Credit Card Freebies.

I love getting freebies and discounts :) I usually have cards like the Bench Card (for Fix/First Aid/PCX/Bench/Aldo/Fox purchases) which I've already earned/collected P200.00 from, A-Card which have a lot of cool freebies in resto's and discounts, SM Advantage which I've already earned P900.00 (credited to the card and can be used to purchase in SM) from the purchases, Tony Roma's card, etc.

Oh and now there's the battle for the best Credit Card freebies! I used to love BPI's free food, I have the BPI card which just my mom's extension way way back, which I would use whenever she asks me to buy anything for her for groceries and errands. My mom would hoard all of these free goodies depending on what freebies are for the month, like there was a time Tokyo Tokyo was the partner, we'd have endless meals from Tokyo Tokyo, then there was Goldilocks, and Chowking. So Ian and I both decided to get this card as our 'joint' card when we got hitched.


From August 1 to September 30, P1,000, P2,000, P3,000 purchases will get you free food in Jollibee! :) But to clarify that, P10,000 charged slip doesn't mean you can claim 10 P1,000 freebies. It's per charged slip, so a P10,000 slip would just give you the P3,000 food freebie.

For a minimum single transaction of P1,000 Jolly Hotdog Classic/Jolly Hotdog Chili Cheese or Ice Craze.

For a minimum single transaction of P2,000 Yum with Sundae (Rocky Road, Black Forest or Chocolate) or Yum with Regular Jolly Crispy Fries .

For a minimum single transaction of P3,000 Cheesy Bacon Mushroom with Large Jolly Crispy Fries or Double Yum with TLC with Large Jolly Crispy Fries.

Not bad right? And then Citibank came up with it's own freebie for the credit card!

Ian and I have been both using Citibank cards as our 'personal' credit card even before we got married, so we just retained it. And the BPI credit card we actually got kind of sucked because of it's low credit limit, they didn't even match our existing credit limit, so we both decided to keep it as well. We love our Citibank Credit Card because we got the Mercury Drug card, it has rebates in Mercury Drug (who doesn't buy medicine in Mercury?) plus that's how we got a low monthly fee in Fitness First because of their tie-up. We don't really check on the interest rates, etc. on choosing the credit cards since we pay on time, but really more for the freebies what we can get from the bank. I'm not a supporter/believer of the 'points' system in credit cards because I used to have an Equitable card (now BDO) and what I got for using it for x years was a measly P500.00 GC. The points conversion are so low. Instant gratification is way better for consumers, imagine the P500.00 GC that I got before can be easily matched in a matter of months from the food freebies one can get from BPI, I mean one can instantly accumulate receipts and get P500.00 worth of food from Jollibee. (Our BPI card's the one with the points system, I just have to consider this as the 'plus' because the main goal was to claim the free food! :p)

Anyway, as for Citibank's freebie, which I absolutely love, it's free movie passes! (Add to that the 5% rebate on all purchases you make using the card until August 31, 2009)

For a minimum single transaction of P1,500 you get 1 Free Movie Pass worth P130.
For a minimum single transaction of P3,500 you get 2 Free Movie Passes worth P260
Plus Popcorn & Softdrinks for 2.
For a minimum single transaction of P20,000 you get 3 Free Movie Passes worth P390
Plus Popcorn & Softdrinks for 3.

Ayala Malls are included! :) You still have to shell out for this though, since movies in Greenbelt 3 are priced at P180 and P200, upon claiming the free movie passes, you'd have to add money. I think the promo's really nice! The free popcorn in Greenbelt 3 is from Chimara (the one cooked in olive oil!).

What we do now if our purchase reaches P1,000, we use the BPI card, if it's P1,500, the Citibank card :D So we can avail of freebies! So if you're reading this, and you've been using HSBC (which only give freebies upon signing like the free Mango watch for instance), or any other card, it's probably the best time to switch! The promos are open to ANY Citibank/BPI credit cards. So if you like the earn-points-system-thing for gadgets/appliances or the one for miles, both banks have that and would still qualify you to grab the freebies I mentioned.

The Power of Email Complaints.

One of the things I've learned from work is when someone writes a personal email it's usually escalated to the right people as compared to complaining via the hotline/customer service. (Especially when complaints drop names like NTC, DTI, etc.) I'm not trying to undermine the people from the call centers but they usually just follow the protocols in their monitor then say whatever they're supposed to say.

Anyway here's what happened, the previous tenant of our condo unit had unpaid charges for Sky Cable and Sky Broadband. Cable's around P1,000 then Broadband's around P4,000 so that's P5,000 unpaid bills that they're trying to bill us. Now the thing is, the tenant already migrated to Australia and we don't really know how to track her down, I tried leaving offline messages in her YM, tried to email her, and tried to text her old number which is supposed to be on roaming, but she hasn't been replying. So when I called their hotline, the Sky Cable's rep told me that it's our responsible to pay for it. Since we allowed the transfer of name to us, we're actually liable for the charges. (WTF right?)

I asked a lawyer friend about it, and she said that we have a contract lease in the condo that proves what date we actually moved in, and the charges incurred were not during our stay so we shouldn't pay for it.

So what I did was I shoot out an email to Sky Cable, sent it to the customer service email address hoping it would be forwarded to the right people. I even dropped a line that we already consulted our lawyer for legal advise (dropping names or semi threats usually help) that we were instructed not to pay for it (well, I actually asked for legal advise even if it was just via YM). My only mistake was that I mentioned in the email that we don't mind paying for the Sky Cable charges, the P1,000 incurred by the previous tenant. Well, which was really my stand, for me it's a compromise. I'd rather pay the P1,000 from Sky Cable, than pay all the P5,000 charges which includes the Sky Broadband which we've never used.

