My Funny ANZ Complain

As you all know, we bought our first home early this year. The whole process was a complete nightmare that I keep putting it aside to write. I have a draft written since early this year, another notepad with all the points I'm going to write, but never had enough willingness to toughen up my heart to remember everything and put it to words. Because I know, I would have my blood pressure up and brain boiling while typing it all down.

However, this is a little bit too good not to be written straight away, so here we go :) *deep breath*

I have my home loan with ANZ, and they do have quite a big part in making the whole thing with buying my first home a headache. Therefore, I wrote a letter to them last Sunday and lodged a formal complaint.

In my letter, I said when I decided to take on ANZ homeloan, I felt I was in the good hand. Everywhere there is ANZ ads, there would be those awards badges on them too. So I thought I would be fine. However, from the very first chance, ANZ stuffed it up. 

1. My letter of offer had wrong interests rate on it.
2. I went to the bank to open an offset account to be linked to my loan account. I specifically told the guy, I wanted to open it for my offset account and gave him my account number. Next time I went back to the bank for other thing and casually mentioned it, guess what? My offset account hadn't been linked to my loan -_- AND, I got charged for account keeping fee as it wasn't linked to an mortgage account. This $10 was later on reimbursed.
3. I took home insurance with ANZ too, and later on I wanted to change the excess. So I emailed the woman who I took the insurance with, asking her if it's still possible and how much would it cost. It took her few days to reply and another few days to return and say she'd do it soon. But then she emailed me back saying she couldn't and that she'd get someone from insurance to contact me.
4. Time passed and I got a letter from ANZ saying they noticed that they haven't got my building insurance cover details. They sent me a form for me to fill out with the details. Refer to point 3 please. Duh??
5. Got a letter from them saying they will charge me $107 for registration fee on withdrawal of Caveat. What caveat???? No heads up or further information. Just that. This again was cancelled, after a lengthy chase done by me and my broker. During the whole process, they told my broker they would call me directly, but nope, not a single phone call.
6. In August, they increased the interests rate for investment loan. However, they only sent the letter in September. So by the time I got the letter, my interests charges were already increased.

I lodged this complain to ANZ using their complain form online. I thought hm... good, they have complain form. Plus, the textbox character limit was 10,000 chars, YES! My whole letter was 6000+ characters. So, I copy pasted it into that box. Then... yep, only 3/4 of it got in. Great.

So, while lodging my formal complain, I actually added point 7: Your complain form sucks. It says max 10,000 characters, but can't even take my 6,000 characters letter. 

I'm speechless.

Yesterday, I received a missed call from their complain department, and today too. So I called them back. Told the guy that I received missed call from this person and got this reference number. He then put me on hold and transferred me to that person.

The lady: "Hello Vicky"

Me: "... er... it's Purple Lady"

Awkward....

My name is completely different to Vicky.

Anyway we discussed about the whole thing. She was very nice and understanding and sympathetic and understood that I was furious with the whole thing. I actually felt bad for her and anyone who work in complain department. She tried to explain about the whole caveat thing, and about the interests rate. She explained how the increase was passed on by the government and there's nothing ANZ could do about it. I made it clear that my complain wasn't about the increase, but rather about their delay in notifying the customer and the way they word the letter to sound that it starts in October rather than August. She acknowledged it and promised to pass it on to relevant department. She also asked which branch I opened my offset account and the insurance cover, and said that she's passed my feedback about the complain form to their IT department.

Afterwards, she said as a goodwill gesture and since I've been a customer since 2004... *wrong answer buzzer honks* Another mistake ANZ, true I opened my saving account in 2004, but that account was non-active for almost its whole life! I closed it down few years ago completely. And plus, did she mean that have I not been a customer since "2004", she wouldn't offer me anything? OK, back to her words. "As a goodwill gesture, and because you've been our a customer since 2004, we're going to credit $375 - your Breakfree package fee - to your account, and we'll pass all your feedbacks to relevant departments." 

