On Monday this week, Connect.com.fj was apparently hacked by someone (or someones) who have issue with the company or for whatever reason, wanted to demonstrate their skills. It's been an interesting thing to watch the reaction.
To begin with, I have to give some credit to Connect Fiji for their corporate response. Although it took over two hours (!!!), they did openly admitted to the breach and did their best to reinforce to customers that it was just the website which was hacked and no customer data or network services were interrupted. Articles about the hack appeared in multiplenewssources around the country. That, in itself, is a pretty far cry from the kind of response Connect would have provided just a few months ago when their previous executive team was in place. At that time, and for the 8+ years prior, the company communicated very little to it's customers about problems and issues with its services unless and until they had to. At least, that's my opinion. For a communications company, the irony that they were piss poor communicators should not be lost on anyone. They have improved significantly and that's been demonstrated by this one event.
So their site gets hacked and they spring into action, taking the site down, reinstating the links to webmail services and sending out a communication to its entire customer base, acknowledging the breach and explaining what they were doing.
Monday, February 1, 2010 Dear Connect Customer, Please be advised that our corporate website was hijacked and our engineers are working to restore the site. There is no effect to the provision of internet services or to our email, hosting and customer data bases. This was an isolated incident and Connect is currently reviewing our security measures to ensure that we manage such intrusions more effectively in the future. Please contact our Customer Services on 330 0100 or follow us on Twitter <http://twitter.com/connectinternet> or Face book <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Connect-Internet-Services/234773120059?ref=ts> to keep to date on the latest information regarding our service.
This is not bad at all and is actually a fairly decent template for any company which faces an information security breach and needs to communicate something to it's customers. Acknowledge, address, respond and plan for the future.
I think the response breaks down slightly when actually visiting the Twitter and Facebook accounts, to be honest. So soon after this security issue, the latest tweet on their Twitter page references a craving for noodles and hot bread.[UPDATE: CONNECT has since removed this tweet. Too bad.] Either the account should be used for network/services status or it should be used for personal musings. I don't think it should be used for both and I'm certain that if I was a Connect customer with a service issue, I wouldn't be interested in the latter. But I digress...
The public response that I saw, not surprisingly, was grinning and sarcasm directed at the company. Everywhere I've ever lived in my entire life, the local telecom company is hated and Fiji is no exception. They are the largest Internet provider with the most customers so by default, they are going to have people whinging about things. It has always been like this and will always be like this as long as they're around. At the end of the day, however, there's very little that is funny about a website being hacked and I write that representing a company who manages websites and web servers for many of Fiji's largest organisations. The last thing I want to see is a client's web server compromised because some person somewhere gets bored and wants to prove that they can do it. Frankly, it's an irresponsible way of proving the existence of skills. If there is an opening in a web server's security, the responsible thing to do would be to simply let the business know about it (and even try to upsell your own security knowledge as a consultant). Trying to embarrass a company, however, is juvenile.
My own initial response to this hack was to check that Oceanic's own servers were not being threatened. We have, in the past, also been victim to attempted intrusions to some of our larger client sites in the form of DNS attacks and related activities. They're not fun and end up wasting a great deal of time and causing lots of stress. I'm certain that the few other web hosting companies in Fiji would agree that having servers attacked is not enjoyable.
Not that it really makes a difference but Connect's website was developed by an Australian company last year and for all I know, is still being hosted by those guys. Although it may be Connect's responsibility, if the site is not hosted by them, then the Australian company should have some explaining to do. Also, "hack" could mean something as simple as an ex-employee having access to a server password versus an actual technical intrusion. People should keep that in mind before assuming that Connect's entire systems are somehow not secure.
At the end of the day, there was clearly a breach somewhere and Connect is being forced to manage it. Their first reaction via communication was actually a good one...they should probably have their site back up and running by now or, at the very least, provide some information on their webmail page about why their site is not there. They should also rethink how they're using Twitter and Facebook to communicate to their customers. I'd like to see similar activity from all the infrastructure providers in this country to do the same.
Cyclone Mick is the story of the day here in Fiji today.
Although it's currently classified as a strong Category One storm, you wouldn't be able to tell from the abundance of rumours about the cyclone making their way through the coconut wireless in Suva. Official communication is so poor (outside of the trusty radio) that these rumours are able to flourish.
