OCBC had a promotion. If you successfully applied for their credit card, you get a FREE BREE Passport Holder. I thought the gift looked pretty in the brochure, so I goaded Stuart to get it. He did, and we got a letter to redeem the gift.

I was looking at the location to collect the gift - Joo Seng Warehouse. Where is this place? On a second look, the letter reads 3 Upper Aljunied Link. Ok, this is an industrial area.

In my mind, the first thought that flashed across was: “Thank you for choosing such an inaccesible place!” and I began wondering what would be the most convenient way of going there. By taxi of course, and doing a quick mental calculation would mean at least $55, what with all the fare additions etc. This is not inclusive of the 35% peak hour surcharge, which I thought one should have enough sense not to take a cab during those insane hours just to collect a gift. Right? Maybe, maybe not, because not everyone has a nice privilege of having the freedom of time.

The other alternative is of course, to turn to our established public transport system, where I’ll have to take the MRT and bus and walk. I gather the total amount of time to and fro should come up to more than 3 hours.

The passport holder is worth $78 as stated in the letter. Tell me please - would you go to such lengths, literally and extent to get this gift?

Which brings me to this question: how sincere is the bank to want to give a gift as a reward? If a company really wants to incentivise a promotion and genuinely wants their clients to be happy and satisfied, shouldn’t they take into considerations issues like logistics and accessibility?

I called and asked if there could be an arrangment for me to pick it up at a OCBC branch, and the customer service officer told me there’s no way this can be done (he didn’t leave me any room for negotiation!). He even quoted me a separate promotion of KFC vouchers to be collected at Shaw Centre, to which I replied that’s sounds very good because it’s easily accessible and it is in town. Apparently, he didn’t get what I want to say. Sigh…

I guess I have to say goodbye to the passport holder… though it pains my heart to not be able to have this pretty item, but when I measure the costs (money, time and effort), they far out-weigh this gift.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’d notice that I seldom, rarely, “complain”. The reason why I’m voicing out now is I see how company gestures that were supposed to be nice and sweet had turned out to be the total opposite. This reflects the level of genuine customer service that we, as a nation, is striving to achieve.

Is it due to the lack of thought? Or is it due to the rigid rules set by companies that don’t allow any room for negotiation? What can be done better here to improve customer satisfaction?

In my opinion, the bank could have worked out the distribution channels by using selected branches, if they find that having stocks kept at all branches would be a hassle.

Have you had any similar experience with companies giving gifts that are “so near” yet so far? Please let me hear your stories too!