Monday, April 24, 2006

Product Excellence

I miss blogging.
Sobrang dami kong gusto i-blog, pero mas madami akong utang na email.
Makakahabol din ako.

Here's one I wrote months ago but never got around to posting.

I got a fax notice sometime ago informing me that I will be given an award for best in custom made wedding gowns. Seal of product excellence.

WOW!!! as in WOW!!!!

A few minutes later, the phone rang again, Niko took the call and told me with a smile that I will be given an award nga daw. Niko, delighted - excited as ever, told me that the lady wants to speak to me.

Yihee!! I felt pink, my lips twirled on the side and I can't get rid of my smile.

I spoke to the lady on the phone. She told me that I topped the survey they conducted on custom made wedding gowns and I am the most popular. I got exceptional customer ratings, etc etc.

AND I need to pay 12K to get the award.

Huwaaaaaat!??! My smile vanished and I heard bubbles popping.

And if I dont pay the 12K?

"Then it means that you are not accepting the award and we will give the award to the 2nd best kasi marami pong nag-aabang kung hindi nyo tatanggapin eh tsaka pag di nyo ho tinanggap eh wala na ho kayong right i-claim na kayo ang number 1"

Huh?!? ano daw?!?!

And she went on explaining that the 12K is actually my share for the grand awards night, the marketing chuva that will happen after the awards night and the right to stamp my products with the seal of excellence, etc, etc. The 12K is called a subsidy fee. My share of the expense, in exchange for the right to claim my being number 1. She probably sensed my annoyance so she went on explaining that what is 12K compared to the big business this award will bring me.

Oh ok :-)

Thank you. I'm flattered and grateful.

Courteously, I declined.

Count me out.
It's not the 12K.
It's the act of paying.
I'm not buying.

Deep sigh.

Back to work.

7 comments:

Cynch said...

I've been receiving these calls from them also so many times for our company naman. I think they use three different award giving bodies but the moment i saw the amount in their proposal (some 15K, 13K or 12K), I knew it was a money making scheme.

I talked to their Marketing Head about this and asked their research methods on how they were able to say that we are TRULY number 1. (Coz if I am to claim something, I need to validate it and not just use my official 12K receipt to prove it!) They were not able to give me a straight answer. Until one officer finally said, its confidential. yeah right!

I declined on behalf of the company. A few weeks later, we were offered another award and they coursed it through another officer of our company, pero sakin pa rin bumagsak ang call nila, malas nila! Inaway ko na tlaga yung telemarketer nila coz as usual they can't give straight answers.

What I'm more furious about pa is the fact that they kept on insisting they used carefully planned research methods, when as a matter of fact, they placed us on the wrong category. I didn't tell them right away na mali yung category nila gusto kong muna sila magsalita ng magsalita. Finally when I said hindi namin category yun, ang sagot sakin: Sige Mam, ano ho bang gusto nyong category, babaguhin na lang po natin yung title nyo! Waaahhhhh ano yun?!?!?! Dun ko na tlaga sila nahuli!

They gave us BEST APPLIANCE MANUFACTURER award, samantalang ni hindi kaya kami namamanufacture ng appliances. Ggggrrrrr... what people do nowadays to earn money tlaga! At sasagutin pa ako ng: Bakit po Mam, hindi po ba kayo confident na number 1 ang company nyo?!? Haaayy don't they get it?!?! They're so krung krung!

Buti na lang di mo kinagat 'to! At kahit wala kang Seal of Excellence, number one ka parin for us!

flowerdrumsong said...

Ms. V,

Are they serious?!?!?!?! 12K because of a dang award which is definitely bogus!

Good for you for standing your ground!!! :)

Take care of that little munchkin! ;)

Weng

airisshu said...

good for you! you dont need their award no! they probably didnt know whom they were talking to ;) di ba ms. 2005 waw supplier of the year? ;D

btw, i love the gown you made for blesh [bernadette felix] :) she's extremely happy with it. im so excited na tuloy for mine hehehe congrats!

- irish

Leah said...

Hi Veluz!

Greetings from the land down under! :)

Grabe naman yan. It's so obvious na kinakwartahan ka lang ng mga yan. Good on you for declining. You don't need naman their award to prove that you're one of the best in the industry. Should you have agreed with their plan, para mo na ring binayaran yung titulo. parang lutong macao! hehe.

hope all is well at your end. looks like business is doing good ha.

btw, lahat ng kakilala namin dito pinuri yung bridal gown ko. they were in awe when they saw our pics and video. ;)

Faye said...

hi, V! yup it's been a long time since your last post. anyway, re: your 'award'... congrats! well kung hindi sya gimmick or something. :) and i don't blame you for declining that. hope all is well with you. take care always. mwah!

veluz said...

cynch,kakaloka sila no? grabe talaga! buti na lang la ako 12K hahahahah! kuripot pa naman ako :-) misyu!

hi ms. Weng!!

talk to you soon! wait for my update this week ha :-) konting patience lang po :-)

halu irish :-)

ganda gown blesh no!! super like ko rin po :-)

excited na ba? hehehe paki-email din po sa akin yung mailing address mo pls, send ko na fitting garment before month end tsaka material samples

mik, gusto ko rin ng starex van!! hmmm, bakit walang nag-scam sa akin nun? kung nagkataon, nagpaloko ako hahahahah!!

hi faye!

hope all's well with you too :-) uuuy, hingi nga pala ako pic mo kanila mimi ha, display ko sana sa shop, k lang ba?

ingat girls!

veluz

valerie silva said...

hi veluz,

i am vivian's (your sister's) batchmate at PNUHS 86 and an avid fan of yours (hehehe). just want to say that you do a great job on what you are doing. you put me in awe! i wish i could wear those someday (single pa ako e. hehehe). good that you didn't bite that stupid "award". it was called recognition of excellence di ba? you are not for sale period.

God bless in all your endeavors. Best regards to you and your family.

valerie silva