Can we still trust Singapore Post?
others May 6th, 2009
My boys are fantastic today. Completely heavenly. But I AM BURNING HOT WITH FURY RIGHT NOW!
One of my beloved reader, out of kindness, bought the Green Cow ‘talking’ piggy bank from me.
Its my duty and its the perfectionist in me that I WILL make sure that every single order is in good condition and ‘talking’ BEFORE I send them out.
For 7years of being in MY OWN retail business, I know the IMPORTANCE of customer satisfaction and I value it with all my heart.
Ever since I posted the ‘talking’ piggy banks on my blog, I do not have many buyers, but I have repeat orders from the same buyers. ALL BECAUSE THEY LOVED WHAT THEY SAW!
Meaning, the piggy banks reached them as good as it has left my hands before I passed it over at the Singapore Post counter.
But….
Yesterday, I received an email from the above reader of my blog. She was so nice. She even tried to hide the condition of the box from me. She merely wrote, “Angeline, there were no battries. Can you send me the batteries please?”
I knew that it was IMPOSSIBLE! So I pressed for more info and only then did she tell me the state of the box and the condition of the piggy bank when she received it.
I was so pissed! So angry with Singapore Post when I saw the box at her house!
It was obviously ripped open. The lockable cover covering the batteries was taken out when she received the parcel. The cover can be ‘locked’, so it is IMPOSSIBLE that it dropped out! The batteries were gone and so was the instruction slip stating the position of the batteries.
IN MY OPINION, it was obvious that the batteries were stolen. The red plastic tab was gone. The one who stole the batteries obviously didn’t want the receiver to know that it was battery operated and hence I presume that the instruction slip was taken out by the thief as well.
Don’t think that this is a ridiculous presumption. Cos’ it takes ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE to make this world!
Then the horns and the legs of the cow was so badly smashed. There were cushioning inside. But the cushioning were gone too!
AND THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I AM SENDING THIS!
If every piggy bank was in such a condition, do you think I will still have so many repeat orders???!!!
So THIS PARTICULAR one was truly sabotaged!
Called Sing Post immediately! After talking over the phone for a good 5 mins, the worst reply I got from the customer service was, “It was your decision to send by post and there is nothing we can do. But you could go down to the branch office and lodge a case.”
And so we went. Luckily I took photos of the damage before we lodge the complain, because they TOOK THE EVIDENCE away, which is reasonable anyway.
She put the blame on us. Saying that our box is too fragile and that we did not put fragile stickers all over the box.
Damn! I have sent out SOOOOOOOO MANY IN THAT CONDITION and none of them were in such a state! Its so obvious that that particular guy didn’t handle it properly, putting some HEAVY STUFF ON TOP OF IT! So HEAVY until my box GAVE WAY and squashed my cow!
“So can you guaran-damn-tee that after I put all the fragile stickers on the box, this will NOT HAPPEN??!” I challenged her.
“No I can’t. But at least you’ve got a case to fight then.” She argued.
HOW THEN CAN I STILL TRUST SINGAPORE POST?!!!
So now what?! I still have orders yet to send out. They were suppose to be sent out today. Now I don’t even know what I should do.
Message for all those who are waiting for their piggy banks to be sent out:-
“I will be sending you an email asking for a confirmation. Making sure that you know what had happen. If you still wish to send by post, I respect your decision. I guarantee that the condition of the piggy banks are in good condition and ‘talking’ before I send them to the Singapore Post. But I CANNOT GUARANTEE that the piggy banks will reach you in the state in which they left my hands, especially after this incident. Reply my email and let me know your decision.”
*AAaarrrggghhhh* I hate to have unhappy customers! Hate it!
May 6th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
No worry angeline! Can understand as fragile items. but singpost er..ah hem…er…
Maybe u can stuff with old newspaper inside for the new batch to be posted out? ;)
Jus my 2cents ya!
May 6th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
That’s very bad condition of the box !! I heart pain the cow too!
Your customer is very nice to try to hide the condition from you and lucky you press on. Or else you will know how badly it is damaged.
May 6th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
oh dear..that’s bad of them..but maybe next time, you paste the fragile sticker on the parcel and they will handle it with more care..hopefully..
I did that with the breakable items..
Blessed moms last blog post..He Recognised Words!!
May 6th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
i once received a birthday card which was TORN INTO HALF! HUH?! they sealed it back with tape and put in a clear plastic bag for me. but still?!?!?!?!
May 6th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
That was really bad… I thought this only happens to our postal service here…
May 7th, 2009 at 12:41 am
oh my goodness. that is horrible! cant trust these handlers. i once receive letters that were torn apart too. how about registered post? will that prevent this from happening?
May 7th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Angela,
I asked the same question.
That $^&*@#& counter girl said, “I can’t guarantee”
May 7th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Angeline,
that’s disgusting..the attitude that the staff at Singpost have. Its all these ‘poor customer service people’ that makes us loose trust in their service.
Dominiques last blog post..WW- The Ultimate Mother’s Day Card
May 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
absolutely disgraceful!
May 7th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
oh dear… hopefully it was one off kinda incident… and I thought “fragile” means.. well.. fragile!!
May 7th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Hi, I am interested in getting a Hippo piggy bank, do u still have it. And other than via post, what’s the other mode available?
May 7th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Jojo,
yes, there is.
I have emailed you the options.
Go check your email ok? *wink*
May 7th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Looks quite bad!! Luckily you have an understanding buyer friend :):)
May 8th, 2009 at 12:02 am
JUst wondering if you used registered post or normal post. I think it is worth spending that bit of money to ensure that the item goes to the customer in perfect condition. It is also fair to ask customers to pay for that assurance.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Rachel,
the person at the Singapore Post said the same thing to us.
We asked her “Since both works the same, but the price has a huge difference, so does that mean that this ‘sort’ of thing will NOT HAPPEN to registered mail?”
She said “No, it still can happen.”
“What assurance is there then? My parcel can end up with the same problem and WORSE, I pay more for Sing Post negligence? And yet you tell me that THAT is a better option??” I asked her.
She kept quiet.
And today, 2 more parcels were damaged by the same YISHUN branch, hence I can conclude that the guys at Yishun are the black sheep of the lot! ‘cos my other orders are fine.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I sympathise with your situation. I used to send out parcels through SingPost few years back but fortunately did not meet with such rough handling. Guess their standards might have fallen through the years.
Since you have a case to fight here, I would suggest you write to the press regarding this (e.g. My Paper, TODAY). The public needs to know about this and only through publicity will SingPost seriously investigate the matter and give a satisfactory response.
I think this needs to be properly settled if you wish to carry on sending parcels to your customers and build trust in them. Furthermore, the person who stole the batteries (who knows what else he has been stealing from other parcels) must be traced for the benefit of the subsequent users of SingPost. We mustn’t let these one or two black sheeps go scot-free.
All the best! ^^
May 8th, 2009 at 10:11 am
hmmm… hey so how if i wanna take the green cow still ?any other options? lemme know.. sorting out my money transfer…. lemme see how now…
Suhanyas last blog post..Snippets…
May 8th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Suhanya,
will email you shortly, the other options…
go check email later ok. *wink*