Category: Complaints

The other day I posted about the great offer that the SONY dealer had where you can buy a 60GB Sony PS3 plus a get a game of your choice and an extra controller for KD139 and a PS3 by itself for KD135. Well it turns out the salesman was an idiot. For KD139 you get a 40GB PS3 with one joypad and the movie Spiderman and here is the best part, for KD135 you get a 60GB PS3 by itself BUT it doesn’t come with warranty! I spoke to a salesman over the phone after I heard about this just to confirm and it turned out to be true.

Even stores in Rihab who are selling grey market PS3’s give customers at least 3 months warranty, how come the official SONY dealer doesn’t provide warranty on the PS3’s they’re selling? This is just wrong in so many ways, its really a bad business decision. There is a lot of piracy in Kuwait and if the SONY dealer wants people to purchase proper Middle East versions of the PS3’s and not the grey market USA and Japanese version this is really the wrong way to go about it. Why should I buy from the official dealer if the grey market versions have warranty and theirs don’t?

Thank you MYK!

Why do companies bother getting rights for a brand if they are not going to bother getting the merchandise? Last night I passed by iCity who are the dealers of Wacom tablets in Kuwait and they didn’t have any tablets available in stock just one which was the display model. The salesman told me they get Wacom tablets only by order and that it takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. What the hell?? I could order the tablet myself from Amazon and have it delivered to me in a week AND it would cost me nearly half the price iCity is charging.

Under normal circumstances I would order from Amazon but I need the tablet in the next few days for a friend and ordering from Amazon is not an option. Does anyone know who else sells them in Kuwait (grey market)? I tried Virgin, Jarir and Hawalli and no one has it.

This is the second time I pick up my laundry from 5àSec only to find tags stapled into my shirts and tshirts! The first time I spotted the stapled tag in my tshirt it pissed me off but I was like maybe it was just this once and I let it go. Yesterday though I found two staples with a tag in one of my nice shirts and now I am really pissed. I am guessing they staple these tags to keep track of the items but come on there must be a better solution. When you staple clothes you are basically punching holes in them and ruining them so I don’t know why people are allowing them to do that. Personally I am no longer going to use them ever again.

I am a big fan of the chocolate cheesecake from Lorenzo but today I decided I am not going to have it anymore. I was at The Avenues killing time and on my way out I decided to pick up some cheesecake from Lorenzino Cafe so I could have them at home. It wasn’t my first time, its become a habit for me every time I visit The Avenues.

Today though there was a new manager there and he was a total dick. I went up to the counter and the manager came up to me, I told him I needed cake to go. He was like full cake or slices? I told him I needed two slices. He told me he wouldn’t be able to do that. I was like huh? Why? He told me he didn’t have any staff to action my order. I was like you have that guy (I pointed to one) putting cake on a plate, can’t he also put cake in a box? He told me no he couldn’t. I stood there for a few seconds bewildered before I decided to walk away.

I thought about getting into an argument with the manager because what he was saying didn’t make any sense but then I was like fuck it, its there loss if they don’t want to sell me cake. I should have gotten his name though so I could make an official complaint but I didn’t. All I remember was that he was Lebanese and had a shaved head.

I think this was one of my worst customer service experiences because it was such an avoidable incident. Usually I complain without offering a solution but today I decided I would.

What the manager should have done was the following:

a) Action the order himself which is what I would have done. At work when something needs to go out urgently in my department and there isn’t anyone to action the job then I would do it myself. Last Friday when Lorenzino was MUCH more packed, the manager (a different one) gave us the slices of cake himself. Its not brain surgery, its just taking cake from the fridge and placing them in boxes.

b) If he was too lazy to give us the cakes himself he could have at least told us that we could have the cakes but it would just take a bit longer then usual because they were really busy. Or maybe told us to come back in 15 minutes.

Anyway, I don’t need their cheesecake and I don’t need Lorenzo. If anything I am better off now since cheesecake is fattening.

