Pissed off...

I feel like we have been taken for fools along many others by people who want to make it appear that their developments are greatly sought after.

We received information via sms like the 5700 other people who applied for "The Premiere" at tampines but didn't get it the first time. We were told that there was now walk in selection for the flats.

Why did i just know that this was going to happen? Was it because they didn't ask us to specify the type of flat we were applying in the application form? Did they actually know exactly how many people wanted 5-rm, how many wanted 4-rm and how many wanted 2-rm? Did they even consider the priority cases? Did they consider the amount of applicants and double it specifically according to the specific flats available or did they just take the total number of flats and double it to get the amount of people eligible for balloting?

When i checked the net, there were still many units that were not taken up.. Sigh... So much for efficiency. Never mind.. We decided to give it another shot. In the sms sent to us, they didn't state the place for the walk in selection. Maybe to some of you, it's common sense that it would be at the showflat. But for me, i was unsure whether it would be at the showflat or at HDB. So what was the next best thing i did? I called them.

Ha.. Maybe i shouldn't have. I think that phone call brought up my blood pressure and pulse rate. I called and the person on the other side of the phone said, "YA!". Can you imagine the rude shock i received? I told her i was calling about the walk in selection and again she was,"YA?"... Hmmmm... i think her dictionary is quite limited ah... Never mind, i asked her NICELY where the selection would be at and she told me, "At the showflat, of course!".
To this particular LISA, if you are unhappy, having a bad hair day or whatever, DON'T answer the phone. Don't even sit near one! The person on the other end certainly doesn't deserve or appreciate the 'polite' tone of your voice and your monosyllabic answers.

We went down to queue in hope that maybe, just maybe we could still have a chance at getting at a flat even though we knew chances were slim. When we reached there, there was a crowd at the entrance and a sign stating that there were only 56 flats left. There was a queue in the slight drizzle. I stood behind this lady who was remarking that she came down at 10 to help queue for her friend but became drenched so she went back to get a change of clothes. She told me that there were unhappiness because the people queued and when they reached the entrance, they were told that the quota for chinese owners was full. Guess what. It almost happened to us too. We also started queueing but everyone was uncertain whether the quota was full so relatives went to check whole the rest stood in line. And true enough, the quota was full.

At once, the queue shortened.... We even saw a couple that came out looking quite unhappy. Apparently they were already inside the showflat for quite a long time but because of tardiness, they were deprived of a chance to get a flat.

I am not disappointed that we didn't get the flat. Just appalled at the system that the company chose to handle the applications, ballots etc... I am sure people who had to take urgent leave, queued for ages for nothing would be furiously nodding their heads in agreement. Maybe it's a marketing ploy or something, to prove that people are really interested in the project. But making everyone run around like fools on a wild goose chase isn't very nice, don't you think?

I guess i am more interested in the transparency at how the company handled the applications. Did they consider the priority cases? When informing the people about the walk in selection, was everyone informed at the same time? Did they inform the priority cases first? Or there were some people that received the sms late due to the jam in the network?....

To me, the goverment's push for more people to get married and have children is a good thing, to prevent an aging population. But firstly, it is important to see if the situations allow it. There is really no point in encouraging more people to set up families when flats are getting smaller, closer to each other and more expensive. Will we end up like our ancestors where they lived in squatters? Or will just end up with a aging population because young couples are unwilling to have children and pack their families in small and uncomfortable spaces?