Prudential - avoid at all costs

i have yet another story to tell, and that is regarding Prudential.

Change of agent statistics
Policy #1 - 2 times

Policy #2 - 2 times

both in a space of less than 2 months. I'm not very pleased when i see letters from Prudential nowadays, because it is about some darn bad news - new agent taking over my policy, and now the last straw - policy #1 got suspended.

some investors should know about the restriction of investment of monies from ordinary account that took effect earlier this year. I told my former agent, he said it will be settled. Come months later, i received a letter that the CPF premium is due. Knowing my instruction probably got lost because i'm not a very high value customer, i ignored it and waited to see what would happen.

now the company has suspended the policy.

i blame the company for not training their agents properly - a basic instruction wasn't conveyed from the customer to company. Secondly, they treated customers like clothes - an agent leaves, assign another. That another one leaves, assign yet another.

HELLO PRUDENTIAL, CUSTOMERS ARE PEOPLE PUTTING MONEY IN YOUR FIRM. WHY ARE YOUR AGENTS LEAVING AND LEAVING AND WHAT YOU CAN DO IS TO KEEP ASSIGNING ANOTHER? WHAT DO YOU TREAT US AS?

damn angry. Going to call and fry their asses tomorrow.

the rogue sellers

source: DBS taking swift action (STI 30 Oct 08)

DBS has started to compensate certain customers for being mis-sold financial products that were made worthless, and also removed relationship managers that are at fault.

i'm all for the removal of the rogue salespeople, if proven to be at fault. At fault meaning, sold the same product to a sizable customers in a segment (in terms of invested dollars) without doing proper financial assessment, and faced more than 1 complaint in this saga.

have seen many staff peddling some of these structured products to customers who walked into the bank to do basic banking. Some probably signed on because of the promise of good returns.

i'm not saying the customers have no fault. We are all greedy people, frankly. But if those relationship managers or bank executives glossed over details of the plan to any people, whether uncles, aunties, grandpa or grandma, just to get the share of the commission or trailer fees - they ought to be let go. It's just dishonest living (cheating) through a legitimate way (using the bank or FI's name). Anyway, they have earned enough through these years of high-end selling.

at the end of the day, tighter controls are required on both sides i feel. Salespeople in this industry have to be ethical through checks and balances. Probably record or tape down the sales conversation, a wild idea. Once there is a suspected case of wrongdoing, reduce/remove/recover all the commissions or trailer fees due to the seller. The best way is to remove the idea of commissions for financial products completely, because there is a conflict of interest between the buyer and seller. For the educated customers, use your eyes before signing on the dotted line of any agreement.

rich dad poor dad

i went for this cashflow workshop based on "rich dad poor dad" by Robert T. Kiyosaki last weekend.

maybe i should explain what exactly happened:

it was on the day where i went suntec with nana to get my phone, then met 2 ladies who claimed to be from NUSS. Since NUSS is at Tower 4, i didn't smell a rat. So they followed up with phone calls and appointments to get me and her for a cashflow workshop, which i thought was pretty harmless. One of them (unnamed), S, even passed me a book - yeah, rich dad poor dad to read.

through the dialogues, i understood they are working as salaried employees, and also owners of businesses also. What business, i didn't ask. I thought it's amazing since they are entrepreneurs and are motivating people to be the same. At that point in time, i was genuinely thinking of entrepreneurship - a real business started up by solely themselves.


read the 1st 3 chapters last week, i even mentioned this book in the post before this. It's interesting, intriguing. The ideas are radical - such as employees working for money, they work just for a meagre sum of money just to be able to afford bills, spending etc. It's hard to accept the readings for me, a first timer reading.

so we went for the workshop last sat. I was rather shocked, because the whole workshop felt more like a motivational workshop.

- very well dressed people. Not very formal, but more formal than us la. Some even wore jackets and ties.

- the venue was rather makeshift, company had no signboard. I've heard of no signboard seafood, but seldom no signboard company. But i worked for one before; at least the company had legitimate goods inside. This one had just empty rooms and 2 nicely furnished smaller offices.

- we (and at least 10 others) sat down neatly in 3 rows facing a LCD tv.

- when the gamemaster was introduced, the whole atmosphere was revved up to an exceptional high tempo. We had to clap and welcome her in. It was like some wheel of fortune show. The host was using his voice loudly for making announcements. Then, we clap for everything. Really, clap for every damn thing.

