On Wednesday, I had to re-order my mum’s favourite Sunsweet Pitted Prunes online. This was after the previous online order failed to arrive. The seller on the first platform did not bother responding to five queries on the prunes’ whereabouts. I complained to the platform. It refunded my money to its wallet. And, explained that its point system penalises sellers based on complaints received. The seller will be disallowed to sell on the platform once certain points are reached. The offending seller is still on the platform selling the same pitted prunes that it couldn’t/didn’t deliver. Sigh. I resorted to my fallback plan. My sort of plan B. I ordered the same brand of pitted prunes from a different seller from another platform.

On Thursday, I went to renew my debit card. My bank had sent a letter stating the expiry date as 12/20 and a renewal fee of RM8. The bank officer, on the other hand, asked me to return on January 2 to renew the card. At no cost. What? Why? Were the questions that sprang from my mouth. If that’s what the bank had wanted me to do – come on January 2 or someday in January – why did its letter read 12/20 and not 1/21/? Why was I being asked to make another visit in January? Is the bank penalising me for adhering to the deadline? It didn’t make sense and I said so. The error was clarified with some higher ups, and all was well. Card renewed. No fee imposed. I walked away. But not without wondering about the misinformation and inconvenience it could have caused.

On Friday, I went to open savings accounts. I visited two banks in the KLCC area. One asked a few questions. Filled out an application form. Account opened. My fallback plan worked. As for the second bank, I didn’t get past the enquiry form stage. I provided my name, identity card number, address, job description and industry. This bank also wanted a hardcopy utility bill to verify my home address. I showed the bank officer my Air Selangor water bill on my mobile. Suggested she copy it so she could have a hardcopy. I thought how strange it was to ask for a hardcopy when banks no longer send out actual statements. She checked with another officer, and then said I needed a letter from my employer despite my stating that I am self-employed. Then, it was another requirement. A guarantor letter of sorts. All these hoop-jumping for a savings account. Seriously. The irony is I had an account with this bank at its PJ branch. Closed it because it lacked customer enthusiasm. My fallback plan failed. Ah well…

So why bother? Two reasons. One – A savings account allows me to conduct e-banking. No more banking halls and dealing with staff. Two – I can save and transfer money to another account when one of these banks messes me up, which happens now and again. There are nice and helpful bank staff but generally and particularly Relationship Managers regurgitate information from their websites. Minimal human interaction is my goal. After all, banks offer similar products and similar service or disservice. There is not much to differentiate.

Back to my mum’s prunes. On Saturday, after several phone numbers, I discovered that her package was with the delivery company’s domestic e-Commerce section. It had made an unsuccessful attempt that morning but no notification was sent to me. So, this time it wasn’t the seller or platform. It was the delivery partner.

A company representative explained that it was an internal operations issue, and delivery will be completed by Tuesday. I understood the conversation but couldn’t comprehend why. This delivery company had my address, including my postcode. It knew where the prunes should be sent to. Yet,  it followed Google Map’s postcode. Which by the way, was not my postcode. That was Saturday. It happened again on Monday. A second failed delivery. This time, I was considerately notified with this message, “Your parcel xx was not delivered successfully. Click here to reselect rescheduling date.” I had to ask, “What is it with these prunes?” I spoke again to the representative on Tuesday morning to express my incredulity. He repeated the same explanation, and assured me the parcel will arrive at my address, at my postcode by Tuesday. It did. My mum has finally got her prunes. All’s well.

On Tuesday, two technicians with masks arrived to install Astro – the local satellite TV provider.  We already had a visit from another technician the week before. After so much time and so many emails, WhatsApp messages, telephone calls and reasons/excuses offered – still no installation. My husband and I just want a few live news channels.

Maybe next week…