Home Helper

This post is about how to ease our daily routine home maintenance, when you do not have the luxury of a live-in maid. Our maid left some 3 months ago, and then we have been on our own in terms of maintenance. Cooking is another big challenge, but that is for another blog post sometime!

Over the past several years, we have used a robotic vacuum cleaner – initially it was just the vacuuming function (as mopping functionality was not available), and we were happy to let the robot run around the house, sucking up the dirt. The alternative was to use either the big-sized, traditional and powerful vacuum cleaner (not a cordless one), dragging it behind us all over the house and in the process, getting tired. The advantage of the traditional cleaner is always its big suction power and its variety of accessories for use in different areas of the house (such as on upholstery or sofas). The other alternative was to use the hand-held (stick) vacuum cleaner which is easier to use as it is cordless, but still it suffered from human weakness of not striving at all corners! We then invested in a combined vacuuming plus mopping robot, but it lasted less than a year.

Over the years, we have trusted the Proscenic brand from Taiwan. It is a good brand, but the problem is that its service support has been weak in Singapore. We also noticed that Proscenic (like many other China brands) focuses more on its most lucrative markets such as the U.S. and Europe, not so much on smaller markets.

Now that I have been in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) for the past 4 years, I decided that the next robot has to have AI capabilities/AI navigation. My wife and I started with the research which we usually carry out for any new capital purchase. Most of the desired characteristics (apart from technical specs) have always been decided by my wife – for instance she said that the robot should have automatic dirt collection and automatic mopping. It should also have capability to map our apartment and avoid collisions with furniture. It needs to do a good (she did not say “thorough”) job in vacuuming and mopping, and then should return to the dock for emptying the dirt collected, and squeeze/dry the mop pads. And so on.

We struggled with the decision for almost two weeks. The initial suspects were not surprising – such as Roomba, Roborock, etc., We both studied these brands and their various models. It was an interesting though time-consuming exercise. We saw YouTube videos of how these products perform in real-life situations. We saw tech review sites to understand how these brands always emerged at the very top.

But, we hit roadblocks when it came to the issue of warranty service and continued maintenance support. Singapore is not as strong or robust as Australia in ensuring consumer protection. The consumer has to really struggle to extract even warranty service, especially when it is outsourced to a third party by the primary brand owner (which usually is the case).

The other issue was the price. We have never spent more than S$ 250 (INR 15K, US$ 190 approx.) on the previous robots, as we always knew that the life of any such product cannot be longer than a couple of years, unless we turn really lucky. Even then, tech innovation would have driven us to something new in the market anyway.

We were shocked to see that the prices for models from the above brands (Roomba, Roborock, etc.,) were much in excess of S$ 1,000! This sticker shock further delayed our decision making along with the issue on service support locally.

To avoid my reluctance to invest (I am well known for delaying tactics), my wife came up with a new economic analysis which demonstrated that the investment was not a bad idea, and can pay for itself in under two years. I still had some doubts, but became more open.

As we continued our search and research, it became clear that there were some new upcoming brands from China which could give a run for Roomba’s money (Roomba is an American brand). One such brand was Ecovacs and the other was Dreame (dream with an “e” at its end). Both these brands had a Singapore presence and delivered direct support to their consumers.

But then we had to be convinced about these brands and their products meeting our requirements. A comparison revealed that both companies were technologically advanced, with implementation of AI and LIDAR navigation, and were also being sold in the Western markets. Both met all our requirements.

So, having shortlisted these two brands, we embarked on independent tech reviews. There are some amazing guys doing only product reviews and performance testing on the web. Most of them are very detailed and quite impressive. Let me share couple of links here – I am sharing the links which helped me to choose Dreame finally. There are similar reviews for Ecovacs and many other robot vacuums.

https://www.smart-home-fox.co.uk/dreame-l10s-ultra-review

(The above rather lengthy analysis is the best review I have ever seen for any product purchase so far).

Another one as follows:

So, there you go. We finally decided on Dreame L10s Ultra Special Edition on which we got an excellent discount. Not only that, for the very first time I used the BNPL (“Buy Now, Pay Later”) method for payment – nothing but three instalments (same as the erstwhile Hire Purchase Policy in India), which provided a further discount with no interest charges!

We have been running the Dreame bot for the past couple of days. My wife is a tough judge. Only after multiple vacuuming, mopping and combined vacuuming + mopping runs, she finally told me it was doing a good job, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the jury is still out as the continued performance of the bot without maintenance issues is still the crunch point – so far, so good. But one should never get complacent with tech products.

I thank the tech reviewers for helping us make the final decision. And for the presence of support centres for both the shortlisted brands in Singapore. And, of course, the price deal with extras thrown in – all of the above mattered to us.

If the above helps you folks in any way, I would be happy. And, I am available for consultation. If you have unlimited budget, then go for Roomba!