- during the course of the game, the table master and her assistants were too motivational. Imagine a monopoly game with your friends, but take the friends out and put in telly hosts and their gusto. The speed of the game was fast too.

- S and the gamemaster, K, talked to us at the end. I think they went on for quite a while. Probably i was identified because i mentioned my interest of going into business after this cashflow game. We were encouraged to come back for video sharing, book sharing, and another cashflow workshop at NUS itself.

Interesting game in its own right...

today was the video sharing session. I was supposed to go for it in the evening. But there were some fishy stuff. Till date i have no idea which company/association they are representing, and i know there's no free lunch in this world. Why are they so kind to us? Organise this and that.

so i discussed with nana my concerns. Suddenly what she said and what i googled on the net got connected altogether - MLM. The book itself is used as a MLM material in many instances.

normally i procrastinate for small things. But i decided to cancel my appointment within 30 minutes of realising the situation. I'm a firm believer of working hard for money, and detest any forms of MLM. I must say i wasn't alert enough because i actually went for a cashflow workshop, a MLM event in disguise.

that being said, i'm not criticizing MLM. However, i do not believe in it. I believe in either doing my job as an employee or doing my business in my best ability, but not this way. And the book has some merits. Not everything in the book can work for people though.

refreshing my mind...

had small talk with HK:

K said:
ur blog

K said:
i so sad

K said:
hahaha

zhiming-san :) .home. said:
sian. i feeling emo

K said:
yah i feel

K said:
dun ta bao can liao

the last sentence is golden.

stayed home the whole day, doing nothing useful. Except for checking my financial health, which was in the red. Need to save $xxxx in order to be able to repay my OCBC tuition fee loan immediately on graduation, to avoid paying interest. It's possible, but i need to cancel the saving policy i just signed up. If i save $500 monthly, the figure will be back to my target in feb next year.

then, i have to save up another $yyyyy as downpayment for my set of wheels. Headache...

so i brought my popular $20 voucher i redeemed using UOB rewards, to Bugis. Nope, didn't have the book i wanted. Then took a bus down to Harris Suntec. A nice girl helped me pick up the book from the ceiling with a big ladder, and i used the voucher to pay up.

The book

took another bus to airport, where i practically just sat in mac and relaxed. And watching people (read: NUS, NTU, SMU, etc) study. Just so uncomfortable and a reminder that i got to do something.

additional stuff in my private area.

ps: 男人女人's lyrics here! Next song: Ti Amo by 炎亚纶 (i love you in Italian)

misc

some random post about my life.

fish tank
last week, something happened to my fish tank again. The electronic solenoid that controlled the output of carbon dioxide broke. It still could turn itself on and off via the digital timer, but the output continued to release the gas into my reactor when the timer shuts off. Hate to dismantle the whole setup and bring it down to Balestier. sheesh.

then the air pump got weakened so much that my tank's water surface got too calm and now, too choked with carbon dioxide. Wonder what my fishes are thinking in the current condition. This is no good....


a forgotten promise... an unexpected incident
then met up with yx, to deliver the PC i promised to do since ages ago. I really mean ages ago. Then i heard that she threw her temper at him because of something i said. I don't know why, but this (still) mattered to me greatly and sadly, i'm disappointed. I don't wish to bother myself with this anymore, and i doubt you will take note of it anyway.


selamat datang
MKS is affecting my household now. My bro just came back from brunei and 2 days off burnt. Why? Deployment to search for him. In the name of National Service.


tests and more tests (surveys and more surveys)
the past week was concentrated on 2 tests - 1 from school, the other from school too. Driving school.

did 2 surveys in biz school, as a requirement for my MNO module. It's fun, but i don't really get the meaning behind. In one of the tests, i had to put my palm under the table while i do the survey. Strange?


dollars and cents
met up with Hadassah last week regarding my financial review. I'm pretty fine in the protection with a few policies, and she knows it too. She proposed two more plans to increase my savings and invest in unit trusts. But that will require quite a bit of my savings, which i'm not really keen too. But i understand her intentions - if i don't start now, it's hard to do it later. And the money will be useful in future.

but i have a new intention - to finance a really big purchase in 2009. Maybe i'll go ahead with the investment, but postpone the savings plan for now.


driving
back to the theory test. Now that the basic is over, i'm ready for advance. In the poly days, i've postponed everything, including the theory tests because i really can't afford them. But i told myself this: when i finally start learning, i wouldn't want to stop at that piece of "Singapore Driving Licence" plastic. Good friends will know my intention =)

i told my bro, from now this "dream" at the back of my head will be shifted into higher gear. He smiled. I shall hope for the best. Haha...


trivia
when i replied a girl called jewelry at the printer room, her face was flushed! Can see the change! Omg... lol... hope she's not reading my blog.

blog is back to normal - major updates

let's close the chapter on studies (for the next 30 mins of typing this entry) and recap what happened this week.

