Ideas and Reviews

I am extremely caught up with work at the moment – explains why I have not been updating this blog for a while now.

However, I cannot resist blogging about my recent experience with Success Resources – apparently Asia’s largest seminar company.

About 3 weeks ago, I received an email from them saying that as a customer appreciation bonus, I get to attend its Millionaire Mind Intensive (MMI) seminar and National Achievers Congress (NAC) for a very attractive price of RM650.

Putting aside their inefficiency in communication, I had to call them 3 times and speak to 3 different people before I could understand their terms. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not stupid nor a person who takes joy in badgering other people, but I feel that their mails and verbal communication needs to be improved on.

Anyway, when I spoke to the last person, someone called Kenji, he told me that I need to confirm my attendance by 12th Jan as they are going to increase their prices after that. I only wanted to attend the MMI and was told that the price is only RM245 for 3 full days. I was also told that it is a very special price and they are only taking in 1,000 people this time as opposed to 3,000 – 4,000 people like the last time.

So, naturally, I was very excited as I am a fan of T. Harv Eker and I signed up immediately.

And I went round telling my friends to enrol immediately too cause I think it is really a good seminar. However, after a week, one of my friend came back and told me that the price was still RM245!

Just now, one of their sales reps called me again and told me that they are extending a special privilege to me by allowing me to bring a friend for RM245. I initially thought that they could not fill in their 1,000 but was instead told that they are increasing the crowd to 1,200! My immediate concern was if they have enough space to accommodate the additional 200 people.

Although they assured me that space is ample, I cannot help but feel that they might not be entirely honest about that. And I cannot help but feel like I have been taken for a ride – firstly by telling me that the RM245 is a limited time offer to prefered customers who are on their mailing list and secondly by being told the crowd was a manageable 1,000.

I am just wondering why sales ethics on the phone is so lacking nowadays. Why can’t companies operate by being completely honest and transparent in their offers? Do they not realise that their antics can cause a lot of suspicion amongst consumers out there and in turn, make honest telemarketers suffer?

What do you think? Have you felt like I do? Have you been sold something with the pretext that it is for a limited time and for a selected few but turns out it is an on-going pricing and the crowd has extended?

One of the things which I enjoy doing is cleaning the fridge. Really. And the main reason is because it is very cooling. No joke.

Every time I clean the fridge, I will discover some amazing things that are in it. Leftovers which still look edible but I cannot recall when I cooked it. Vegetables which I do not remember buying. Fruits which already have a different smell to it. Once I discovered some food in a container and I cannot really identify what its origins were!

Now, because of all these amazing discoveries, naturally some smell will emerge occasionally.  Imagine my delight when I saw a small write-up in the Star a few days ago which tells us how to freshen up the fridge. Here goes …

* Take a lemon and cut into half.

* Scoop the insides of the lemons out with a spoon.

* Fill up the lemon halves1/2 to 3/4 of the way full with table salt.

* Place the lemon halves in a small bowl to keep them from tipping over. You can place both halves in one bowl or place each half in separate bowls.

* Place the bowl or bowls in the back of the fridge.

* Replace every 30 days or as needed.

* The salt will absorb foul odours while the lemon gives you a fresh citrus scent.

Easy right? Seems  so simple to me that I might just try it right away!

What about you? Do you have any other ways to give your fridge that great fresh smell?

So last week, the much awaited book sale happened in Amcorp Mall. I was thinking of going in the morning of the first day but I got a SMS from a friend who said that it was packed. I then decided to go later that night.

IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!

 When its maiden sale happened in May, I wrote a review here which favoured this sale. After all, reading is an expensive hobby and any great sale like this would have been great to book worms like me.

Due to that great experience I had, I was really looking forward to this year end sale. However, this was what I found.

The whole venue was extremely small. I do not see how it can accomodate 200,000 titles and all those people in it comfortably.

The entrance was jammed with people who were queuing to pay. The queues were zig zagging and my friend said she had to wait for a whole hour to pay! OMG! I had half a mind to leave the second I stepped into the place.

Then I found that the aisles were too small to fit all the bookworms there who had baskets, bags and boxes in their hands. I had to elbow my way around since that is the only way I could move forward. People who brought their babies in strollers were in for a surprise.

Although I saw some great titles on self-help, I could not really reach it cause it was just too many people around it. Business selection seems to be more limited this time round as well.

One thing which topped my annoyance was how the sales people behaved. One guy who was rearranging some of the books was practically ripping away a book which my little boy was looking at. When I asked why he did it, he simply said that my little Ryan was going to tear it apart and so, he should take it away! When I insisted that Ryan will not do that, he pointed his finger to Ryan and said that if it is torn, then I will have to pay for it! Did he have to be so rude??

