I can relate.

“But what if my version of good is not your version of good? Perhaps I think what I did is good but you may think it is not good enough? That got me thinking about how people define or perceive good. Perhaps they think there is no real definition of good and it is up to the individual?

I personally believe that good work or good products and services can be easily defined. My litmus test is always to put ourselves in the other person’s point of view and ask ourselves if we will pay money for what we are selling or providing and if yes, how much.” 

-Being Good Matters, Jeanisha Wan

I can R E L A T E.

I actually found this article a while back, but in this couple of days, I've come to realise that we make too many excuses. Both for ourselves and for other people. 

See, I ordered something online. Though these episodes don't always turn out pretty (like how I bought a pair of Skelly in the Closet pants from Fashion Valet, a size too big for me but I couldn't exchange because I used  a discount coupon but luckily a nice belt came to my rescue!), this is probably the only way I can enjoy any kind of shopping for myself. Plus the guessing game I play where sizes are concerned is such a thrill (NOT) and I feel like a lil' kid getting a parcel of goodies when it finally arrives. In short, when I get to shop, even online, it provides the much needed (temporary) therapy. 

So far, although the things I pick don't always fit perfectly, I haven't had to experience what I've experienced just recently.

"Out for delivery from Bangi Branch"

What does that mean to you?

To me, it means that my parcel has been sent out for delivery to the designated address.

But what do you do when it never reaches your address? And no one tells you that they've probably come to your house to deliver when you weren't around (highly unlikely) or that they've left a "Please Pick Up Your Parcel Note" in your postbox (checked everyday, it wasn't there). So, what do you do?

Do you just sit around and wait to see when it'll arrive (or if it ever will) or do you act on it?

At first, when I got the notifications that my parcels have been sent "out for delivery from Bangi Branch" but never ever reached my address, I thought, "Perhaps it's the Christmas traffic."

Then, I stopped myself from feeling sorry for them.

They are a service provider, and the only way I was going to get my parcel is if they did a good job out of the job they are entrusted with. If I kept on making concessions for them and tell myself that it's okay, and the other 28 million people in Malaysia are just like my old forgiving self, then our service industry might as well go down the drain. 

For me, if you are in the business providing courier services, your job is to deliver. If it's Hari Raya, deliver those cards. If it's Christmas, deliver those presents. People are relying on you as the means to get their festive mood and cheer across Malaysia (at least) and you know that you are in the business of providing such service, so PROVIDE SUCH SERVICE. You are after all, a service provider and that should be your so-called expertise and specialisation.

Although I didn't need my parcel for Christmas and I didn't send anything to anyone via courier service during these festivities, I need my parcel pronto! I don't think it's too much to ask since I've waited since the 19.12.2013, which is when I placed my orders and that means that it's been a week! A week after the service provider actually said that my parcel has been sent "out for delivery from Bangi Branch".

From my correspondence with them just recently, they informed me that they are really lacking in manpower, but is that my problem or theirs? Here I am on the receiving end, waiting like an idiot for something that was supposed to arrive last week and here I am told to wait until tomorrow or next week before I would get my parcel.

NO WAY!

It's not my job to wait for the parcel and it's also not my job to go pick it up from their office if the courier service actually delivers when I am not at home, since I was home the whole time it was supposed to deliver! So, I think it's not too much that I sent about 10 emails to the courier service and called them 10 other times also, demanding that my parcel be sent to me today, notwithstanding the means and time.

I think Malaysia needs to learn to stand up for their rights; these kind of rights especially, for us to have a much more improved delivery system. If people are forever complaining about how rude Public Servants are and our counter services have been improved so much (while no one has to pay anything for our services), I think it's fair that we demand the same out of those in private sector, whose services we actually pay for.

My word of advise is - if you want anything delivered, don't use GDEX. This applies especially to those providing online services with option to deliver.

Total waste of money and time. And not to mention, unnecessary heartache as well. Totally unreliable too. Most certainly, their version of good is not good enough of a good for me. I don't wish for anybody else to suffer the same fate as myself.

Oh, you'll be hearing from the National Consumer Complaint Centre soon, too you know. Because I had to do, what I had to do.

When the customer is me and she says that she's always right, she probably is. Because you're talking to someone with a high tolerance threshold. And that threshold has been exceeded. Wrong move. Wrong move indeed.

/ / oh just so you know, I've always had issues with our delivery service because there was a time when my junior sent me birthday cards every single year and I never got them and I suspect it's because my birthday almost always coincides with a festivities so it always gets lost in translation. I've got a stinking feeling that my posts are part of those they once found "dumped" by postmen in KL.