Let me pay!

Monday I went for a facial. This is my fourth time to this tiny little quaint place in Times Square called Coca Beauty Paradise. Little did I know, the owner's name was actually "Coca".

So I head on as usual, using the Smart Tunnel to KL and arrive there just in time. My timing is always ngam ngam one, I hope in future there are no unknown circustances which will make me late for anything, cos I'm really like an on-the-dot kind of person.

You can find Coca Beauty Paradise in Berjaya Times Square, 3rd Floor Lot #84. Lovely girls there, excellent service, facials are great ranging from RM50 onwards. Shoulder massage only given for facials above RM100 though. They use a French skincare brand called Payot. Really good in my opinion.

I am paying RM250 for Microdermabrasion. I know, I know it's alot for a facial, but I have noticed that if I do a regular facial, the blackheads come back quicker and pores are clogged up much faster. Also with this Microdermabrasion facial, my skin is smoother and more translucent. (I hope, anyway). During the process I chat chat with the therapist and discover that I can actually sign up for 10 facials and get a special price of RM150 for each one! Wow, I said.."How come you all didn't tell me earlier?" You see this place never pushes anybody to buy products or packages or sign up for more stuff etc etc. (Which is why I love going there) No pressure, no stress, no overbearing therapist trying to sell you and push stuff on to you which you really aren't prepared to pay for. But but but..tell me lar if it can save me money right??!! Sigh.. ok anyway, so I proceed to sign up for this package. Eh I am not wasting money ok...I really think it is a great deal what, don't you?

Now while she swipes my card thru the machine, she's getting a message which says DATA NOT ENCRYPTED. It's not declined, it's Data Not Encrypted. Now what the hell does THAT mean?? She doesn't know and neither do I!?! So I give her my second card - same thing. I give her all my 4 cards and tell her to keep trying while I call the bank.

"Hello, CIMB Card Centre how can I help you?"

"Hi, my card # is xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx"

"Yes how can I help you m'am?"

"Ok I am trying to pay for something and the machine is saying Data Not Encrypted. Can you tell me what that means?"

"Erm...so you want to check your card balance?"

"No, I have enough credit on my card. I want to know what the message 'Data Not Encrypted' means."

"Hold on please"

*music*

"M'am how long have you had your card?"

"Now how is that relevant to my question? I have had my card for a very long time and I have used it plenty times before. Why can't you just answer my question?"

"Because I just want to check and know when your card was issued to you"

"Why? That's an irrelevant question! Shouldn't YOU know when it was issued to me anyway? There is nothing wrong with the card as I have told you before. *Sigh* Why can't you just tell me what this message means?"

"Oh it means there's either something wrong with the chip or something wrong with the machine"

"Ok that's what I wanted to know. Thanks. Bye"

I hang up annoyed. What could have been a 2 minute conversation turned into 10 minutes. Meanwhile the shop girl is still trying to swipe all four cards and getting the same message. I am at this point quite sure it is the machine. I tell her...

"Ice..(yes her name is Ice,it says so on her name tag), can you please call the number on the machine?"

"I don't know how to call lar..can you call?"

"Hah? ok ok sure, I'll call"

Now the sticker with the number on the machine says Alliance Bank. So I call the number and say,

"Hi is this Alliance Bank?"

Woman on the other line says, "No m'am this is EDP XXX"

I say, "Erm..so this is not Alliance Bank then?"

"No this is EDP XXX Credit Card Machine one"

"Ahhh yes ok...I have a problem with the machine. It says Data Not Encrypted. What does this mean?"

"Oh Alliance bank told us they having system problem for one hour like that, sorry m'am"

"Oh ok, so how do we process payment for the customer? Do we have to use the manual machine?"

"Yes m'am"

OK now through all this I am wondering, why is it so hard to get a straight forward response to my question, and why can't these telephone operators understand what my main point is and get straight to it? It is no wonder that foreigners hate talking to us over the phone, our Customer Service people are completely hopeless. They never anticipate customer's needs, ask irrelevant questions, don't explain things comprehensively, and never get to the point of helping the customer. You ask A they answer A, you ask B, they answer B. Sometimes they answer C or D, but my point is, obviously the WHOLE point here is that whatever the issue is, somebody is trying to collect payment from somebody. At least make a suggestion on how to help!

Sigh..Wawasan 2020 is still very far away. And Malaysia Boleh? I really think NOT!

Conclusion, I paid with cash :P