BELLAMYBUDIMAN

Since my PowerShot G10′s optical unit decided to bust itself out back in September, my camera has been in Datascrip Service Center since September 14. A couple days after that, they called me to inform that the parts needed for the job must be ordered directly from Japan. Right now it has been 43 days since the job order was issued and there are no signs of completion whatsoever.

On October 13, I received this text message stating that the parts needed will arrive on October 21:

It’s currently October 27, I called the service center back, and they said there was trouble with the parts expedition and they expect it to arrive on early November.

Seriously, Datascrip? How much longer should I wait for the parts to arrive? A month? A year? A decade? If you’re going to sell Canon products here, don’t you have the slightest idea that you HAVE TO HAVE SPARE PARTS READY FOR CUSTOMERS?! What kind of an idiot that sells common consumer products without the ability to service them accordingly and in a timely manner?

Update #2:
The manager called me yesterday and offered me an upgrade to a G12 for a million less than the listed price. That’s around 1.45 million, and around the same price I have to pay for the G10 spare parts. He said it is a compensation for the disappointment I have with their incompetence, and that he can’t make sure when the parts are coming in himself. However, today, this is what I got:

Now it stated that I have to pay 2.5 millions to trade to a G12. So this is apparently how Datascrip does their business? They promise you one thing, and then they screw you right on your face. What other dumbshit have you done today, Datascrip? I called this in and they said the price was already according to the memo FROM THE SAME MANAGER. I no longer know who’s the dumbass in Datascrip anymore at this point. Could be just the customer service officer (which is not really a surprise), or it could be everyone.

Update #3:
After another complaint, I got another phone call, confirming that I would only have to pay 1.458 million. According to the caller, the reason why nobody have a fucking clue on why I don’t have to pay for a full upgrade price is because they have not been informed yet by the manager. Nice, two different phone calls, two different reasons. If the decision is yet to be made, then why the hell did they texted me with the message above in the first place? This whole process is just purely idiotic.

Seriously, Datascript, you better get this thing right. Either your incompetent employees, or your workflow, whatever. This is seriously embarassing.

My close friends and perhaps several of my followers in Twitter would probably know by now that I loath Acer big time. Not because I’m a Apple fan boy (like they said, and believe me I’m not, but this is not what we’re discussing right now), but because of first hand experience that Acer products are simply shit.

Back in the days, my Dad used to have this small Acer Tablet PC. I completely forgot the name or model because Acer, just like most computer manufacturers love numbers and codes instead of product names. This tablet PC is so shit that it made Dad asked me each day “what the fuck is wrong with this thing that it hangs when doing anything?” and it is so shit that it cannot level itself perfectly on a table with the battery attached.

Over the years, I have yet to see that improvement from Acer, not in quality, not in durability. They are all, in my opinion, still plasticky, and shit.

Now, recently, Acer announced that they wanted to be more like Apple, and they restructured themselves to make that happen. And seriously, who would’ve thought that in the process of being more like Apple, they decided to ape the MacBook Air and came out with this:

So do you think Acer deserves my loathe? Yes, just because I hate plagiarists. What’s next on your to-do list, Acer? An Aspire that looks like a Mac Pro? A Z5 that looks like an iMac? Or maybe an Iconia that looks like an iPhone? Or maybe, just maybe, a CEO that looks like Steve Jobs?

Pertamax is somehow cheaper than Shell’s Super so I thought I’d give Pertamina another chance and topped up my tank there tonight. Not that I’m being particularly stingy about the fuel price, but I thought it was a perfect time to see whether turning back to Pertamina is really worth it or not.

Tonight, I bought 38.22 liters of fuel. That is something which I have to pay for IDR 275,184 to Shell. They charge Super for IDR 7,200 a liter right now, while Pertamina charges Pertamax for IDR 7,050 per liter. At that point in the gas station, I’m expecting to pay Pertamina IDR 269,430 for the fuel.

No.

Instead, they charged me IDR 275,430. I asked the attendant why and he said that for every IDR 50,000 worth of fuel, Pertamina charges you an additional IDR 1,000 if you’re paying with a credit card. This would probably be okay if the rule was written somewhere within the vicinity, like maybe posted on every fucking fuel pump there, but no, there was nothing written there at all. So to me, this is clearly a ripoff. For the record, I was never charged for any extra fee when filling up with Shell or Total. So props to them (and they have much better customer service, too).

Nice try, Pertamina. If by good service means ripping off customers a thousand for every fifty without even telling them, then fuck you for stealing. To me, it’s not about the amount of money that you ripped off, but in a sane world, there is this thing that you call business ethics. But then again, this is a state-run company. What can you expect?

As much as I think that both SCTV and Telkom are practically morons, they’re not the bad guys in this case. This afternoon, Dad received a call from +62 21 85551574 (thank God for caller ID) who claims that he’s from Telkom, telling Dad that he won a prize money worth 20 million and a phone. All he had to do is to watch SCTV on 9 PM later tonight. The guy then wanted to confirm our residential address. Dad flipped the question and he failed to answer, flopping his attempt to make the fraud.

I know that this is probably far fetched, but if there’s any way to trace down who owned that Esia number, I would really like to know, go to his stinkin’ house and torture that son of a bitch myself. You know, just for kicks.

And if you’d like to contribute profanity to the guy in question, by all means, I left his number up there.

Due to their extensively SLOW One Night Service package delivery, and their impossible-to-be-contacted Customer Support, yesterday I decided to send an email to JNE with my complaint. Here’s my email:

Saya menunggu paket penting yang dikirim kilat kemarin dari Bandung (resi 1445663550001), tapi sampai detik ini belum sampai, dan ini sudah hampir habis jam kantor. Ini apanya yang kilat? Servisnya sangat mengecewakan dan merugikan. Telepon JNE pusat juga semuanya sibuk DARI PAGI. Sebenarnya ada ngga sih yang kerja di sana? Masa hotline sibuk dari pagi?

Best regards,

Bellamy B. Budiman

Today, they replied me with this (sent from their email adm.cssuport3@jne.co.id):

Dear Ibu Bellamy,

Sebelumnya mohon maaf email Ibu baru kami respon dan terimakasih atas email serta kepercayaan Ibu terhadap perusahaan kami JNE. Kami informasikan bahwa kiriman Ibu telah diterima pada tanggal 27-08-2010 jam. 18:59 penerima: SUTIKNO.

Best Regards,
Dina Parlina
CS Officer
Customer Service Department

For being a numbskull and assuming that I am female, I replied them with this:

FYI, ini dengan BAPAK Bellamy, bukan ibu. Tentunya Ibu Dina tidak mau kalau saya panggil Bapak Dina?

Best regards,

Bellamy B. Budiman

So, Dina Parlina from JNE, if you can’t decide one’s gender, it is best that you use “Bapak/Ibu” or simply just the name instead. But, of course, that would be too much for you to understand, wouldn’t it?

I’ve done a bit of research, too. I found two credible hits for “Dina Parlina”. Apparently, those results are always related to customer complaints, as described here and here. So, it’s either Dina Parlina is a real person and presumably a man, or it’s just a cover name for their Customer Support.