If you are going to copy paste articles from blogs and put them on your website at least have the courtesy to link the original blog properly. Gulfnews had no problem copying and pasting my Faloda post onto their website but when it came to copying and pasting my blogs website address they misspelled it and it ended up as 248.am.com!

Its cool they are into blogs and actually publishing them on their website BUT I would do things differently. For one thing I would make the url’s for the blogs at the very least clickable. That way their readers could just click on the links and be taken to our sites helping us get more traffic.

The second thing is I wouldn’t copy and paste blog posts word for word and publish them like that on the site. Instead I would actually get one of the writers to summarize the articles (like we bloggers do) and then provide links to the original posts in case their readers want to read more. That way they would be supporting bloggers again by sending traffic their way.

The way Gulfnews has things set up now they aren’t sending any traffic to the blogs and instead are just using blogs to add more content to their own website. Thats basically stealing since they are taking articles without permission and then not giving anything back in return.

As I said its cool that they are into blogs but I would take things a step further and actually try to support bloggers by sending traffic to them.

Make sure you check their blogs section at gu.lf.news.com

My MEA plane was supposed to take off at 11:15AM but after boarding the plane turns out there was going to be a delay. After 2 hours of waiting on the plane with no AC we were taken back to the airport transit area where we are now waiting for the plane to either get fixed or something. It really sucks.

note: on the bright side The 4 Cats are with us on the same flight.

In the article below on online shopping one store that was mentioned was called Noutique. I think Noutique has a MAJOR flaw which is the fact that you have to create and account and log in BEFORE you can even see what they have available for sale!

Who is going to bother going through that hassle just so they can check out what they have for sale?

You won’t believe what happened to me today! Yesterday I picked up my BMW from the dealer and as I mentioned before, the car overheated just before I reached my home. Today morning I was supposed to pass by the dealer to give them a piece of my mind when on the way while driving on the Gulf Road my car overheats again! I parked the car in the Green Island parking lot and called a friend who got a tow truck to come pick up my car. We took my car to the BMW dealer and I go up to the guy who had taken care of my car and told him that after I left the dealership yesterday the car over heated and today on my way over it also over heated. He was very cold and didn’t apologize or anything, he took my car keys and told me to wait and then left.

Fifteen minutes later the guy comes back and tells me your car needs to stay here you can leave now. I was like what do you mean I can leave?? What about my car, how long does it need, whats wrong with it? He was like they are checking on that now. I was like ok but I need another car, I have work and things to do. He was like you can talk to the manager so I do.

I explain my situation to the manager, I tell him I brought my car in because of some strange vibrations and after paying a shit load of money I take the car back and suddenly its over heating. I tell him its a fault from their side and they should give me a car to use until they fix their mistake. He tells me its not their mistake and its not their responsibility. He tells me its very normal for a car to over heat and it can happen to any car at any time. I stood there in shock, other then the fact that no one apologized to me but now the guy is telling me that the problem is my fault no theirs! What car built in this century still over heats?!? Maybe if it was 1985 and I was stuck in traffic I could imagine a car over heating but this is a 2001 BMW and its over heating without any traffic!

I end up leaving the place thinking about how much I hate BMW and the dealership. When I was thinking of selling my car I was thinking of maybe getting a BMW Z4 or a Land Rover LR3 but now I am thinking about how I never want to buy a BMW ever again yet alone anything from this dealership.

A few minutes ago I get a phone call from BMW, they tell me they found some leak and it will cost KD320 to fix. I was like excuse me? No thank you, please don’t touch my car I will pick it up tomorrow and go fix it somewhere else.

So I haven’t had anything to eat all day because during my lunch break I had to pick up my BMW from the dealer. Then when I am finally on my way home the car overheats and that pisses me off. I finally get home and I am starving so I place an order from Hardees. Usually it takes them 15 minutes to deliver the food to my place but its been over an hour now and the food isn’t here yet! I had to call them up and cancel my order and now I am trying to figure out what to do. Its clearly not my day!

