GoMastercard Buyer Protection Cover Experience

Last week I finally took advantage of the Buyer Protection Insurance that comes with my GoMastercard Credit Card.

What Buyer Protection does are:
1. If the item you purchase goes on sale or reduced within 6 months after you purchase it, then you can claim the difference in price. Therefore, you don't need to wait until sale to buy things that you want.

2. If the item you purchase is rejected for a refund or stolen within 6 months (i think), you can make a claim.

3. If you become unemployed, then you don't need to pay the full amount of your balance. I can't remember exactly about this point, but something like this.

It costs some little percentage of my balance at the end of the month. I don't need to pay anything if I pay the balance in full before the end of the month too, so sometimes I don't even need to pay the premium.

Eventhough I've been on it for years, I've never claimed anything. This ofcourse due to my habit of only buying things when on special :P but then 2 weeks ago I FINALLY tried it myself :)

Remember those trips I made to IKEA buying furniture for my new home? Those side tables we bought had 20% off 2 weeks ago! Lucky I paid using my GoMastercard, so I could claim the difference. From memory, 5 of them cost $69 each and 1 was $59. Total of $404. 20% of that is $80.8. I could even buy another one for myself! (remember that all those were for my mum and sisters).

So I went to the website to claim. All I needed to do was fill in the form, filled in the date I bought it, how much was it, where did I get it, what brand and model, how much is it now, etc etc. It was pretty easy.

However I was confused when I filled it out since there was no quantity text box. We bought 3 x beige Askvol on our first trip to Ikea, then on the 2nd trip we bought 2x black Askvol and 1 Musken. So I submitted 3 claims, for 3 Askvol, 2 Askvol, and 1 Musken. Since there was no quantity box, I put the quantity in description box. I thought they would read it anyway.

Less than 2 days after, I got emails saying my claims have been approved! Was so happy with the speed and no hassle whatsoever. But when I checked the amount refunded, I frowned. I was only refunded the difference for 1 item in each claim eventhough I put quantity in the description.

I called the customer service whice by the way was very quick to pick up the phone! She was nice and friendly too. She listened and read my claims and said that it seems that the claim team was confused too and thought that the price I put in was the total price, not individual. Therefore only refunded for a single item. She then suggested to submit claims again individually this time for the rest of the items.

Then I submitted 3 claims again. 2 of them were refunded soon enough, but I didn't hear about the other one for almost a week! So I called the customer service number again. The girl who answered listened to me and took her time reading the claim. Apparently I made a mistake when answering a question asking if I've made a price protection claim on this item before. I put yes instead of no. I haven't been refunded for that item yet!

I explained that to her and she said she could fix it for me if I have time to hold on the line. She then did whatever she needed to do and fixed it there while I waited.

Then, done! All sorted out! Eventhough I had to give them a call, but on both occasions the girls were friendly, nice and helpful. And they do know what they are doing and how things supposed to be done. The claims were processed very quickly too.

1 think I noticed was, the 2nd girl I talked on the phone said at the end of the call, "Thank you for calling us to chase it up." It gave me the impression that she cares about the claims, and she sounded genuine too. Not like marketing-call-scripted type.

Overall I'm so pleased with my GoMastercard Buyer Protection experience :)

Tim Ho Wan Chatswood Sydney Review

I typed this right after the soft opening. Don't know why I didn't publish it back then...

Queue was long, 2 hours, as expected for a soft opening. So that's fine. We were seated around 11:45 AM. Floor staff were friendly, we had no complain about them. 1 recommended the desserts, saying he tried those the previous day and they were nice, while the other one didn't know chinese tea is for a pot or a cup, but she happily went and checked it out without me asking. So first impression was good.

The food came and they were great enough. I expected better though, since the HK one was awarded Michelin star. However, they are not bad, just not AWESOME either. Pork buns and both desserts were the highlight for me. Oh steamed cake was nice, soft and fluffy. I don't usually like steamed cake, but theirs was great.

At the beginning, the food came quickly. However, 45 minutes after we sat down, the food stopped coming eventhough we still had 6 pending. We waited 15 minutes, and decided to order 2 more since we were still hungry. That's when we realised that the fried prawn dumplings with wasabi sauce was not in the receipt eventhough we ordered them. We told one of the staff and ordered 2 more dishes. That was the first mistake.

10-15 minutes after, the food from our 2nd order came. They came fairly quickly, and within 15 minutes or so, all 3 dishes in our receipts were delivered to our table. Then, stop.

