They are in the news again!

I was once cheated by the Singapore Business Pages, barely 2 months since i started work too!

Let me recall the story now:

Just when i thought that my life could not get any more interesting nor bloggable... something happened!


Yesterday, an invoice of $4,462.50 came from Mukasurat Bisness Singapura (not the real name but its something like Yellow Pages, Green Book and the like) being advertising entry for the said publication.


The story began like this... about 2 months after i started work here.. precisely on 26th June 06, i received a letter to update our office address. through out my career years, i have received calls such as this letter to ask if there's been any change to the office address so that they could update their database so i 'thought' nothing of this letter.


Since it was not attentioned to anybody in particular, i took the liberty to read it and reply accordingly. this is because we had just moved from 25th floor to the 9th floor a few months ago and they still got our add as 25th. and the funny part is that because they got the add wrong, the letter came to me AFTEr the deadline to update our address which was 16th June 06. so i scribbled a 'cute' apologetic note saying "sorry for the delay, but the letter took its time being finally forwarded to us."


Just before sending out the fax in reply, i hesitated for a second. "Should i inform my boss about this?" was the thought that went thru my mind.... then i conceded that i shouldnt bother my boss with such a petty issue and that i could handle this myself and i proceeded to send the fax. For some reason, i hung on to my copy of the fax for a long while... (normally i would have thrash it into the bin after two weeks being in my tray)... i was thinking they should be getting back to me on this to acknowledge receipt or anything and when they do i dont want to be blur about it.


Exactly four weeks later, the invoice came. Oh no!!! What have i done?!?!?! I started reading the terms and conditions......

"Mukasurat Bisnes Singapura / Advertisement Contract : M2 - 3051381 / Advertisement Cost SGD 4,250 + GST per edition.

Terms and Conditions: I have read and hereby agree to the following terms and conditions and order the advertisement as in the company detail box shown below. im authorised to sign this contract on behalf of the company. Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd (not real company name) accepts cancellations only within seven days from the date of submission of this contract. All cancellation requests must be made in writing to Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd. All payments due to Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd will be settled within seven days from the receipt of invoice and must be paid before the publication is due. this contract is valid for two years with one payable edition per year. thsi contract is binding and final, alterations must be made in writing to Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd. The price for the advertisement as shown below is SGD 4,250 plus GST per edition. I authorise Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd to publish our compnay details. In case the payment has not been received Direktori Bisnes Asia Pte Ltd will charge an interest of two percent per month and additional legal fees. Terms and conditions herein shall be governed, construed and interpreted in accordance with the law of Singapore and parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Singapore.


Dear Sir / Madam,

To be included in the latest Mukasurat Bisness Singapura, kindly complete, sign, affix your company chop and return for Fax 6123 1234 before June 16 2006. Thank you for your participation.

Company Detail Box...."

I found a few loopholes and angles from which i could base my argument. And i call them up just to find out first whether they can cancel the invoice...

Me: Is this Singapore Business Pages?
Girl: er... yes
Me: Who is the person in charge of invoices?
Girl: Hm... there are two pple but they are both on the line. i will get them to call you.
Me: ok .. (give my particulars) btw who's that on the line
Girl: Mariam (not her real name)
Me: ok and what's the name of the other two pple?
Girl: Huh?
Me: The two pple whom u said will be returning my call? Surely u know their names
Girl: Oh.. er... one's Benjamin (not his real name) and the other i dont know who. im new here..
Me: Oh ok... from which department are they?
Girl: Benjamin's from accounts and the other HR... ill check and get back to you?
Me: OK then..Bye

(konon tu step garang ah)

A few min later, this Benjamin called back...