[One remark: I do not understand how India could independently become a product design innovator and advanced manufacturer for any consumer electronics product – just see some of these China designed and manufactured products and then you will start to wonder when will India achieve a similar capability – China is very far ahead, even the U.S. cannot match: the Americans are lapping up these products, just see Amazon U.S. website on the quantity of purchases and the ratings by American consumers].

Cheers, and Have a good weekend,

Vijay Srinivasan

23rd September 2023

Institutions never learn

I have heard this statement a few times – “we are better than the institutions that we serve”. I did not understand it for a long time however.

Now I know its meaning but with my own twist. We will always be better than the institutions or corporations that we serve – do you know why?

Because these institutions or corporations never learn from the people who work for them. Ever.

Only if there is a two-way traffic then the bond will get stronger. If the institution is always behaving cocky in its own cocoon, then it would never have the opportunity to learn from the people who serve it.

The reason is simple – the institution is culturally dominated with one specific holier-than-thou culture which it cherishes. According to it, there is no necessity to learn or embellish its culture from those people who are but a fleeting presence in its history of sort.

I can quote many examples, I cannot however desist quoting from the experience of Air India, the iconic and erstwhile national airline carrier of India. Now, it is part of the Tata Group (the original owner before the socialist government of Nehru nationalised it). You can dismiss the example of an inebriated (cannot be an excuse) passenger urinating on a 70-year old woman passenger in the business class as an individual violation of rules by a deranged passenger. But it is not.

Air India was an institution, and now it belongs to the storied institution of Tata. The extremely bad incident and the way it was handled by the air crew and the pilot goes to demonstrate that the people in that institution have not changed their behaviour for the better. The old and the new institutions – both – have not invested in the training that is necessary for superior customer service and effective, no-nonsense incident management and reporting to the civil aviation authorities without fear or favour.

I wonder if Air India (still called so by Tata) would ever come to grips with reporting a government official, a minister, a powerful industry figure, or even its own airline staff if these people commit a similar grievous offense on another innocent passenger. I doubt it, the Tata name notwithstanding.

On the other hand, when we work for a corporation or institution, we contribute towards its strengthening and betterment, and if our contributions are not imbibed by the institution, then it would progressively get weaker because its dominant cultural strengths may no longer be relevant in a fast-changing society.

I recall that in my first job out of the MBA school, the chairman (no less) of the company that I joined chose to meet up with the new recruits and give an address welcoming us. I was wondering why he should do that instead of the MD or a VP of HR, why the chairman should come down.

I learnt one huge lesson that evening from the chairman’s address. He did not focus on the business aspects, the market growth, the opportunities in front of us, et al. He talked almost exclusively on the one topic that was (and has been) close to his heart: the integrity and ethics that he holds dear in his various businesses, irrespective of business outcomes.

That changed me. Here he was, an embodiment of the company that his father has built and nurtured. Further nurturing is possible only if the central core values of the company are imbibed by every employee, and practiced in day to day business life.

But that did not mean the company was frozen in time. It had a way of learning from every individual who worked for it, and was not cocky. I loved those first few years I spent with that company. I repeated such an experience only one more time in my entire career, the second time with a very large U.S. company.

I strongly believe that the employees who are so carefully selected and hired, should ensure that the institution learns from them – it should not be a one-way street. If you figure out that this is not going to happen, then it is time to look elsewhere. The commercial success of the company cannot be the sole determinant for continuing your employment.

As the Air India/Tata example shows (BTW, there was yet another similar urination case which happened in an Air India flight from somewhere in Europe to India – the first one which I referred to happened on a flight from the U.S. to India), institutions have enormous difficulties even in complying with the learning process involved. Unless a media reports, the institution never feels compelled to take suo moto action. This can only mean that the institution does not wish to get dragged into what it considers as unnecessary litigation which would damage its reputation in the market.

But what happened now?

The brand names of Air India and Tata are damaged. I think the incident(s) deserve a public statement from the Chairman of the Tata Group, no less. I did not see one till now.

Will I fly Air India? For 25 years, I have not flown Air India, and was now rethinking about the potential possibility. But with the above two incidents and the lack of a firm response by the airline, I now doubt that I will ever do it.

Institutions have no choice – they have to learn.

Have a good week ahead, folks

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

8th January 2023

Unvarnished opinions

The other day I was elaborating to someone who lives elsewhere about the problems which exist in Singapore, and what challenges could derail our economy. That person was startled – he thought I could not voice such frank and bland opinions living in Singapore.

I am always amazed at folks who do not even attempt to understand a “country or place of interest”. I spend a lot of time every week trying to understand India, China, the U.S. and the E.U. – now I am also reading up on how Russia could impact my life. These are all high stake countries for almost everyone living on this planet. I form my own conclusions, and I often write about what I think in my blog. There is rarely a geopolitical or social matter on which I do not profess any opinion. And, I strive to keep my opinions transparent and always “unvarnished”.

Why is it that people demur when you ask a straight question seeking a honest response? Are they worried that their honest answer would offend you? Are they worried that their image in your eyes would go down steeply just because of their honest response? Are they bothered that their real opinion could turn out to be politically incorrect (though there may be nothing political about it)?

