Rant on Starhub TV subscription

Suppose to be a happy day. Met Foo Wen, Ben, Chew Hung and Lian Yin for breakfast at MacDonald. Seldom eat at MacDonald not to mention breakfast at there. Everything was nice, chatting all the time.

Reaching Expo, i even sneak into the hall together with the staffs even thou its only 10am, whereas the expo starts at 11am. So i was walking around getting ready to be the first few customers for Starhub..

Everything still smooth and steady.. Managed to queue even before the door opens, at around 1045am... Got my number and hang around looking at a few new phones. Tried out Sony Ericsson's X1 & C905. Also LG latest phone which i dont know what the model, 8MP camera PDA phone.. But Foo Wen claims that its abit lag.

Ok! Swee~ my number 3007!! Went to the counter. But was told that Digital Cable TV is already register under my house address!! WTF, i only have Max Online. Nvm the guy went to check again and told me that the previous owner didnt change his subscription address. WAH~~~~!!!!!

Initially i was so happy... First few customer sure get lucky dip, chance of getting a Samsung LCD TV!! Poof~ just like Naruto-disappearing-act, vanished liao~

Ok don't give up i get the previous owner's contact from my dad and even called up SH to check how long will it take to process the change of address. SH said 24hrs.. Still got chance, Sunday go down again. Even thou Saturday I'm working OT, i will still climb up from my bed and sneak into expo again! Now left the previous owner. Better call me back soon and change his address!! Fucking no effort you know! We have already moved in for sometime, still receiving his mails and now this stupid issue!! argh~


Updated 10mins after post
Have changed to the previous F#$K my previous home owner! to the new title (see above). The owner called me finally.. Owner is positively in trying to help me out to solve the problem. he gave Starhub a call to settle the issue.

Problem is previous owner had changed his billing address for the bills to be sent to his new address. However SH database doesn't seems to appear this way.. Ok, now i have to think of another day to travel down to settle Cable TV.

Now considering running this evening for the 20km so tomorrow i can settle everything then pin hope on Sunday whereas I'm heavily handicapped by a 20km run and OT from work on Saturday... HOW???


Pissed, Erupting
Calm and Peaceful
C Cube

Some idiotic buyer from togoparts

Before i went for Taiwan, i pass my Merlin titanium frame to my teacher to sell. Recently he got a interested buyer. He asked for the best price my teacher is willing to sell, so to check in eBay for its resale value.

Follow up, he reply via email, offering $750 over $1500 which my teacher offered. Together with the lousy reason why and how he come out with the price.

Below is the email he sent:

"Hi, thanks for your email address. I think yours is a Merlin Extralight?The indicated price of your Merlin frameset (1995 vintage) would be about $750.

Please allow me to explain how I derived that value.

A Merlin Extralight Titanium Road Bike, Dura Ace (1994) - complete bicycle sold for US$775 (about S$1180). Component price is normally about S$450. Hence, frameset alone S$730.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Merlin-Extralight-Titanium-Road-Bike-Dura-Ace_W0QQitemZ270086941818QQihZ017QQcategoryZ98084QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A 2003 Merlin Cielo frameset sold for US$1075 (about $1650). The Cielo is Merlin's ti and carbon model with nice engraving.
http://cgi.ebay.com/03-Merlin-Cielo-Frame-Set-57cm-Ouzo-Pro-Int-fork_W0QQitemZ150088626552QQihZ005QQcategoryZ98084QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A 2000 Merlin sold for US$860 (about S$1300). Sold with :-Easton EC90 carbon fiber fork-Chris King Headset-Ritchey WCS Stem-Thompson Elite seat post-Selle Italia Flite seat-Aluminum bottle cages (2)
http://cgi.ebay.com/2000-MERLIN-EXTRALIGHT-FRAME-with-EASTON-FORK_W0QQitemZ220077737459QQihZ012QQcategoryZ98084QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A new Merlin (complete bicycle) went for US$1500 (about S$2300).
http://cgi.ebay.com/MERLIN-TR3-2-5-TIT-MED-LG-ULT-10-SPD-REAL-SUPER-700_W0QQitemZ250083000033QQihZ015QQcategoryZ98084QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These are just indicative value. But a good yardstick to work with.