Many people have noticed what is clearly a publishing problem on the MET.GOV.FJ website. At a time where people around the world are clamoring for accurate weather information, this is definitely an issue. I've seen multiple references to this error on a number of Facebook pages and Twitter postings. If you haven't seen it, the "latest updates" page is serving up the following information and has been for at least the past 5 hours or so...
It's up to the reader to figure out exactly what this message means. I'm fairly technically proficient but I'm at a loss and would even be happy settling for a non-current edition of that product just so I can find out what the friggin' forecast is.
Incredibly, perhaps, is that a more disappointing page appears elsewhere on their site. When following links to the latest Cyclone updates, I found this gem:
Just to be perfectly clear, this page on Fiji's national weather service website, states that there are no cyclones around.
The fault here lies not with the weather office but likely with some other department in the folds of Fiji's government. The weather office's job is NOT to make sure they have a functioning website...in fact, I'd like them to be spending all their time on weather-related analysis, not dicking around with a website which clearly does not suit either the publishing requirements of their office or the information consumption requirements of an increasingly nervous public.
Their lack of attention to the importance of the communication channel is what needs to change.
Be safe, Fiji...
[For anyone interested in following the storm, will keep posts going via my TWITTER feed.]
Some RAW video before the power went out is below...no, no cyclones here.
An Architectural Review and Analysis of the New US Embassy in Suva
Analysis:
GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US
I took the above picture by pulling in front of the gate, jumping out of my car as quickly as I could, taking the picture and then immediately peeling away with tires screeching. It's apparently the only way you're allowed to take photographs of American embassies anymore. This is evident from the fascist rules placed upon Vodafone's corporate HQ by embassy personnel. Although they're located just next door, photographs of the embassy are forbidden from the roof. This is enforced, by the way.
Interestingly, I was also to take the following snapshot from Google Earth of the embassy under construction so I guess they haven't gotten to Google just yet.
The tragedy in the new building's design is that it's clearly a symbol of the previous American government's administration. The "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US" theme of bars, security and fear of everything are remnants of an administration the American majority voted the fuck out of office (pardon my French).
I'm not entirely naive to believe there aren't threats out there in the world, of course. However, the United States should be continually working at improving it's image and appearing INVITING to the rest of the world. Doing that through it's embassies is one obvious step.
A few years ago, the Malaysian Prime Minister made a comment about how the walls around Chinese embassies the world over have been getting lower while walls around the American embassies have been getting higher, the exact opposite of the way things used to be. How true his statement is represented in all its glory on Princes Road. The level of security represented here cannot really be an accurate assessment of the threat to the United States from within Fiji, can it?
I'm saddened, as an American living in this country, that the only thing which seems to resonate from our new embassy appears to be security. If the architects of this concrete, uninspiring, jail-like fortress were aiming to remind people visiting this building how difficult it is to actually visit America as well, then they've succeeded admirably.
What a bummer, an embarrassment and a disappointment to the hills of Tamavua.
[UPDATE 15 Dec, 2009: Cyclone Mick tore through Suva last night and although just a category 2 cyclone, was apparently able to blow down the iron fence at the new embassy. Someone no doubt rushing now to add "cyclone-proof" to the list of requirements for future embassy builds.]
Received over the weekend via oceanic.com.fj's form:
--
The following information has been submitted from the Contact Us form on the Oceanic Website:
Name: Joseph Email: joe@govnet.gov.fj
Enquiry: --------- Jonathan,
We found you been conning business in Fiji. Soon we will kick you out of this country. You think by wearing a sullu you can become one Fijian and conn business??? U are wrong.....
--
I tried contacting "Joseph" to see whether I could talk my way out of this trouble but the address bounced back. In the off chance that he reads this blog, I'd like to say for the record that we don't con businesses at Oceanic. Plenty of other companies out there for that. Also, "sulu" should be spelled with a single "l".
Anyway, a snippet of business life in Fiji for some...
In what is now feeling like a weekly occurrence, we were met today in Fiji (and throughout the Pacific) with a pretty terrifying tsunami warning at around 11 a.m. Compared to the action of last week's tsunami drama, today definitely had a different feel.
