The Good Earth November 27, 2011

My last charity event thanks to UVW Bank for 2011. I wasn’t even thinking about taking part, but we are obliged to do 2 volunteer work for a year, and though I only joined for less than 6 months (and therefore, can only do 1?), I decided to take part in the tree-planting project. This project is in fact split into 3 parts – harvesting, digging and then the actual planting. The harvesting was done in the middle of the year, where a small group of volunteers went into the forest to dig out some choice young saplings. These plants were stored for a while (which turned out to be quite a long period of time) until they were suitable to be replanted. The delay was due to searching for suitable weather conditions… and now the event has come to pass.

Woke up so early on Saturday in order to get to Desa Water Park, which is near the Smart Tunnel Lake. The Smart Tunnel drains the storm water into this lake (apparently), hence the name. I had no idea that it was so near to home (only 8.8km away, but because we have to use highways to get there, it becomes twice as long a journey), and to be honest… that place has so much potential, but at the moment is “wild lands” to me. When I said “wild lands”, you might imagine some tigers and bears roaming around in a thick forest. Actually, it is only “wild” in the sense that it is overgrown with WILD lalangs and such. Hehehe. And I say it has much potential, it’s because it can be a really nice park, but because it is unkempt and there are no trees and such, when the sun shines, it is so burning hot! There’s no shade available at all.

The organiser ambitiously gave us a target of 4000 holes to dig in order to plant all the saplings, and we were divided into 30 teams. This would mean that each team has to dig > 100 holes! With 10 people a team, you imagine that it would be a pretty easy task, right? After a long speech and a whole lot of advice given (how to dig, how deep to dig, what to do when you see a wild animal – in this case – an iguana, etc etc), we set forth to the plot of land that they had allocated to each team. The organiser trolled us massively when he said that some teams were going to be given fertile soil, which was very easy to dig. And some teams would be on rocky land. But no worries he said. The teams with fertile soil would have to fulfill the 100 holes quota. Those with rocky land would only need to dig 70 holes. ONLY.

I was in the team with the rocky land, and I’m not kidding when I say rocky. When we swing the hoe into the land, we hear a loud clang. And the hoe becomes blunt. We are supposed to dig a hole 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide, but after 2 inches, we would see a massive rock. To unearth the rock, we have to dig wider than 6 inches to see how far it goes. Sometimes we end up with a hole which has all sides and the bottom lined with rock. How the sapling is going to be planted in a “rock” pot like that, I have no idea.

And it is so tiring to chop up stones with the hoe, as you can imagine. After a while, my back ached, my neck ached, and I just ended up standing around like a depressed farmer, knowing that I cannot feed my family for this season. Lololol. My group leader also gave up (actually he’s very nice and understanding. At least he was not insane and going “I DON’T CARE!! Continue digging!!”), and we sat around chit chatting for a bit until a “quality surveyor” came around and demanded to know how many holes we had dug. “We have no idea… probably300″, we replied. She eyed us warily and said, “I’m just asking. No pressure, y’know?”

In the end, we dug 28 holes, which I am ashamed to say I only dug 2.5 holes. In terms of fulfilling the 6″x6″, I also failed there, which means I dug 0 quality-holes. =D But I dare the committee member to do a better job.

It was even more painful to see the people who got prizes at the end of the day for digging the most number of holes in the fertile soil. There, they dug > 100 holes as expected. All got a beautiful orchid plant. I know it’s about charity and not about prizes, but I think we should be rewarded for unearthing the most amount of rocks or something. No team which got allotted the rocky land won. I told my team mates that if a rocky-land team won the most # of holes dug, I would go back to our plot of land and continue digging til we reach the 70 holes quota.

Anyway, it should be lovely to see the place after the saplings have been planted and it is greener. I think that the lakeside will become truly beautiful. And as the organiser mentioned, in a cement jungle, it’s rare to get the chance to go out and just dig around and toil over the earth. I have to admit that that’s right, and for that, it is a prize in itself.

Early morning green warriors.

