Review of Looks L'Oreal Salon Karol Bagh

Review of Looks L'Oreal Salon Karol Bagh

I recently went for a haircut at Looks L'Oreal Salon at Karol Bagh in Delhi on the recommendation of a friend. The salon is located on Ajmal Khan Road near the Westside store.

I had my hair cut in layers in a V-shape from the back. The guy who cut my hair (he had longish blonde hair) did a wonderful job. Currently my hair looks like a better version of Priyanka Chopra's hairstyle on the left. The price for a haircut at Looks L'Oreal Salon is Rs.300 which is OK considering they did a great job. The only negative about the place is having to listen to sales talk about how L'Oreal hair care products are the best. They may be ok, but I ain't spending a fortune on them when companies like Garnier do the job just as well for one third the price.

Where do you do your hair ? Do you use L'Oreal products ?

Spicejet - Review of My First Flight

Spicejet - Review of My First Flight

Recently, I visited the tourist destination of Goa on my annual vacation. For the return journey, I had wait listed train reservations that did not get confirmed. As I had to urgently reach Delhi by Monday, I booked myself on the most conveniently available flight - SpiceJet. Here is a review of my first flight.

SpiceJet has two flights from Goa to Delhi - the 3.00 pm flight via Mumbai and the direct 5.50 flight. On weekdays, the tickets cost Rs. 3,500, on Saturdays it is Rs. 5,028 while the price on Sundays is around Rs. 7,000. Before leaving for the airport, I recieved a lot of advice from my friends -

1. Don't be afraid to ask
2. Puke in the sick bag
3. Don't take the window seat
4. Write your initials on your luggage
5. Use the trolley at the airport
6. Don't take the plants, we'll bring them along later.

I took a taxi to Dabolim Airport in Goa and the driver helped me load my luggage onto a trolley. I found the trolley real difficult to push, so I unloaded my bags and wheeled them along. I went through the usual processes - x ray security check for check-in baggage, getting the boarding pass, checking in luggage, security check for hand baggage, frisking and boarding.

The only 'Dhamaal' (controversy) that occured happened while boarding. The computer system was down so seat numbers could not be given. There was this wheelchair bound foreigner who was supposed to board first along with her family. Some drunk Delhiites could not understand why she was being allowed to board first and started hurling abuses, idiotic arguments about racism and shoved other foreigners including women and very small kids. I was so embarassed. These rude folks rushed to the back gate of the plane. Luckily, the Spicejet staff shut the back doors and made them wait an eternity before letting them enter.

SpiceJet has Boeing 737-800s with 189 seats. It has a typical cruise speed of 850 km per hour at 35,000 feet. As the flight was a no frills flight, I wasn't expecting much. On board, we were given sweets, cake and bottles of mineral water. The airplane departed and arrived on time - a short two and a half hours flight. I finally realised why job ads for airhostesses require tall people. Tall stewardesses are easily spotted through an airport crowd and from the back seats of a plane.

I loved the view from the window as the plane rose over the hills, sea and beaches of Goa. I thought I spotted the place we were staying at. It was located near the River Princess ship which was anchored off the coast of Candolim Beach. Here is a pic from Wikimapia. Later on there were just clouds. We reached Delhi at night. It was dark and the city lights looked very pretty from above.

On landing, I took the red Spice Jet bus to the terminal. It was then that the hot dry weather of Delhi hit me. I had to wait a long time for my baggage to come through on the conveyor belt. It was good that I wrote my initials on my bags as many people had black bags just like mine. I booked a prepaid taxi and headed for home.

About the Spicejet staff - they were polite and helpful. Things moved smoothly even for a newbie like me.

When did you take your first flight ? Which is the best airline you have travelled with ?

That's How It Really Works !!: My Vacation in Goa

HDFC Bank - Totally Sucks

HDFC Bank totally sucks - How HDFC Bank left me cashless during the Diwali Season !

This HDFC Bank saga started around four days before Diwali when I found a HDFC Bank letter on the stairs of my apartment building. Assuming it was a HDFC Bank credit card offer, I almost did'nt open it. It's good that I did though, and was totally shocked by what the HDFC Bank letter read regarding by salary account.

"We observe that there has been no salary credit in your account from July-September 2006.............we learn from your previous employer that you have since left the organization.........the captioned salary account would need to be closed..........visit our nearest branch during working hours within 30 days from the date of this letter along with your debit card and unutilized cheque leaves.......to continue a banking relationship with us , you will need to open a normal savings account...........treat this matter as urgent .......failing which we will be constrained to block operations in your account. " Srinivas Iyer, HDFC Bank.