We waited and waited. We asked one of the staff who took the receipt, went to the kitchen etc, but nothing happened. By 1:30 we couldn't wait anymore and called one of the staff who had earphones on, thinking she might be manager or something. She came, checked with the kitchen, genuinely apologizing to us, and said they are making them. 10 minutes past, and a dish came to our table. It wasn't what we were waiting for. She came to our table again asking about it. We said we were only waiting for har gao, fish maw and 2 desserts. She then went back to the kitchen. She returned to us, said she was terribly sorry and she assure us the kitchen is making them now. They should come in 10 minutes.

10 minutes after, ALL the dishes we ordered started to come one by one. I mean ALL. Including the ones we already had. Except those bloody har gao, fish maw and desserts. We kept getting our hopes high and then crashed back to the ground as those were all wrong dishes. I could even see in the faces of the staff delivering the food to us, that they were sorry and frustrated for us too. At one point I was SO pissed off and asked the staff who brought the food to us, "Okay, what do you have there now?" And nope, those were not the har gao, nor the fish maw.

By 2:10 PM we couldn't wait any longer. So I called that girl who chased the kitchen for us and said, if they are gonna take longer, just cancel those dumplings and give us the desserts. She said yes and left. Right when she left, another staff came with the fish maw. F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. He was sorry for us too, saying they have made too many mistakes already.

Desserts came straight after. We finished around 2:30. We were seated around 11:45. 2 hours and 45 minutes.

To make that worse, when we went to the cashier, the woman asked us, how was it? We said they were nice, but 2 hours? She said "Sorry, but this is our first day so it is expected to be a little slower." I said, yeah but 2 hours? And she went on talking about how they still have a lot to learn as it is the first day blah blah blah, first restaurant blah blah blah... dishes not showing up is expected blah blah blah... long story short, she was defending herself. I doubt she even listened when I said we were there for 2 hours.

The only "Sorry" she said was that very first one and that's it. She was not apologetic and was not showing sympathy whatsoever either. Honestly, the service the floor staff gave us made me want to just forgive and forget, but this one made me not to ever want to let it go. Then she had 5 tries to enter the amount we need to pay into the eftpos machine and I was the one telling her how to do it. She really needs to be re-trained.

Today was your soft opening, fair enough, mistakes are expected, delay is expected. However, out of those many dishes we ordered, they ALL came again after we complainedexcept the ones we were waiting for? And a little bit slow is ok, but 2 hours and 45 minutes? And we didn't even get all the dishes. Is that a little bit slow? If you think it wasn't, what if I tell you, the table next to us already had change of customers 3 times!

I really had no complain about the floor staff. They were friendly, nice and helpful. I really need to commend the girl with earphone who chased our orders for us, she was really attentive and show genuine care to us, apologetic and showing sympathy. She really has good customer service and a sense of urgency. If she isn't the manager, I think she deserves to be one. The cashier needs to be retrained, and if she's the manager, she needs to be retrained in dealing with register, customer service and learn to put herself in customers' shoes. I don't know what happened with your kitchen, but someone needs to manage the dockets better.

If it's not because of the food and the floor staff, I'd have given it 1 star.

Review on Kashiwa Yakiniku Crows Nest

I don't like reviewing restaurants on this blog and prefer to do review on Trip Advisor, however, I couldn't find this restaurant on Trip Advisor :( But I really really really want to share my experience!!!! So, I have no choice but to do it here :((

Okay, firstly I didn't take any photos when I was there. I'm really not a food photo taker. Every time my friends take photos of our meals, whether shared of not, and I have to wait for them to finish before digging in, I'd be like "are you done yet??? no?? quickkkkk". Long story short, I can't stand having food in front of my eyes that I can't eat. So, please go to their website for their menu and photos: kashiwa.zashiki.com

I've always loved coming here to have barbeque. Of course I smell like smokes when I finish, but I don't care!! My tummy and mouth are happy, that's all that matters :) I love their ox tongue, beef ribs and yukke.

It's a very small Japanese BBQ restaurant. They have maybe 5 or 7 big tables, which guests have to share with strangers most of the time. You better book if you want to come for dinner, coz even if you book, you would still need to queue a bit. It's a quick turnaround restaurant, not a place where you can hang out after you finish your meal. So expect your BBQ grill be taken off your table, and your bill delivered to you right after you finish.

The food however, is usually excellent. The meat is tender, and the marinate is tasty. They have 2 kinds of marinate base, salt based and miso based. I'd suggest to order the salt based, they are my favourite :) I think with the salt based marinate, you can taste the meat flavour, rather than drown the meat flavour with other flavour. Oh and their yukke is great too, though the size is small. But it's what you would expect with that price, so no surprise there.

