Friday, June 16, 2006

The World Is Heavy

I personally believe that lying is a sin, not a great sin, but a sin nonetheless, and there's no such thing as a white lie. A lie, black, blue, red or magenta, is still a lie.

People in sales, marketing and promotions lie all the time! It's just too sick to notice that. Take me for example. When a potential client wants to rent an office in my building, I'll give them the price. When they negotiate a cheaper price, I'd normally need to take out my script, turn to the relevant page, and reads out "I will check with my landlord on your proposal and get back to you tomorrow". Kidding about the reading script part. Anyway, the reality is that I do not even talk to anyone. I just use TIME as a factor of negotiation, and the next day I will accept or reject their proposals according to what power I have as a negotiator, following landlord's guidelines.

One hotel called me up, saying "We have randomly selected employees from your company and you are one of the lucky ones who can sign up for our interesting package!" What a load of crap. This, in fact, was yesterday's phonecall. They asked me if I'm in Company A or B, and I said A and they said, "That's good, coz' eventhough company B is your subsidiary, we are not giving it to them." Little do they know I'm not in BOTH companies and have moved since 3 years back.

A belardy sheet real estate company (this is true story) has even advertised "From RM151,000 up for a 22x75 double storey house in Klang!". You know what?! That company has managed to convince the developer to totally reduce one house's price to RM151,000 as a bonus for the final buyer of the development, and it's right in front of TNB power station. The next lowest price is RM215,000. People who have gone there for that cheap price were taken aback at the use of lies. Well, it's not a lie, but you know what I mean.

Siluet 40, a product on that Kayla Beverly Hill... showing a cream that says "Lose 2-3 inches in just 40 minutes!" is another con job. Once you buy the product, you'll read the instructions as "Apply cream in your fat area for 40 minutes, once everyday for a month. Within the month, you should be able to see changes in your measurement, at least an inch." Yesss... Lose 2-3 inches in just 40 minutes of rubbing and applying, but result after 2 months.

Caveat Emptor a.k.a. Let The Buyers Beware is getting to be too dangerous in the world today. We need a subject in school now called "Legal Con Tricks". Insurance agents have the same problems as well. Those really bad ones do not lie, yes they don't, but they don't give the whole picture. They can say "You will be able to get cover from critical illness, medical, death and total disablement with this comprehensive package" but they fail to tell you that if you have claimed for critical illness, the package voids itself. Comprehensive package to cover all, but once used ANY, the policy voids.

And... many con job in this world, or let's say,... any agreements of transactions in this world nowadays happens AFTER giving the money. Seriously! Hotel people who promises tons of things will only give you the package and agreement after you pay, and if you have disputes over what they promised verbally, you cannot fight at all legally. Insurance policy comes AFTER you pay for the insurance. Buying a house requires you to put in 2% with just a receipt, and only later when you pay additional 8% you can sign the Sales and Purchase Agreement. If you want to pull out, a portion of that 2% will be taken away.

I think for adults, we really need to get back to the standard of reading an agreement first, then sign on the dotted lines, and then only pay up.

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