And speaking of car salesmen...

I'm probably going to offend legions of car salespersons out there, but this is my perception that there's just something about them - particularly used car salesmen - that I find a bit greasy. And I'm not talking engine oil here. Like an indigestible combination of Ah Beng and Shylock.

I've yet to meet one who will be upfront and totally honest with me from the word go. I find that they are always finagling to get the better deal - for the company but not for the customer. Like if they can wrangle giving you a single disc CD player in the car instead of the 5-disc changer you agreed on, they will. And this actually happened to someone I know. Finally the said disgruntled customer fished out the agreement signed in b/w and waved it around before the changer was installed. It's little annoying things like this which perpetuate the used car, parallel import industry.

Which always puzzles me because why?? If one works hard for the customer, a happy customer will bring in more customers and everyone benefits. But when a customer is left feeling like some sleight of hand has been performed on them, you lose them and more importantly, lose the good word of mouth. Common sense, no?

And speaking of service, interesting encounter I had on the phone lines with a premier airline's call centre service. I had called in to this airline to check on how much it would cost to buy an infant and child ticket. I met with the usual drone of "Press 1 for English... yada yada yada..." So I was pressing the numbers and of course, I pressed the option for Economy class when the Voice asked: Press 1 for Business and First Class and 2 for Economy. Then the next thing I knew the Voice said something like: all our operators are busy. Call back another time. And that was it. I was taken aback. Huh? Where was the option to wait on the line for the next available operator? Even taxi services offered this option - why not a premier airline? I knew that calling back was impossibly frustrating. You could call back 10 times and be met with the same message 10 times.

Intrigued, I wondered if First and Business Class passengers were told to "call back another time". So I dialled again and this time, I keyed in for Business and First Class. And true enough, as I expected, I was asked to hold, told my call was important, and an officer came on line in less than 5 minutes.

Ah so.

I suppose, on this airline, you get what you pay for. Yet, if this was the kind of service/treatment that we can expect for economy class passengers, why is it worth paying so much for an economy class ticket here? Why do people pay so much? As I told KH, if I didn't have to cash in the frequent flyer points, I would boycott this airline - definitely NOT a great way to fly!

For what its worth, this airline quoted me S$1190 for a child's ticket (including taxes) and $674 for an infant ticket to Osaka Japan.

Looks like we're splitting the family up - half will go on this premier airline and the other half will fly on another airline.

Always the little things that get in the way and trip over the service providers from making indifferent service good, and good service great.