Service is good and fast. As expected from a quick turnaround restaurant.

Okay, I've kept the review as unbiased as I can. That's the justice I want to give them as that's what I usually get when I visited Kashiwa. However, my review for my visit last Saturday was not as good as I usually get.

First, I'm used to sharing table with strangers, nothing new. However, I have noticed on my last few visits that they squeeze more and more people into a table. The size of their tables in my opinion, fit 7 people if you want to give them plenty of space to move around, If you want to fit as many people in but still reasonable, I'd say 10 people. Their tables are pushed to the wall on one side, so only 3 sides usable - 2 long sides which fit 4 normal/skinny people each, and 1 short side which fit 2 skinny people. On one occasion, I remember squeezing 11 people AT LEAST in one table. 2 of them were XL size guys. Imagine having those many people on a table, and they are not a group of customers. Each group orders different sets of food. Where do we put the plates of food? Remember it's a BBQ restaurant? We have to cook first right? You get the idea.

Last Saturday, our table was shared among 9 people. Not too many. I personally didn't complain. 5 people in my group (3 small girls, 2 XL guys), and 4 people in the stranger group (2 small girls, 2 L guys). I sat on the long side with my XL guy, and 2 Small strangers. So 3 Small and 1 XL. Opposite to me, 2 L strangers and my XL guy. On the short end, my group's 2 small girls. The strangers group came after us, and straight after they sat, the 2 girls next to me started complaining about space and asked me to move a bit. I already sat right next to my friend's butt, I could only move my purse to my back which they said it was alright. But then, those 2 girls complained to the staff saying the table is too cramped. Do you know what the staff did? He asked me and my friend IF WE CAN MOVE A BIT! God! He actually HAD the nerve to ask us that??? From whichever way you look at it, they are 2 skinny girls occupying half of my side, and I was with my friend who was BIG! (sorry my friend, i don't like saying you're big...) I'm not a patient person, and being asked TWICE in a night is one too many for me, but my friend is a very patient guy, and he answered this "I'm already sitting at the edge. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?". And that staff only said to the other group "Sorry, they can't". What the... blaming it back to us. And I thought Japanese customer service is good. I should have complained to them in the first place so we were not the bad guys, Gee!

Okay, the food was still okay that night, but not that great. The beef ribs were not as tender as usual, and the yukke (both of the yukke we ordered) was lack of seasoning. I almost couldn't taste the sesame oil flavour.

Now, would I go back there? Yes I would. BUT, I won't be as eager as I used to be. Let say someone said to me on Saturday, "Let's have dinner at Kashiwa!". Instead of saying Yes straight away like usual, I might say "Umm.. they're busy on Saturday, we can go there on weekdays when it's not that busy. Let's just go to other restaurant tonight." And will we actually go on weekdays? I don't think so. We all have office jobs and have to work during weekdays, so really, the chance of us going to have BBQ on weekdays is almost 0. So the month after, 1 of us might suggest Kashiwa again, and that time, we might actually go, since we haven't actually gone since last time we planned it. So our frequency going there will decrease by half at least.

They really should think again about their idea of getting as many people in as possible. I get the idea of eat and leave, but not being squeezed to cook and then eat. You don't know how many times that skinny girl's ponytail poked my face every time she turned around, and how many times her elbow almost hit my face when she was cooking her meat -_-"

Hope next time I visit them again, it's a better experience than this.

The Return to Princess Coco

Remember about Princess Coco that I wrote few weeks ago? I actually sent a complain through their site which pretty much all the stuffs I wrote in here. I wasn't expecting anything really, it was just because I held everything in that night so I had to throw everything out by writing it to them. If I had made a scene then and there, I wouldn't be that angry after I got home. Anyway, I said at the end of the complain, don't bother replying to me apologizing without any action.

To my surprise, I got a reply 2 days after from the manager. She apologized for what happened and said the staff had been reprimanded and they would like to invite us back and would give us free round of desserts. She sounded so genuine and that they tried to put effort to fix it. We actually planned to come again the week after, but she suggested to come after the grand opening as their chocolate fountain would be ready by then. So we followed her suggestion and came back tonight instead.

