Hi Mr Tan,
I refer to Asiaone headline today.
After reading the report in Shin Ming Daily news dated 19th Dec, a retiree claimed that he got back only 1 cent refund, though he and his wife take buses almost everyday. LTA reportedly insisted that their computation cannot goes wrong on the same day report.
My personal experience proof that this is not very true. I went to the AVM machine to try the refund on 21st Dec. I was shocked to see a quick flash, indicating that the refund I was entitled was only 10 cents (no details of how the amount was being derived). As I seldom take bus to work, for the 3 days in Nov, I took down the amount that was deducted wrongly from my card. After reading the report that LTA claimed the refund cannot go wrong, I made a manual claim from transitlink website, and got back another 60 cents that were being deducted for the 2 days (3rd day was correct).
My question is, how accurate the refund system is then ? Do they expect all the commuters to take note the amount that was deducted everyday and do a manual claim themselves? The problem is not only the few cents, but the faulty system. Having to even refund wrongly to the customers, then why spent so much money to set up rather then donate this amount of money to the charity ?
Till date, I still encounter overcharging of few cents, but do not bother to claim anymore. Just wish to share with everyone else who read your blog frequently.
JL
Monday, December 27, 2010
BEST Competition
Join in the competition for 3 industries (insurance, hotel, airlines) each night and win a prize for being the best player. The game starts on 27 December 2010 and three new games will be started every night until further notice.
Details available here: http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=334
Find out who runs the best insurance company, the best hotel and the best airline! Prizes are donated by Tan Kin Lian & Associates Pte Ltd
Watch this video on how th play this game. Login here to practice the game and take part in the competition: www.easyapps.sg/besta
Details available here: http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=334
Find out who runs the best insurance company, the best hotel and the best airline! Prizes are donated by Tan Kin Lian & Associates Pte Ltd
Watch this video on how th play this game. Login here to practice the game and take part in the competition: www.easyapps.sg/besta
FISCA Talks
Here are the educational talks being organised by FISCA. I will be conducting the talk on financial planning in February and on insurance in March. I hope that consumers will register early for these talks.
http://www.fisca.sg/events
http://www.fisca.sg/events
BEST Game - for practice and fun
You can practice the best game at any time against the simulated players. This allows you to learn the technique.
You can have fun by asking a few friends to compete with you. They go at a fixed time and choose the same game as you. After year 5, which takes 50 mins, you will know who is the winner. You can have a friendly bet with your friend and pay $1 to the person who reaches the top of the game. The game can be played here: www.easyapps.sg/besta
Enjoy and learn the skill of running an insurance company, hotel, airline or other types of business. Join the competition at 8 pm, 9 pm and 10 pm each night and compete against other players.
You can have fun by asking a few friends to compete with you. They go at a fixed time and choose the same game as you. After year 5, which takes 50 mins, you will know who is the winner. You can have a friendly bet with your friend and pay $1 to the person who reaches the top of the game. The game can be played here: www.easyapps.sg/besta
Enjoy and learn the skill of running an insurance company, hotel, airline or other types of business. Join the competition at 8 pm, 9 pm and 10 pm each night and compete against other players.
Financial Plan for John Tan
This is a sample financial plan for John Tan prepared from the website www.easysearch.sg/life21. There is a link at the bottom of the document to seek further explanation from an expert.
www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=348
www.tankinlian.com/ask.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=348
3 Problems with Outsourcing Content Creation For your Online Business-And 3 Great Benefits of Quality Content | BusinessAndLegal.ie
Don’t make the mistake of being a cheapskate when it comes to publishing content on your site.
Because you will never be taken seriously in your marketplace and the brand you try to build will be tarnished and confused.
Think of quality content as a great, one off, long term investment in your business.
And watch your readership and rankings grow.
You might be interested in professional web content also.
End of holidays
As the December holidays come closer to an end, the visitors to my blog and website are now returning to normal, i.e.
2,500 for blog
400 for website
2,500 for blog
400 for website
Unfair contract terms
We have a law against unfair contract terms. How does the law define what is an unfair contract term? Would the following contract terms be deemed to be unfair to consumers?
a) The bank imposes a penalty for late payment that is why above what it cost the bank to process the late payment? If the actual cost is $2, can the bank impose a fee of $200?
b) If an personal accident policy require the consumer to notify the insurance company about a change of occupation, can the insurance company deny a claim due to failure to comply with this requirement, even though the change of occupation did not have any impact on the nature of the risk?
As businesses now aim to increase their profits, they may be imposing penalties and conditions that are onerous and unfair to consumers. What redress does the consumer have under the law against unfair contract terms?
Tan Kin Lian
a) The bank imposes a penalty for late payment that is why above what it cost the bank to process the late payment? If the actual cost is $2, can the bank impose a fee of $200?
b) If an personal accident policy require the consumer to notify the insurance company about a change of occupation, can the insurance company deny a claim due to failure to comply with this requirement, even though the change of occupation did not have any impact on the nature of the risk?
