Dear NTUC Income.

Last year, I wrote about how convenient your service was when it came to renewing my motorcycle insurance.

NOW LOOK AT THE MONSTER YOU HAVE BECOME:

Motorcycle insurance renewal letter: no, I'm not interested in calling my agent or your 24-hour customer service hotline! I just want to click a button and give you my money!

AND ON YOUR WEBSITE:

NTUC Income Online: where is the renew button for me to renew my motorcycle insurance?

What is – I don’t even – which hamster told you that customers are desirous of this heinous pigletry???

I don’t want to “call [my] agent or [your] 24-hour hotline” because I don’t need to talk to a human being to do this.

I just want to click a button and give you my money so that you can insure Le Poots and I – that is all.

Like what you see in this picture here, just in case you’ve forgotten what convenience and customer service is all about:

Customer service and convenience, circa 2010.

At the same time, it seems my premium has increased to $322.58. Why?

If you think this is an uneducated grouse, don’t worry – I know what the basic principles of insurance entail.

Nevertheless, my question centres on a logical Key Performance Indicator that all efficient insurers should adopt (or should have at least adopted), and that is: insurers must aim to maintain or reduce the year-on-year premiums that a customer has to pay.

But why can’t insurers meet that aim in Singapore?

Is it because of:

I have no ready answers.

But if anything, ladies and gentlemen, this is yet another reason why we need honest and customer-oriented people in charge of the organisations and institutions in our country.

Shiny, happy brackets.

Problem: Inconsiderate, selfish boors who park indiscriminately, thereby damaging Pooters (move your mouse cursor over the pictures for comments).

Damaged IU bracket secured to the side mirror by a cable-tie.

Left-side mirror bent in; one of the perpetrators in the background.

Solution (or part thereof): Seng Kwang Metal Industrial Co.

Shiny chrome curves.

Check out the screws, man.

Had to get a custom made In-vehicle Unit (IU) bracket with a lifetime guarantee i.e. if it’s damaged, bring it back to the shop and they guys’ll do it up for free.

I paid $80; I’m not too sure if I got ripped off because I read some posts on the Singapore Bike Forum where the posters claim they paid $60 to $70 for their brackets. But those posts are 5 years old and I’m guessing the $10 increase is because of… inflation?

Anyway, if you’re a biker and you’re looking for custom-made brackets, call 6481 9580 and/or head down to:

    Seng Kwang Metal Industrial Co.
    Ang Mo Kio Autopoint
    10 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2A
    #05-31
    Singapore 568047

It’s a long and winding route to the top of the building, but just follow the signs and you’ll be fine.

Look for Gilbert (9785 9166) and/or William (9857 0033).

Oh-the-irony of the Day.

  1. 6.45pm. Pooting merrily back home. Maybe not so merrily, but still pooting, nevertheless.
  2. I’m in the middle lane of a three-lane road.
  3. Left lane is a bus lane that’s in operation so technically I’m in in the slow-moving vehicle lane.
  4. Comfort cab in right-most lane drives recklessly – as usual – and opportunistically (or recklessly, perhaps) swerves into my lane.
  5. Whatever for? I don’t know. There is no space to be had and I am occupying the lane.
  6. Still. Comfort cab drives recklessly – as usual – and opportunistically (or recklessly, perhaps) swerves into my lane, nearly side-swiping me in the process.
  7. Did I mention the Comfort cab was driving recklessly? I did? Well, the Comfort cab was rather reckless and it nearly side-swiped me.
  8. Without warning, the Comfort cab recklessly swerves away from me, back into the right-most lane, from whence it recklessly came.
  9. Wanted to be angry, but decided against it because I found the irony too… ironic.
  10. The Comfort cab had on its bumper an advertising sticker from W!ld Rice’s Emily of Emerald Hill show which said: “DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT MADE ME WHAT I AM?”
  11. I have appended a visual of what said taxi looks like for your kind perusal.
  12. Comfort cab with a bumper sticker that reads "DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT MADE ME WHAT I AM?"

  13. Laugh. Or at least pretend to like it.