OCBC doesn't do free birthday cakes after all
-
*Blogger demands free birthday cake from branch staff, then brags about it online - Kitchen Tigress blog
It's just a storm in a teacup, and unlike the comments posted I think it's tasteless (I have higher standards for clever, funny pranks), but do you think? Refer to sentences in bold for a sypnosis.
Yesterday, I went to OCBC Bank, the one at Marine Parade, and asked for a birthday cake. According to the bank's advertisement, their customers get a cake on their birthday, complete with burning candles and a birthday song. And yes, it was my birthday yesterday. If you haven't already seen the TV ad, here it is
There were five ladies wo-manning the counter at OCBC. The one who got the short straw was xx Ming. Young, quite cute and quite sweet. Unfortunately, she was wearing a red and white polo shirt with four different coloured buttons, in thick polyester. Hm, OCBC probably paid a lot of money for some consultant to come up with the hideous design. I gave xx Ming my IC – that's identity card to those not familiar with the Big Brother state – which has my DOB on the front. She went about quietly processing my cash deposit. Was she alerting her colleagues it was my birthday with a secret 'birthday button' underneath the counter? The one beside the panic button for bank robbers? Please don't press the wrong button! I was sure someone was lighting the candles on my cake as I waited, and all the staff were getting ready to shout, 'SURPRISE!' Something like this:
xx Ming looked up and asked me if I wanted to update my address. 'No, thank you.' I had deliberately given OCBC a non-existent address because it's the only way to stop the bank from sending me bits of paper every month. I can't opt out of hard copy statements but if they're returned to the bank three months in a row, they're suspended. A roundabout way to outwit the system and the tree murderers who run it.
After making sure I didn't want my address updated, xx Ming handed me my receipt and IC. I glanced to the left . . . . No one jumped out with a cake topped with burning candles. I glanced to the right . . . . No one started singing 'Happy Birthday to yooou . . . !' xx Ming gave me a weak smile and a is-there-anything-else look. 'Er, it's my birthday today. Do I get a birthday cake?' Since the subtle way wasn't working, I had to be explicit about my real purpose for visiting the bank. xx Ming blinked, then blinked again. She turned to her colleague on her right and said, 'It's her birthday. She wants a birthday cake.' Then, she turned to her colleague on her left and said, 'It's her birthday. She wants a birthday cake.' The three ladies smiled and looked at one another, probably thinking I was joking. And probably hoping their smiles would make me go away. Wrong! 'OCBC has an ad that says customers get birthday cakes. You know the ad?' 'But it's just an advertisement,' xx Ming said. 'Yes, it's an ad, which I take very seriously.' 'But it's just an advertisement . . . .'
When it was clear I was dead serious about getting a cake, one of the teller ladies got up to consult her supervisor. Of course, such an important person wasn't sitting at the counter. He was hidden from customers' view by a door with a high-tech digital lock. Tick, tock, tick, tock, . . . . 'Have other customers asked for birthday cakes before?' 'No, you're the first one!' Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . . 'A "Happy Birthday" would be nice, you know?' All I got was a blank look, and 'But it's just an advertisement.' xx Ming was starting to sound like a broken record ipod. Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . . 'Er, I have a birthday dinner to go to. I hope I can get the cake quickly?' 'I can't guarantee that.' 'You can't guarantee I would get a cake, or you can't guarantee I would get a cake quickly?' 'Both.' 'Then why do you advertise that you give customers birthday cakes?' 'But it's just an advertisement.' Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . . I was thinking no one was ever going to say 'Happy Birthday' but the lady on the right finally did. She got off her butt, walked over and wished me 'Happy Birthday'. It took her, like, 10 minutes but hey, it was better than nothing. Did Miss Cutey xx Ming who was sitting right in front of me join in and wish me 'Happy Birthday'. Hell, no! Maybe she wasn't in a good mood 'cause she was working on a Sunday? Well, I wasn't feeling jubilant either, unlike Mrs Tan, the one in the TV ad, who got a birthday cake without asking:
After an eternity, the bank teller lady who went off to consult her supervisor emerged from the internal bowels of the bank. 'We don't have any cake . . . . It's just an advertisement . . . .' 'If you don't give customers birthday cakes, why do you advertise that you do?' She went back to her supervisor. Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . . After another eternity, she came back, this time with a bright yellow shopping bag. Would I like the shopping bag instead? 'That's not a cake,' I said. NO CAKE! NO CANDLE! NO GOOD! She disappeared behind the door again.