Honestly, when I heard about it, my thought was, all those headaches, energy, and stress they caused me are only worth $375????? It's worth WAY more than that! I actually felt a little bit insulted. And also, seems like my 11 years loyalty isn't that appreciated too. But that's the only thing she could do, and it's better than nothing. What else could I do?

She assured me this is not ANZ's standard of service. She also said that they would take my feedbacks and improve. To which I reply, yes I hope so too. Coz next time I get the chance, I'm leaving ANZ.

It's funny that when I was lodging a complain, I actually managed to add something to my complain list. And while on the phone with the complain department who's trying to deal with my complain, even they made a mistake on the "Hello", and ended it too on the wrong foot with "since you've been a customer since 2004". 1. I hardly used that account, so obviously they didn't check thoroughly. But well at least they checked something. I give you that. 2. As a goodwill and a customer since 2004, so what would happen if I weren't a customer since 2004? Do they only offer that $375 only if I was with them for 11 years? Hmm..

I'm not happy with the title of this post, but can't think of anything else really :/

My Experience with Specsavers North Sydney

Second not so good experience to post this year is to do with Specsavers North Sydney.

Last month I went to Specsavers to do eyechecks and bought a frame off them. I only ordered the frame, no lenses as my prescription is pretty high and it would cost a LOT to get my lenses here in Australia. I told my optometrist that and he agreed with me.

My optometrist was very friendly and nice, I had only compliments for him. Same thing goes to the girl who helped me chose my frame. She was friendly and very patient. She pretty much full acted as my personal shopper, getting some frames within my price range that have full rim and not too big (that's per my optometrist suggestion to hide the thickness of the lenses). She then used an iPad to take photos of me trying on those frames so I can see and compare them later on. I did take a lot of time choosing it, and even sent those photos to my sisters via whatsapp for their opinion. She stayed calm and patient, no annoyance whatsoever. Too bad I didn't catch her name to give her credit for it. So all good, and they said the frames would be ready in about 2 weeks. They told me someone will call me when they are ready to pick up.

I completely forgot about it until 2 days ago!! Nobody called me. So on Thursday, I went to the store after work to check on it. My mum is going back to Indo next week, so I need to give them to her before she goes. The girl checked on my order and was surprised how I still haven't got them yet until now - more than a month! She tried searching with no avail. I told her I need the frames by the end of the month, and she said she will search for them tonight but will also place an order tonight too, just in case. She said she'll call me.

Fri lunch time I went back to the store to check up on it. She didn't ring me back. Luckily, she was working when I came, so I didn't need to explain the whole thing again. And, she found it! Yayyyy!! (Though I'm still a bit cross on the part that she didn't keep her promise to give me a call). I asked for my prescription, but there's no PD on it. I need it to make the lenses! I asked for it from another girl (the girl earlier had a customer to attend to), and she said they don't normally do it unless the customer makes the lenses with them. I then said to her, I clearly said to the optometrist I'm going to send them overseas to make the lenses and he was okay with that. She then went on and did my PD while repeating to say they don't normally do this.

Well I understand what she's saying. However:
1. I did my eye test with them, they get paid for it from the government. So it's not free anyway?
2. I bought frames with them too. Their frame prices include standard lenses. So, what's the big deal? I could just order the standard lenses with them and then get the PD and I still pay the same price isn't it? If you think about it, I spared them the hassle.

This is not my first time using Specsavers, and have always been recommending them to everyone. I've bought frames off them before and got the full prescription just fine. I've heard about other spectacles shops refusing to give away prescriptions if you don't buy the frames off them, and up until last year, Specsavers have been a pleasure to deal with. However, this experience unfortunately was not as lovely.

Where is my rental agent?????????????????

I really didn't plan to have a bunch of complaints to be my very first post in 2015. However, I am itching to write, so mei ban fa lor....