This conundrum has puzzled me for a long time. Except for the very close friends and associates who know me and my characteristics rather well, it would be foolish of me to seek honesty in my search for answers from anyone else. Even with real close friends, it has proved to be tough sometimes.

When I search for “real” answers, I am always prepared for getting hurt. It is a very important and critical parameter – if you don’t like getting hurt, do not ask your question – as simple as that. Use google which will not, of course, work.

In the U.S., paying a hefty 15% tip to restaurant servers is expected and that needs to be paid, irrespective of how the service was – I thought it is ridiculous to demand such a heavy tip in the first place (on account of those employees not getting paid appropriately), and then when I reduce the tip % because I was not happy with the service, I come under the glare of the manager who walks up to me and asks “was there something wrong with our service” [pardon my inaccurate grammar here in the tenses]. I would tell him or her what I thought and walk away, but I could always feel the animosity on my back. If you do not serve me properly, you do not deserve the 15% tip. In today’s rather violent U.S., I will not repeat that kind of behaviour.

In Singapore, when I give less than the expected “thank you” (there is no practice of tipping in Singapore) or express my annoyance, I hardly get any explanation on the poor quality of service. Why should, as a customer paying for a service, should I be bothered about staff shortages? That is not my problem. Just the other day, a healthcare service provider called me seeking amplification on my poor rating on their website which kept returning some vague error message. She called me a week after I posted my feedback, and had the temerity to ask me to provide a screenshot! I could not believe it, and I told her off. Simply ridiculous with zero grasp of a honest feedback. I need not have wasted my time in the first place.

When I used to provide a negative feedback on a performance parameter to an employee who worked for me, there was always a surprise in his or her face – how could I even bring it up? I had this kind of experience both in Mumbai and Singapore – no difference. The employee expectation was “I am doing well on other characteristics, why are you focusing only on my negatives“. But I told him/her that “I wanted you to make specific improvements and I did not want to see a repetition on certain performance or behavioural characteristics”.

What all this told me was that, in general, people do not like even qualified, researched, verified but honest opinions or feedback when it concerns them directly. It was OK to criticise others in the team, or the department, or the company, but not them.

Was this surprising?

No, not at all.

People are just people with feelings and emotions. They worry that they will lose out in the rat race. They have ambitions which they do not wish to be derailed.

However, I continue with my “unvarnished” feedback wherever I pay for a product or service, or hire an employee. There is no straight path to glory without agreeing to alter critical parameters. In today’s economy, the cost of switching is rather minimal and so I would switch if my feedback fell on deaf ears twice. Yes, only two chances.

Is that a harsh response? I think not. Because I am paying good money for whatever product or service I secure, and it is only reasonable I should be able to get the maximum benefit for that investment. Right?

I have not been successful in getting feedback of the unvarnished kind on me! Except from very few friends who always take liberties of any kind with me. And just two of my bosses out of so many in the corporate world. I was also offended when I got a bad feedback, but I kept my thoughts to myself and maintained my equanimity. Later, as I digested the feedback, it always became clear to me that those folks who gave not so positive feedback had my well being and success in their hearts. Those were not random thoughts just showered on me as part of a process.

Well, as I approach the end of this post, I would suggest that you take this thought of “unvarnished opinion” to your heart and give out some to people who affect or impact you in some way – be it positive or negative feedback, it does not matter. But, honest communication without abrasiveness is surely called for in today’s economy-wide deterioration in service quality.

Have a good week ahead folks,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

13th February 2022

Unremarkable Lives

When we look at a security guard, a janitor, a maid, a sweeper, a bus driver, a shop attendant, and so on………do we not wonder how these folks landed up in such job roles? Do we not wonder how they manage to survive usually and more so, in difficult times? Do we ever bother about such people at all?

Usually we don’t. Let us accept the fact. We are so self-centred and so selfish-minded, that the only thing in our mind and visual space is “how do we tackle a business or personal problem staring at us”, or “how do we make more money than we are making currently”, or something similar to that line of thinking. Sometimes, I do not even really “see” the person(s) in the lift, or on an escalator, or within a shop. We are so pre-occupied that we lose a sense of the people around us and a sense of the environment in which we live and operate.

I am not giving myself any slack on this front. I was selfish for a long time. Everything centred around me and on me. Most people that I came across in my life are like me – I am yet to meet a pure unselfish personality who has dedicated his life to the upliftment of the poorer sections of the society, though I sometimes read about such folks in India. Apart from a purely personal streak, selfishness and greed gain an upper hand when we do management programmes (like MBA) and network with the “haves-only” crowd. The ingrained characteristic gets stronger and gets a boost when we see and feel real money for the first time in our life.