For starters, it was significantly more frightening.
I don't want for this to be interpreted the wrong way but for anyone who has ever spent real time in the Pacific, they'll know that generally, people in the islands are not the fastest moving bunch. In most cases, it's simply because there's no reason to hurry. At 11 a.m. on 8 October, however, I saw more average people running than I ever have before. Indeed...it was surreal.
I would be pretty quick to dismiss the speed of Fiji's public reaction with the fact that is was late in the morning of a work day and there's no better excuse to leaving the office for the day than under the threat of an approaching tidal wave. In reality, the communication around this seismic event was most definitely not a duplication of last week's lunacy. Even then, it all occurred in a very haphazard way. Although people were getting the message to move, it felt like there was still a great deal of disorganisation in the action. At least where I was in the immediate outskirts of central Suva, I saw people scattering in all directions. Traffic turned into an immediate nightmare, as well. When I finally did evacuate my office, I knew the chances of quickly getting up to my family in the hills above the city were pretty much nil. Instead, I chose a friend's house just up the road from my office but still quite high that I knew we'd be safe. Even then, it took me over 30 minutes to drive a few kilometers.
Consider the following photograph I found on Facebook today of the traffic scene in Tamavua:
First, I don't know who actually took this photograph so I'm unable to credit them and to be entirely honest, this could very well be a picture taken on any given day in Suva given the etiquette of some of the drivers. However, it was taken today at the peak of the evacuation to higher ground. I was well below this area and made the wise choice to not try to make my way up here. Although this was quite far away from where I was, the traffic I experienced was directly related to this mess.
Back to the topic at hand, though...people did MOVE, at least in Suva. I later heard that police had even blocked off access roads INTO the central business district which is a surprisingly proactive move on their part. It's likely last week's drama, still so fresh in people's minds did play a big role today in the reaction and the glorious weather didn't hurt either. I couldn't help to think what the response would have been had it been raining, though. Even more of a concern, suppose this all happened at 9 p.m. or in the middle of the night?
There's an order to the chaos in Suva at times and it was demonstrated today in full colour.
I'll even give kudos to the local media who generally did a pretty good job of keeping the news flowing, intermixed perhaps with a bit too much lame 70's pop music, but beggars can't be choosers. If you asked me whether I would prefer to drown listening to Abba verus Vijay Narayan's voice, I'd probably choose the former anyway. But hey..that's me.
I received an SMS during evacuation time, too...Vodafone Fiji must have gotten permission from someone in government to fire that one off and I'm more convinced than ever it's a valuable and effective lifeline for content in times of emergencies. My friend on pre-pay service, however, got no such message so I can only assume that as a high-value post-pay customer with Vodafone, messages to people like me were prioritised. [No...I don't really believe that.] The mobile network was very strained and unable to connect any calls for me for over an hour. Some people on Twitter and Facebook seemed furious over this but in Vodafone's defense, their network (or anyone elses' for that matter) is simply not designed for EVERYONE to use at the same time. It would be unrealistic to expect that communications work for everyone but Vodafone's 3G data service was actually quite fantastic. I have no idea if some voice traffic (i.e. government) were priortised for emergency communications but that could be an explanation.
If today was a test for Fiji in tsunami preparedness, I'd give it a C+. This is a pretty significant improvement over the failing marks from just a week ago, though. I'd be willing to move it up to a B- if we could get some reggae on the radio and better traffic management. My bigger fear is that we'll face a "boy who cried wolf scenario" for the next time and people will not move as quickly. I do hope that's not the case.
Not to be outdone by the Tsunami scare of seven months ago, this morning's earthquake off of Samoa was yet another lesson in the ongoing saga of island communication challenges.
Around 6 a.m (Fiji time)., a very large quake struck in the ocean, immediately generating a tsunami. Around 6.30, I start seeing news about it on CNN International clearly reporting the Pacific Tsunami Center's warning of a tsunami generated. I flip over to BBC and sure enough, BREAKING NEWS is being highlighted there as well. A tsunami has definitely been generated.
I flipped the channel to local programming on FijiOne and was met with a recording of a morning church service. I swore in frustration and put on the local radio to hear the familiar banter of nothing important being said. I scratched my head in disbelief...here I've got 2 international news sources clearly reporting tsunami warnings for the country I was in and I couldn't get any local confirmation at all? By this point, NZ newspapers were already reporting the story.