Insurance
WG informed me about an business practice for his insurance company, that made me disgusted. In a summary, we assume there are 2 agents in that same company serving you, A1 and A2. You purchased policies P1 from A1, and P2 from A2 (both commencement dates less than a year apart). Then you felt that the A1 was not attractive after all, so you killed it. The company will actually penalise A2 for that, although it was supposedly none of his business. This meant that the commissions for P2 are taken away, to some effect.

i'm definitely having 2nd thoughts on buying products from this insurance company, since it stifles the freedom to switch (now i know why agents can spend a whole day persuading a customer to take up or to retain a policy).


Lunch out
the second part of saturday was spent with some poly peeps. They are now so free, and i'm just the opposite. But had a nice time out with them. Vicky seemed to be putting on weight =x

Andrew had this sinful mudpie

i settled for my favourite instead, plus choc fruity fondue

Us

We

before i forget, Vicky i need your mobtv's id. *grin*

Jac's iriver is just back. Compugate is no longer doing distributorship for iriver products, quite a waste actually. However if iriver's support really sucked, i have nothing to say too. Already got quite worked up while over the phone with them.


Nice makan after project
then i went back campus to touch up the CS3214 system proposal and slides, and was again at the lab in less than 12 hours. sigh....

Holland V XO Fish Head Bee Hoon - tok kong!!!

steve recommended our pack to this stall at Buona Vista, near the 4D betting outlet. What's so nice about this fish head bee hoon? The XO is really gao-gao. The fish is also very generously cut for us, all in all for just $20 (shared by 4).

do try it if you drive or pass by Buona Vista. It's worth the trip.


New monitor for bro
i spotted a fantastic offer from spinergy in VR-Zone. After some bargaining, i took over his 20inch LCD for $250. It's worthwhile because the panel used in this Viewsonic model is MVA/PVA. The colours are better.

did some cleaning up and reorganised his table. Just in time when he comes back for his week long break on Tue.

Finally i can get rid of all my CRT monitors...anybody want?

there's no heading for this, because i don't want to discuss in great length. During the weekend, we were finally able to get beyond our invisible barriers, and started talking for the first time in more than a year. Although it was naturally not as personal as before, i was happy because i thought such a situation will never happen. Last month, i translated my heavy thoughts by posting up 品冠's songs.

if there's any wish that i hope, i hope we can maintain contact. And both of us will find our happiness, whether or not our paths will meet again. I learnt many lessons and will never make sacrifices i would live to regret, again.

much updates

once again i'm feeling constipated after many days of not blogging here. Let's see.... what did i do these days?

CS3214 project
the module is heating up everyone even as this is only Week 1. CH briefed the whole lecture group on Tue, and i was busy settling the admin matters for the group. Such as drawing up a unified (Kelvin likes this word) timetable, then arranging with CH on the days we are available for consultation. Due to tight constraints and we were trying hard not to come sch at 9am every Monday, CH worked out a plan where he would be our advisor and created another timeslot just for us. Many thanks to him for that.

we have to meet him next week, and clarify the business domain. The project specification is 35 pages long, and there are 10 modules. We took 3 hours just to discuss 2 modules (!).... bong.

that's not all, week 3 will require us to deliver the use case diagram and descriptions, gantt chart, etc.

i think i try to settle my admin matters first. IVLE8's community is still not up, really bad. Have to turn to Google Groups for project coord instead.


Server disaster
i bought a Aopen motherboard from naro at VR-zone, hoping to migrate to the built-in VGA card and DDR2 RAMs that i've been keeping as spare.

This is the board. $120!

The screw-on heatsink fan for the CPU. Interesting..

after 2-3 hrs spent on taking out my old Asus workhorse and putting the replacement in, the rude shock came - my Promise Ultra66 RAID is causing the board to hang, and my Pentium M just cannot be overclocked to 133*16=2.13GHz, which Asus did without a fuss.

luckily another kind soul was looking for the Aopen, and was willing to purchase from me at the bidded price plus the price i offered for Celeron M 350 ($20). Again i was full of gratitude for that, because without his offer i'll have to bear a resale loss.

the real disaster was the Turbo setting in the Asus BIOS to enhance the overall performance. I didn't realise the DDR RAM was overclocked beyond the maximum latencies, thus creating memory errors and then broke my RAID 1 setup twice. Nearly lost my data.... *sweat*

time to examine a backup solution. Maybe a mobile drive to do backups every month.


