Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I did not sell out...

...I am still here (unlike what Mory and Coloman insinuated in their comments to my previous post). I've just been busy over the past month due to:

1) A weeklong work trip
2) Coming back to a pile of work at the office
3) A move

Ever since my sister moved in with me, we've been in dire need of a bigger place. Poor girl was sleeping on a not-so comfortable sofa bed, and had not place to hang her clothes! We searched for a good 3 weeks before my lease was about to run out. We waited till the last minute because people said that it is very easy to find apartments...and cheaper...especially now.

I guess the above applies to people who are not as picky as we are. We wanted the right place with the right view at the right price. Took a while but we found it eventually (3 days before my lease was over).

Within the span of 24 hours, movers were contacted (EuroMovers...they were wonderful, helpful, super quick and super cheerful), Dewa was called and Du was advised of the move.

Can I just say how impressed I was with Dewa's customer care department. When I called, the man on the other end of the line was very helpful in providing me with all the documents I needed to make the transfer from the old to the new apartment. Now, of course, the process itself is still very much archaic:

- You have to fax a copy of your old lease, passport copy, visa copy, and a note asking for a final bill (who uses faxes anymore these days! I always worry that my faxes never reach their intended destination...and this was the case with Dewa, who never got my request for final bill)
- I then had to go to Dewa to create a new account for the new location. And pay a new deposit. Why could I not do this over the phone? Or Internet? Oh, and can I point out that Dewa does not accept debit or credit cards? Only cash!
- Of course, since they had not received my final bill request, I had to go to DEWA AGAIN a couple of days later to pay my final bill and get my deposit back.

Du's customer care department, on the other hand, was a disaster to deal with. I was on the phone for 20 minutes with the person at Du who was trying to explain to me what I needed to do in order to switch my services over to the new location (again, fax a letter, visa, passport copy, new lease copy, bla bla bla), and trying to book an apointment for the service guy to come activate my services. The conversation ended with him telling me that someone would contact me within 48 hours to set up an apointment.

55 hours later, no one had called so I called again to check that they had received the fax. They had (hallelujah!) and said that someone would call me by end of day to confirm apointment time. No one called.

So I call again the following morning, and they promise to call back within 15 minutes, which they do. We set the apointment for the service guy to come over. The good thing is that the service guy was extremely punctual and efficient (I was so worried I'd have to wait an hour for him to show up!).

The apartment's still a mess but we are slowly settling in... and at the very least we have electricty, water, internet and cable!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

*Tweet* I'm so bad...*Tweet*

...for neglecting this blog! I have not completely given up on blogging though...I've just been testing out a new form of blogging that's all...

My first foray into micro-blogging started a few weeks ago. Yes, DubaiSunshine is now on Twitter! And in the span of a few Tweets, I managed to get myself 40 followers...Not bad! Thanks to those who have chosen to follow me.

Twitter has gained immense popularity over the past few weeks. Everyone's on Twitter it seems! Even celebrities! Ashton Kutcher recently became the first Twitterer (is that what we are called? Twitterers?) to get 1 million followers (in a race with CNN!). Oprah does it. Demi Moore even helped save someone who was thinking of committing suicide.

I even have friends who send Tweets to their loved ones...while hanging out with their loved ones!

Even I have been guilty of tweeting in a club with a few other friends...Well...at least we could communicate without having to scream into each others' ears to be heard!

How long will this Twitter phenomenon last? Is it a fad or is it here to stay for good? Only time will tell I guess.

In the meantime, if you miss me on this blog (if anyone even reads this blog anymore!) check me out on Twitter (@DubaiSunshine). And drop me a Tweet to say hello :)

Until then, Tweet ya later!