However, life changes as it inevitably does for all of us. Many years ago, I started greeting the security guard when I drove into my condominium just by waving my hands, and then wishing the janitor lady who cleans our floor. A “good morning” is not going to take away our basic characteristics, but it helps to smooth the feelings all around. A smiling disposition further enhances the surroundings. Though there is no practice of tipping in Singapore, my wife and myself try to give some money during the new year periods (sometimes we get rebuffed) to our friendly janitor, or pass some useful stuff for which we don’t have any use. Of course, in India tipping and handouts are expected and are always given, especially considering the poor nature of such folks.

It is not only the lives of rich and famous people that are remarkable, it is also the lives of such key service role providers which are and should be remarkable. Every conversation that I had with my car driver in Mumbai produced interesting observations and insights into the society and economy. It is just not the MBAs and economists working in gleaming corporate towers who have these insights. Everywhere, people at the below average income levels have better observational prowess due to their tough life experiences, and on the ground feel for the happenings. MBAs lack such experiences, and economists are well-distanced from the reality of the poor man on the street. Except for very few economists such as Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Nobel Prize winners and poverty specialists.

Engaging in a simple conversation with a healthcare worker at a hospital in Singapore produced valuable advice for me – after the doctor has seen me, and I am out of his consulting room, the nurse follows me to provide certain documentation on medicines to be taken, procedures to be followed, etc., I always end up talking more than I should, as the more experienced and older nurses always give relevant non-medical advice (which you need not follow, of course) as they have seen a lot of patients. The very fact that I chose to spend a few minutes actually brings some pleasantness in the interaction, and the nurse always looks down at the papers and says “here you go, Mr Vijay, this is what I would do”. Surprising, yes, it always surprises me when people respond to pleasant outreach, rather than “my way, or highway” kind of approach.

The recognition that such service providers are the essential cogs in the wheels of the economy is often lost on most service-seekers. Maybe the reason is that they have their own set of problems and trying to resolve the same with the intervention of the service provider.

A simple “thank you, you did a good job, let me tell you that you solved my problem” will go a long way in response to a technical support hotline person in a telecom company who fixed your WiFi issue. There are plenty of examples of useless service companies, and I give a piece of my mind when they do not rise up to their proclaimed level of service delivery. One thing for sure, if a company or service provider fails miserably in fulfilling its obligations to me as a buyer/user, I will never ever give them another dollar of business. I have been very consistent in adopting and implementing this policy. For companies which do deliver, I continue to be their user for a long time. It is only but natural, except in monopolistic conditions.

Unremarkable personalities deliver some remarkable services in our lives, and we see that all around. It behooves on us to recognise these so-called “unremarkable people” in our lives, more than the “remarkable and rich” folks who we never see or feel in our lives (you can say “hey you are using Amazon e-commerce ordering every week”, but then I am not ordering because it is a Jeff Bezos company). I have scant regard for people that I know (who are very well off) who do not have the critical “wetness” in their heart to feel for the sufferings and deprivations of the poor people in society. They are probably stone cold, and really do not care.

Neither do I, about them or their influence.

Recognise the people around you who provide an important and critical service of value, whether you feel its value or not. These are remarkable folks who toil everyday in their work without proportionate return of compensation of kindness from people like us.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

22nd January 2022

A cathartic experience

You are thinking something very serious, right?

“Cathartic” means a strong and open expression of emotions, a release which you have been looking for……….it is probably a life-changing experience in your mind. You are right, that is what “cathartic” means by dictionary definition.

I am alone most of the time at my home as my wife is travelling overseas and my children are busy in their studies and work. Apart from engaging with my start up activities (which is all consuming sometimes), I need to figure out something to eat! Given that I hate ordering food from outside, and I now avoid going to malls for having lunch, I have to really figure out how to dish up something quick at home.

So the “catharsis” that you have been expecting is actually a pretty mundane experience of creating some food which will feed me with some energy to keep going through the day. I came up with a few ideas – one is to cook a vegetable-only dish made up of french beans and ladies’ fingers (yes, combine both – I like it!). It turned out well, and so that is now on my standard weekly menu. It requires putting together a variety of ingredients, of course, to make the otherwise bland selection of veggies tasty to have with just curd or sometimes a small quantity of curd rice. The other idea was to pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C and then prepare salmon (the tail part) fillet – imagine a trapezium with pesto spread on it. This surprisingly is the fastest at just 15 minutes.

But occasionally I get more time for making the lunch. I hit upon the idea of making pumpkin soup to go with some sourdough bread. This has turned out to be one of the best items on my weekly menu – I can also store the pumpkin soup in the fridge for at least 4 days or so.

Let me explain my “cathartic” experience of making pumpkin soup (I love it so you will see some involved description!).

Note: The recipe below was provided by my wife in detail because she always knew that I am not very intelligent in kitchen work.