Let me guess what will likely happen over the next week or so in Fiji...
Someone will write a letter to the newspapers lamenting the fact that there was no efficient public communication.
A few regional academics, NGOs or government people will chime in about what the communication process should be and what should happen next time. It may even be quite forcefully argued that doing nothing will eventually and definitely cause the deaths of people.
Some additional discussion may continue for a week or so.
Within the next six months, another earthquake/tsunami will occur.
[RETURN TO STEP ONE AND REPEAT]
I walked into my office at 8 a.m and NO ONE even knew about the warning. The first local report I saw came from FM96 who reported the tsunami warning on their LAST news story of the 8 a.m. update. The next news update reported the story first but only to inform the public that the tsunami warning had been canceled, more than 20 minutes after the estimated hit to our coasts. Kudos to FM96 for at least reporting it. FijiTV went from the church service to a kid's show, arguably to keep the children of Fiji calm as waves washed over them.
Am I being melodramatic? Yes and no.
There was essentially NO communication to the Fijian population this morning. Zero.
The media organisations have no excuse when it comes to their REPEATED failure to communicate to the public. When the international agency responsible for reporting tsunami warnings issues one, then that is all these organisations need to get the word out. Any excuses about how local confirmation is needed but the guy who needs to confirm it has run out of mobile credit and can't be reached on his home telephone because the copper was stripped out of his neighbourhood's phone wires by a bunch of roving (and entrepreneurial) youths is not a reasonable argument.
It's just a matter of time until people die in Fiji, too. This isn't rocket science. At that point, FijiTV's religious programming will certainly be the appropriate content to air.
[UPDATE #1.: The seriousness of this particular earthquake/tsunami is becoming more evident. Samoa got hit pretty hard and although it's obviously not as deadly as the Indonesian tsunami years ago, I think it does show the sheer vulnerability in the pacific region. Yet again, we're being given a preview of what Fiji will, inevitably, face at some point. A "Fiji-time" response is unacceptable.]
[UPDATE #2 : Nice to see the ConnectMe's website step in to provide a decent (and growing) overview of the morning tsunami along with collection of links. One more slap in the face to the local media's poor efforts.]
If there’s ever a time where piracy should be allowed, it’s now.
Just to be clear, I’m not intending to argue FOR piracy as much as I am arguing for some leniency towards it right now. I’ll acknowledge the amounts (albeit overinflated) of revenue lost to the country in taxes due to piracy. I’ll acknowledge the blatant ignorance of copyright law which is so pervasive. I’ll acknowledge the impact a consumer’s familiarity with terms such as “cinema copies” has on the country. However, the absence of cheap entertainment is simply more trouble than its worth at this time.
The reality of life in Fiji now, not unlike so many other parts of the world, is represented by struggle for many people. I’ve been amazed at the sheer increases of our food shopping bill each month. Fuel has always been highly priced and continues to climb. Any and all imported items seem to cost well over 30% of what they were just 6 months ago. Consumption, very much a part of any society, has simply been hard to do.
Perhaps one of the few guilty pleasures people did have was the ability to amuse themselves with cheap entertainment and pirated DVDs, so readily available, was one simple way of appeasing a frustrated and bored populace.
Frankly, I’m hoping that this crackdown on illegal DVD shops eases up and these businesses start operating again. It may not be politically correct but I’d rather have groups of youth sitting inside a house watching some cheap, grainy DVD than standing on a street corner looking for something to keep them busy. The latter is a much bigger strain on society.
I respect the position of the people who needed to make their case but perhaps this is one time they need to sit back and take one for the team. Fiji needs entertainment in whatever form it can get. A widespread access to pirated films, as ridiculous as it may appear to some people, actually does serve some greater good. I don’t believe 100% of the issue is a negative.
The people who are going to benefit from this crackdown are the Internet Service Providers who will likely see an increase in data usage from customers starved for content. An increasingly connected user base in Fiji will begin to realise that the Internet solves their media hungry appetites. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
So I've been traveling on business for the past few weeks back in the United States and that explains the absence of blogging. There's always an initial desire for me to go into some rant about how fast the Internet is over there, or how much variety there is in food or how many friggin' television stations there are to choose from but today, I will restrain myself and spare you, dear reader, the details.