So I finally pick up my car today from the dealer and I am on my home and guess what? The car overheats! I had to park the car, wait till the engine cooled and then had to fill it up with at least 2 liters of water! I mean what the hell! I just paid a load of cash to have my car fixed and I get it without water in the radiator?!!? I am sooo pissed I am going back to the dealer tomorrow morning to give them a piece of my mind!!!

I had such a terrible experience with cab drivers today. In the morning I dropped my car at a garage in Shuwaikh then from there I decided to take a cab back to work.

I stop one of those beige and white taxis, I get in, I look and notice the driver had started the counter and we drive off. Five minutes later we are under my office building, I look at the counter it says 500fils so I give the driver 500fils. He then tells me he wants KD1.5 not half a dinar. I was like what? why? The counter says 500fils. He was like ok KD1. I was like why should I give you KD1 when the counter says 500fils. I get out of the cab with the driver yelling at me angrily.

Later during lunch I decide to take a cab back to my house. I stop another cab driver, I get in and I tell him turn the counter on. He says its not working, I was like fine thank you and I open the door to exit when he stops me and tells me its working but I can’t get a receipt. I was like fine I don’t need a receipt. He drops me under my house, the counter said 850fils and I give him KD1 and tell him to keep the change.

An hour later I have to get back to work, so I stop another cab under my house and I tell him to start the counter. He was like why, I will charge you KD1 to get to Kuwait City, you want it to be less then that? I figured KD1 is the same price I paid to get to my house so whatever. He drives off and gets onto the Gulf Road, once we are near McDonalds he spots an American tourist on the side of the road and decides to pick him up. I was thinking “O…K… lets see where this is going” The tourist gets in and wants to go to Souk Sharq. We drive off and a few minutes later we reach Souk Sharq. The tourist asks how much, the driver says KD1.5 and the tourist pays. The ride should have cost the tourist MAX half a dinar and here the driver was charging him triple the price and the tourist was fine with that.

So he drops the tourist off and we start to drive off when I tell the cab driver he should give me a discount now. He was like why? I was like because you wanted KD1 from me to Kuwait City and you just made KD1.5 from this tourist. He was like so? I was like its illegal to pick up another passenger plus you wasted my time now by driving through Souk Sharq. He was like what is this some kind of new law? I told him its not a new law and its not my first time riding cabs so don’t try to fuck around with me. He stops the car and tells me I can get out here and he doesn’t want anything from me. I was like fine whatever.

So I am now waiting in the shade at Souk Sharq for another cab to pass by and one does. I get in and tell him to start the counter. He tells me its not working, I was like thank you and I open the door. He then tells me wait how much do you want to pay? I was like I want to pay whatever the counter tells me and I get out. I could have told the guy half a dinar or whatever but I wanted to be stubborn because I wanted to see how messed things can get.

I wait five minutes till the next cab shows up. I get in and I tell him to start the counter. He politely says ok. We get to my destination and the total was 400fils. I give the driver KD1 and tell him to keep the change. Finally a decent driver.

I can’t believe how bad the taxi service is in Kuwait, and all this in just one day!

Picture by Mink

Bazaar Magazine have a new website (finally no more hotmail emails) which you can access by going to bazaar-magazine.com. Sadly the WHOLE site is flash based which is a disaster. Who still does a fully flashed based website nowadays yet alone a magazine?

As K.thekuwaiti put it, Flash is dead. Bazaar should have done a proper online magazine which would archive all their articles so they could at least be search able. They need to start building a database of all their previous issues and their current ones because old fashioned print magazines are quickly becoming extinct. Digital is the future and a perfect example of an excellent magazines online presence is WIRED.

Finally, where is the Bazaar blog? Majority of companies and corporations are adding blogs to their website so its surprising to see that a popular, young and trendy publication like Bazaar still hasn’t jumped on board the blogging wagon knowing for a fact that the editor of the magazine and majority of their writers read blogs themselves.