Citibank disaster
i feel compelled to agree with many people's remarks that Citibank = Shittybank.

they gave me a card PIN for use at their ATM and iBanking. I subscribed to e statements, so i was hoping to go online and retrieve my spending and the payment due date (to me this was important - don't want to pay any interest).

first problem was they didn't register my hp number for the compulsory OTP (One time PIN). Which meant i couldn't access every damn thing online.

second problem came after the first was solved; the View Statement feature returned a blank page. It was like this until the 13th, when the feature came on fine (now i know 13th is the generation date).

a third problem is not really Citibank's fault, but i couldn't add a Citibank payment shortcut to AXS's eAssistant. How dismal is that when they are supposed to work hand in hand... otherwise put them together under Citibank's booth for what?!

now, they sent me a paper statement. So did they remember i said no to paper statements (and their $1 charge)?

RAHHHHH!


Dinner and fireworks

let the pictures say everything!

Yes, the desserts were worth dying for...

The sake offering

Handrolls, but i doubted many came for this

Ala carte - kinda ex

I'm going back to try this

What does Shabu Shabu mean?

YUMMY. Too bad we had our desserts in open air... melted fast

Swensens? Hmm.

Hot soba with fried chicken - my order

Jiahao's order - Salmon sabu... note the boiling water on the top left

HK's order - Seafood toji

My Macha Kurian and Strawberry Kakigori (HK)

JH's Macha Kakigori

That was the syrup

Cheers~

The crowd started building up to watch the fireworks across Raffles Ave

We beat the crowds by choosing a strategic place. lol

after the buzz ended, we headed to toilet before going to take buses home.

i saw that a cubicle door was ajar, so went to open. Then saw a guy looking back at me, shocked as though i just robbed or raped him. So i apologised, since i thought it was my fault.

then he still gave that 欠打 look. Almost wanted to ask him whether there's a prob not. Nevermind, waited him to come out, i went in, remarked 'close the door la' and slammed the door shut.

when i went out he still had the 欠打 look. Knn, is he a wussy or simply unhappy someone just outraged his modesty? Crap.

... and going to fall sick!

i'm having a sore throat plus slight cough these days.

Gary recommended me Leftose for my throat, Benadryl for cough. Thanks for the suggestion; now i know Guardian is the shop for GP-ed medicine.

doing my finances right now. Apart from the normal expenses, i have spent on a handphone, and need to reserve $492 for my flight booking. Headache.

now i realised all my Prudential policies are on the chopping board, because they are simply not performing well. It's partially my fault for not reading up in the first place.

So for all who are planning to purchase Prudential/AIA policies, i have something to forewarn. Be aware that their products may not be the best among all. Financial agents are trained to close sales by attacking YOUR psychological fears and may unethically recommend highly profitable policies that don't provide you with basic risk coverage (and then pocket 6-12 months of your hard earned premiums depending on the nature of policy),

Once you signed on the dotted line you're in trouble. Yes, there are free-look periods, but your advisor will try to persuade you not to terminate. If you don't know of better products elsewhere, you'd probably be convinced and carry on. Until you realise you're screwed 20-25 years down the road.

the first plan to be killed was PruShield, whose offering was poorer than many others. Although they realised it by revamping it, it's too late. I've already crossed over to NTUC Enhanced IncomeShield.

the second plan is PruCash (lose all my premiums as a punishment), for other better alternatives. At the end of the year, my PruLink SA II will be cut too. I will probably retain my PruLink A for retirement purpose, and the latter's advisor has been serving me well (thanks WG).

i'm sorry if any of my affected advisors are reading, but after reading a little i believe my money can be better grown elsewhere.

i hate to be a loanshark, but....

testing my patience for 3 full months is not a joke. To K, i don't think you want people to test you this way either.

it's not the amount (ok, perhaps so). I thought we're old enough to think, that i wouldn't need to remind again and again. Wow, i'm so amazed by the empty promises that you have given me.

plus TOTALLY IGNORING my messages.

even though u're a fine lady, its a lil' too much to take this matter lightly, isn't it?

This is what i've got for being too kind, huh?