And, this I must name. Octogram Press is a printing company who has the contract for providing letterheads and printing official collateral for NUS. Got their details from a colleague as I heard that they would be more affordable than others. But what I didn't know was that their sales manager, Hon Kee, had a freaking bad attitude. And when I called up the boss to lodge a complaint, and guess what I learnt - where this Hon Kee got his attitude from.

WTF. Seriously.

I needed this printing job to be done (which was last Friday, 14 August btw.) I contacted them exactly one week before, yes it was a Friday, to ask if it was possible for this job to be completed and delivered in a week, and HK confirmed that he can. So then correspondence ensued through email and he was freaking slow in getting back to me. I had asked him twice over email whether Friday deadline could be met on Monday and Tuesday respectively, and he never answered this question when he answered the rest of the questions in the same emails.

When artwork was finalised on Tuesday as he mentioned the changes needed, in a frequency like trickling water *cue rolling eyes* , I emailed him again, this time a ONE-LINER, could the job be completed on Friday? Again, no answer, not even a single ounce of acknowledgement by email, sms, or a call.

Thursday afternoon, 4.30pm. I called him to ask for confirmation. He said he couldn't start work on it yet as he needed to make some adjustments to some placement of designs on the flap of an envelope, as dimensions I provided in the template was different from the envelopes that he had bought.

Me: Oh, so you haven't started work on it yet ah?

HK: No leh, I need some time to make the adjustments.

Me: So, can I get it by tomorrow 2pm, delivered?

HK: No, I can't. How about Monday?

Me: Cannot leh, my side needs it by Friday, 6pm latest. How?

HK: But you need to give me some time to do the adjustment and printing right?

Me: But you said you could deliver by Friday when I asked you last week.

HK: The artwork is only just finalised, I need some time to make the adjustments.

Me: It was finalised 2 days ago. You never answered any of my confirmation emails about the deadline this Friday right. Why didn't you tell me that you can't make it?

HK: Is it? I think I could have missed it lah, I don't read email in detail all the time.

Me: OH. I sent you 3 times leh. The last time was on Tuesday, just one line.

HK: ... *cue unsure pause* I could have missed it lah. Anyway, I can't do it for you by tmr.

Me: Then how? I need them.

HK: AIYAH I DUNNO LAH. YOU GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU.

.

.

.

.

WAHHH THE CHEEK OF HIM! I was so angry that I hung up.

When I cooled down at 5pm. I called him again to ask for explanation. But he didn't pick up his phone. I had to call the office, and I found out from the poor receptionist that everyone had left the office. I said she was 'poor' because I basically grilled her on a skewer about what to do, why her colleague like that, what's the boss' name, and what to do now. Of course she wouldn't know anything other than who the boss is.

So I had to find someone else. And who else but Goh Brothers. Yes they could get it done and delivered, but it was $50 more expensive.

So the next day, on Friday morning. I called up the Octogram Press office again. This time I asked for Steven Chua, the boss that the receptionist told me about. I had to get him on his mobile cos he was out. And again. The freaking same attitude.

Me: Hi, I' m calling from NUS. I want to complain about your sales manager. He caused me a lot of trouble by backing out of the job that he promised to get done by today. (Then I went on to tell him the details)

.

.

.

SC: OH IS IT. That's what YOU say. I need to find out from them first. (In a patronising attitude.)

So then I assumed that he wasn't going to.

SC called me back surprisingly.

SC: I checked with them already. HK said it was your fault that you didn't finalise the artwork earlier.

Me: No I finalised with him 2 days ago. He didn't get back to me.

SC: Yeah he said he had to make some adjustments to your design.

Me: Yes he told me that. But he said the same thing to me 3 days ago on Tuesday. I also asked him 3 times whether he could do it by Friday but he didn't get back to me.

SC: Oh, by email or call?

Me: Email

SC: Aiyah next time don't send by email lah! Email do things very slow, and confirm will miss out things. I also tell all my employees to call up the clients to settle details.

Me: But he didn't call me to confirm. He knows that I need it by today and he confirmed last week that he could. So I promised the other side that I can give it to them but now I cannot. How are you going to solve my problem?

SC: But this one he say is your fault. You didn't give him enough time to do it.

Me: I did. I gave it to him on Tuesday

SC: *Cut through, shouting* I DON'T NEED TO KNOW ALL THIS. I ONLY KNOW THAT HE HAS NO TIME TO COMPLETE.

