gargh!! so pissed, so stressed.

I just got back to Singapore two days ago. I found out that my old mobile phone line will expire, um, TOMORROW! yeah, I need a new mobile line, fast.

I didn’t want to have to rely on my cousin or friends who are PR or Singaporeans to help me sign up for an 8-digit number for me to yak on. Fine if I have to pay S$200 as deposit, AND have the access to International Direct Dialing (IDD) and international roaming blocked, just because I’m a foreign student here. I can live with that. No big deal.

But it’s totally something else when Starhub made it so difficult for me to apply for a new mobile line by being rigid, inflexible, and unconcerned. First, I cannot just sign up with any of their authorised dealers, so I had travel for an hour to Orchard Road to get that done. I thought it’s alright, just one hour wasted. Again, no big deal.

When I got there, they tell me I’d need my passport, foreign student pass, and proof of billing. Now the problem is, I don’t have any proof of billing. I don’t actually have ‘physical’ bills to pay when I’m here. The old mobile bill is sent to my cousin but deducted from my bank directly. Hostel fees I pay online. School fees: free. AND OCBC does not issue bank statements for my passbook savings account!! But I DO have my bank account, with money in there and etc, and by agreeing to pay electronically by GIRO system, they don’t even need to mail me my bill since it’ll be paid directly from my bank to them automatically each month!!

Sure, a proof of billing is just something to show that yes you do exist and live in this country and therefore can be tracked down if bills aren’t paid. I just cannot understand why they have to be so rigid and insist on having bank statements or my old bills (all of which do not exist) just so they can have my name, address, and some signs of money on the same piece of paper.

I offered to get my hall officer to certify that I am a resident here and my mailing address is blablabla, AND to get the bank personel to tell them that yes I do hold this account with an address that matches exactly the one on my foreign student pass, AND to get back to them asap when the bank can issue me a consolidated statement (problem is also my bank account hasn’t been active in the past 6 months coz I’ve been away!) Plus, I’m signing the contract to bill me electronically via GIRO, of which bills will certainly get paid automatically without me moving a single muscle! SO, why so persistent on the one single bit of paper??

I don’t get it. There ARE ways to confirm that I can be safely billed to such-and-such address, and I can always back this up by requesting the bank to issue a consolidated statement (after 20 transactions have been made) as soon as I can. Geez, it’s not like I’m even running away with their service without paying! They just refuse to budge from the fixed procedures without even first considering that there are other ways to verify the info and help me as their customer get what I came here today to purchase.

After all, this is suppose to be a commercially driven company, and getting businesses from customers should be of priority and thus follows the importance of helping customers as far as they can. But all I got was people who stick to bereaucracy and stick to one and only way of doing things without even wanting to help and consider other ways around it. In the end, they caused such frustration and hassle which could have been reduced if people were just a little more flexible. There is, after all, more than one way to reach to a final point.

Gargh!