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Thursday, August 16, 2007

The lack of efficiency

am good now, so no worries there. Kinda came out of the dark dimension I was from and just shook the layer of dust of me. To those concerned, thank you and I am fine. Its one of those moments that grip u so hard and rattle at your soul. Take time, take peace and all is good, well almost good again.

I have learn the way in sydney is never to really trust what service people tell u. Take the initiative, unless you are happy to wait and wait.

My boxes of stuff arrived sydney customs on 20th and was cleared on 30th (mon). Yet, the Sydney delivery people kept telling me i cannot have my stuff because it has to undergo clearance for the first week of August. I trusted them being reputable company and i was told to expect it the early following week. So the second week of august arrived, and no calls nor emails. I rang up the company and was told the lady incharges of my boxes shipment was on sick leave and she promised to have her colleague call me back end of the week.

End of the 2nd week arrived and no call. I range and still couldnt reach the person in charge. I asked for updates and was told my stuff was still in quarantine. In fact, now the other girl told me it is normal to wait up to 3 weeks for quarantine in sydney due to the backlog at the customs side.

On monday of the 3rd week, my instincts told me to ring the delivery people. To me, 3 weeks is a ridiculous wait for boxes without firearms, animals, furs, foodstuff etc. Luckily I rang because I am told now that the person in charge has actually resigned LAST WEEK. So now they bumped me to another new person.
This new person again gave me the usual "oh quarantine has not cleared it" excuse. I asked her are u sure it takes that long, have u actually called to check? Then she profess "I have a stack of papers on my table and i havent gone through them. I will do it later this eve when i have the time." When she has the time? I am fucking living without my stuff and she is taking her sweet time? I curtly told her i needed a time estimate she will get back to me. She wise up and promised the next day.

After i hung up, i wasnt convinced by the typical "efficiency" of the australian service level. So i went through the whole australian website and search under quarantine section. I decide that I have nothing to lose to ask if the shipment really has to take that freaking long to clear.

On the second number i dial to the approved quarantine premises, this very nice lady took my call. I explained my situation and told her politely that while i respect and have no questions on why there is a need for quarantine period, however i just needed to be SURE that it is indeed that my stuff are still at the customs, and not because not some dumb floosie here is too damn lazy to clear ger paper work since her colleagues resigned.

The very nice lady asked a few questions and when she heard that my shipment arrival and custom clearance dates, she actually asked me AGAIN"are you absolutely sure of the customs clearance date?" I said yes i am definite because i have in my hands the official letter from delivery guys indicating those dates. She promised to call and ask around for me and let me know later in the day.

You know what? I am fucking glad i made that call. because in less than an hour, a staff from the delivery guys called me and said "OH your stuff has been cleared quarantine!"

So people, is it just me or suspiciously coincidental? U be the judge. As far as i am concerned, i believed my call to the quarantine department has triggered some actions.. FINALLY.

Yet, I still have to wait for another FULL week before they can deliver my stuff, so its next week. And i only just receive an email notifying me that the quarantine has been cleared, 4 days after she called me. If i am not personally experiencing this, i will find it hard to believe all these.

Its just annoying, the speed and the attitude of some people woking here. I think instead of complaining about inflood of immigrants, some of these people ought to crawl out of their deep well, and step into asia and truly understand what "efficiency" and "right business attitude" is all about....

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