SUDESH RATNARAJAH of Petaling Jaya is appalled that after a regular "polish", his barely month-old RM699
leather shoes have become discoloured.

He says when he bought the arch-supporting brown shoes from Foot Solutions at The Curve on Feb 2, he was not
informed on ways to care for the shoes.

When the time came for a polish, he did it based on the pair's state and condition.

"Judging from the visual appearance and colour, I proceeded to use a brown polish.

After polishing some parts of the shoes, I noticed the colour had faded," he says.

RIZAL of Kuala Lumpur is unhappy because he has yet to receive his RM100 refund from P1 WiMAX after cancelling his broadband plan during the cooling-off period.

He says it has been two months and that he called their officers at least four times but to no avail. "One of the officers told me that the money was credited to my Maybank account on Feb 10 but there was no transaction at all when I checked," says RIZAL.

"Another time, another officer told me that the refund is still being processed. How long more do I have to
wait?"

CLARA XAVIER of Puchong is furious by the lack of commitment showed by several Perodua service centres to replace a defective part on her car which has irritated her for more than a year.

"In September 2008, I bought a white ViVa 1.0 EZ from Perodua's Bandar Bukit Puchong branch office. Soon after, the car started having noises. I complained to the salesman and he told me the car is under a three-year warranty and it is best for me to report the problem during the scheduled service," she says.

CHEW of Kuala Lumpur says he has been misled by a DiGi joint promotion with a credit card company that involves porting his line from Maxis to DiGi to save on monthly commitment charges.

He says the promotion states that subscription to the DiGi Voice Plan of DG50 will see him paying RM30 a month instead of RM50 for the first 12 months.

RALPH says two jaga kereta boys often operate in front of the OCBC Bank and Jake's Restaurant in Jalan Setiapuspa, Medan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, between 6pm and 8.30pm daily.

"They are a nuisance to visitors," he says. "Car owners are forced to pay RM5 to these 'thugs' for no reason."
RALPH hopes the relevant authority will stop such 'extortions'.

TAY of Kuala Lumpur says she and her sister were bitten by bugs from their seats when they patronised TGV Cinemas at 1 Utama, Petaling Jaya, on Feb 6 this year.

“We were watching the movie Legion at cinema hall 6, seated at row M10 and M11 and felt itchy but didn't know why," she says.

"After the show, we found bite marks on our bodies and we had to apply medicated cream on them."

TAY hopes something can be done so that it will not happen to other patrons.

MASLAMANI of Petaling Jaya is unhappy he had to pay a 50 sen service charge when topping up his Touch 'n Go card at an automated machine at Jejantas Sungai Buloh, Selangor, on March 3.

"I was surprised that a service charge of 50 sen was imposed. There used to be PLUS staff manning the booth before and there was no extra charge. But now, they have installed automated machines to reload,  replacing the staff," he says.

UPSET of Kuala Lumpur claims she was overcharged at Jyoti's Beauty Centre in Bangsar last month.

"I was told the price for hair colouring is RM60 but after they did it, they charged me RM80," she says.

"When I asked the staff why an additional RM20 was charged, they said my hair is longer than usual and it took more time to complete the hair colouring."

UPSET feels they should have told her that in the first place.

AZEEZAH of Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, alleges slow service by Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM).

"On Jan 29, I submitted an application to TM for the transfer of my Internet and fixed phone line connections
from my old apartment in Bayu Tasik 1 Condominium to my new apartment in Cengal Condominium," she says.

"They promised to do so within seven days."

Fed up of waiting, she enquired about the status of her application three times and each time she was told that a contractor would be appointed to install the wiring.

LIM of Kuala Lumpur claims that Maxis Communications Bhd prematurely terminated one of his two 017 handphone numbers under them.

"That second 017 number was supposed to expire on Feb 28 this year, but it was suddenly terminated on Jan 7 and with it went my entire accumulated credit balance of over RM600," he alleges, adding that he immediately made a complaint to the Maxis customer hotline.

ADAM MALIK of Kuala Lumpur, a policy holder with Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad for several years, claims they did not extend him good service.

"On Dec 31, I was admitted to Ampang Puteri Hospital after midnight and handed my Prudential medical card to the hospital staff," he says, adding that the hospital declined to accept his card because they could not get clearance from Prudential at that late hour.

POOPALA of Petaling Jaya is disappointed with the Pilot Sport 2 series of Michelin tyres that he purchased on April 1, 2008.

"I have been using Michelin tyres since 1984 for all my cars but the Pilot Sport 2 series has been disappointing as, after about 20,000km, the sidewall of two of these four tyres are bulging," he says, adding that he currently uses two sporty Mercedes-Benz cars.

RICHARD, the building manager of the Vista Indah Putra Apartments in Klang, fears that Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) may cut off water supply to them as, up to March 3, the management company has yet to pay RM66,865.40 to the water supplier.

"Sixty per cent of the apartment residents have paid their share for the water bill, and we urge the remaining 40% to do so without delay or all residents will be without water as early as next week."

NG of Klang is upset that Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) has been slow to resolve his complaint about a problematic portable modem.

"I signed up for TM's Streamyx combo package last November and received the modem the following month, but it became faulty in mid-January," he says, adding that he complained twice and also went to the nearest TM branch to get the problem fixed.

SHARLINI of Kuching, Sarawak, has been a DiGi prepaid user for the past eight years and did not experience any problem until Feb 12 this year when her handphone suddenly indicated "SIM inactive" about noon that day soon after arriving in Kuala Lumpur.

"I sought assistance at a DiGi booth at Tesco Kajang and was told that my problem could only be solved at a DiGi ser' vice centre," she says.

MURALI of Klang claims that water supply to the Bandar Baru Klang Condominium was disrupted on Feb 22 and 23 due to Daya Tarikan Sdn Bhd's failure to pay the water bill to Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas).

Daya Tarikan is a sister company of the condo's developer, PNSB Acmar Sdn Bhd.

CHAN of Subang Jaya says he is surprised that his HSBC Amanah Credit Card can only be used at halal shops.

"Earlier this month, I went to a famous pizza-chain restaurant for dinner and when it came to paying the bill, I used my HSBC Amanah credit card," he says.

"To my surprise, the waitress informed me that my card had been rejected."

HUANG of Kuala Lumpur claims that the broadband service from Maxis is disappointing especially when, four months ago, he upgraded his Maxis modem (Huawei E220) to the thumb-drive sized Maxis modem which is able to receive up to 12GB of data.

"The download speed of the new broadband is only 0.20Mb/s and its upload speed is 0.10 Mb/s," he says.

CASE of the 'dangerous' pencil box (Feb 18)

THIS is a very serious issue the authorities should be looking into. The protection of consumers, especially children, should be given priority.

Imagine what would have happened if young Sanjeev was not rushed to the doctor on time. What if a much younger child had stuck his or her hands into a similar object that could have inflicted life-threatening injuries?