Lakeside…

Wilderness…~ A manager told me that once this place becomes totally “greened”, it will benefit the residents in that condo in the background more than anyone else. Lol!

We put in stakes to mark where the holes are… seeing as some of them are so shallow, maybe they won’t be able to tell they are supposed to be holes..

Hoe-ing around until look like a mad woman. There are more “at work” photos, but all in the professional photog’s camera… don’t know if I’ll ever get to see it.

Awesome drink that Tron treated me to later that day…

Two More Group Purchasing Experiences… July 21, 2011

I only have 3 more group purchased coupons left… and I have not been purchasing more recently as got bored “monitoring” all the sites. Hahaha. I do have to admit, on one hand, it’s nice to not “schedule” where I’m eating every weekend, but on the other hand, quite boring to keep eating at the same places. I can tell you right away where I’ll eat when I’m at the following places:

Taipan : either Lorong Seratus Tahun, Papparich or Hon Kee porridge. Occasionally Simply Nyonya. Last time used to be Strawberry Fields. Very rarely at McDonalds, though my friends somehow or other keep catching me there when I *do* go there, and they have to announce it on FB.

1U : Cravings or Delicious. Guarantee one. Last time when I’m single, I always went to Paddington House of Pancakes, but Tron doesn’t share the pancake love.

Subang Parade : Sakae Sushi. If with my own family, it’s most likely TGIF… there’s no other reason to come here (for eating). Tip – Sushi King here SUCKS.

Mines Wonderland : last time, with my colleague (Raymond) … it will ALWAYS be Old Town Kopitiam! Sickening when I think of all the white coffee + nasi lemak + curry mee that I ingested. Before that, we love Sushi King, but then we realised we weren’t made of money wtf. Not like OTK is so cheap…

Empire Gallery : Din Tai Foong!! Omg, I think I will beg my boyfriend & family not to come here anymore. TBH, the fried rice a bit too oily, the la mian a bit too tasteless. The only good thing is the fast service & the siau loong bao (of course).  Too bad the Chilli’s here SUCKS. Italiannie’s “sharing” concept cannot be used on people like us who don’t like to share…

Anywhere else : I really can’t think of any other place we LOVE to go to particularly, but if there’s any of the abovementioned restaurants, most likely we would go there too. That or places serving Penang-style food.. Last time with friends, favored places were Chilli’s, Nando’s, Bubba Gump… you see, it’s so typical. At least with group-purchased coupons, we try other places. Granted, it’s usually “ok” / “so-so” and when it’s disastrous your blood pressure hits the roof. But when it’s good, it’s like… what a gem! At least you don’t have to eat la mian again that day.

Anyway, here’s TWO group-purchased experiences that my family chalked up recently. On the 2nd of July, I booked a reservation @ Allegro Cafe, SS15 for two. I was actually amazed that Allegro Cafe was having group purchase coupons for sale via Everyday.com.my, because back in the day (when I had just started work — an amazing 7 years ago wtf), Ben told me that this place was a hidden gem. I was anxious to go back there because I remembered that the food that I had with him was good (considering the price). With the deal, it was practically a steal. In the end, I didn’t go for the meal… because I had to go for the teambuilding session in Taiping. But since I already made the reservation, I gave the coupons to my parents.

It’s funny to “educate” them on how to use the coupon. “Just give the people there the paper… no need to pay ok. NO NEED TO PAY. I ALREADY PAID.” They were like oh-oh-oh… but donno if they understand a not. In the end, they reckoned that 4-course meal for 2 people was so much… they took my brother along! And the kind people at Allegro were good enough to let 3 of them use 2 coupons. You know la, some places state very clearly that it is a 1 person per coupon kind of thing. My dad is so stingy, I don’t think he ordered anything extra either, lol lol lol.

I asked my brother beforehand to take some photos, and this is what he got for me :

The decoration looks very nice. My brother agreed that the restaurant looked posh.

Garlic bread and soup. The table cloth looks like my house tablecloth!! Lol! At first I thought Andrew took pictures of stuff on our own dining table.

They had 1 pasta…

And one pizza.