You would need the following ingredients (the reference to country of origin is my preference as in Singapore we have to import everything – you can use other locally available equivalents, but ensure freshness):

• Australian Buttercup Pumpkin – at least 700 grams so that you can make I guess around 1.5L of soup
  Note: my wife advises me to buy the pre-cut pumpkin pieces, but I don’t follow her advice – it will become clear why as you read through.
• Australian Carrots – at least 3 pieces
• Australian White Onions – 2 big pieces
• Malaysian Garlic
• Malaysian Ginger

Now comes the pumpkin skin cutting part which forms the core of my cathartic experience. Pumpkins from Australia have a strong thick skin, and it requires considerable effort to remove it with a good big knife. It takes me not less than full 15 minutes to get this done and sometimes I have successfully managed to hurt my thumb. You understand why my wife suggested to buy the pre-cut cubes. But then, it feels so good to overcome the “challenge of the pumpkin”, remove its seeds, and then cut it into small pieces.

You dump all the above items into the Instant Pot and pressure cook for some 12 minutes (the pot will indicate that it requires more time, but you ignore it and reduce the time). I usually go back to my desk and continue with my work, or listen to some podcasts. The whole experience of cooking brings down any potential blood pressure due to life and business issues. You will calm down as you are engaged in an “unknown” activity which you have been forced to “self-learn” using YouTube videos, or your wife’s suggestions. By itself, this activity in the kitchen is one of the best experiences that you can get in your life – I am assuming you never did any cooking!

Now, let me continue with the cooking experience.

You take out the items from the Instant Pot and cool in a container – the heat has to fall down all the way to room temperature, because your next step is to blend the concoction in a blender at high speed. You should not pour hot stuff into a blender. [Since cooling will take time, I leave the hot container in a large plate filled with water and direct the fan at full speed on it. Now go back to business work again!].

Voila! You will see the beautiful orange colour pumpkin soup spinning in the blender – it is almost ready.

Now you pour the soup out of the blender into a big stainless steel container on the gas stove and heat the soup (do not boil it!). You have to now add in the cashew nut cream which I forgot to mention in the work flow described above. Take some 12 cashew nuts, some 6 almonds, add in some full cream milk, and run the stuff in the small plastic container which comes with the blender at high speed. You will get a creamy liquid which you need to then add to the soup which is getting hot on the stove now. Cream on the soup!

Well, you are almost there. Now add some salt (I use salt with low sodium content) to taste.

You have your pumpkin soup ready. Just add some pepper, throw in a small blob of butter, keep the toasted sourdough bread (2 slices) ready. I got the soup right in my first attempt itself. It was delicious, sweet and “nutty”, and filling………instead of bread, you can also go in for red potatoes. Avoiding rice and wheat will pay dividends even in the medium term, but that topic is for another blog post!

That’s the lunch mates. Now after the soup cools down, pour out into plastic containers and keep it in the fridge. For me it comes for at least a good 4 or 5 servings, saving time to be spent on cooking……..cannot avoid business work, right?

Lessons:

1. Preparation: like any activity in life or business, you need to prepare – get things ready and organised (proper resourcing), spend sometime thinking about the sequence of actions (planning), identify potential threats (the knife cutting the finger), play the whole sequence in the brain (rehearsing), etc.,…….
2. Execution: like most corporate actions, execution is a bugbear – if we do not execute well, any amount of preparation and planning will go to waste. So keep your mind focused on what you are doing and what you got to do (mindfulness), do not think about extraneous matters (wavering), and get the whole stuff done properly. Mind focus is the key to success in the kitchen and elsewhere!
3. Satisfaction: customer satisfaction and NPS scores are very critical for the success of any business. Sentiment analysis plays a big part in the customer experience journey. It is time to enjoy the fruit of your labour and then critique your own performance and achievement (enjoy and self-appraise). I test the satisfaction from the feedback of my daughter (girls are honest and more critical than guys).

In a nutshell, the whole cooking experience described above provides a release from other pressures, and delivers big satisfaction. You are prepared better for the next challenge in business or life! It also delivers sequential benefits arising out of several instances of enjoying the product while saving cooking time every day – repeat business!

Have a wonderful weekend friends, and try cooking without your wife’s (or husband’s!!!) help or advice.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

18th September 2021

The Fitbit-less Experience

I was without my much beloved Fitbit Versa for more than a month.

I was not expecting such an eventuality at all, till I tried to replace the straps of my Fitbit which had worn out due to constant use (some would call it “excessive” use!). As I had written before, I used to walk more than 14,000 steps a day (which itself was the conclusion of a gradual reduction from 20,000 steps a day in the past).

I discovered that it was not that easy to pull out the pins holding the current strap to the Fitbit Versa pebble, though I saw couple of YouTube videos on the procedure. I wondered why Fitbit made it difficult for ordinary folks who do not have a mechanical inclination or fascination to deftly manage the pebble on one hand, and push away the pin’s protruding round head to release it from the strap mount. I struggled with it and got frustrated – as my walking tour was getting delayed, and I had no intention of walking out of my home without my Fitbit Versa which was less than 10 months old and which I though did a better job of tracking me compared to the previous two models I possessed. I have to leak the secret out here – I did evaluate other brands (before purchasing the Versa) such as Garmin, Apple Watch, etc., but reverted to Fitbit for comfort and ease of use while meeting my workout needs at a price point that was more acceptable to my wallet.