Me: *Wah lau. angry liao, so I shout too.* NO YOU LISTEN TO ME. I gave it to him 3 days ago and he needs more than 2 days to make a small change?

SC: *cuts again* I DON'T KNOW I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ALL THESE IT'S NONE OF MY...

Me: OKAY. YOU LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!! He gotten me into very big trouble how are you going to solve it for me?

SC: How you solve your problem is NONE OF MY BUSINESS!

Me: !??! But he created this problem for me.

SC: So what do you want me to do now? I can print it for you over the weekend, we can compromised a little bit. We can work through today and Saturday to give you no problem.

Me: But my event is Saturday. I won't need it on Monday anymore.

SC: Ok the best I can give it to you is tonight.

Me: But your Hon Kee said today cannot give me, and I couldn't get him anymore after 5pm, so I had to source for someone else so last minute to do and they can do it.

SC: Ok then next time you find them, don't give the job to Hon Kee already.

Me: (thinking. wtf.) So now it's $50 dollars more expensive. How are you going to settle this problem for me?

SC: How you solve this PROBLEM IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS.

Me: But your employee created this problem for me, I need to justify this extra cost.

SC: I DON'T CARE, DON'T EXPECT TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF ME.

*Angry. I hung up.*

Angry or not you tell me?! He called me back but I rejected his call, and when I cooled down enough again I called him again. This time he also cool down already.

I think he thinks that I'm an angmoh kantang so he spoke in Mandarin this time. Cos he got a little confused when I shot back in Mandarin. Complete with a debator's/news anchor PRC twang. And yes if you must know, I perfected this skill to intimidate people. Seriously. Like if some weird China people call me up to tell me I won some freaking $50,000 and need my personal details.

So this time I told him that I need to justfy this cost and he needs to do something about it. Nothing was settled. But in the end he was polite and nice and said that if there was anything else in the future, don't look for Hon Kee, look for him directly, his secretary will settle for him.

BUT I'm still angry. I'm gonna get that $50 back. Someday. I'll make sure his secretary and him remember me for life.

Labels: bad service, fail to deliver, octogram press, sucks

And, this I must name. Octogram Press is a printing company who has the contract for providing letterheads and printing official collateral for NUS. Got their details from a colleague as I heard that they would be more affordable than others. But what I didn't know was that their sales manager, Hon Kee, had a freaking bad attitude. And when I called up the boss to lodge a complaint, and guess what I learnt - where this Hon Kee got his attitude from.

WTF. Seriously.

I needed this printing job to be done (which was last Friday, 14 August btw.) I contacted them exactly one week before, yes it was a Friday, to ask if it was possible for this job to be completed and delivered in a week, and HK confirmed that he can. So then correspondence ensued through email and he was freaking slow in getting back to me. I had asked him twice over email whether Friday deadline could be met on Monday and Tuesday respectively, and he never answered this question when he answered the rest of the questions in the same emails.

When artwork was finalised on Tuesday as he mentioned the changes needed, in a frequency like trickling water *cue rolling eyes* , I emailed him again, this time a ONE-LINER, could the job be completed on Friday? Again, no answer, not even a single ounce of acknowledgement by email, sms, or a call.

Thursday afternoon, 4.30pm. I called him to ask for confirmation. He said he couldn't start work on it yet as he needed to make some adjustments to some placement of designs on the flap of an envelope, as dimensions I provided in the template was different from the envelopes that he had bought.

Me: Oh, so you haven't started work on it yet ah?

HK: No leh, I need some time to make the adjustments.

Me: So, can I get it by tomorrow 2pm, delivered?

HK: No, I can't. How about Monday?

Me: Cannot leh, my side needs it by Friday, 6pm latest. How?

HK: But you need to give me some time to do the adjustment and printing right?

Me: But you said you could deliver by Friday when I asked you last week.

HK: The artwork is only just finalised, I need some time to make the adjustments.

Me: It was finalised 2 days ago. You never answered any of my confirmation emails about the deadline this Friday right. Why didn't you tell me that you can't make it?

HK: Is it? I think I could have missed it lah, I don't read email in detail all the time.

Me: OH. I sent you 3 times leh. The last time was on Tuesday, just one line.

HK: ... *cue unsure pause* I could have missed it lah. Anyway, I can't do it for you by tmr.