**my brother didn’t take pictures of any dessert. I don’t know if this means they didn’t get dessert or he ate so fast he forgot, lol. Then again he didn’t take pictures of drinks, and they definitely would have had drinks, right? He’s sleeping now, can’t ask him, hehe.**

The verdict? They said the food “ok lah” but they felt uncomfortable dining alone! Hahaha. Well, they weren’t ALONE, there was another family there, but my brother said the other family didn’t use coupons. So they felt very odd. Last time when I went to Allegro with Ben, the place was packed! I wonder what happened since then…

For my next coupon… grr… I just found out I have been gypped. Lol! I was quite satisfied until I found out la, what the heck. The deal was from Milkadeal, and it is for Ribs@Oasis. I thought that I could drop by here for lunch before I go for shopping at 1 Utama when I was on leave after I left XYZ Bank. Since it was my “graping” period, I had a lot of time to drive around! Ribs@ Oasis is near 1 Utama (turn left just after the outdoor parking), but it was quite secluded. When I arrived, there was NO ONE IN THE RESTAURANT. I was freaked out! Especially when there was a waiter lying in one corner and singing songs in dunno-what language. Lol! I kept praying for more and more people to come (see what a good patron I am? Praying for you to get good business! Lol!), and thankfully, after 20 minutes, more and more of the lunch crowd came in.

The deal has 4 items : ice lemon tea, mushroom soup, the main course of any choice of ribs from their menu (on the website it’s only shown the baby back ribs & the pork loin chop, but on that day, the waiter gave me more  choices, though I don’t remember) and Haagen Dazs. The part where I said I got gypped was where on top of the deal page, it says : RM33.90 instead of RM69.20 for a NON-HALAL: Scrumptious Pork Ribs + Soup + Drinks + Haagen Dazs at Ribs @ Oasis, Bandar Utama [51% OFF], but on the write-up at the bottom it says RM33.90 instead of RM69.20 for a Scrumptious Set Meal: Grilled Baby Back Pork Ribs (Full Slab) with BBQ or Honey Mustard + Mushroom Soup + Ice Lemon Tea + Molten Chocolate Cake with Haagen Dazs Ice Cream. The picture on the website also shows cake + ice-cream. You guessed it… I only got the ice-cream. >_< Quite sad now. Cos on my coupon it was printed Haagen Dazs only, so of course I don’t check the website and look for the cake la. Sigh. I only noticed cos I saw other people complaining on the comments section!

Ok, without letting that part affect me, this was what I thought about the meal :

The restaurant itself looks clean, very nice. Comfy. Except for the random waiter singing and lying down.

But eerily lonely… lol. I didn’t go super early, in case you were wondering. I was hoping to lunch with the lunch crowd!

The ice-lemon tea came in a glass that was soooo small… really not worth the $$. Though one glass is cheap, if I’m really thirsty, I can finish it in 3 gulps.

The mushroom soup with garlic bread. Tastes normal only. Honestly, by now I have drank so many mushroom soup that I cannot tell the difference anymore, lol. Nothing stands out. You would think you wanna give your customers something more memorable the first time. The most awesome mushroom soup was the one we had at Chillout Bar, but that one original price is like RM20. Lmao!

THIS IS THE BEST PART. Truly awesome pork loin chop… with apple sauce, on a bed of cabbage salad. REALLY REALLY GOOD… and it was a really huge chunk of meat. Guarantee after eating this you will be full. Bad part was the ring around the whole pork chop is fatty (I don’t eat pork chop often, so I expected it to be pure meat… like a steak. They don’t give you steak with ring of cow fat, right?). Even discounting the fat, it was still a big chunk of meat, and I felt that it was nicely done. So this made the travelling and the coupon worth while.

The dessert… where’s my molten chocolate cake? Hahaha. Anyway, I cannot tell if that is Haagen Dazs ice-cream or not. It didn’t taste extra RICH or SPECTACULAR. To be honest, the waiters there look a bit … unfriendly. I dare not query too much… especially when I’m alone. Sigh.