I've emailed them yesterday telling them we would be coming at 8:30 tonight. They told us the manager won't be there, and we can just ask for Jay (Oh by the way, I think Jay was the guy who actually served us the first time we came @_@ Coz that guy was there when we came tonight and he actually recognized my friend's boyfriend) and they would tell all staffs that we were coming. I actually felt like I was the owner coming to inspect how my staff work lol :P Anyway, We arrived late, at 9. There was no empty table. They said they reserved the table for an hour, but we were late so they gave it to other people :/ which is fine, I didn't actually make a proper reservation, so that's fine. But hmmm.... I said I'd come at 8:30 right? it was 9, did they reserve it from 8? Anyway, let's not make a big deal about this. We only waited 5 minutes or so and we got a table anyway. So, so far so good :)

But but but but buttttttt... there were only seats for 3 people T_T We, the 3 girls tried to squeeze into the couch, but it was too tight :( well we don't have small butts so... well.. so my friend let say Helenus had to share the stool with her awesome boyfriend. The waiter and waitress finally said they didn't have any share chair to give to us, but once anyone's out, a chair will be ours. It was quite a while actually, maybe 15 minutes or so. They kept asking if we were ready to order, while we actually had to ask twice for tap water. My friend's boyfriend started to get pissed too when finally the people next to us paid their bill. I was like "Get the chair get the chair!!!!". But they said, "It's their responsibility to give us the chair their promise, I don't want to fight for a chair."Which was fair enough. So we were waiting when they cleaned the next table etc, and we were p.r.e.t.t.y sure, they forgot for few seconds to give us the chair as they looked like they were arranging the table for 3 people. Luckily, they remembered and gave us a chair *phew... seriously I didn't know what I'd do if they forgot -_- after all, I was the one who complained and got us come back there.

We could order any desserts we wanted. So, we ordered their signature dessert, Princess Coco something, Raspberry Delice, Petite Four and other dessert. For drinks, I had the La Traditional, my bestie had the iced milk chocolate with vanilla and malt (I can't remember the name), and Helenus shared lemon grass tea with her boyfriend. How should I say it... they weren't bad, but they were not spectacular either... the one my friends like best was the one dessert that I can't remember the name. But I really can't pick which one is my favourite :/

Overall, they tried to fix what was wrong, but we still think they are still lack of management skills. The staff were nice and friendly, but how do I put it... okay, the waiter said he'll get an extra chair, but then he went on register and didn't get us one. Only until we asked for it again, he then said there's no more chair, and he'll get us one once it's available. Second, the waiter asked if we wanted some water, which we answered yes. He then left, but when he came back, he asked us if we were ready to order without bringing that tap water that he offered earlier. The food and drinks were okay, can't please anyone's taste right? But I believe they are not something I would crave for in the future.

Now I just have to think how I should write the email to them :/

Wasabi bistro

Had dinner @wasabi bistro Surry Hills tonight. I bought coupons from deals.com.au for $19 and I can get $50 worth of food and drinks.

Was planning to go with my 2 sis and Pipito (my friend who I go with to work every day), but 1 of my sister got diarrhea -.- I dunno what's wrong with her, but she's always sick when we have plans. Twice we planned to go bowling and she was sick both times. The third time we went daytime and she finally went bowling, that night she got sick -_-" aiyaya... so my Bestie ended up coming with us.

The food was really NOTHING special. For that kind of price I expect good food. But nope. But the one that got us -_-"" is this, see photo below.

 

When the rice come, I said "eh????? Huh???????" *while knotting my eyebrows* and I did that in front of the waiter. It made me anxiously trying to find my mobile (which apparently was next to me on the table-.- god.. I'm really getting old -_-) to take photos of it. If usually I get furious on customer service, this actually got me laughing ;p SO SMALL! Even onigiri is bigger than that lol ;p

 

Anyway they say picture worth a thousand words, so just have a look at the photo. Just an fyi, all of us were still starving when we left. It was as if we haven't had dinner. Before ordering, my bestie said "I'm having a bowl of rice tonight! So starving!" (We usually share rice, maybe 1 bowl for 2 ppl or 2 bowls for 3 ppl etc). She ended up having less than a bowl tonight huahahaha..

Oh yeah I'm not going back there ofcourse ;p

If I didn't go to princess coco

Why did I go there tonight? If only I didn't listen to my friends mentioning it... if only I didn't respond to them with "Let's go there!", I wouldn't be this pissed off and furious.

We arrived at princess coco at 9 (158-166 Day St Sydney). A guy asked us how many people, which we replied 4. He then said, there is a table at the back, they have finished and will be leaving soon. Maybe 10 minutes. So we said, yeah, that's fine, we'll wait. He then suggested us to browse their display of chocolates and cakes. We followed his suggestion. That actually will be used against us at the end...

We waited and waited. The same guy kept coming to us saying sorry, they will leave soon, which we always replied with smiles and "It's okay". We meant it. We didn't mind. The 4 of us were chatting happily and we didn't even feel it was that long. He kept coming and coming and said same thing, which we always replied with smiles and same respond. More and more customers coming in and queued.