Continuing with my struggle to replace the strap of my Fitbit Versa, I eventually cut the current strap with a scissors (!) and almost wanted to pull out the remaining piece of the strap. Finally I gave up, with a serious intent of migrating to another brand. I walk a lot and do a fair bit of daily exercise, so a fitness tracker is a must for me, so I was wondering what to do.

Then, I hit upon the “idea” of checking the Fitbit Community Forums, Fitbit Troubleshooting, Fitbit Support, etc., on the Fitbit website. I was browsing around and chanced upon the “Live Chat” facility Fitbit Help, and thought why not chat with someone at Fitbit and find out what can be done with my Fitbit Versa. Singapore does not have a Fitbit operation or local support, so the only option was to connect directly with Fitbit in the U.S.

I chatted with someone on the Fitbit team and he was most helpful – probably that is their corporate culture, probably they do not get such requests from some 10,000 miles away (!), or the particular individual was very nice and proactive. I am not mentioning his name here but I should convey that I was rather pleased with his handling of my situation with a product from his company that I really loved. He was methodical – collected all the data on my purchase of the device, asked questions on what I did, asked for photos of the device and the purchase invoice to be sent via the Chat engine itself, etc., It went on for quite a while, but after he had gathered all that he wanted, he did not just close the chat with the usual revert of getting back to me in due course of time – instead he communicated to me that the Support Team has decided to replace my Fitbit Versa pebble with a new one along with a new strap. I was simply amazed, as I had not seen such an effective and consumer-friendly closure of a problem involving a personal product till then.

He followed up with me over email on specific steps to be taken by me to send the device back to their HQ and then wait for further advice. It took nearly 4 weeks to get the new device (around a week ago from now), but I was thankful for the overall effectiveness of the interactions with Fitbit Support and resolution of the problem by them. Several team members emailed me and interacted with me in the same professional manner that I had come to expect by then.

Of course, the issue now was not about removing any existing strap, but fixing the new strap onto the new Versa pebble. It was not a big struggle, but still the process required some deft maneuvering. I think that the minute tapering for positioning the pin on one end could be slightly deeper or “rounder” – I don’t know how to describe. I found that pulling forward the round pin head so that the reminder of the top end of the strap will fit in and the other pin head will get positioned required quite some effort. Nevertheless, I succeeded and announced to my wife that I have a new Fitbit Versa with a new strap, and she asked me to go ahead and start using it rightaway! She obviously did not like my whining about the lack of Versa during my walks over the past few weeks!!

I am now back on the road – for instance, I went walking to the MacRitchie Reservoir this morning and covered over 7,000 steps in approximately 75 minutes. My rhythm is back and my Fitbit Versa is fully back in action.

Coming to the experience or lack of it during the interim 4 weeks without a Fitbit, the most memorable conversation I had was with an office colleague of mine who was used to watching me steal the thunder of being #1 on the number of steps travelled every day, and competed with me for the top honours several times over the past couple of years. He was worried about me once he did not see me on the Fitbit community of data-sharing friends every morning! He asked me what happened……..!!! Obviously worried that I am incapacitated somehow…………

For me personally, it was listless – though I did walk for sometime everyday, it was not the same; whatever cannot be measured and tracked is useless. I thought of resuscitating my old Fitbit Alta HR, but then realised I had thrown away its unique charger. So, I resigned myself to the inevitability of receiving my new Versa, however long it took – eventually, it did arrive on 11th April, but alas, I was travelling overseas. So, my wife collected and my Versa had to wait for my return to Singapore on the 16th April – and the very first thing I did upon arriving at my home was to open the parcel from Fitbit! Of course, I could not wait!!

My Fitbit Versa is like my iPhone – it is a constant companion. I wear the Versa even while sleeping, and remove it only for my shower. Amazing, isn’t it?

My thanks to the Fitbit Support team and to the specific individuals on that team who helped me – they were outstanding in their professional service quality and proactive in their effective service delivery to a consumer who was located thousands of miles away with no local support. That shows true commitment to their products and their consumers. Kudos to Fitbit! I am looking at their stock now!!

Cheers, have a great weekend folks,

Vijay Srinivasan

20th April 2019

eGovernment Citizen Services

Recently, I went with my mother to the Passport Service Kendra (Centre) located not far from my home in Chennai, India. We both were dreading the fact that it won’t be an easy task to spend a few hours, waiting in various queues and chasing our documents from counter to counter. Our requirement was rather simple – obtain a new passport for my mother in place of her earlier expired passport which she had not renewed on time.

However, our experience far exceeded our best expectations and it also beat out the Singapore experience of fast eGovernment service to citizens. Of course, this is only one such service, and we do not as yet know the status at other government offices in India, and cannot vouch for the same without experiencing the same.

