1 borneo experience

• Yes been there 3x times, not too much impressed though. I never been so critical about shopping malls, I mean I love to go to malls and very excited to have 1Borneo finally open in KK.

Heard the stores and shops that going to open there, sure this is a great things for KK.

And I am also aware that I shouldn't compare it to other big malls in other cities or countries, but somehow there a few things that can actually be better.

1. Do you know that we are not allowed to bring camera inside the mall?
Yes, it is stated in the front lobby with the picture of crossed camera , of course we never paid any attention to that. And yet, when my dad was taking pictures of his grand children playing in the mall lobby/public area ( not inside any retail store) , a security guard approached him and said ." sorry sir, you are not allowed to bring any camera inside this mall or taking picture inside the mall" Puzzled of course and my dad replied," oh I I didn't mean to take picture of the mall or the store, I was just taking photos of my grandchildren over there"
Again the security guy answered" ok sir, but the management rules is no camera allowed in this building"
My dad replied back" oh ok, but you should put the sign"
" it is sir, it is in the glass door in every entrance in this mall" said the security

Ok , this is not the security fault, but the management has decided like that. Ok no camera in the WHOLE building...
So, I said to the security" ok how about if someone is having her birthday party or other celebration in this mall? how about those movie stars that are coming for the grand opening? should we not taking any photos? how many people are coming to this mall just to take a photo with their favorite movie stars or singer or whoever they want?
Do you know that in almost every kind of mobile phones there is a camera nowadays?

What do you think? is this rules still applicable now? in 2008 ? not to bring camera in to a shopping mall?

My dad as a guy who's been working in retail business for more than 40 years,said that is a very conservative rules from the 1980's- 1990's, the purpose is to avoid someone to make photo of the mall or stores or products or design with the purpose to copy it.
But this rules are not really applicable now a days , with the new era of digital technologies, we can have mobile phones with camera, making video, bring in laptop with built in webcam, and can shoot and broadcast it in that second to the world what ever we want to share.

So if someone really want to copy whatever the mall has, it can be done with or without a camera.
I wonder if the management has any other motive why we can't bring camera into the building.
That day we saw many families taking pictures inside the mall anyway, poor security staffs if they must go and tell to all those people that no camera are allowed in that mall.

2. VIP toilets?
Yes, as absurd as it is the VIP toilets do exist here! I don't know what is the purpose, maybe for a cleaner and better service or a better experience in the loo? RM 1 is the fee , it is 3x more expensive than the " ordinary" toilet. I think it is a lot to pay to full fill our nature calls as a human huh? But money aside..... I was upset....They don't even have a baby changing station! Yes they got this counter beside the sink, but it cant even fit a new born baby. It is too narrow. And they didn't even provide the toilet paper. When I mentioned this to the lady that work there in the VIP toilet, She just simply said : belum siap lagi tuh, kau tadi ambil lah dari sini ( pointed to the toilet paper that she prepared on the counter infront of the toilet)
" not yet ready ( the toilet paper) if you want, you can take it from there .
Ok but it was too late.... I went out of the toilet already, using my own tissue paper., She suppose to give me that tissue paper when I entered the toilet and paid the RM 1 .

3. They have a big promotion and giving out vouchers
Yup, I think every RM 150 we spend there we are entitled to take lucky draw and we can get some vouchers. Well mostly are RM 10 rebate from the participants outlets/shops. Ok that is good enough. So we went to use the vouchers , and the staffs in the stores are clueless and look like no idea that the vouchers are actually exist! We need to explain that voucher is part of the 1 Borneo mega promo ( or what ever the name is) . So they went " oh oh...ok" and they can't even put the rebate of RM 10 out of our purchase in their POS / cash register. They said: "ah macam mana oh? sia tak pernah pakai" ( oh how to do that? I never use it ). Even in my cheap simple invoice system that I use for my e-store have this function.

4. But the most ultimate experience happened to us in one of the boutique on the 2nd floor. Selling office/working outfit. We got this RM 10 voucher and it is stated in the front part of the voucher : valid until 1 of September 2008. So we went to the cashier, with our purchase and one piece of RM 10 voucher and a credit card to pay. Suppose to be: total of sales - RM 10 = Total payable . And then proceed with the credit card right?
So the sales girl ask my sis : "so you want to combine the voucher and this card together?
my sis: "uh, ya I use the voucher and pay with CC"
S.G : Yes so you combine right? the voucher and the Card? I think can not combine oh.
sis: do you mean if we use voucher we can't use credit card?
S.G: "huh" smiled and said" wait ya I'll check first"
......
.....
S.G: oh yes yes can use CC if you use voucher

( I think she thought that CC is a member card? so when use member card got disc and can't be combine with voucher?)

So she after she calculate all the purchase , let's say the total is RM 168.30. Minus RM 10 , it became RM 158.30. And she start to swiped the CC to the machine.
SG: ah can not oh this card.
swipe again....
SG: eh still can not, why ah...

Me: sorry ya.... you swipe the card in wrong side. See this black stripe? that is the magnetic part , suppose to be swipe in the slot.

S.G: oo h oooh..... ( smile, and giggling)

but terbalik again.....( wrong side)

Me: I grab the CC and swipe it my self ....
and I took a deep breath.

S.G called other S.G and other S.G called supervisor

Supervisor: alaa.....haven't connect la.....( and she plug in the line into the machine)

hmm.......

aiya still can not.

We decided that we have waited enough. So we said : we pay cash laa!

Ok so we think this will finally speed up the payment. But they didn't know how to key in the voucher of RM 10 into the system so they called another supervisor .

so there were 4 of us in front of the cashier counter and 4 of them on the other side of the counter.

So finally one of them figured how to use they voucher but she said : eh actually this voucher until 31st July saja oh"
And without saying a word I pointed at the expired date stated in the voucher , 1st September 2008. And she went :ooh ooh ok ok hihihi.....

**Slap my head!**

Then the best part. They need actually 3 minutes to count how much we should pay. RM 168.30 - RM 10 is RM 158.30.
And then my sis gave 160.30, so the balance is just nice RM 2.
But one of the S.G returned us RM 8.
My sis said: no no...salah..... ini terlalu banyak. Kamu harus kasih saya RM 2 saja" ( no no it is too much, you are suppose to give me RM 2 only)

S.G: oh oh ya ya...sorry sorry

Then after she took back the RM 8....she looked blank for a few second and said:
" eh harusnya tak ada baki oh....." ( Oh actually there are no balance left)

Us: WHY?

S.G: oh because pay with voucher...

Me: but it is already deducted RM 10. Become 158.30. And we paid RM 160.30.

Supervisor to S.G : ya ya can give the balance

S.G counted with calculator and looked confused.

My sis : it is suppose to be RM 2 the balance.

S.G: oh yes yes , sorry....
and handed us the RM 2

Me: " I think you all need more training la.... If this store is full of customers and one customer need to wait this long to pay, how can you all cope?


Fuih..... tired oooh..... I mean come on, the biggest mall in Sabah but yet the staffs are clueless. One is more clueless than the other. I think the problem is that all are new staffs there and just the supervisor or manager have experience.

Imagine if someone near her due date , I think I can give birth there on the spot because it's really really need a lot of time to pay.

The rest of the stores ( bigger name boutiques) luckily the staffs are trained and friendly enough.
Imagine if all the staffs are like those.....