Dealmates Stalemate! June 30, 2011

[I got a refund from the restaurant today, so they honored their word of refunding me... but I still want to warn all of you who are buying deals from Dealmates. Be wary of their policies... please be aware!! ]

Of all the group purchasing websites I ever encountered, the worse “deal” I ever bought has to be from Dealmates. Please take note, if you are a coupon-purchasing freak like I ONCE WAS, Dealmates is probably one where you should AVOID. You know why? Because they have a clause to “wash their hands off the matter”. If you don’t ask for a refund within 14 days of the deal going live, they are NOT going to refund you. So if you buy Dealmates, faster use the coupon, that’s what they are saying? It’s damn dumb… cos if you have a coupon that is going to expire in 3 months time, most probably you are not going to rush to use the coupon right away… cos you might have OTHER coupons to use, or maybe you just have a life and your priority is not to use coupons ASAP.

Dealmates really PISS me off.

Continuing from this entry, and a recap, if you may. On 24th of June, I made a booking at Z* restaurant for 2 for 25th June at 12:15pm. I was told by the person answering the call “OK”, so the next day, Tron and I made our way to Z*. Only for the restaurant to be CLOSED. We were darn upset, and we even called the restaurant multiple times, each time getting a voice recording. We had no choice but to dine at some other random restaurant in the area. FYI, we stay in SUBANG, Z* is not “just around the corner” for us.  Please remember that I MADE A BOOKING, and they did not tell me that the restauarant won’t be open on the 25th.

On 25th itself, I emailed the support team at Dealmates to ask for a refund. FYI, I have asked for refunds from both Groupsmore and Milkadeal before (haven’t blogged yet, but will soon), and they are SUPER efficient. They kind of have a “no questions asked” policy as in both cases, I compiled a lot of evidence against the merchant, and they didn’t ask to see it. As long as I complained, they reverted the funds back to me.

On 26th June 6:39pm, I got a reply from Dealmates saying the restaurant is closed for renovation and therefore won’t be open. Also was notified that the deal has been extended to end of July due to all this problems. This is in fact INEXCUSABLE as I DID MAKE A BOOKING, and the restaurant did not honor the booking. What is the point of making a booking, giving my telephone number, when you are going to be closed, and not going to inform the customer? At this point, I was more angry at Z* than at Dealmates.

I replied to Dealmates on 26th and 27th June saying that I do not accept this excuse and I just want my money back. I do not want to make another booking, because I have learnt that making a booking is OF NO USE for this restaurant.

On 27th June 6:31pm, Dealmates replied to me that they will contact Z* for refund for me.

On 27th June 11:06pm, I replied to Dealmates to ask when I can get the money back.

On 28th June, 4:11pm, I received the following email from Dealmates:

“Hi L********,

We just confirmed with Z*. According to them, they never did any kind of renovation. And that particular Saturday was already fully booked for 3 weeks. You would have been told that they were very full house and there was no way they can accommodate anyone. Thank you and have a nice day.

DealMates.com”

PLEASE NOTE THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN EMAIL dated 28th June 4:11pm and email on 26th June 6:39pm. One time telling me GOT RENOVATION, the other time telling me NO RENOVATION. How can I trust this restaurant or any future deals from Dealmates? I called up Z* directly, and they told me the following :

a. they did make a mistake in allowing me to make the booking for 25th June (Saturday) at 12:15pm as their restaurant is NOT OPEN. [at least they admitted their mistake]

b. Dealmates website shows WRONG information, in fact cannot redeem between 12-3pm for Saturdays.

I double-checked the deal page and also my certifcate, indeed it said that Saturday afternoon is a REDEEMABLE period.

Their website…

My certificate

I do NOT want to make another booking (what is the point? I made a booking before and see where it got me!), I do NOT want to book in July, I just want MY REFUND. Why is it so difficult to get my refund, other websites like Groupsmore and Milkadeal gives refund without so much ding-dong and without me having to FIND THE TRUE STORY from the merchant themselves.