Currently the website barely has anything to make it worthy of a second visit. Unless they revamp it I don’t think I would ever bother checking it again. [Link]

Why can’t places in Kuwait have decent websites? Speed Zone is a used car dealership located on the Gulf Road opposite Showbiz. They always have interesting cars parked out in front of it and so when I found out they had a website I was excited. I don’t pass by Speed Zone often so I figured I could keep track of all the cool cars they get via their website.

Turns out I was wrong, their website is a mess and contains practically no information whatsoever. I even checked the Arabic version of the site figuring it might be more complete and still ended up with nothing. It would be cool if they had a live webcam over looking their cars but thats asking to much when they don’t even have a photo gallery.

Also whats with the weird spelling and grammar. They have an animated flash saying “Speed Zone which you can’t catch up”. What does that mean?

Check this out also taken from their site:

prief about Speed Zone
This is Speed zone company on Kuwait which care about speed & luxury vehicles. we will provide the new cars, motorcycle and their spare parts which will give you the optimal performance and speed, so don’t miss our site it would be up to date with the new stuff so catch it up or you will miss it with speed zone.

I really hope they fix things because they do get some really cool cars all the time and their site isn’t doing them any justice. [Link]

Placed order with Papa Johns at 8:30. Promised would be delivered within 45 minutes. Called back at 9:20 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me within 10 minutes. Called back at 9:35 telling them pizza hadn’t arrived yet, they told me they will check on it and get back to me. Called back at 9:45 telling them pizza hasn’t arrived yet even though I called twice. They transfered me to manager who told me he will call back in 2 minutes. Its been 5 minutes and no call back yet and I need to leave the house.

update: called back at 9:55, spoke to manager again told him he had told me he would call me back in 2 minutes and he hadn’t. He told me he spoke to Salmiya branch manager and he is probably trying to call me now and he is getting a busy tone. I told him no I have call waiting if he was trying to call me I would know. I told him I need to know when my pizza will get here because I need to leave. He was like if you have to leave I can’t do anything about it. So I was like then cancel my order, he was like fine. What the hell, what lame customer service is that.

Then a few minutes later I get a phone call from the Salmiya branch manager telling me my pizza will be late. I told him why didn’t you call me half an hour ago when the call center manager told me you would call me. He was like I had to call the driver. I was like you need 30 minutes to do that? I was like anyway I canceled my order. He was like ok and I closed the phone.

I would never order from them again. Why?
– They should have been apologetic instead of blaming it on traffic
– Its Thursday night and they know there is traffic so why tell me 45 minutes in the first place
– After my first call they should have called the driver and found out how long he needed
– After they told me they would call me back they should have called me back
– At the very least they should have offered me the pizza for free, its been over an hour and a half and the pizza is going to be cold anyway
– The two managers I spoke to were not friendly enough

A friend of mine yesterday told me that a Kuwait Airways plane “crashed” in the UAE and they were trying to cover up the incident. I didn’t believe him because you can’t cover up an aircraft crash. Anyway today it turns out there wasn’t a crash but a Kuwait Airways plane had to do an emergency landing because the landing gear failed to open. I will definitely never be flying with Kuwait Airways again.

Now two things grabbed my attention in the article. First, UAE offered Kuwait a replacement plane. I found that really strange because its not like Kuwait is broke and can’t afford a new plane. They must have looked at all the aging Kuwait Airways aircraft and gotten the idea Kuwait can’t afford to get a replacement and decided to donate one to us…

Then near the end of the article I also read about how Kuwait Airways later dropped the passengers off in Dubai with no hotel reservations or anything. I mean come on. When a plane crash lands and passengers get hurt and are forced to evacuate the plane, its a very traumatizing experience. At least, at the very least other then the million apologies to the passengers and the extra free air miles and cash for all the trauma they endured, at the very least put them up in a hotel. According to the article, Kuwait Airways just dropped off the passengers on the side of the road without offering to put them up in a hotel. The passengers are now planning to sue Kuwait Airways and I hope they end up winning.

Morale of the story, never fly with Kuwait Airways.

[Link to article]