I also complained that they shouldn't have let the previous tenant transfer the account to Ian's name without her paying her previous charges. I explained that we could just 'con' the next tenant into the same predicament we're in when we move out, but we're not that kind of people, since we're honest when it comes to these things and we always pay our bills on time so we really want this to be settled. I don't really like getting disconnection notices. Oh, plus I don't want Ian's name to be tainted in Sky. (I'm not posting the email I sent because it's REALLY long) Sky Cable should really change their policies with these kind of things, because we just gave the tenant a letter for a request of transfer of names but the letter never mentioned anything about transferring charges to us.

After a month's time,lo and behold, we got our bill. The good news is, they already dropped the Sky Broadband charges. Hooray. The bad news is, they really took my email seriously that they're seriously allowing/asking us to pay the P1,000 Sky Cable charges. Crap, my bad! I shouldn't have said anything in the email.

Rica's stand, P1,000 is better than P5,000
Sky's stand, P1,000 is better than nothing

Lesson learned: Just have the previous tenant disconnect EVERYTHING before you move in, then just reapply for the services needed.

Milo.

I've been drinking Milo since I was a kid, it used to be my morning drink before I go to school, but eventually I grew up, resorted to drinking coffee every morning for my sugar and caffeine dose. Anyway, I don't know if people have noticed, but the Milo we buy in the grocery isn't as good as the one being served in Mcdonald's before, or in school cafeterias. (The cold one)I used to order Milo a lot when I was in high school. So anyway, in the back packet of Milo, it says to prepare one cup, you're supposed to put 4 teaspoons. Repeat: FOUR TEASPOONS.

So back story, when I was a kid, I never really made my own Milo drink, every morning it's always prepared for me already. I haven't been drinking Milo from the packet in a long time, I just drink it from the vendo or I drink the instant chocolate drinks like Swiss Miss. And since we've been doing household groceries, I thought to buy a pack of Milo.

So when I recently tried to make a glass of hot Milo, it tasted bland. I already put 4 TABLESPOONS, and it's still not sweet. Since the information was kind of misleading, I decided to email Milo(Nestle). Yes this gal is a proactive consumer, it wasn't a compalaint/angry email tone, but more of a concerned Milo-loving gal email. Here's the reply below. Hahaha, I actually find it amusing that I actually emailed them!

Dear Rica,

Thank you for writing to us. Regarding your concern, the instructions indicated on the back of the MILO pack is our recommended preparation for MILO. This was based on a research conducted among consumers that showed preference for 4 heaping teaspoons of MILO per 200ml cup. However, a delicious cup of MILO would really depend on the consumer's taste preference, and this would vary from consumer to consumer. McDonald's, on the other hand, follows a different recipe for its MILO, which explains the difference in taste.

We have also forwarded your comments to our MILO Brand group for consideration in future product innovation. In fact, we have a new product in the pipeline that may be able to address your concern, and we shall inform you once this is out in the market.

Again, thank you for bringing your concern to us. Feedback from valued consumers like you is always an important opportunity for us to respond to you growing and changing needs, improve products and services, and ensure continuous consumer satisfaction and delight.

With our best regards, and thank you for your continued patronage.

Many thanks,
_______ _________
Nestlé Consumer Services
Nestlé Philippines, Inc.
Care Center: xxxx-xxxx


I wonder if they'll send me their new product! Hahaha I didn't ask for a sample anymore because I might come of as an extortionist.

My New Favorite Container.

I knew it, I'd be blogging more about household products! Haha. Here's my recently discovered household product, it's by Lock and Lock. This was actually given to us as a gift.

A lot of people use Lock and Lock products as container for their packed lunch a.k.a. baon for work. I've been using it, but this one's really neat since it's for food storage in the ref. There's a dial for the date, on what date you placed the food. And then, you can release the air by pressing on the middle, they actually claim that it deters bacteria growth. I'm not that sure if it really works, but I'm impressed :) You can actually hear a whistle when you release the air, so I'm assuming that this product really works.

Houshold product rating: 5 out of 5

(I'm rethinking to change the label, since I label these posts as house, but we actually live in a condo hahahaha)

Grocery Comparison.

Okay even before getting married, I've done my own groceries, from toiletries, to my own bread (since I'm the only one who eats wheat bread at home), my hot choco (Swiss Miss to Butterfinger mix), my yogurt stash, and the list goes on.

So I'm assuming that everyone thinks that SM has lowest prices in the grocery, right?

Landmark Grocery
Magnolia Low Fat Milk - P67.20
Kellog's Frosties Cereal - P69.00
Nestle Fitnesse and Fruit Cereal - P 142.90
Yakult - P35.00

Rustan's
Magnolia Low Fat Milk - P68.40
Kellog's Frosties Cereal - P75.45
Nestle Fitnesse and Fruit Cereal - P149.75
Yakult - P35.00

SM
Magnolia Low Fat Milk - P69.50
Kellog's Frosties Cereal - P74.50
Nestle Fitnesse and Fruit Cereal - P149.50
Yakult - P35.00

After conquering the 3 groceries in Makati, it boils down to Landmark as the cheapest to do one's groceries. Well this is just based on a sample data, my mum said there are stuff that are cheaper in SM Grocery (that I have yet to find out). So far only Yakult prices are standard! :D Obviously the Magnolia Low Fat Milk is mine, and the Nestle Fitnesse Cereal ;)

From my dream of becoming a food blogger, I'd probably evolve to a 'household tips' blog later on.