Oh, and today I had to go and call up Dealmates because the ding-donging between me and them are going no where. Plus, as you can see, sometimes they tell me got renovation, sometimes don’t have. At the end of the day, say they give the money to Z* already, so I have to ask from them directly. Like I said… they totally WASH THEIR HANDS OFF THE MATTER. I said, “Hello?? You publish wrong things on the website is ok?” Then they hmmm and haaa… then asked me to write a long ass story so they can pass on to their supervisor.

After I wrote the long ass story, the manager of Z* called me to ask me what happened. So another roundabout story again… to be honest, he tried his best to smooth things over,  kept asking me to go back to the restaurant. The problem is WHO THE HECK WANNA GO WITH ME ALREADY. Plus, I bought it because I’m free on Saturday afternoons. If it ain’t available then, then for what I buy this deal? This is why I said, DEALMATES PUBLISHED THE WRONG INFORMATION. Z* said that they did ask Dealmates to put in the opening hours of their restaurant on the website. But hello… when I wanna redeem a deal, do I check the deal page or do I check the certificate that I have printed out? I already have the cert on hand, why would I log on to my computer again just to check the opening hours on the restaurant when the cert has printed out already redeemable between 12-3pm???! Thank GOD I took printscreens and stuff… at least I can show you all.

As emphasis — my certificate again

Dealmates also has a list of the customers who has already bought this deal, but they didn’t bother to email us to tell us that this deal has been extended due to all the problems customers are facing. Later, I found out that they posted it on the FACEBOOK. You think all your customers must “Like” you on Facebook issit? In fact, I didn’t “like” any group purchasing websites because I didn’t want to get spammed by all the updates, which is usually about new deals. Since they have my EMAIL already (which they keep spamming) then just send one email lah! Guess what? After I told them this, they spam me again. NINE TIMES.

Dunno are they purposely trying to make my blood boil or what! I think I’m going to agree with my friend Steph from now on who says :

At this point, at least Z* admitted they are wrong to go and allow me to make a booking on 24th of June when the time is totally wrong. Dealmates NEVER admit they are wrong for :
- putting wrong information on website
- putting wrong information on certificate being printed
- never emailing the customer who bought the deal, assume post on their FB means everything OK
- telling me Z* under renovation AT FIRST then after that “never have any renovation going on”… wtf, get your stories straight la

By the way, they purposely always answer you towards the end of the day… so that when you reply back, it’s after office hours. You wanna deal with them, just call them directly, don’t bother emailing them! I used to be so gung ho about group purchase deals, as seen from my old entry (which I have updated to REMOVE Dealmates)… but this horrible episode makes me not want to bother anymore. I was talking to Steph about it …

Me (in reply to above tweet) : “Well, sometimes the deals are worth it.”
Steph : “it’s only worth it if the deal is smthg u need or want.. U know I’m right! Hahaha!”
Me : “I usually only buy deals that involve food. Everyone needs food right.”
Steph : “yeaa.. bad food from not-so-popular places! with a crappy set menu or equiv. take it frm a marketing person!! hahahaha…”
Me : “Why are you so against it anyway?”
Steph : “cos I hear about a lot of ppl getting duped”

This case is not about being duped, but I am a person who hates to deal with unnecessary “ma fan-ness” (bothersome stuff)… and I hate that I am dealing with this right now! No more DEALing, that’s for sure! Going to finish the rest of my coupons (5 more) and then close this whole group purchasing experiment behind me.

By the way, since all parties have agreed that I’m the freaking victim here and have admitted their mistakes (except Dealmates, unless I suppose the 9x spamming me with the “notice of extended validity period” is considered as them admitting they are wrong?)… so WHEN CAN I GET MY MONEY BACK???

((This entry will be automatically posted at 12pm if I don’t get my money back. After which I will update this entry WHEN I get my money back… UPDATE ONLY, NOT REMOVE.))