This was like a bolt from the blue, considering I had left the company mentioned more than two years ago. Also, I had lakhs (hundred thousands) invested in HDFC Bank, plus term deposits and mutual funds. Thinking there had been a mistake, I called up the HDFC Bank customer care center and was in for a ruder shock !

Cyberkitty : I recieved this letter from HDFC Bank......blah blah
HDFC Bank : It's your fault, you should have informed the bank whenever you switch jobs. Now you have to open a new account.
Cyberkitty: Haven't you heard 'customer is king', is this the way you treat a valued customer who has invested so much in HDFC bank ? I have given this bank account number for direct credit of divident from mutual funds and stocks. Think of the inconvinience ?
HDFC Bank : It's your mistake, there is nothing that can be done, come to the office and close your account.
Cyberkitty: I can easily transfer my 'huge' balance to my ICICI Bank Account. In these days of intense competition in the banking sector, do you really want to lose a customer. I can also tell lots of folks about the lack of service at HDFC Bank.
HDFC Bank: It's your mistake. If you want to go to ICICI Bank then go ! Submit your debit card and cheque book at our office to close your account or we will disable it.

Shit scared of losing my cash, I cut a cheque and transferred every drop of money to my ICICI Account by depositing the HDFC Bank Cheque in the ICICI automatic cheque machine. I asked at ICICI if they forced customers to close an account on quitting a job and the answer was no, they just change the salary account to a regular one. Since, I did not have much cash in my ICICI account, I could not do the Diwali shopping that I had planned for as I had to wait for the HDFC Bank check to be cleared. HDFC Bank took nearly a week to clear my check.

HDFC Bank has always been tardy when it comes to dealing with customers. The ATM's never seem to be stocked with cash. I have never recieved my internet banking password despite many reminders neither has my friend recieved her ATM Card pin code. I have not visited HDFC Bank with my debit card and cheque book to close the account as I don't want to face more rude service. Anyway I heard they automatically close the account if the balance falls below Rs.10, so good riddance to them !

Dear Mr. Aditya Puri, (CEO, HDFC Bank) these policies won't take your bank very far, you know. Closing accounts of folks who don't earn you fat profits by applying for credit cards, home loans, education or car loans make seem cost effective, but in the long run you will lose out on the very funds that enable you to give out these loans .

I should have closed my HDFC Account, the day I heard top executives were involved in the demat account and IPO scam, but it's better late than never, i suppose.

Did any blogger face a similar problem with HDFC Bank ?

Tata Indicom broadband and wireless services - A Review

I have been a subscriber of Tata Indicom Broadband internet connection for more than a year now and Tata Indicom Walky wireless phone for 3 months and this is how I rate two of their products and service.

Tata Indicom Broadband Internet Service - 6/10 - One good bit is the low cost of the unlimited package at 560 INR/month. The speed of the connection (downloading) is only around 7 - 10 kilobytes per second. I'll give them a 5/10 for connection reliability - the line is usually down towards the end of the month for a few days. I have had to change my broadband modem and router thrice cause it konked out. Service and support gets a 2/10. Whenever I call, I hear the robotic voice saying that the waiting time is more than 12 minutes - please call again. It takes around 3 days for them to get the line up again and it took 3 weeks on an average to change the defective routers. Infact around 70 percent of calls made from my Tata Indicom Walky phone is to the internet call center for which I am charged.

Tata Indicom Walky Wireless Telephone - 1/10 - Since we got the phone in June, the only thing that ever worked was the inbuilt FM Radio. A week after installing the phone, outgoing calls were barred for non payment of bills. Apparently, the company had not noticed that we had paid the installation charges which took nearly a month for customer care to fix during which we could make no calls. Even after that we kept getting calls from the billing department - around 2 a day asking us to pay the cancelled bill and threatening disconnection which was downright annoying. Moreover, the connectivity sucked. The phone worked for a week and the inbuilt FM radio proved useful to hear a live broadcast of a FIFA World Cup match during a power cut. A few days later the phone refused to come on and was completely dead. We sent countless emails and phonecalls to the call center executives, whose accent both English and Hindi is indecipherable ( maybe the call center is somewhere in South East Asia). We visited the Tata Indicom showroom in Connaught Place where we were given a flimsy receipt on a scrap of paper. It took more than a month and a half for them to send a guy with a replacement phone - the awful part being the new phone had no FM radio. If the bills were'nt being reimbursed by the office, I'd chuck the phone in the trash.

I had not expected this from a company like Tata - Reliance were supposed to be the 'thugs'.

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