This is the follow up to my Spider Man3 - Not a complete waste of time post. Compared to the movie, using Dialog's new 444 mticket service, which promises you a hassle free, ticket buying experience turned out to be a A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME!
Instead of mumblings from the crowd of "what a BIG shot" I was to jump the queue, there was only silence, probably accompanied by silent thoughts to the effect of, "there goes another mticket looser".
As you might imagine, not only did I not have any reserved tickets (not even tentatively), my name wasn't even on their database. This is despite Dialog confirming the ticket with a reference number, two days prior to the screening. This wasn't an isolated incident either, as the person at the counter explained, it had happened before on several occasions including one earlier that very same day! It is somewhat unlikely that the other person also booked the ticket in exactly the same time frame when the system was down and who also wanted to watch the movie 2 days later.
Anyway as you might imagine, it wasn't a pretty scene and my girl friend and I were quite disappointed at the prospect of going home early. There was nothing left to do but to spend another 15/- and make another call (the 3rd by this time) to 444. Here is what that call sounded like ....
As you might have heard it took ages for someone to pickup. The help desk person seemed quite nervous, probably because he knew of the issue, and put me on hold for a good long song. All in all, I was probably on the phone for as much as 15 min.
The audio clips are broken down into two parts, because while I was on hold I wanted to retrieve my reference number stored in another section of the phone, which stopped the recording process. I was hoping he'd at least ask for the ref number, but he never did! He didn't even ask for my name nor mobile number (yes they could have CLI, but what if I was using someone else's phone? Dialog customer support normally asks for your phone number). Unfortunately, I ran out of phone memory to record the second part completely, because I was on hold for a long time. (I cut short the on-hold music from the recording). Basically the part you missed on the recording involved me getting may be 10% more angry and telling him that I didn't want the service and demanding they not charge my phone bill with the ticket price. Only time will tell whether they remembered to cancel it from my bill.
I sensed something was fishy, from the beginning - when I made the reservation. For one thing, I was expecting some sort of automated ticket reservation system. After all this was supposed to be the future today. But hearing a real human voice was actually better and welcomed, even if it seems a little too high to charge the 15/- just to talk to one. Instead they could have added the 15/- to the premium charge for reserving the ticket if they really need that money.
Anyway after conveying my movie requirements, he offered me a seating area and then put me on hold for a couple of minutes to confirm the booking. He came back with bad news stating that he was not able to confirm my booking and for me to call back in another 1 hour time. At this point I remembered he had already asked me for my Name, mobile number and even my email address, which was a first. I asked if he could send me an email or an sms but he refused and insisted that I call him back. That was my first clue it was fishy :)
I called back in about 2 hours, to learn they had no recollection of me making a call. The new support person asked the name of the person I spoke with, a piece of information I never expected to be asked by a company with over 2M customers. At one point during the conversation, the new customer support person seemed to be questioning the actions of the earlier support person, which made me annoyed enough to ask "You tell me! He works there!".
I was then put on hold for a few more minutes only to come back and say that he will call me back shortly. I was somewhat relived that for a change he was going to call me back instead of ask me to call him back and pay another 15/-.
As promised they called me back. "I'm sorry sir, our system was down and I got caught with something. Here is your reference number; please write it down" was his response. So I wrote down the reference number down ET218...... I asked him if I was going to also get an SMS, to which he said no. He assured me that the booking was confirmed and all I had to do was show this reference number.
The rest as you know by now is history! If you know anyone at Dialog, who can fix this problem please forward this so they are aware of this issue. Dialog usually has a pretty good Customer Support System, which totally contradicts with my mticket experience. Overall, I am a happy Dialog phone customer, being with them close to 10 years now. So I would like to see them fix this ASAP, or at least bring down the service till its fixed. As far as I could tell, it was really a poor process/work flow from Dialogs end on what they need to do when the system is offline.
I later discovered that the Dialog's 444 service is provided in partnership with Ceylinco Internet Services, who also have their own ticket reservations system. Perhaps, I was actually talking to some not from Dialog, but regardless it is still Dialog's responsibility to ensure a good customer experience.
So for now, my advice is to stay away from this unreliable service and save your self the embarrassment.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Spider-Man 3 - Not a complete waste of time
I've just returned home from watching the block buster hit, Spider Man 3 and thought I'd blog my thoughts while its still fresh on my mind. A word of caution for anyone who hasn't as yet watched the movie - don't read this if your like me in that you don't like to have any pretenses about the movie before you watch it. While I promise not to outline the plot, if there was any, chances are your going to have a pretense. This is also why I generally don't like to watch movie trailers, read reviews before watching the actual movie, though I won't necessarily shy away from them should I accidentally bump into one. On the other hand if your the type that researches before you spend time and money on a movie, then read on.