My mother was totally taken aback at the very fast service that she got at the Passport Service Centre. We were out of that office in exactly 30 minutes! It was just amazing!! I knew that the service level for senior citizens would be faster than for the others, and it was true. What I was not prepared for was the very fast turnaround at each counter – my mother’s case was probably tagged at each service counter as she is a senior citizen. Further, since we went with all the necessary documentation, and followed all the instructions given in the appointment receipt, there was no delay at any of the counters. I witnessed several youngsters encountering problems at the counters since their documents were incomplete – I do not yet understand how younger folks can be so careless, not only that, some were even arguing with the counter staff and delaying the others patiently waiting in the queue.

Nevertheless, it was a rather (and, probably the first) pleasant experience for us. When we walked out of the office, my mother could not believe that it was over in such a short time. The mandatory police verification was waived for her, and when my mother asked the officer when she would get her new passport, she was in for a total shock – the officer replied in a nonchalant manner that she would get it in about a week’s time via Speed Post.

Things are clearly changing for the better in India. Of course, there are thousands of things which need to be fixed, and it is going to be a long and arduous journey over the next 5 to 10 years. However, I believe that we must celebrate every small success like this experience wherein a citizen enjoyed the government service in a fast, expeditious manner, in a good environment (clean office with proper chairs to sit and wait, and clearly demarcated counter zones), for the service fee that he or she pays to the government. I do not know how this service is delivered in rural areas or small second tier towns – there may not be internet availability, and it would be hard to schedule appointment or make online payments (which I did).

I should say that this experience has totally changed my perception. However, let me see how this goes on and how other critical services are delivered without hitches or hurdles like in the past. People from India will understand why I am stating this………

Overall, great service to senior citizens, and Kudos to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, for rendering this service to the citizens.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

02 February 2018

The Emirates Experience

Recently I flew to Dallas on Emirates Airlines (SIN – DUBAI – DALLAS).

The Singapore – Dubai flight was on Airbus 380, which provided a comfortable inflight experience. Emirates generally provides ontime performance, and it was no different this time – landed on time in Dubai and the transit wait was just 2 hours for the next flight. The only disconnect was the non-availability of Indian Vegetarian food for my colleague who is strictly vegetarian and prefers Indian food.

However, the flight to Dallas took longer than the planned time of 14 hours and 45 minutes. It took nearly 16 hours, making it one of the longest flights that I have flown. There could be any number of reasons, one being a 30 minutes delay while taking off from the busy and congested Dubai Airport. It was tiring, though onboard service was good (unlike the U.S. carriers who generally provide shoddy service).

Apart from this long overall duration of over 25 hours from Singapore to Dallas (which could have been around 22 hours had I taken the Singapore – Tokyo – Dallas route including the transit wait), the surprising issue was the experience in Dubai Airport itself while transiting. It was well past midnight when we landed, and the next flight was just 2 hours away taking off from another terminal. Unlike Singapore Changi Airport which has clear guidance to transit passengers, Dubai Airport does not provide guidance and leaves the transit passengers in the lurch. We had to figure out by ourselves how to get to the other distant terminal, and discovered that there is a crowded bus service which brought arriving passengers with no segregation from departing passengers. We had to wait some 20 minutes or so before a bus to pick up departing passengers arrived, which was a large van with a cart to load baggages trucking behind it! This was a curious experience, but we finally made it to the other terminal. I seriously think that Dubai Airport should give this aspect of its experience a rigorous examination.

Well, I have not mentioned the laptop ban issue till now. Emirates Singapore Office gave contradictory information over two phone calls regarding the laptop ban. In the first call, they said that I could carry the laptop as usual till Dubai Airport gate, and then they would take it over till Dallas, and eventually hand it to me upon arrival. During the second call, the lady who handled my call was very confused, and after checking with her supervisor couple of times, asked me to check in my laptop at Singapore itself. After few deliberations, that is what I did, but then found out at the gate in Dubai Airport that Emirates had a neat arrangement for collecting the laptops, packing the same securely, and take them into the cargo hold. And upon arrival at Dallas, Emirates made several announcements at the baggage belt area reminding passengers to collect their respective laptops.

On the way back from Dallas to Singapore, there was no laptop issue (it is a problem only when you arrive in any U.S. airport from any one of the Middle Eastern airports). However, there was a 9-hour transit wait for the flight to Singapore from Dubai, and so I decided to go into town for some shopping with my colleague and a relative of mine who was kind enough to shepherd us. We enjoyed the amazing experience of visiting the Ibn Battuta Mall (see IBN BATTUTA MALL).

Dubai Airport immigration service is fast and efficient. The security check was thorough. One had to walk a long distance of almost 800 metres from the car drop-off point at the airport terminal all the way to security check (it is a very large terminal), and then to the immigration counters.

Well, next time I am flying to the U.S., it is going to be back to the old routine of travelling via Tokyo Narita or Hong Kong. The challenge is that the code share flights are usually operated by American Airlines or United Airlines.