Then there was this girl at the customer service table in the children’s section who gave me a non-committed look when I left my bag of unpaid books with her. Ryan wanted to poop and I was not going to hold it off while I zig zag my way through the payment queue. And so, she simply shrugged and said she cannot guarantee that my books (together with my bag) will be there when I return. I really felt like slapping her!

But, as with all things, 2 good things were the fact that the children’s books were separated from the madness and it was pretty easy to shop. But I think the choices last time were better.

The other plus point was that the prices were indeed low. The most expensive one I got was a pirate set which was RM15. The other self-help and biz books I got were RM8. Ryan’s books were mostly RM5.

I did not even bother going back the second and subsequent days. Don’t think it was worth the effort. I hope that the organizer will pick a bigger venue the next time. And for goodness sake, get more polite temps!

Did you go to this sale? What do you think about it?

Today I read in the papers that Crabtree & Evelyn is having a 3 day preview sale on the Christmas line. Although I said to myself I will not buy anything, I actually could not resist going to look-see, look-see.

When I arrived at the one located in KLCC, I saw this “Discounts up to 50%” – wow! Upon looking closer, I realised that the prices on the products have already been discounted for 50%. But for these 3 days, you get additional discounts – VIP members get 30% extra while non-VIP will only get 20%.

What a steal ya? I called a fellow Crabtree fan and we spent less then 30 minutes in there and I came out with these great bargains.

Rosewater Deluxe – This is my all time favourite. It carries with it a hint of sweet fragrance of Rosa centifolia with light notes of violet and leafy greens. I use it mainly before going to bed – makes me happy to sleep and wake up with a nice scent.

This set contains Rosewater Bath & Shower Gel, Rosewater Hand & Body Lotion, Rosewater Eau Fraiche & Rosewater Hand Therapy. The price is RM195, after 50%. On top of this, take off 30%. I paid RM136.50.

This set is La Source Deluxe Hat Box. I have been using their scrub for a while now. I especially like the menthol smell when you use it. Sometimes I apply this in the afternoon just so that my hands are all fresh and minty – keeps me awake!

This lovely box contain La Source Hand Therapy, La Source Relaxing Body Wash, La Source Relaxing Body Lotion, La Source Hand Recovery & La Source Triple-milled Soap with Shea Butter. Total damage for after discount is RM136.50.

Gardeners range is especially good if you have really dry hands. It is really rich but the good thing is that it does not stick on your hands, it quickly absorbs! The tote is design for your gardening tools, but I think it is much too pretty to be used!

In this set, you can find Gardeners Hand Scrub with Pumice, Gardeners Hand Therapy, Gardeners Hand Recovery and Gardeners Nail & Cuticle Therapy. After discount, also is RM136.50.

There were many customers today, so I suggest that you skip lunch and shop here first.

During the preview, get a Noel Scented Bear & Mini Body Care Gift Set worth RM475 FREE with purchase of RM800 and above in a single receipt.

So what are you waiting for? It’s a great sale.

Last weekend, we headed out to Lookout Point for my brother’s birthday. I have not been there but have heard relatively good things about it.

We had parked at the bottom of the hill since it was quite packed. We had to climb up the stairs like these.

Obviously the kid has an easier time than the adults.

When we got to the top, there were quite a few stalls which greeted us – like this one. There were bags and clothes all around.

We had not made any bookings and so, we hunted around for a while. We finally settled down for this – Bread & Olives.

The dinner did not start off well since they did not have tables which could accomodate all 7 of us. The waiters put 3 tables together and 1 of them were actually smaller than the other 2 and they forced us to sit! But of course we objected and finally, we all sat down, at 3 same sized tables.

The menu arrived and we were looking through some offerings which could be catered to our vegetarian taste. When we saw the Pizza Funghi, we wanted to take out the meat and were told “Cannot! We cannot change the taste.” Then we asked if we could order Spaghetti Carbonara without the meat, we were also told “Cannot!”

Hmm, usually in Western restaurants, we do not encounter this problem. It is usually a breeze since we can just interchange the ingredients and that solves the problem. However, this place could not do it.

The food finally came … I was too hungry and so, did not have any photos of it. But the one thing that we all agreed was that – THE FOOD IS NOT NICE!  My parents’ chicken dish was not tasty. Our pizza was not tentalizing either. Imagine my son who loves pizza decided that he will pass the ones we ordered.

The pasta we ordered was too soft and the cream was too thick. Before we manage to eat all, it was already hard.

The chocolate shake we ordered tasted really “thin” if you know what I mean. Definitely no calories stuck on me even after I finished it! Coke was charged at RM4.00! And they charged for water too.

Here is the bill. And I won’t be complaining if the service and food were great. The problem is, either were up to standards. Even the beautiful view did not help in easing our dissatisfaction.

I definitely will not go there again!

Have you experience this place before? Does your view differ from mine?