I am a sincere buyer, 40 yr old with two sons. Keeping and riding vintage road bicycles are my hobby. So, I am always fair and realistic with buying bicycles, as well as when I sell them (when my wife nags me). I am not a bargain hunter, nor am I a profiteer. But I will only buy at realistic current value.Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks Cornelius Loh
(legnano on togoparts.com)"

My thoughts are:

I'm very impress with the effort you took to find out the prices. But did you add in the shipping prices? Some of the shipping prices is US$100. Do some simple mathematics, its easily S$155 and does not include shipping into SINGAPORE. You have to use service like VPOST to get it in, and will roughly work out to be S$300 w/o the GST. In total, you can pay more than half a 1k just to get the cheap frame in.

Also do you know that the exchange rate you get from Yahoo! Finance is not the same with what the bank is charging when you transact

I don't know how tall is you are, but all the frames you stated above are all 55cm and above. If you are satisfied with two sons, then you can go ahead and get the frames and smash your balls when you dismount. Do you know how seldom it is to see a 48cm Merlin frame in eBay?

Just compare with the resale value of Merlin frames in togoparts. They are not cheap always more than 1k. Calling yourself fair and realistic! C'mon old man i think you should surf more on togoparts marketplace or even eBay.. Do more transaction & shipping from eBay/oversea... And lastly, open up your dog eye!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16-5lbs-2005-Merlin-Solis-Triple-51cm-Titanium_W0QQitemZ150090710469QQihZ005QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/Merlin-Lunaris-Carbon-Ti-Titanium-Road-Frame-Ouzo-Fork_W0QQitemZ150091171561QQihZ005QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Pissed off
C Cube

Queuing in POSB Bank

After being stuck in army camp for the pass few months, i finally have the chance to change my bank book in the bank. This time i went to the POSB bank at Tampines 201. The queue seems to be short, at least it does not reach till the glass door. I though it will be just a few minutes wait. Altogether there are 5 counter, but only 2 are working efficiently.

So the question is why!?

For the full 20min queue in bank, i noticed this plump staff. She only transact for 1 customer. The rest of the time she is doing some admin paperwork, doesn't look like the leftover paperwork from the previous customer. Sorry for being so crude calling her plump, but i cant help staring at her not attending a customer, notice every single movement she is making, which does not shows any form or urgency.

OK you all might wanna say she is doing important paperwork which cannot be delay. Then my problem will be "why is she sitting at the counter!"

When customers go into a bank and saw 5 counter, they would expect to see 5 counters operating, plus the queue is getting longer. It is unlike going to MacDonald where sometimes you see only 5 out of 8 counter operating. Queues are long but you know soon it will be your turn as it takes around or less than 5 mins for each staff to hand 1 customer.

So maybe I should take a look into the workload of each staff of different counter. Usually what causes the long wait in bank? The morons who i mention before in my friend's blog? or people queuing up to change the latest edition purple paper
No not really. In fact it wasn't really the fault of the staff, they know their job scope and admin processes well. So whats the fucking problem??

Well do you know that bank does not only deal with banking transaction like withdraw, deposit and transfer? All these could be done by the machines outside the bank but some people still don't know how to use them. Maybe all of you know about this, I also know. But i didn't know whats the frequency of such cases that will happen per day, per hour? or even when I'm waiting for my turn to make a transaction! All you need is just 2-3 faggots in front of you make those very administrative transaction, 5 counters is equivalent to only 2 or even 1.

Why cant there be a counter for express transaction like changing of bank book or some minor services? or a counter to entertain those long transaction? I really felt that waiting 20mins just to get my bank book changed is seriously inefficient.

At least the management knew about the problem with long queue. They employ a 'mobile' staff to walk through the queue, trying to settle some simple admin before the customer reach the counter which hopefully save some time.

Finally, I also used a ATM today. They are updated with newer version, allowing the user to customize the amount they usually withdraw. Usually i only withdraw $20, this allow me to save more time and hopefully will fasten the process of people withdrawing money. BUT there will sure be people who dont know how to make use of this function.

Money not enough
C Cube