I've been jet-lagged most of the week...neither fully here nor there...having difficulty putting things into focus but as the week has worn on, it's gotten a tad better. I have, however, been waking up at 4.30 pretty much every morning, counting the dogs barking in the distance in a futile attempt to fall back asleep. When I reach over for my Blackberry, the fight is over and I've lost.
At 7.30 a.m. on Thursday, I began my ride to the office in my friend's car, which I've had while my own vehicle is in the shop. I turned the corner by the Laucala Bay McDonalds to see the all-too-familiar LTA guys out on patrol and some guy standing by his now-captured vehicle with a look of "who me?" on his face. Poor bastard, I thought...
I navigated through the cones catching the eye of the LTA worker as he glared at my wheel tax sticker on the window. I didn't expect any problem, of course. Then again, how many people look at the wheel tax sticker before getting into a car. I drove through the checkpoint and then heard a thud as the LTA guy smacked the back of the car.
What the...?
I pulled over, already beginning the scream in my head....no, not today..not at 7.30 in the morning.
"Sir, your vehicle registration expired on September 2nd." he said.
I looked at my phone to see the date.
September 3.
Shit.
"Oh no...I am SOOOOOO sorry...this is not my car and I had absolutely no idea that the registration was expired. I can't believe it." I pleaded, perhaps a bit too forcefully...
"Can you step out of the car, sir?" Mr. LTA said. "May I see your license?"
I hopped out and stood on the sidewalk, realising at that point that I was making the same "Who me?" face that the other poor bastard was. I looked down the sidewalk towards him but he was showing me no love. We were both screwed and forced to face the shame on our own.
Mr. LTA then kicked me in the stomach and smashed me across the face with a tire iron...
Ladies and gentlemen, if there's ever a time in your life when you just know that it's a good idea to simply turn around and go home for the day, this was one of those times. If you've ever wished to be laying in bed, jet-lagged, counting the guttural utterances of neighbourhood canines, this was one of those times. Anywhere but here...anywhere but here.
There was only really one thing to say.
"Excuse me? There must be some mistake."
Impounding fee: $72 Driving an expired license: $50 Driving an unregistered vehicle: $50 Re-registration: $65 Renewal of driver's license for one year: $14
Mood, first thing on a Thursday morning: Priceless.
A letter in the Fiji Times today seemed to demonstrate yet one more problem with Fiji's emergence from a monopoly telecommunications environment. Some consumers refuse to let go of monopoly thinking:
Congratulations Vodafone. For many years, the people of Fiji had to put up the exorbitant mobile phone charges under Vodafone. This unethical business of ripping continued until the arrival of Digicel.
Now the people of Fiji have to suffer again at the hands of Vodafone's high internet charges and the pathetic service.
Charging $39.95 for 1 GB and $69.95 for 3 GB is a big rip off.
Above all the speed of the internet is very slow. It will continue till Digicel starts to provide internet services. In the meantime, Vodafone will continue to make as much money as possible.
It seems no one can stop Vodafone.
Vodafone has been giving a lot of pain to the people of Fiji and it has kept its record intact.
This could be a legitimate letter to write but ONLY if we were living in a non-competitive environment. Some people seem to be forgetting that we actually have CHOICE now, something that has been missing from telecommunications life in Fiji up until just recently. What is the letter writer's problem then?
When Oceanic began business, I was paying almost $4,000 per month to Connect for a 128k dedicated connection of questionable reliability. I could whinge and complain a great deal but there was no other option available. When Unwired Fiji came onto the scene and offered an alternative, I switched. It would have been pointless for me to begin complaining about Unwired's pricing if I had a problem with it.
It was a few months ago when I started hearing rumours about a Fiji Government call centre opening up at the old FVB building in downtown Suva. It was apparently slated to be a 24 hour operation. I initially interpreted that to mean that the building would remain standing for 24 hours but not necessarily that people would be inside working.
A week or so ago, however, I saw the official announcement on the news. The 24 hour Fiji Government call centre was up and running, staffed by 12 people who would hear complaints on water and roads, listen to issues related to billing errors and even provide weather updates. The operation was established by the Ministry of Works which, given so many of my experiences with them over the years, might as well have been re-branded as the Ministry of Silly Walks.
