Edit: It would seem I have mistaken Yew Hoong, he is the Sales Manager instead. Mr.Shahrul Nizam (Branch Manager) has posted in the Kopitiam Thread instead. I have called up Thundermatch Office, and left my phone number.

I will be waiting for his call.





Helo everyone,

today I share my worse ever experience in being a consumer. Thundermatch cheated a bunch of us buyers in falsely advertising the number of promo units on sale per day!


ThunderMatch (Lowyat) opened a new branch on the 4th floor on Sat, 12th May.

The Exclusive Offers means each person is only entitled to purchase 1 unit. Runs from 11/05/07 till 13/05/07
the offers were:
Dopod: Discount of RM888 off the retail price. (Limited to 8 units PER day)
Samsung: 732N 17" LCD RM399; retail price RM540+ (Limited to 10 units PER day)


Today, I went to queue up at Thundermatch @ 530am in the morning. I was with my Sis n her bf; we were interested in 2 units of the Samsung LCD. When I arrived, there were already 19 people queuing up! After a few quick questions with them, I got a breakdown that 8 ppl are taking Dopods, 3 are taking laptops, and another 8 taking LCD.
This left me with the exact last two spots!

So I set up my laptop, and waited patiently for ThunderMatch to open @ 11am

At 1030am, the Sales Manager (Yew Hoong) steps out with the coupons, and proceeds to distribute according to the Exclusive Offers each customer wants. The first few fellas take their Dopod coupons. Around the 5th person, a commotion broke out.

It seems this 17year-old girl (who was with her elder sister) wanted to get the Dopod coupon. They were in the fifth position. Unfortunately, the Sales Manager refused, saying on 18 and above. He gave her the LCD coupon instead. The two girls who were queuing from 3am started asking why is there a 18yr-old limit? Branch Manager couldnt answer, instead he says, "Company Rules!". The girls questioned, then why I can buy the LCD instead? He lost his cool and shouted, "DO YOU WANT THE COUPON OR NOT?!"

The girls retorted, that they been queuing up since 3am! And why this silly rule?! Sales Manager replies, "Who ask you queue up so early?!"

He then gave them the LCD coupon, and walked onto the next customer.

Somewhere towards the 9th customer, a commotion broke out again!!
This time, the guy who wants the Dopod (he should get it, since the girl in front missed it anyway), but instead the Sales Manager tells him, "Finished already"
He complains saying "You say 8 coupon, but now not even 7 yet!"
Sales Manager replied "Do you want the LCD Coupon or not?!" with a raised voice.

Sales manager decides to ignore him whilst the poor buyer continues to argue with the other staff.

Then come the 14th customer, a shouting match starts
"LCD Finished!!", shouts the Sales Manager
But heck, only 6 coupons issued!! Where are the other 4?!

I joined in at this moment, because me and the last 6 buyers couldnt get a unit! Everyone was damn pissed as we calculated the number of units exactly!! Now suddenly some coupons are missing?!
Now at this point, the Sales Manager takes a "stoned" composure. He gives u blank look, and refuses to answer questions.

All of us buyers were fuming! Only the 4-5 dopod buyers got wat they wanted. Those who couldnt get the dopod, took the LCD coupon, depriving us who wanted the LCD in the first place!!!


Points to Think About
1. A SALES MANAGER can abuse his authority for personal gain?
2. A SALES MANAGER can go around shouting at customers?!
3. How do you justify your customer's time who queued for 6-9 hours for your promo, only to realise that they dont have those items?!



This is really angers me! You could imagine the commotion with 15+ customers hurdling around the Sales Manager and his staff. His attitude and response to us was totally unfit! If you cannot provide that number of units, then dont advertise!!

Thundermatch, please buck up and improve.




Regards,
Adrian Lo

This post has been edited by romen: May 14 2007, 03:29 PM

the main reason y im so sick of this is because the BRANCH MANAGER should be the 1 controlling the coupons / promo sale, to prevent any abuse

but it seems he himself is abusing it instead

Now if we cant trust the head of the Branch, would you even want to bring your business there?
a point to ponder..

Christopher_LKL:
True true, but i really didnt expect something so blatant. Come on, wanna give to cronies, find other methods la..

ccy1989:
yeah, i left immediately; disgusted and angry!

eric84cool:
I wont be pursuing this to external authorities as no purchase / sales was made by me. Instead, I just aim to create awareness amongst buyers and the Senior Management of Thundermatch.

gmail:
Eh, the two girls who had problems buying, were they your cousins?

Thunderbolt:
yes very true. Carry your position in a befitting manner.

Lowyat does not pull the shutters at night. Instead they have guards stationed at the front entrance + lift. They are already well-aware why we were there at such hours, and let us go up to Thundermatch's outlet.


The people who were real early (first 18, to get the 8 dopod + 10 LCD), came in groups. Everyone was pretty well prepared with drinks, games and reading material
Toilets were open, so if they went, they still have frens to hold the queue
Frankly im very proud to say that no one tried to cut queues at the first 18. Everyone was pretty happy and relaxed, until the Sales Manager says they were out of coupons!


I cant really understand you, but on Sunday, the first person to arrive was @ 230am, whilst I was the LCD buyer, who arrived @ 530am




Btw, here's an update for everyone
I just got off the phone with Mr.Shahrul Nizam
1. He very quickly explained that the dopod buyers may be repeat buyers, therefore depriving other potential buyers. He will check with the CCTV.
2. The issue of 17 years old cannot buy was actually more due to the girl being unable to provide her IC.
3. He himself is unaware that possibly 4 units (or more) of LCD coupons went missing on Sunday.

They will have a meeting at 5pm. He promised to contact me again after he is done with their internal meeting.

My questions are such:
1. If they bother to check IC, why didnt they record it to stop repeat buyers?
2. Why do you want some1 to present their IC, if you dont record it? You want to verify the person is malaysian?? Jeez, there were a group of 3 Indian nationals queuing behind me to buy laptops. Will they be turned away?
3. Y is the control of coupons so poorly done? Do they not understand that it's (RM888 x 8) + (RM150 x 10)?? Yeah that's RM8604!! Times it with 3 days, u get a whopping RM25812!! Enough for a new Viva or Saga "


We havnt even started talking about the shouting match between the Sales Manager and the customers. Trust me, red faces aplenty should they show out the CCTV footage at their 5pm meeting.

hello! Ah, great to meet some1 who was there at the same time too
Yes, i was the 1 with the laptop; dammit everything was screwed up from day 1.

They have great ideas, intentions and promos for their launching. But poor execution and 2 bad apples spoilt everything. Sorry to say that Thundermatch.

---

Added on May 15, 2007, 12:12 pmI've never worked at Lowyat before, although I used to frequent the place a lot during my college days..

Yes, It would seem some of the customers queuing up were indeed staff from another tenant in lowyat.
But to me, it should not be an issue as they are coming as customers, not as the tenant themselves, buying and then reselling at their own shop.
Anyhow, I cannot comment from the business rivalry point of view. This is beyond the scope of this thread.

This post has been edited by romen: May 15 2007, 12:12 PM

Yes, Yew Hoong is the Sales Manager

Average height, fair, no specs, a bit on the "soft" side if you know what i mean
Ask around, a Sales Manager doesnt hide behind counters or storerooms..