I had high hopes for Spider Man 3, so much that the second I learned of its existence in town, I immediately wanted to book tickets. So for the first time I tried booking an e-ticket using Dialog's much advertised, 444 service that was exclusive for postpaid customers. In the end that service turned out to be a complete waste of time and possibly money (I won't know till I get my next bill), but luckily I was able to manually get two tickets, after learning my e-ticket was never made. More on that later, in another post perhaps.
Anyway after watching it and coming out of the theater, all I could think about was why this was the worst Spider Man movie out of the three. I say this with disappointment, only because I really think they tried too hard to make a good movie, but ended up over doing it and really deviating too much from the previously established (as far as the movies go) Spider-Man spirit.
Essentially I felt like this was an attempt to combine characters and ideas from too many successful movies to create the ultimate movie. Unfortunately, as a result I felt it turned out to be a salad or cocktail that was just too crowded for the taste buds.
To begin with, I thought there were far too many super characters (the word hero isn't totally un-appropriate here either, as I will explain later), somewhat similar to what you'd expect from X-men. Then the sand man reminded me of the sand man from "The Mummy". The sand man also resembled "King Kong", when ever he grew to be a giant and especially when he was under attack. Similar to King Kong, it turns out, the sand man was also misunderstood. There was also a Terminator like, "I'll be back" thing going on where you think the villain is dead but he comes back. A bit of "Superman" is encompassed in the black alien substance that falls from space, similar to how Superman came to earth, and which has lots of power but also a lame weakness similar to Kryptonite. Coincidence? I think not! There were also some musical moments similar to "Mula Roughe" or "Chicago".
Despite all these rip offs, the movie was nevertheless quite enjoyable to watch, with hardly ever a yawning moment. Still one thing I could not stand to watch was the Titanic/Hindi movie like scenes of Spider man crying like a girl. Not once by twice! By the audience's giggle reaction, especially when the circumstances were emotionally depressing, hints to a fundamental flaw with the Spider-Man, if not any man's character we are stereo typically led to accept. Those scenes were just so lame and thankfully short. There was also a bit of soap and fantasy as you learn that none of the villains were true villains (some what hero like at times) and the hero, Spider man, acts like a villain at times. They all had a personal story to share, which didn't feel right.
Some of the - "Oh how convenient" or "Wow what a coincidence" moments just make this story feel really lame and unrealistic. I can't go into details here without ruining it so I won't. You'll see what I mean when you watch. Anyway its certainly not the Spider-Man we were led to accept - the ordinary, nerdy guy that made mistakes but understood that with great power comes great responsibility.
So while the movie is an enjoyment to watch due to the cool effects, a roller coaster like ever changing theme, my conclusion is that Spider-Man 3 killed Spider-Man as we knew him.
I had high hopes for Spider Man 3, so much that the second I learned of its existence in town, I immediately wanted to book tickets. So for the first time I tried booking an e-ticket using Dialog's much advertised, 444 service that was exclusive for postpaid customers. In the end that service turned out to be a complete waste of time and possibly money (I won't know till I get my next bill), but luckily I was able to manually get two tickets, after learning my e-ticket was never made. More on that later, in another post perhaps.
Anyway after watching it and coming out of the theater, all I could think about was why this was the worst Spider Man movie out of the three. I say this with disappointment, only because I really think they tried too hard to make a good movie, but ended up over doing it and really deviating too much from the previously established (as far as the movies go) Spider-Man spirit.
Essentially I felt like this was an attempt to combine characters and ideas from too many successful movies to create the ultimate movie. Unfortunately, as a result I felt it turned out to be a salad or cocktail that was just too crowded for the taste buds.
To begin with, I thought there were far too many super characters (the word hero isn't totally un-appropriate here either, as I will explain later), somewhat similar to what you'd expect from X-men. Then the sand man reminded me of the sand man from "The Mummy". The sand man also resembled "King Kong", when ever he grew to be a giant and especially when he was under attack. Similar to King Kong, it turns out, the sand man was also misunderstood. There was also a Terminator like, "I'll be back" thing going on where you think the villain is dead but he comes back. A bit of "Superman" is encompassed in the black alien substance that falls from space, similar to how Superman came to earth, and which has lots of power but also a lame weakness similar to Kryptonite. Coincidence? I think not! There were also some musical moments similar to "Mula Roughe" or "Chicago".
Despite all these rip offs, the movie was nevertheless quite enjoyable to watch, with hardly ever a yawning moment. Still one thing I could not stand to watch was the Titanic/Hindi movie like scenes of Spider man crying like a girl. Not once by twice! By the audience's giggle reaction, especially when the circumstances were emotionally depressing, hints to a fundamental flaw with the Spider-Man, if not any man's character we are stereo typically led to accept. Those scenes were just so lame and thankfully short. There was also a bit of soap and fantasy as you learn that none of the villains were true villains (some what hero like at times) and the hero, Spider man, acts like a villain at times. They all had a personal story to share, which didn't feel right.