After yet another eternity, the supervisor, xx Keong, joined me on my side of the counter. Would I like to discuss the matter with him in a separate room? 'Why? Is there a birthday cake with a candle in the room? No? Then we can discuss here. Your advertisement says customers get birthday cakes, so I'm here to collect my birthday cake.' 'Yes, but in the advertisement, the bank surprises the customer, not the other way round! You're not supposed to surprise us!' Heheh, he had a point there. 'If there's any sincerity in the advertisement, you wouldn't be surprised,' I retorted. 'The point in the ad is that the bank gives the customer a surprise. If I give you a cake now, you wouldn't be surprised,' he returned. I almost burst out laughing. 'If you give me a cake now, I promise I'll be very surprised.' For the next few minutes, he tried to wriggle his way out of giving me a cake. 'It's just an advertisement blah blah blah. . . .' I can't remember everything he said but there wasn't anything that convinced me I should leave without a cake. After all, the ad didn't have conditions like 'while stocks last' or 'offer expires whenever'. I thought I had to lie down on the floor and kick my legs in the air. Boy, that would be fun, wouldn't it? But before I could do that, he caved in and said, 'Ok, I don't have a cake now but I can go and buy you a cake.' Of course, when he said 'I', he meant one of his female underlings. It took another eternity for a bank teller to get the cake from a bakery round the corner.
In total, it took me five eternities to get the miserable three-inch cake from OCBC. It was topped with a heap of artificial cream, the kind that doesn't melt in Singapore's tropical heat and I never eat. Frankly, my homemade cakes are way better. (Click here for recipes.) The plastic tree and plastic Hello Kitty? Tacky tacky tacky! Not to mention the danger of a child choking on them, especially when the 'leaves' can be detached from the 'trunk'!
Getting OCBC to cough up the cake was like prying something from a dead man's cold, hard fingers. Or squeezing blood from a stone. But advertisements are so often deliberately misleading, I couldn't resist the temptation to show an advertiser that misleading ads can sometimes backfire. A taste of its own medicine, perhaps? I allowed myself to be misled into thinking that OCBC was giving customers birthday cakes. And you can do the same, too. I asked xx Keong if I could tell all my friends that they can get birthday cakes from OCBC. He said it might not be a cake but it would be 'something' if it's their customer's birthday. Well, if you're not happy with that 'something', just insist that it was a cake in the TV ad. And you can do your part for consumer rights any day of the week, except public holidays. OCBC branches are everywhere and 18 of them (click here for a list) are opened 11am-7pm, including Saturdays and Sundays. -
in this case OCBC has to order 100 cakes on standby every week at each branch?
get 3 quotes from polar, emicakes and secret recipe -
This blogger is really someone whose body grows up but the mental state of the brain remains as a child.
I pity the OCBC staff. They must have used their own money to buy the cake for her.
They should have just take the cake and throw it at the blogger face and that will be a good brithday suprise for the bitch
-
by the way, i think the ad was emphasizing sunday banking rite?
not the bday cake
but according to the websai, there will be "surprises" every 1st and 3rd sunday
http://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/helpcentre/Hcr_SunBnk_Promo_2008.shtm -
blogger is fucking idiot. =.=
lol sum1 said
''Actually, OCBC did live up to its advert. The advert showcased OCBC's customer service. In this case, OCBC managed to display its amazing customer service by putting up and giving in to such a low-life demand by such an unreasonable customer.''
haha.
-
informative blog, lets fellow singaporeans be aware that such low lifes exist in our society and to take precautions against them
-
I pity the ones standing behind the blogger...
They are completely owned Is the blogger the husband of the person who post in AA? Saying her husband roll on the floor de...
-
Somehow, the comments posted looks juicier than the post itself...
-
the blogger is just being difficult.
On the other hand, you do have to question the deceptive advertising that seems to be the SOP for companies. Most of the adverts promise the sky which they normally don't deliver even if asked for.
-
As FI has said, that advertisement advertised Sunday banking. It by no means stated outright that OCBC customers would get a cake on their birthday. Any person with a modicum of intelligence in his or her head would not arrive at that conclusion.
If she had just stopped at asking the bank staff for a birthday cake, then fair enough, I can call it a harmless prank. But for her to go all the way to demand a birthday cake until she received it (and to gloat about it later online)..... that's just way too much.
If it was the blogger's wish to highlight OCBC's failure of customer services, then I say that her message is totally lost on me.
Because right now the only message that I'm getting is that the blogger is a person who would actually bully bank staff for a birthday cake. Full stop.
Totally pathetic. Pfft.