Ben: Can i speak to Miss Julissa?
Me: Yes speaking.
Ben: This is Benjamin from SBP
Me: Oh yes Benjamin... Which dept r u from?
Ben: Im from the accounts dept
Me: Right. can you get the invoice i mentioned cancelled? because our intention was actually to just update our address, not to post an advertisement.
Ben: Cancel? But in the contract, there's no qualifiers to say so..
Me: Qualifiers?
Ben: Like remarks or whatever to say that its just to update ur add.
Me: *roll eyes (too bad he cant see but i try to make it show/heard in my voice)* Ok but can u just get it cancelled?
Ben: Ok... can.. but we will need a written request from you. and there's actually a grace period.
Me: (waiting for more explaination but after a pause...) How long?
Ben: 7 days
Me: From when? (i asked straight away this time)
Ben: date of submission of contract
Me: Ok... but then how do i know that you have received and processed my fax when i didnt hear anything from you?
Ben: *defensively* Well.. usually the fax machine can tell us whether the fax got thru or not
Me: *irritatedly* Yeah.. USUALLY...
Ben: (made some more lame excuses of fax notification)
Me: Ok then. can i email to you?
Ben: Yes email is also considered a written request
Me: *roll eyes* (yeah like i dont know that) so what's ur email add?
Ben: You can find it at the foot of our invoice
Me: (helloooooo u think im blind?) Does this email go to you directly?
Ben: Yes it will be sent directly to me... and another colleague.
Me: (now that's not so direct is it?)
Ben: (went on about being quick to send cos of the window period bla bla bla)


At this point, i was already fed up with the conversation and decided to end it quickly and just send the email.

I drafted the email, asked my mentor to check it, he said its alright and went straight in to my boss' room to confess.

"Dear Benjamin,

This is our formal request to you to cancel the abovementioned invoice.

In consideration of these points, kindly invalidate our order:
1. Intention is to update our address
2. Julissa Adam is not an authorised person to sign such "contract" on behalf of the company
3. It was sent AFTER the deadline of 16th June 2006 as stated in the "contract"
4. The phrase in the "contract" is non-specific and misleading. Quote: To be included in the latest Singapore Business Pages.... Unquote.

Given that we do not have any idea whether our order was processed or otherwise, we believe that the grace period for cancellations should be extended to start from your next notification ie the tax invoice which was received by us yesterday 17th July 06.

As much as we would like to support you in your business, we hope that customer clarity, understanding and agreement are of utmost importance to you.

If you have any further queries, kindly contact my manager Mr M D@ 6999 9999or email him at blablabla@bla.com.sg

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you and regards,
Julissa"




Me: Mike, can i talk to you for a bit?
Boss: Yes, Julissa
Me: I made a mistake........ *cast eyes downwards* this letter came in *showed him the first letter that did* it wasnt attentioned to anybody so i took the liberty to update our add..
Boss: *giggled*
Me: Then an invoice came......
Boss: *suddenly turning serious... and more serious as he reread thru the terms & conditions* (i couldnt help remembering how Val said he had been very angry once and she had never seen he being so angry before and couldnt help imagining that he'd be angry at me the same way too)

*still reading the terms* (gosh this silence is soo deafning) ..... *finished reading* Ok......

Me: This is the draft email that i intend to send them
Boss: *shove it aside to pour down on the invoice instead*..........
Me: *nervous laughter*
Boss: *Finally took the email* oh.. this is quite a good email actually... *pause...* HOw did the first letter came?
Me: Thru the mail...
Boss: u mean like the snail mail.
Me: Yeah
Boss: that's not very professional of them is it?
Me: *enthusiastically* Yeah!!
BOss: (after a pause...) and its silly of you to have replied too...
Me: *sheepish smile*
Boss: Ok u just add at the last line for them to contact me for further query, send to them and see what they say.
Me: *nervously and not-quite-so-sure-ly* Ok..
Boss: Ok Julissa...


and that is it.... he's not THAT angry at me and i'm thankful... now im just waiting for the verdict from the other side... and now im going to make prayers to let this go thru freely.
(i also practised Fit's tip to say Ya Latif to lembutkan hati dia... Fit, if you're reading this... (tho u havent accepted my invitation to add as ur friend i multiply yet) Thanks)


So... Moral of the story is... Don't try to pandai2 yourself... Dont assume, always seek clarification. because that single 'thought' of my mine can lead to my having to pay $4k!!! that's like 2.5 months my salary sey!!


They have replied promptly (yesterday) to my email of which it looks very much like a standard template! they highlighted the benefits of advertising with them and offer 3 options:

1. ADvertising within the Mukasurat Bisnes Singapura for only year of the two year contract for SGD 4250+GST and we will offer you the second year absolutely free, or

2. Advertising within the Mukasurat Bisnes Singapura at a Special Discounted Rate of SGD 3500+GST for 1 year with the second year cancellation or

3. If you desire to cancel, we can offer your company a 30% discount of the cancellation fees of SGD 4250. The amount payable for the cancellation is SGD 2975.