Me: Then how? I need them.

HK: AIYAH I DUNNO LAH. YOU GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU.

.

.

.

.

WAHHH THE CHEEK OF HIM! I was so angry that I hung up.

When I cooled down at 5pm. I called him again to ask for explanation. But he didn't pick up his phone. I had to call the office, and I found out from the poor receptionist that everyone had left the office. I said she was 'poor' because I basically grilled her on a skewer about what to do, why her colleague like that, what's the boss' name, and what to do now. Of course she wouldn't know anything other than who the boss is.

So I had to find someone else. And who else but Goh Brothers. Yes they could get it done and delivered, but it was $50 more expensive.

So the next day, on Friday morning. I called up the Octogram Press office again. This time I asked for Steven Chua, the boss that the receptionist told me about. I had to get him on his mobile cos he was out. And again. The freaking same attitude.

Me: Hi, I' m calling from NUS. I want to complain about your sales manager. He caused me a lot of trouble by backing out of the job that he promised to get done by today. (Then I went on to tell him the details)

.

.

.

SC: OH IS IT. That's what YOU say. I need to find out from them first. (In a patronising attitude.)

So then I assumed that he wasn't going to.

SC called me back surprisingly.

SC: I checked with them already. HK said it was your fault that you didn't finalise the artwork earlier.

Me: No I finalised with him 2 days ago. He didn't get back to me.

SC: Yeah he said he had to make some adjustments to your design.

Me: Yes he told me that. But he said the same thing to me 3 days ago on Tuesday. I also asked him 3 times whether he could do it by Friday but he didn't get back to me.

SC: Oh, by email or call?

Me: Email

SC: Aiyah next time don't send by email lah! Email do things very slow, and confirm will miss out things. I also tell all my employees to call up the clients to settle details.

Me: But he didn't call me to confirm. He knows that I need it by today and he confirmed last week that he could. So I promised the other side that I can give it to them but now I cannot. How are you going to solve my problem?

SC: But this one he say is your fault. You didn't give him enough time to do it.

Me: I did. I gave it to him on Tuesday

SC: *Cut through, shouting* I DON'T NEED TO KNOW ALL THIS. I ONLY KNOW THAT HE HAS NO TIME TO COMPLETE.

Me: *Wah lau. angry liao, so I shout too.* NO YOU LISTEN TO ME. I gave it to him 3 days ago and he needs more than 2 days to make a small change?

SC: *cuts again* I DON'T KNOW I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ALL THESE IT'S NONE OF MY...

Me: OKAY. YOU LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!! He gotten me into very big trouble how are you going to solve it for me?

SC: How you solve your problem is NONE OF MY BUSINESS!

Me: !??! But he created this problem for me.

SC: So what do you want me to do now? I can print it for you over the weekend, we can compromised a little bit. We can work through today and Saturday to give you no problem.

Me: But my event is Saturday. I won't need it on Monday anymore.

SC: Ok the best I can give it to you is tonight.

Me: But your Hon Kee said today cannot give me, and I couldn't get him anymore after 5pm, so I had to source for someone else so last minute to do and they can do it.

SC: Ok then next time you find them, don't give the job to Hon Kee already.

Me: (thinking. wtf.) So now it's $50 dollars more expensive. How are you going to settle this problem for me?

SC: How you solve this PROBLEM IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS.

Me: But your employee created this problem for me, I need to justify this extra cost.

SC: I DON'T CARE, DON'T EXPECT TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF ME.

*Angry. I hung up.*

Angry or not you tell me?! He called me back but I rejected his call, and when I cooled down enough again I called him again. This time he also cool down already.

I think he thinks that I'm an angmoh kantang so he spoke in Mandarin this time. Cos he got a little confused when I shot back in Mandarin. Complete with a debator's/news anchor PRC twang. And yes if you must know, I perfected this skill to intimidate people. Seriously. Like if some weird China people call me up to tell me I won some freaking $50,000 and need my personal details.

So this time I told him that I need to justfy this cost and he needs to do something about it. Nothing was settled. But in the end he was polite and nice and said that if there was anything else in the future, don't look for Hon Kee, look for him directly, his secretary will settle for him.

BUT I'm still angry. I'm gonna get that $50 back. Someday. I'll make sure his secretary and him remember me for life.

Labels: bad service, fail to deliver, octogram press, sucks