Tonight, 21 July, 2009, I made my first call to them.
For starters, it took me forever to find their number. I visited just about every Fiji news site, portal and government online presence as I could and although I was able to find plenty of news stories about the call centre operations and opening, none actually listed the damn telephone number. This is not surprising given the frequency with which I see news reports about newly launched websites without any mention of a URL..but I digress. After clicking through a history of FijiTV's daily broadcasts for the ten days, I found a video file which I had to download and then view so I could hear the telephone number read out to me. For the record and future reference, the toll-free number is:
132 777
Oh...why was I calling?
Well..it's like 11 p.m. and it's friggin' cold as hell outside and I wanted to take a hot shower. I went into my bathroom to find that there is ZERO water coming from the taps. Such a disappointment. So I decided to take advantage of this futuristic new service and call it in.
The call centre has got a decent automated phone system which offered me some choices but I zeroed out to the operator and my call was immediately answered by Emma who wanted to know how she could help me. It seemed ridiculous to me that I was making this call at 11 p.m. at night since I've never even been able to get utility help during the day but here I was, givin' the government the benefit of the doubt.
Emma asked me who I was (Jonathan) and where I was calling from (Suva Point). She asked whether other people in the neighborhood were also having the same problem (I didn't know). She told me I was the only person who had called with such a complaint but she apologised for the hassle (!) and told me she would find out what the deal is and call me back. I didn't ask when that would be since I doubted a call back would come in a timely fashion but I thanked her for her help, hung up and went searching through the house for some bottled water so I could at least brush my teeth. I don't intend to sound ridiculously cynical here but it's just about impossible to get service from the utilities that I actually pay money to in this country, how the hell am I going to get it for free from a government department? That written, Emma was very professional, attentive and helpful.
Ten minutes later, my mobile rings. It's Emma calling me back to report that yes, indeed there was a problem. She told me that "a water main burst at the FMF dome". I didn't have the heart to explain that it was now the Vodafone Arena because it hardly seemed relevant and I was so surprised to have even gotten a call back. She went on to say that I should rest assured that "workmen were busy right now repairing the problem and I should expect water supply to be up and running tomorrow."
Seriously. That's just awesome. Emma rocks. So does this service.
It's not about actually having to fix the problem as much as it is listening to a "customer" and giving them information in return. There are a number of companies around that could benefit greatly from following the lead of the Ministry of Works here.
Thumbs up, Ministry. Well done. You've made it look easy.
[UPDATE 6.30 a.m. / 7 hours later : We have water.]
I love Airports Fiji Limited's tender request for Internet Services in the Fiji Times today. As businesses in Nadi have always been slave to the whims of a single Internet provider, I suppose perhaps they are showing some of their frustration after so many years of pain. That written, I'm not entirely certain that taking those frustrations out on new providers is the best way of going about it.
The tender itself seems to simply be asking for the provision and operation of "Internet services". If that's just about providing a pipe to the Internet, asking for $3000 to accompany the tender response seems excessive, even if most of that money will be returned to unsuccessful tenderers. Then again, perhaps I should start tendering for the opportunity to support Oceanic's various needs.
Please note the following tender for BHALA BHARA went unanswered.
The re-tender is below.
How much more ridiculous can the tender process get?
My guess is plenty more ridiculous. We already see tender requests for grass cutting, furniture painting and window washing. Although I'll be the first to support the call for transparency, are they really meant to bring company processes to a crawl?
[UPDATED: Apparently, my misspelling of BHARA was too much for some to handle.]
I'm often taken aback at the things some people will say on the record. Like the pirate DVD sellers in Fiji who have been pleading for more time to make their businesses "legal", they seem entirely ignorant of the ridiculousness in their arguments.
"I'm sorry, officer. Please allow me to continue growing marijuana until I'm able to find a new job. Ya know how it is."
Consider the following from yesterday's (9 July) Fiji Times, which interviewed the executive director of Suncourt Wholesalers, Champak Lal Bhikha. In the article entitled "Trader Defends Signs", Lal Bhikha attempted to make the argument that signs proclaiming "NO REFUND" were essential when conducting smooth business operations. Says Lal Bhikha:
"If signs in question are not displayed then shops will be often busy serving people who are not sure about purchases and in no time come back for a refund or exchange. We have 10 to 15 such cases every day."