However, for this option to be available we must receive full payment as shown in the option listed above from your company on or before Wednesday, 26th July 06.

The summary of the reply from MY boss is for them to reconsider our request again as i "returned the form in good faith considering it to be purely a change of address request" and that we would not benefit very much from advertising in this particular publication becos we are a very specialised insurance unit with a majority of our clients are overseas. Also that if they still dont agree then he "will need to take legal advice on the binding nature of your unsolicited 'Advert Contract'".


My boss is soo kind my heart goes for him. I went to him to say that ive seen is reply and that my friend said that in Australia this kindsa advertisement is common place and he said yeah hoping to find pple like me to fall for it. i said yeah.. im just so naive not to have suspected anything.


And today, I called Mukasurat Bisnes Singapura and Ben picked up d phone. he said yeah he has rcvd mike email reply n is lookin into it.

Me: can u please help me 2 cancel it cos ...they're gonna sack me & ive just worked here 4 3mths AND i hafta pay the 2k fee then wat m i gonna eat?

Ben: y u hafta pay 4 it?Me: cos im d 1 hu did d mistake wat.

Him: how abt he transfer to your other company instead?

Me: tt's out of d Q cos they are a totally separate entity

Him:ok 4such xtrem case where employee hafta pay we can reconsider our proposal if we see
hard evidence tt they are asking YOU to pay for it.

Me: Which they are...

Him: So ur boss not gonna help u? give to AXA Ins or wat..

Me: tt's not d issue. PLs help me ben

Him: *some reluctant noises*

Me: Ok thanks cos if u cant then i hafta tell d newspapers abt this 2 warn others not 2 fall into the same mess im in.

Him: ive already read in paper where they tell u 2 read d fine print careful even d lengither ones Anyway i leave tt up to u. but ill see what i can do.

Me: Thank u. i hope u hear from u tmrw.

Him: Yes ok.


And now today's newpaper article.

April 08, 2008
PAY FOR ADVERTISING IN DIRECTORY LISTINGS?
He nearly signs deal for
$4k until...





HE
spotted an error in his company information in the document which he thought was
from Yellow Pages.


Mr Simon Quek, 52, owns an audio records store but the document listed his business as 'communication, advertising and media'.
He wanted to amend the error, sign the document and then fax it back to the company.

But the document, which he received on 1Apr, wasn't from Yellow Pages. And if he had endorsed it then, he would have to pay over $4,250 for a two-year advertisement contract with Asian Business Directories (ABD), something which he did not ask for.

While Mr Quek didn't read the document carefully, he did the right thing by showing it to his brother-in-law, Mr Wee Cheeh Eng, a 65-year-old retiree, who remembered reading previous media reports on disputes related to some business directory.
Yellow Pages provides simple listings for free and charge only for display
advertisements, while ABD charges for any listing.

On 17 Mar, ABD published an apology to Yellow Pages in The Straits Times for 'having infringed their copyright in the Yellow Pages directories' and declared that they are not related to the latter. Yet, three weeks after the apology was published, Mr Wee called The New Paper, complaining that his brother-in-law received documents from the company.

Mr Wee said: 'How can a business deal be sealed by just faxing a document?'

MATTER CLOSED

When contacted, ABD's assistant general
manager, Mr Benjamin Koh, said its recent apology had nothing to do with the
similarities of the two companies' logos, publication names and business
directories.

Ms Sharon Liew, Yellow Pages' marketing communications manager,
said the company had accepted the apology and considered the matter
closed.

The Straits Times reported that Case and the Advertising Standards
Authority of Singapore have received at least 53 complaints since ABD's
registration in mid-2005.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon told The New Paper it has received three enquiries on the matter since the published apology. If companies have already bought ad space in ABD and they are unhappy, they could turn to the Small Claims Tribunal.

Mr Koh noted that ABD was getting only 90 complaints a month about mistaken identity, from the 30,000 mailers it sends every month.

Mr Koh said: 'If they don't want to buy the ad and just want to amend their company details, they can just amend it on the document, but not sign it, and fax it back to us. This way, they won't be charged any fees.'

But Mr Wee feels that business owners may still unknowingly commit themselves.
He said: 'There're enough complaints and media coverage for something more to be done.'