-
It is downright funny what the blogger did, and I am pretty sure he/she did it not because he/she genuinely wanted a cake from OCBC, but a prank back at them for their own misleading ad.
It's like Fedex or DHL did some ad where their delivery men went "ALL THE WAY" to deliver their goods. i.e. trapped in a lift and then comes helicopter and rappel down the lift shaft to get the delivery man so that he can deliver his parcel on time. We all know that if something really crops up, they wouldn't give a shit.
Sure, we are not to take ads literally. But over-exaggeration to make a point just makes me sick.
-
im expecting fedex delivery guys to be all so cute-looking like in the ads too!
-
i do admit i didn't realise how seriously misleading the ad is until i read this post.
-
im sure the staff shared this with the rest and the whole pantry is laffing their heads off
-
False Advertising ? lol!
Actually, the whole idea to NOT get sued, is the over-exargeration, so bullshit ridiculous that it is meant to be mere puffery.
On the other hand, if u can show that, u really relied on that ad, and that the bank really made the effort and have the capacity to do what it does in the ad and with gurantees, well.. SUE thier ass. he he.. But i am sure they are covering thier ass now .
I not yet see the ad yet, so i am not sure. So .. guys.. ur ads.. better dun play play. hahaha. Make sure ur ad is totally ridiculously bullshit ass that is just out of this world. xD
But this i have to admit.. funny ar.. hahaha.. come on guys, u guys as consumers should know how the ads are always trying to con the mis-informed. Most of the time is because we dont care and cbb la.
-
i can oso comprain if the pizzahut ad shows the pizza with 28 pieces of pepperoni but when i receive mine, there are oni 24 pieces?
-
Of course !
lol.. u saw 28.. u wanted 28.. u called for 28.. u get 24.. what u think ar.
xD
-
I like this blogger. LOL.
This is why I do my banking with DBS.
<Advertisement mode>
Make the right choice. Choose DBS.
</Advertisement mode>
-
Shameful OCBC.
Promise and yet cant deliver.
Dont cheat on pple trust.
Once trus gone, your customers will be gone too.
-
Originally posted by FireIce:
im expecting fedex delivery guys to be all so cute-looking like in the ads too!
I'm also expecting NTUC cashiers to be young and pretty instead of old and ugly.
-
They should then put a * on the peektures of the girls n say 'Individuals may differ.. between 18 to 50 yr olds, depending on location and availability of staff'
hahha
-
All craps and shit advertisements.
-
"I've seen the advertisement, and nowhere is it mentioned that the bank is obliged to give a cake to customers who happen to be celebrating their birthday on that day. Rather, the focus here is, like what the ad says, being happy to serve you. The cake is a warm gesture from the people, not an obligation. How about lamenting that the people in McDonalds, for example, not greeting you with the exact same words and degree of smile?
Re-watching the advertisement, let me point out 1 key moment to you - 0:08. Let me quote, "I had an idea!" Now, I do think that that clearly shows that the idea of the birthday cake was from the child, NOT that of OCBC. There is a whole load of difference between a child requesting the bank tellers to sing a birthday song (along with a cake) for her mum, and a lady demanding her own cake. The former is a sweet and heartwarming gesture; the latter leaves us speechless.
Beyond all that, here's the truly ugly part - after going out of their way to get you a birthday cake, which again I maintain is not an obligation, all they get from you are more complains. Where's the least bit of gratitude?"my comment to her
-
Well, *&$% me, the molehill is about to be blown up further by The New Paper...
-
Originally posted by mystiv:
"I've seen the advertisement, and nowhere is it mentioned that the bank is obliged to give a cake to customers who happen to be celebrating their birthday on that day. Rather, the focus here is, like what the ad says, being happy to serve you. The cake is a warm gesture from the people, not an obligation. How about lamenting that the people in McDonalds, for example, not greeting you with the exact same words and degree of smile?
Re-watching the advertisement, let me point out 1 key moment to you - 0:08. Let me quote, "I had an idea!" Now, I do think that that clearly shows that the idea of the birthday cake was from the child, NOT that of OCBC. There is a whole load of difference between a child requesting the bank tellers to sing a birthday song (along with a cake) for her mum, and a lady demanding her own cake. The former is a sweet and heartwarming gesture; the latter leaves us speechless.
Beyond all that, here's the truly ugly part - after going out of their way to get you a birthday cake, which again I maintain is not an obligation, all they get from you are more complains. Where's the least bit of gratitude?"my comment to her
Agreed, banks are not so stupid. Just not create a commotion, i think the supervisor did the right thing.