Land banking - Look before you leap

Read this article in MAS website.

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After all, where there is an opportunity for you to make some money, there is always a chance that you can lose some or all of your money. There is no free lunch. In the case of land banking, you may have seen media reports about investors losing money in land banking schemes in various countries. Some schemes have also turned out to be scams!
Unqutoe

Plan ahead for future MRT interchange stations

Published in Straits Times Forum Page, 19 June 2010

When the MRT system was developed three decades ago, the planners did a great job in designing the interchange station at City Hall and Raffles Place. It is easy for the commuter to change train by walking to the platform within a short distance.

However, the planners did not plan ahead for the expansion of the MRT system.

When the North East and Circle Lines were developed later, the platforms for these lines at the interchange stations had to be located quite far away, due to engineering and safety issues. Commuters have to walk quite a long distance to transfer from one line to another at the Dhoby Ghaut and other interchange stations.

As we are building new lines for the MRT system, it is better to plan ahead for future interchange stations, including those that are not on the drawing board now.

I suggest that every third station on a new line should be planned ahead as an interchange station, using the design of City Hall. This will make it easy to connect a new line in the future. Although this may increase the cost marginally, it can be recouped from the cost savings in the future. The convenience to the commuters will be immense.

Tan Kin Lian

Customer Service and Web Forms

Many organisations have feedback forms on their website. These forms are often ignored, giving a bad impression of the customer service standard of the organisation.

This situation can be easily addressed. The contact center should be made responsible to attend to these forms. The forms are an alternative to getting a call on the telephone. By processing the web forms, the organisation can improve the productivity of its call center as most of the essential information are entered by the customer. If any information is missing, it can be obtained by a call back to the customer.

The web from should be simple in design. It only need to ask for the name, contact number, e-mail address (optional) and a free format text box for details to be entered. All enquiries are placed in the server and marked as attended or not. This ensures that all requests are handled.

I hope that organisations will organise this additional mode to contact the call center. It will improve the standard of customer service in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian

Good customer service (SMRT Taxi)

I experienced good customer service at SMRT Taxi. I called their hotline. They asked me to enter my postal code (if I wanted to get a taxi) or press a number to speak to a person. The call was answered immediately. The staff took down my name, e-mail address, telephone number and nature of my enquiry. I get an e-mail reply from the relevant staff within one hour.

I commend SMRT Taxi for this excellent service. It is easy and prompt. Many big organisations can follow this simple approach to improve customer service significantly, and at no extra cost.

Tan Kin Lian

Bad customer service (Maybank)

I experienced bad customer service with Maybank. I sent a fax to their Johor Bahru Main branch to send me a new cheque book. They did not respond after a week. I called their number. Nobody picked up the phone.  I tried with 4 other numbers. It was not answered.

I called their KL contact center. I went through the automated mesages and finally managed to speak to an officer taking complaints. She said that I have to call the Johor Bahru Main branch and give me two new numbers to call. I tried several times, but nobody pick up the phone.

I called the KL contact center again, and lodged a complaint about the bad customer service. I insisted that they take down my complaint and tell the Johor Bahru branch to call me back. She ageed. She was patient and helpful. I commend her.

Many big organisations had bad customer service due to bad operating procedures, which are unfriendly to customers. The customers who have to wait for a long time on a telephone that is never answered. A better solution is to allow the customer to give their name, e-mail, contact number and request in a web based form. The call center can also used this form to enter down the key details. This will allow the relevant staff to call back the customer when they are free.

Tan Kin Lian

Buying Cash Value Insurance

Read this article. A consumer ask about a cash value insurance that he is considering. There are many interesting and educational comments from other readers about this product. These comments generally apply to Singapore as well.

Signage at the Circle Line

This is the signboard at the Bishan station of the Circle Line. The destination "to Marymount" is not lighted. In fact, all word "to Marymount" is not lighted in all the signs in the Bishan and Bras Basah stations of the line. I suspect that this situation applies to other stations as well.

I can only guess that the lights were dimmed during the first stage when the line served Bishan to Serangoon. The line had been extended to Marymount for nearly one year and still the lights have not been fixed. What is the reason?

I take the Circle Line only a few times and observed this situation. But there are many commuters who take taking this line daily. Why did they not raise this matter? What about the employees working at the stations?

Is this the state of apathy in Singapore? If so, it would be quite worrisome!

Tan Kin Lian