The Best Groupon Buddy June 25, 2011

I have ceased buying a LOT of those group purchasing deals — mainly because I have too many at the moment that I’ve still not used… and also because I’ve come to realise that just because the food looks really good doesn’t mean I *must* buy the darn thing. I made the “mistake” last time and turns out the restaurants are not that conveniently located after all. You might be thinking, “Leech, have you not heard of Google maps?” The problem with me is that if the area sounds familiar, I’m already clicking for the payment methods… then I find out that the place is in a dodgy area, or it’s really far flung…

Like in the case of my latest used Groupon – Joseph @ Kitchen in Menara UOA Bangsar. I mean, it’s BANGSAR. It’s next to an LRT station! That should be like, so totally convenient right? Yeah… if I took public transport. After too many horrendous incidents at the LRT / KTM, I now firmly believe in driving. The darn coupon was expiring on Thursday, and just because I’m darn free on weekdays, doesn’t mean my friends are. Thankfully, Dull (hereby known as The Best Groupon Buddy ever, cos she is up for adventuring to far-flung places with me) was free, and she guided me to Menara UOA. Hahaha! If you asked me to drive there by myself, I would’ve taken some really jammed up roads… *mwah* to Dull…

The place is actually super convenient for those people taking LRT, but it’s really affordable also. I think it should have no problem getting business, right? By the way, this is the deal that I bought  (Yes, from MyDeal, so actually not “Groupon” but somehow became easier to say Groupon than “group purchased coupon”… anyway since Groupon started it all, let them keep the term?).

Anyway, we had to use the NPE to avoid all jams going into Bangsar, and it was still so jammed. *sweat* Cost us RM3.20 just to get there… and it was so hard to find parking in the VISITOR’S PARKING in Menara UOA. We arrived at about 4:10pm. I thought it was an odd time, thought it was going to be pretty empty. Lol! Obviously words from someone who doesn’t know what is going on.

This was what we had :

Quite a nice and cosy place. I think got free wi-fi also, cos got a few people with laptops surfing internet there…

Taken when Dull just said “Eh don’t take my photo”.

My watermelon fruit juice and Dull’s ice lemon tea. Really free flow, and at least when you call the waiter to refill, he does it straight away — unlike Chili’s. Yes, I’m still boh song… hehehe. Anyway, the meal was so filling that we only refilled once.

My appetizer – The Italy Ball platter! Despite the funny name, it is AWESOME. I don’t really know what I was eating, but we reckon the “plain” ball is just fried beef balls and the one with the swirly thingy is chicken meatballs with some potato swirls around it. It is darn darn nice. If you want to try their appetizers, you must pick this one, ok?

Dull chose fried chicken wings for her starter, and it actually came midway through our meal, haha. Anyway, it tasted good! Each of us got 2 pcs of chicken to eat… They added some herbs into the batter to fry the chicken… don’t know what herbs they are (I could only identify rosemary) but it made the chicken so finger-licking-good. Like, better than KFC!


Dull’s chicken mushroom rice set.

And my chicken chop set. Yeah, the mains are nothing super duper unique that you can’t get elsewhere, but it is yummy and the portions are decent. I guess for the price we paid, can’t complain la.

Dull’s creme brulee dessert. It is titchy! I didn’t quite like it, but Dull polished the whole thing off, so I guess it’s right up her alley. 

My “Overjoyed” which is passionfruit & strawberry puree under vanilla ice-cream and then covered with lots of sinful whipped cream.

Something I thought was funny – the I Don’t Know fruit juice!

Oh, and I just have to state that we were given a different menu from what was displayed online. For desserts we didn’t have tiramisu, coconut sorbet, pina colada sorbet, mango orange sorbet, or mini pudding. Just sayin’.

The most char dou part for me was seeing this notice outside the restaurant :

I paid RM19.90 for this deal, and practically could get a BETTER deal without Mydeal! I dunno about you, but for RM5 LESS, I get the same thing (generally) but maybe less choices la (I dunno… could be the same… *sob*). I felt quite pissed off, but Dull kept assuring me that SURELY there is less choices, like for desserts they obviously don’t get to try Overjoyed nor could they drink watermelon juice like me… hahaha. Anyway, the restaurant is still worth eating at … if you happen to use the Bangsar LRT quite often…