As businesses now aim to increase their profits, they may be imposing penalties and conditions that are onerous and unfair to consumers. What redress does the consumer have under the law against unfair contract terms?
Tan Kin Lian
Utmost good faith and incontestability
The principle of utmost good faith in insurance applies in both directions. The insurer expects the consumer to declare truthfully what he knows or ought to know about the nature of the risk. The consumer expects the insurer to declare truthfully the nature of the insurance contract and also to settle the claim fairly, as was promised.
It would be wrong for the insurer to find unjustified grounds to reject the claim. As it is difficult to monitor the bad behavior of insurers, some countries have introduced the incontestability clause to govern life and health insurance policies. This is to prevent the insurer from finding flimsy excuse to reject claims due to alleged non-disclosure, especially if the consumer does not even know about the condition that they failed to disclose.
I hope that insurers and regulators understand the need for fair treatment of consumers and the correct application of the principles of utmost good faith and the incontestability clause. If consumers are unfairly treated, they will lose trust in insurance contracts.
Tan Kin Lian
It would be wrong for the insurer to find unjustified grounds to reject the claim. As it is difficult to monitor the bad behavior of insurers, some countries have introduced the incontestability clause to govern life and health insurance policies. This is to prevent the insurer from finding flimsy excuse to reject claims due to alleged non-disclosure, especially if the consumer does not even know about the condition that they failed to disclose.
I hope that insurers and regulators understand the need for fair treatment of consumers and the correct application of the principles of utmost good faith and the incontestability clause. If consumers are unfairly treated, they will lose trust in insurance contracts.
Tan Kin Lian
Incontestability clause in life and health insurance policies
Read this explanation about incontestability clause in a life insurance policy. And this explanation about its application to a health insurance policy.
I am not sure if there is an incontestability clause in Medishield or a Shield policy issued by an insurance company. There is need for this type of protection of consumers against unfair rejection of claims.
I am not sure if there is an incontestability clause in Medishield or a Shield policy issued by an insurance company. There is need for this type of protection of consumers against unfair rejection of claims.
Corporate e-mail address
I looked for the corporate e-mail address of MAS. They do not provide it. They provide the fax number and mailing address. I don't know why they prefer to have the inefficient way of communicating with the public?
MAS can provide a corporate e-mail address such as inbox@mas.gov.sg. They can have a staff to check the inbox regularly and forward the mail to the colleague handling the matter. They have to do the forwarding with mail received by post and fax anyway.
Some corporations allow the public to submit a web form. Maybe MAS has this web form. In most cases, the web form is difficult to find, difficult to use (e.g. ask for many unnecessary information), have a text box that is too small and do not allow attachments.
Why create so much trouble for everyone? Just provide a corporate e-mail address! I hope that corporate IT manager or admin managers are reading this blog!
Read this suggestion:
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=47
Tan Kin Lian
MAS can provide a corporate e-mail address such as inbox@mas.gov.sg. They can have a staff to check the inbox regularly and forward the mail to the colleague handling the matter. They have to do the forwarding with mail received by post and fax anyway.
Some corporations allow the public to submit a web form. Maybe MAS has this web form. In most cases, the web form is difficult to find, difficult to use (e.g. ask for many unnecessary information), have a text box that is too small and do not allow attachments.
Why create so much trouble for everyone? Just provide a corporate e-mail address! I hope that corporate IT manager or admin managers are reading this blog!
Read this suggestion:
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=47
Tan Kin Lian
Renovating a small industrial premise
I complained earlier that I had to spend $3,500 to get a qualified engineer to certify the fire safety for the renovation to my industrial premise of 1,600 sf. The contractor told me that if I did not get the stamp from the engineer, the building manager would not give approval for the work to start.
I now learned that the process took three weeks for the engineer to do the drawing. What a waste of time! What a waste of money! I am angry that that the fire safety regulations is adding a lot of unnecessary cost to me. It is why the cost of doing business is so high in Singapore - due to these wasteful requirements. I have written to the Pro-Enterprise Panel. I hope that they are reading this blog.
Tan Kin Lian
I now learned that the process took three weeks for the engineer to do the drawing. What a waste of time! What a waste of money! I am angry that that the fire safety regulations is adding a lot of unnecessary cost to me. It is why the cost of doing business is so high in Singapore - due to these wasteful requirements. I have written to the Pro-Enterprise Panel. I hope that they are reading this blog.
Tan Kin Lian
Unfair rejection of Shield claim
Here is another case of an unfair rejection of a shield claim. The rejection was based on a medical condition that occurred 5 year previously and was not of a long term nature. The agent had advised the consumer that it was not necessary to declare this condition. The consumer was insured with another company previously but made this change after getting the assurance of the agent.
www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=347
My view
The agent is greedy to make a few dollars of commission on the Shield plan. The agent had harmed the consumer considerably through this irresponsible behavior.
www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx
http://tankinlian.com/admin/file.aspx?id=347
My view
The agent is greedy to make a few dollars of commission on the Shield plan. The agent had harmed the consumer considerably through this irresponsible behavior.
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