At 9:45 finally the customers on that back table left. But then that same guy came to us saying "The table is available, but did you guys arrive first or those guys came first?" while pointing to some customers behind us. We said we came first, which was the truth. When we came, there were nobody waiting. We were the only ones standing in that place. Other customers were already sitting down. Then he said "Because those guys said you guys came after them, and I couldn't remember who came first.". We said, "No, we arrived first. There were nobody queuing when we came.", He then said, "But those guys said they came first, and nobody was queuing too, and they are 5 people. So is it okay if they sit on that back table and you guys sit over there?" He pointed to the window which has some pots or decorations, I can't remember, and a table next to it with a stool. I looked at it and said "There's only a chair there". He said "We'll move the stuffs and add chairs. We'll be adding more seatings too soon.". For your information guys, the so called table next to the window was not actually a table. It was just like a stool having a table height. Seriously, we were a group of 4, that table did not look like it could fit 4 cups of coffee. We kept saying we came first, and then he said that those guys came from Brisbane. Do you guys live in Sydney?

My blood was pretty much boiling. IF I was with my bestfriends only, and not with one of my best friend's boyfriend, I would have exploded there and then. It was very very very unacceptable!
1. He wasted my 45 minutes waiting for nothing.
2. He was the one who greeted us and came saying sorry every few minutes, and he dared to say he forgot who came first? In a restaurant/cafe, the order of customers coming is crucial and they have to remember it. It's not my job to fight for what is actually my right!
3. He said he forgot, but when we said we came first, he said "But those guys said they came first". Didn't he already make his decision on who to believe? What's the point of asking which one came first?  Remember I said his suggestion to browse the chocolates would be used against us? Well this is it, there was possibility when those guys came, they didn't see us because we were looking at the cakes. But hey, that guy should have known that. And we're further inside the restaurant anyway.
4. He said "They are from Brisbane. Do you guys live in Sydney?" HELLO????????? What do you mean by asking us if we live in Sydney??? Are you telling me you would only give seats to people NOT FROM SYDNEY????? What kind of logic is that? Did he think I would pity them and then let them have it? I'm sorry, NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST. It just made me even more PISSED OFF! Since when you serve customers based on WHERE THEY LIVE????????? For godsakes, if you serve people outside Sydney all the time, by the time it is Sydneysiders turn, who knows your business might already been closed!!!!!!!!! What if I said No, we're from Japan, China, America, England or whatever country, would you kick those guys and said sorry, these people came further, so you can't get the seats?????????????
4. When we said that window is small and won't fit, he then said he'd try to move the people sitting in front of us to that window area instead. First, those people were already sitting there since we arrived, that table is that right and we didn't want to take what other people have. Second, how can you just for the sake of 5 people who were obviously wrong, then went through all those trouble to move 4 of us who came first, and then move another 3 people who came even earlier to the window? Let me remind you again, that window was really unseatable. It was small. Even for 1 person, it was pretty much just a stool squeezed in between 2 tables.
5. When I heard that guy said he wanted to move those other people to the window, I straight away said to my friends "So do you guys want to find other place?". Seriously I couldn't be there any longer. The guy kept smiling, no flinch or any sign that he actually felt bad for making us wait 45 minutes and then still had to leave.
6. We then decided to go, and on our way out, he kept smiling and said sorry repeatedly and said next time you guys come, you guys will be VVIP. For god sake, STOP BULLSHITTING! I'm not stupid and I wasn't flattered! If they really felt bad, then don't give us fake promises! Now tell me, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO REMEMBER US? When I come tomorrow, I bet you money, you won't even remember! If he really meant it, get our name down, or give us his name card or whatever. JUST STOP those sweet talk! I'm not a kid, and that kind of thing would only add sin to yourself.
7. When we left, those Brisbane customers said thank you to us, that they appreciated it bla bla bla bla.. seriously I didn't blame them, though I wasn't in the slightest pitying them either, but since they said thank you, well, isn't it obvious that they came AFTER us? and that we GAVE them our place?

Really, I regretted going to princess coco tonight. If I didn't go, I wouldn't have wasted my 45 minutes waiting for nothing, I wouldn't have been wasting my 30 minutes writing this on my blog but instead would have finished watching another episode of drama. And surely I wouldn't have wasted my energy being furious over it. It might have cost me a wrinkly, who knows? And I can't even sue them for all of this lost.

princess coco really does not deserve any respect from me. The name doesn't even deserve an uppercase from me. It will really get me thinking many many many and MANY times just to go back there. I so hate the service, smiles everywhere, but just smile, no ethics.