Just got over the jet lag, and now ready for my usual week beginning tomorrow.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

28th May 2017

Painless Customer Service

Doesn’t exist, right ?

Yes, you are probably right. Customer Service delivered over the phone to the consumer is mostly “painful”, so to say. It does not meet the requirements of the customer’s call on most occassions, and it rarely ever exceeds one’s expectations.

I recently had the “opportunity” to speak to a variety of customer service representatives – in banks, in cable TV provider, in broadband internet provider, etc., in Singapore. You would think that the standards and benchmarks set in Singapore should be really good, if not fantastic world beaters.

Don’t be surprised.

It is no different in Singapore, as compared to India or the U.S. I am always surprised by the fact that companies do not get this aspect of their operations right, given that the representative that the customer speaks to is often the “face” of the company. Rarely ever we get to know the senior management, CEO, or even the middle level operations managers responsible for the company’s performance. Or, even get to speak to them. I was put off many a time when my request to speak to the “supervisor” was turned down, with flimsy reasons such as he/she was not available to take my call. And, it is indeed very rare that any customer service operation would return your call, even when there is an agreement reached that they will get in touch with you in a few hours. I can only recall just one instance when that word was kept up.

The banks are funny. They generate lots of internal “policy” reasons not to deliver on the request that I was making, even after all the verifications. Obviously they are too scared of any mistakes or scandals. But the request could be as simple as a change of address. There is no way one can change the address even after one has logged into his bank account. That option to “update personal particulars” is not provided in most cases [the insurance companies in Singapore provide that flexibility using the Two-Factor Authentication]. This would mean one has to turn up at his/her bank’s branch during office hours and effect the change. The banks also ask lots of questions as verification points to put you off, expecting you to make a mistake. One usual question is “what is your credit limit on your credit card”; another one is “do you have a trading account”. And so on and so forth. But after all these questions, they might decline to make any change !

In the case of broadband internet service providers, the situation is far worse. Technical queries on a non-working modem could result in a response like “we will ask our sales person to contact you”. What ? And, when I asked why would that be necessary in a technical problem resolution mode, the answer is that “the only way to move forward is to have our sales person talk to you and fix the problem !??”. Problems which could be fixed on their side would get delayed because the representative is not knowledgeable enough to understand the question. Because of this lack of knowledge required to address customer’s queries, the representative puts you on hold for an average of 12 minutes in my experimentation. I would say that the wait time is too long on my mobile phone for which I am paying.

Given that customer service still continues to play a critical role in customer satisfaction, I am not able to fathom the rationale of corporations which cut their investment on this crucial aspect of their business. Take my broadband provider’s case for instance. I have only 7 months left in my two year special price contract with them. My current experience and the problems I have faced with their customer service has led me to think seriously on alternative options which are now available at a cheaper rate in the market. Well, my customer service experience might even deteriorate with the new provider, but atleast I pay less.

I have contemplated on the possibility of posting my real experiences on my Facebook account or on the Facebook account of the service provider. Nothing wrong with that, but I am still thinking. I amy not have more time to keep writing on the same stuff !

Think Customer Service !

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

13th March 2016

The Uber Experience

In a busy city like Singapore, taxis are always in short supply.

Though there are over 28,000 taxis in a city of 5.4M residents, it appears that taxis are never in sight when you look for one.

So, it is not a surprise that new taxi apps keep emerging all the time. I have always consistently used the “On Call” Comfort Taxi app, which has almost always delivered a taxi 95% of the time. The other one I tried is the Grab Taxi, about which I was not impressed after a first shot. Then came Uber.

Uber is actually a new kind of taxi service (unlike Grab Taxi). It has several types of offerings – the regular service, the UberX and the Uber Exec. I have tried the regular service several times, and the UberX for just one time.

The regular Uber service brings the standard taxi service companies’ taxis to your door. I asked the taxi driver the first time I used about this as I was surprised. He said that taxis are not prohibited from using various kinds of apps to get customers. He also said that Uber is getting popular with new kinds of promotions, attracting the business crowd. He was being paid by Uber anyway every week Wednesday and he gets the customers via the Uber app on his smart phone mounted on the dashboard (he had two smartphones and the regular taxi company’s GPS terminal).

So the regular service is not anything new, except as a new customer you get some promotional offer, and then as an existing customer, you get different promotions such as a dollar off for every ride, no booking fee for a limited period, etc., However, I find that the Uber regular taxi service is now getting harder to find a taxi and the UberX did not produce a good result for the one single time I used it. Now that the government is thinking of regulating services such as Uber, it is going to be a challenge for them to offer anything but regular and authorized taxi services. In any case, the Uber regular service is a good service, though I have to caution that the taxis take longer to come as compared to the Comfort taxi service.

Overall, the taxi landscape in Singapore is not up to the mark desired by commuters. The taxi service is expensive, not easily available, and quality of service is dropping. Government cannot do much in this area, except to regulate basic parameters, it is really up to the cab companies to enhance their QOS and availability.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
30th November 2014