest place for us for our 'Sanity Trip'. However, next month it will be back to Kuala Lumpur as I have a court case to attend.

My Zalora Experience Revived!

Sure, when people mess up I bitch about it.... and when they make up for it, I will acknowledge it. I was pleasantly surprised indeed. Well done!

Click on it for larger version...

My Zalora Experience

Express delivery but horrible, horrible system...

I first attempted to purchase via Zalora sometime last year when I received their RM25 coupon but somehow, it never worked. No matter how I tried, it wouldn’t allow me the discount.  I dropped their Customer Service an e-mail stating my predicament but I never got a response. So, to me if I am not worthy of a reply then you are not worthy of my business.

Then I moved to Dungun... and if you know Dungun, you will know that there isn’t much choice as far as fashion is concerned. I bought two pairs of shoes last November and one pair just busted. My experiment worked. So I decided to continue with my successful experiment and buy myself more shoes at the same price range.

That’s how Zalora came back into the picture. They have some pretty good stuff and they range from very affordable to expensive. Their sorting options made it very easy for me to find what I wanted. After narrowing down my options and placing them in Favorites which is then stored as a ‘Wishlist’, I made my initial purchase to test the system. My first few attempts failed at the ‘iPay88’ module. I gave up and went to bed. The next day I tried again and with success. However, as soon as the purchase went through I realised that I chose the wrong shoe size, 43.

I immediately started a chat session with the Customer Service. This is something I really liked. I managed to get my order cancelled and was advised that I would get my refund via store credit within 24 hours. What I was not told was that 24 hours meant ‘business day’. Since my transaction was on a Friday afternoon, I only got my store credit on the 7th.

Anyway, I didn’t wait for my store credit and made a purchase the following day which was on the 4th for a size 44 shoe instead. Everything went well and you get your confirmations via e-mail. In your account at their website there will be a record of your order but it does not tell you when you will get your item despite having an ‘Estimated Delivery’. The next thing I knew, I received my order on the 5th. Efficient... too efficient. They don’t even send you a tracking number.

Along with the order was a 10% discount voucher with its code to be used online and also a return slip. Alas, the shoe didn’t fit... it was still one size too small. So, I quickly filled up the form with the correct size, 45 and had the shoe sent back the following day via PosLaju as required. Zalora will refund the postage to you and resend the correct size.

On the 7th I made another purchase with size 45 as I had intentions to buy more than one pair. This was before I received my store credit. It was seamless. I received the shoes the following day. This time, the shoe was too big... I realised that this was due to the cutting of the shoe. I kept the shoe as it felt ok after I wore some thick socks and inserted insoles.

On the 8th, still no sign of my other shoe despite Poslaju having delivered the shoes back to Zalora on the morning of the 7th. I then received my store credit of RM79 via a coupon code.

The following day, still no sign of the other pair of shoes. So I made another purchase using my store credit. Here is where it gets confusing, which I only figured out later. The shoe I wanted costs RM7 less than my credit... but after I key in the code, it does not show that I have RM7 credit left. I assumed that it was a one-time use. And get this... you can only use the store credit OR the discount code, NOT BOTH. WTF? One is a discount... the other is a credit!! I don’t like Zalora already... sigh! Anyway, I just proceeded as I wanted to close this chapter and be done with Zalora.

Purchase done. Then I received an e-mail stating that I had another store credit from my returned shoe. Huh? I am supposed to get the postage in store credit not for the whole amount plus postage. No explanation... just the notice of store credit. I let it be and continue to wait for my shoes.

The following day, the shoe that I had just purchased with store credit arrives. No sign of the earlier shoe. By now I figured out that they refunded the whole amount as the size that I wanted was no longer available by then.

I thought I was done with Zalora but now I still had credit to use. It so happened that yesterday marked their 1 millionth sale and they had an automatic 10% discount storewide. So I used this opportunity to close my chapter. The 10% would be in addition to whatever discounts that you had. I had 3 discount codes by now. They send you one with every delivery. However, at checkout, you can only use ONE discount code OR your store credit. When I checked my available coupons, the old store credit that I had used was still there so I tried to use... it worked... it deducted the balance of RM7 that I thought was gone. So, I have two store credits now but I can only use one for checkout... again. WTF! WTF!

Damn frustrating... it’s ok if I don’t get discounts... I would like it but it is not a deal breaker but when I can’t use money that is rightfully mine the way I want, I get pissed off. Anyway, I really want to close this chapter and proceed with using the store credit of the larger amount despite only getting 10% off when I should be getting 20%.

At checkout, the browser hangs at the iPay88 module and finally times out. Tiunasing! Checked my order in my accounts section. The transaction is there but as unsuccessful. Check to see if my store credit is there... NOPE... checked the shoes... sizes no longer available. The system has blocked both my shoe sizes and my credit.

I start a chat with Harry the Customer Service and asks him how to proceed. He’s very polite and apologetic. He says I will get my store credit back in 24 hours. So I asked him what about my discount? Will I get it tomorrow when I use my store credit. No... today is last day. I tell him that this sucks... he apologises. He recommends that I make a new order today to enjoy the discount and he will make arrangements to refund my store credit. How nice of him. But... the shoes are no longer available as the system has blocked them... I asked him if he could release it... no, system auto releases after 24 hours.

This really, really sucks I tell him. Again he apologises.

I have since made my purchase again without the discount... and I still have my RM7 in store credit.

Will I use Zalora again? Maybe... but it won’t be at the top of my list. I feel very cheated with their ‘one discount code’ policy. Yes, it is only fair to apply one discount but store credit is store credit... why treat it as a discount and deprive me of discounts?

You’re potentially losing customers but since you have one million sales I guess it is not important to you...

Updated here...

Respect... the missing trait.

If you came here wondering what happened to my Facebook page, you now know why. I deactivated it. I woke up this morning, scrolled through it and decided I had enough. I have had enough of the nonsense that was on Facebook.

I love Lamb Shank... absolutely love it... but my wife hates it. But despite hating it she does not stop me from having it until recently, due to medical reasons. Now, she makes sure I only get to eat it once in a blue moon. Have I ever tried to coax my wife to try it? Of course I have... but she refuses. Do I force her? No, I don't... I just tell her she does not know what she's missing. It's her choice and I respect it.

My wife loves to karaoke. I on the other hand, do not enjoy it. But I do not stop her from going karaoke-ing with her sisters every now and then. She will keep trying to persuade me to join her but each time I refuse. And she will respect my decision.

I respect what she likes and does not like... and likewise she respects my choices to. She was brought up in a different culture and me in another... she in a different decade and me another. Yet we respect each other's values and beliefs. We try to find a common ground in all this and we have... through respect. We never force each other.

Knowledge should be shared, by all means... but not slander. Knowledge brings good to all parties... slander brings harm to one or both parties. If you did not see it or hear it yourself nor can you name witnesses who did and when it happened then it is slander. 

Enough said... we are all adults. Let's start behaving like adults.