I feel for you, Sir. Those damn pesky customers. Why can't they all just go away?
Most people who have visited Suncourt (and many other hardware businesses in Fiji) know that 90% of the time they spend in the store seem to be taken up by a confluence of various headaches punctuated by the need to actually find assistance, wait for hand-written requisitions to be filled out, explorations of whether items are in stock, lengthy waits to pay and then the ridiculous security process prior to taking your purchase out the door. I wrote some years back about a 45 minute visit to Manubhais & Co. for a single bag of nails when there was almost no one else in the store. This is the experience carved out by hardware retailers, it seems. Even more surprising is their open admittance of the foolishness. Lal Bhikha goes on to say:
"Who will pay for time spent on serving the customer when the customer is seeking refund? Each docket has at least three to four pages and the minimum cost is at least $1," he said.
Here's your answer, Mr. Lal Bhika. YOU should pay for time spent. That's what running a business is about. Why are so many businesses here so fast to put additional customer restrictions or hindrances on to a shopping experience when the fault lay with themselves? Shortfalls in a businesses ability to manage customer returns is not the fault of the customer.
The Department of Fair Trading has now actually had to deem those signs illegal, much to the disappointment of the shopkeepers that hang them in their stores.
Here's an idea for an entrepreneurial retailer; market your store as one which gladly accepts returns if the customer is not 100% satisfied. That's a store I would visit over and over again. Standing behind your product can be a differentiator in this market. Imagine that?
Will some people take advantage of such a business? Yes, probably. Will most people take advantage? No, of course not. The kind of trust and confidence that a business shows in its own products and services will win over customers. People will know that if they buy something and it doesn't work, they can return it.
I await the store that respects me as a customer. Some are better than others, yes..but I am unable to name any retail location off the top of my head in Fiji which I think genuinely appreciates my business and even tries to honour the old adage that the customer is always right. It's not true of course. The customer is sometimes totally wrong but that doesn't mean he/she should be kicked in the ass on the way out the door and told that the piece of shit they just bought can't be returned.
If I never had a reason to NOT go to Suncourt, I have a good one now.
In what is one of the more jarring headlines lately from the Fiji Times comes this one...
Although there is definitely nothing funny about the story, I couldn't help but do a double-take at the way the headline is written.
The actions of this "father" are a bit more than an annoyance...this is assault, pure and simple.
[7 July / UPDATE: "pure and simple" is apparently not pure and simple. Local "sexual abuse legislation" expert and loyal blog reader, Ian, clarifies the statute in the comments and for the second time in a week, we stand corrected.]
We need to apologise to Connect's management. Had we
understood that it was actually their strategy to treat customers like babies, we
would never have poked fun. We stand corrected.
I've been transfixed with Iran these past few weeks. The struggle inside that country has been so visual, so global and ultimately, so upsetting. Nicholas Kristof, from the New York Times, wrote this week in his op-ed column that "On one side are government thugs firing bullets. On the other side are young protesters firing tweets." What an incredible time we live in.
Iran has very much remained in the news steadily since their troubled election.
When Michael Jackson died so suddenly this week and the focus of the media swung entirely to that story, it's not surprising to see some people unhappy. I read a number of comment rants from those who were furious with America's priorities insofar as global news is concerned. Micheal Jackson's death, although perhaps not as important as what is going on in Iran, does impact more people directly. It was so far from exclusively an American story, too.
The Iranian drama unfolded over days and weeks and still continues to do so. Jackson's death unfolded in an instant. It should be far from surprising to see attention so quickly swing in this new direction. More than that, before Michael Jackson became a controversial figure, he was a person who made others happy. Compare that to the situation in Iran which only reminds us of how far we all still need to go to be a functioning race of people.
Michael Jackson's death, for many people, represented an end of something that was good (at least before things got weird).
Personally, I'm always going to remember the Michael Jackson when he was very young. I came across the video clip below and thought it captured him perfectly, even at such a young age. He was 13. I'll miss this Michael and miss how his music was able to excite me so much.
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