Category: Complaints

I know I said I will stop complaining but I can’t when there are companies like Fonz that still exist.

While at the airport the other day, my dad saw the Nokia N73 for the first time and he liked it. Today while flipping through the papers I found an ad for Fonz where they were selling the N73 for KD89 plus they were giving free stuff with it like a phone line, 6 months ART subscription and something else. So, I decided I would pass by and get him it as an early birthday present.

I went to the Fonz branch in front of Marina Mall next to Eastpak around 7pm. I went in and told the employee I wanted the N73. He replied telling its been out of stock for a couple of days. I was like yeah but I just saw the ad today in the paper. How could you advertise something you don’t have? I was like can you check on your computer and see if any of your other branches have it. He was like I can’t do that. I was like what the fuck, who can I call and complain about this? He told me the head office, he picked up the phone and called them up and handed me the phone.

A guy answers, I asked him if this was the head office. He was like why? I was like because I have a complaint. He was like about what? I told him that I saw an ad in the paper for a phone and I came in to buy it and the employee told me it was out of stock. When I asked him to check and see which other branch of Fonz had the phone he told me he couldn’t. The guy replied telling me they sometimes run out of stock. I was like fine, I understand that, but could you please tell me which other branch has the phone in stock? He replied telling me that he could give me the numbers of all their branches in Kuwait and I could call them all up and see which one still has it. I was like what the fuck? I am telling you I want the phone, and you are telling me go look for it, go try your luck and call every Fonz store in Kuwait? I told him YOU guys should be trying to find ME the phone because I am the customer and I want to buy it. YOU guys should be able to tell me which branch still carries the phone and YOU guys should make the phone calls if there are any to be made. He was like I am not free at the moment to do that. I shut the phone on his face, gave it back to the employee in the store and walked out.

How does a place that does business like that manage to survive? Am I asking for too much here, having the actual store find me a phone in one other their other branches? It can’t be too much to ask.

I am a big fan of Gulf Royal Chinese Restaurant, you know, the one located in the Marina Mall food court. Anyone who is a regular there recently would have noticed that the prices were increased. A combo before that cost KD1.750 now costs KD1.850. The combo that cost KD2 before now costs KD2.150. It seemed acceptable and reasonable with all the recent price increase in the market.

So this is where the story gets interesting, yesterday I went to Souk Salmiya since I needed to pass by the appliance section in City Center. When I was done I was hungry so I figured I would go have Chinese at the Gulf Royal Chinese located at the Souk Salmiya food court. I go up, I order the exact same thing as I always do (sweet & sour chicken, Kindu chicken and rice) and I give the guy KD2 and he gives me back 250fils. I check out the price on the menu and its STILL KD1.750. So I ask the guy “what the prices are cheaper here then Marina Mall?” and he tells me yeah they are.

I found that odd. Usually when a franchise increases their prices they increase them at all the branches. So how come it costs more to eat at the Marina Mall then it does at the Souk Salmiya one? I am sure it costs more rent at Marina but they also get wayyy more foot traffic. And if you increased the price at Marina wouldn’t you just as well increase the price at your other branches to make them unified? Is it because people who visit Marina Mall have more money? I am not really complaining here but I am curious..

… for sending me someone elses magazines. I hate it when I get other peoples magazines in my mail, makes me wonder who is getting mine…

I was filling out an inquiry form on alsayer.org trying to find out when they will be getting the Toyota FJ and there is a mandatory question asking me which nationality I was. What kind of question is that in this day of age? Why do they want to know where I am from? Will I get better or worse service if I answer I am from Uganda? What would the best answer be, USA or Kuwait? I am betting USA and thats what I put. [Link]

update: Alsayer have replied back:

Dear Mark,

This question is purely for analysis reasons, and we apologise if was misunderstood. Alsayer group is a privately owned business and we have genuine respect for all nationalities. However, ethnic studies in marketing is anywhere in the world including the USA. And we believe this is normal in multi ethnic societies. Asking the question doesn’t mean a racist. It is a pure and simple marketing question taken out of context.

Thank You

Maak

How come there is no seating? In the old airport there were tons of places to sit down and wait but in the new airport the only places to sit are next to the restaurants. The problem is there isn’t enough seating there either. Since there is no seating elsewhere in the airport people flock to the tiny food court and order a coffee and hog the seats. So if you want to eat (like I usually do) you can never find a place to sit.

They should either add more seating all around the arrival area or expand the tiny food court by adding more chairs and tables.

A few days ago I posted about how Hardees recently increased their prices well today I passed by McDonalds for breakfast and it turns out they just increased their prices as well! The thing is this is the second time they increase their prices. I posted about their first price increase last July when the majority of their combos had their price increase by 50fils. Well they just did it again but this time by 100fils. Even the breakfast menu got effected this time with the regular breakfast combo now costing 850fils compared to the 700fils it used to cost before.

So I picked up my breakfast combo and drove off thinking about how these price increases suck when I stuck my hand in the bag and realized they forgot to give me my hashbrowns! So not only did I pay 150fils extra compared to what I used to pay but they also forgot my hashbrown. Luckily I had their phone number stored on my phone so I called them up to complain. They apologized and told me I could pass by again for the hashbrown, I told them I was on my way to work but it wasn’t a problem, I just didn’t want it to happen again.

Nice way to start a morning..

So I was at Hardees yesterday getting cookies when I noticed that they had replaced all the pictures of the burgers on their display menus with new ones that used the Thick Burger patty. Someone commented the other day in one of my posts that Hardees no longer had “normal” burgers only the Thick Burgers so I asked the guy if this was true and to my surprise it was! You can no longer have a normal Mushroom & Swiss for example, you can only have the Thick Burger version which honestly tastes terrible.

I hate the flavor of the Thick Burger and I don’t understand how they can phase out their regular beef patty. Now the cheapest combo is KD1.400 and its the Roast Beef & Chedder, everything else is KD1.500 and up. They are now officially the most expensive fast food joint compared to Burger King (the previous record holder), McDonalds, KFC and Texas Chicken.

Nataly just called me from the airport, her Emirates flight was delayed and arrived 45 minutes late! So let me get this right, last week my sister faced delays when she flew with Emirates to Dubai and back. A couple of days ago Nat’s flight to Dubai using Emirates got delayed over 2 hours, and now, on her way back to Kuwait it got delayed 45 minutes. Why is this the best airline in the world again?