Some of the - "Oh how convenient" or "Wow what a coincidence" moments just make this story feel really lame and unrealistic. I can't go into details here without ruining it so I won't. You'll see what I mean when you watch. Anyway its certainly not the Spider-Man we were led to accept - the ordinary, nerdy guy that made mistakes but understood that with great power comes great responsibility.
So while the movie is an enjoyment to watch due to the cool effects, a roller coaster like ever changing theme, my conclusion is that Spider-Man 3 killed Spider-Man as we knew him.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Honey, I sunk the ipod
It was the worse day of my (ipod's) life. It drowned a feet under water for god knows how long. What probably was 5 - 10 minutes must have felt like an eternity. As of now, my ipod is in a coma, waiting for me to wake her up.
It all began a little under 36 hrs ago, when it was raining hard. I came home yesterday a little earlier following a wedding and thus managed to avoid traffic and more importantly the heavy rain. After a little bit of relaxation listening to the rest of a podcast from my drive back home, I began to settle into reading a book, when my sister said she was about to go off to work.
She being a doctor, has to generally deal with a crazy time table. By this time it was raining hard and fast. So I offered to drop her off, which she accepted gladly and as usual took my ipod along to keep me company.
We didn't get too far before land was nowhere and water was everywhere! This was not my first time crossing a pool of water by car, so I wasn't as scared as I should have been.
All was fine until my feet started getting cold - I mean literally cold from the water that was now seeking in from beneath the car. I must say there was a little panic, especially after seeing a couple of dead vehicles stranded on our path. There was no turning back. We were surrounded by a queue of vehicles, in both directions.
The water level continued to rise until it was about a foot or more. Finally we made land but the water that had entered into the car, didn't seem to retreat back. Luckily there was an empty 1.5L bottle of 7up, which my sister started filling up with the flooded water and throwing out. Thats when she felt something under the water -- something which felt like, my ipod!
As she handed it over to me, my fingers touched the wheel and it came alive. I panicked and suddenly shut it off by pressing on the play button. I vaguely recall the locked icon coming on even though I hadn't locked the ipod at the time, as if she was going into cardiac arrest. Anyway I immediately locked it to prevent from accidentally being turned on. Once I got home, I dried it using tissues and kept it next to my lava lamp before falling asleep, myself. The ipod is still asleep.
After a bit of research online, to my surprise (shock), I've discovered that ipods are known to fall into toilets and still survive. So there is a ray of hope that my ipod will recover, despite it being under water for a longer period.
To be continued...
It all began a little under 36 hrs ago, when it was raining hard. I came home yesterday a little earlier following a wedding and thus managed to avoid traffic and more importantly the heavy rain. After a little bit of relaxation listening to the rest of a podcast from my drive back home, I began to settle into reading a book, when my sister said she was about to go off to work.
She being a doctor, has to generally deal with a crazy time table. By this time it was raining hard and fast. So I offered to drop her off, which she accepted gladly and as usual took my ipod along to keep me company.
We didn't get too far before land was nowhere and water was everywhere! This was not my first time crossing a pool of water by car, so I wasn't as scared as I should have been.
All was fine until my feet started getting cold - I mean literally cold from the water that was now seeking in from beneath the car. I must say there was a little panic, especially after seeing a couple of dead vehicles stranded on our path. There was no turning back. We were surrounded by a queue of vehicles, in both directions.
The water level continued to rise until it was about a foot or more. Finally we made land but the water that had entered into the car, didn't seem to retreat back. Luckily there was an empty 1.5L bottle of 7up, which my sister started filling up with the flooded water and throwing out. Thats when she felt something under the water -- something which felt like, my ipod!
As she handed it over to me, my fingers touched the wheel and it came alive. I panicked and suddenly shut it off by pressing on the play button. I vaguely recall the locked icon coming on even though I hadn't locked the ipod at the time, as if she was going into cardiac arrest. Anyway I immediately locked it to prevent from accidentally being turned on. Once I got home, I dried it using tissues and kept it next to my lava lamp before falling asleep, myself. The ipod is still asleep.
After a bit of research online, to my surprise (shock), I've discovered that ipods are known to fall into toilets and still survive. So there is a ray of hope that my ipod will recover, despite it being under water for a longer period.
To be continued...
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Screenshot of my new (shiny) desktop
I'll let the screenshot speak for itself.
But just in case your wondering this is Gentoo GNU/Linux running the beryl Window Manager (WM), on top of KDE desktop environment, with screenlets as widgets/gadgets, kiba-dock for an OSX like dock and kbfx with a dark theme as the next-gen kde menu.
That's it really!
But just in case your wondering this is Gentoo GNU/Linux running the beryl Window Manager (WM), on top of KDE desktop environment, with screenlets as widgets/gadgets, kiba-dock for an OSX like dock and kbfx with a dark theme as the next-gen kde menu.
That's it really!
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