Let's begin with my stupid real estate agent. Well as you might have already read long time ago about the stupidity of my agent, they are pretty stupid. Or maybe not stupid, just careless and doesn't do their job right. Tuesday last week, I sent an email to my agent, which by the way is already changed from the one I talked about in I had a bad day, telling him that my shower room handle is broken and if he could fix or send replacement, that would be great. Until Saturday I didn't get any response. So I sent another email to him on Sunday, asking for acknowledgement that he'd received the email. I received NOTHING until Wednesday.

So, that Wednesday I sent another email to the agent's general email address instead of my agent's work email address. I expressed my concern that nobody has responded to me and if that agent still works for them and manages my unit. No reply again. Thursday I was so pissed off at being ignored so I decided to give them a ring on my lunch break. After 2 rings, I was put straight to voicemail DAMN! I didn't leave a message that time, but later that afternoon I became so curious so I called them again. And again I was redirected to Voice Mail after 2 rings, I left a message then. Nobody called me back on Friday, and I rang them again and was put straight to Voice Mail after 5 rings. Strange how the number of rings differs eh?

Seriously I don't know what they are doing. Nobody in the office? No one's checking email? Are they still on holiday??? It's already at the end of January for god's sake :/ They also didn't send me a letter telling me their Xmas breaks last December :/ Even with a scatterbrain that my previous agent had, she still managed to send me Xmas breaks announcement letter for 2 years in a row without fail :/ I thought we would have someone better after her, but maybe not really :/

I really don't know how to contact them :/ I even googled Gainsworth Property to find any other contact details. I've tried the info@ email address and also the phone number from that site. Even if they're trying to avoid me, surely they should pick up their phone for potential clients right?

If you know other way to contact them, please let me know.

I had a bad day

Today has been so annoying. Let me just tell you how it was.
 
First, my cousin was leaving to Melbourne to stay for a year or two and me and my sisters wanted to send her to the airport. To get to the airport I needed to catch a train from Kogarah to Rockdale at 9:34, and then catch a bus in Rockdale @9:44. We left late as we had to clean up the house a bit because our rental manager was supposed to come this morning for annual inspection. We ran all the way to the station and still missed the train. Luckily when we arrived in Rockdale, we can still catch that same bus.
 
Anyway, long story short, we got the flight schedule wrong. She should be flying at 1 PM, but I thought she would be flying at 12 PM! Therefore we got to the airport around 10 AM. My cousin herself was still at home when we arrived at the airport -_-" And Domestic Terminals SUCKS, they only have 1 cafe in the whole terminal, and the price is exxy! -_-" That's one.
 
Second, at 10:30 I saw a missed call, which out of ordinary, I called back. Turned out it was my agent and she was quite upset that nobody was home and she could not get into the unit. She said I should have called her to arrange for another time if I wasn't at home so she wouldn't have to waste a trip! I was like, wasn't it written in the letter that I CAN be NOT at home and she can still get into the unit using management key and will leave me her business card. Plus, I was damn sure it was also written to fill in the form and leave it on kitchen bench for her to collect. Anyway she said it was completely the other way around -_- "" What could I say apart from sorry? But I was 90% I was right. Anyway she'll contact me again on Monday. My agent is always clumsy. This is not the first time things like this happened. I actually said to my sister this morning, I think our agent will stuff up today's inspection, something must happen, i.e. she brought wrong keys, or did not bring 1 of the keys, etc etc. Maybe later I can make a full post of this.
 
Third, we got this Picadilly stockland giftcards during Xmas promotion, and one of those cards expired today. So we went to city after the airport to use it. I was thinking to use it for Yum Cha, but then they said they didn't take it. Fine. I then thought I can use it at newsagent for scratchies or magazines or anything really, they also did not accept it. And finally before giving up since the other stores were hopeless, they are all expensive stores i.e. jewellery store, maternity wear shop, suits shop, etc.. we tried asking a cafe at the ground floor, FINALLY, they said they took them! hip hip hoorayyyyy so our lunch were cut down to 23 bucks yayyy... but well you got the idea how troublesome it was. So next time you get a Stockland giftcard, and the closest you can go to in Piccadilly, don't be to happy. But George's cafe does take those cards. And their food was quite good actually, the salmon I had was good and not overcooked :)
 
Fourth, this was the MOST annoying thing I had today. I went to Harvey Norman Martin Place to claim 100 free photos allowance that I get from buying extended warranty for my laptop a year ago. Parts of that extended warranty are:
1. 1 Laptop health check up once a year for 3 years.
2. 100 free 6x4 photos each year for 3 years.

So I went there to claim my first year photo allowance. However, when I asked the manager how do I do that, he said that it's only for camera extended warranty, not laptop. You get only checkups for laptops. I was furious. He was the one selling that laptop to me last year PLUS the extended warranty and I recall him telling me I get 100 free prints each year!!!!!!!!!!!! And now he's saying that it's not for laptop?????? I was so so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOO pissed off!! and then when he attended another customer, I took out the booklet and checked it again, I was 99% sure I WAS RIGHT and HE WAS WRONG. And yes I was right, this is what it says on the booklet:

 

 

See Photo Processing allowances has small 1,2,3 and Annual Hardware Checkups has 1 next to it? 1 is Laptop, and if annual checkups has 1, and means laptop, why Photo Processing doesn't?? I said that to the manager and he read through it, and then I said, if you don't give it to me, then that's fine, I will just contact Harvey Norman Centre and complain or can you check somehow? I really wasn't bluffing. If you think I like to complain then true I do, if it's my right, then I have to get that right. But I really was not in the mood to argue, so if he didn't let me then that's what I'd do. The manager then said "OK I can give it to you". I replied, you can give me the free photo or you can check? He said "I can give the free photos to you". That's it. NO sorry. NO bullshit of "Oh I didn't realize" or whatever. JUST those. If he didn't think I deserved his apology, at least acknowledge that he didn't know or forgot!!!! HOW RUDE!
1. Last year he did say I could get photo allowances and my sister did hear that. If now he's saying I can't, wasn't he LYING to me last year???? and trying to trick me to get the extended warranty??
2. If the extended warranty has now been changed and laptops don't get photo allowances, well, that's not my problem, I signed last year agreement, and no change of agreement has been given to me, so for me, it still is the same.

So, a bit of warning guys, if you want to get extended warranty from Harvey Norman especially Martin Place with the manager, who I think was called Roy (that's what he wrote on my extended warranty later on. If it wasn't his name then I wouldn't now either), please make sure you remember anything he said and match it to the boolet. AND MAKE SURE to keep and bring the booklet when claiming. Last year he told me I would only need to bring my receipt. Lucky I brought the booklet too. I'm so gonna report this to Harvey Norman -_-""
 
Fifth, we went to DSE at George St. I saw a digital photo frame at DSE North Sydney sold for $30 down from $60. Apart from photo files, that can also play movies and mp3s, so I thought I might get it. However, at George St it was sold for $60, and was said that it's already on special. I came up to the counter and asked about it, and they said maybe North Sydney one was a display model, which I replied no, they have same number of stocks as you. Anyway the staff basically just said no. I don't know how they all trade, I mean some other stores would match the other branch's prices and sometimes even other store's prices. But again, I don't know. The guy wasn't really helpful, and I was already in a bad mood due to all that have been happening all day.
 
After that we went to Myer to go to toilet since that's the cleanest around Town Hall :P and then since we've been walking from morning, we ended up going to have a foot massage at Town Hall station ehhehehhee... and I did have mandarin practice conversation with the lady who gave me massage hehehe.... and she understood!!! yayyyyy so happy :)) That massage was expensive, but I think it was worth it :P