Posts filed under 'General'
At first I would like to thank all those who emailed and asked what’s wrong, and why ibrahimo.com lately is not as usual. Well I had couple of issues before and during the holy month of Ramadan, and then after Ramadan by around ten days my Toshiba Qosmio G30 stopped working properly, the screen would melt (as seen in the image) just after few minutes from booting. Later I find out it was the Nvidia video card which is embedded on the motherboard. After calling Toshiba (Al-Futaim) here in Dubai I gave them my notebook’s model number and an explanation on what was happening, and they quickly and over phone told me what was the problem, they told me they needed around a week to order the card from Germany!!
That was not the funny part though, I could not stop laughing when I was told that if I had warranty for one year it would be expired by now and I will need to pay something between 3500 to 4500 thousand dirhams!!!!! The notebook itself cost me something like 6500 thousand dirhams. So later I found that I was covered til 2010 and the repair will be done for free.
I was not posting on the blog as normal during the past 3 months, this blog is still considered semi-personal, I will post my views and opinions on Technology, Sports, Politics and TV. New improvements will be implemented soon. So stay tuned…
Sphere: Related Content
October 25th, 2008
I became suicidal today, yes, this was the worst 2 hours dealing with customer support in my life. I call customer support of many companies, there are great ones and there are bad ones, DU is simply THE WORST.
Two Hours and I still did not get any info. Yes, I repeat I have spent two full hours and I still did not deal with my issue, I did not get any info, at all. The thing started when I got the "DU Call Select" device, I think they call it "Autodialer", am not sure. The phone number which was printed on the device and in the manual was 800155, so, silly me, I called the number and chose the Arabic language, after that I waited and waited and waited and…. you guessed it WAITED. I tried my luck in the English language hoping some human might answer and I waited and waited and oh! I suddenly heard a voice, could it be a human voice I said hello and the employee said hello… YESSSS!! At Laaaaaaast….
My dream came true and I reached someone and when I asked the first question he said "please wait" and the same obnoxious music started playing AGAIN, he didn’t even wait for me to say a word. I was thrown from one employee to another, don’t forget that until this moment I still did not ask any important questions this was only me starting a conversation. Anyway, eventually I reached another employee who was shocked why I am stressed and shouting, I told him why I was pissed and he said "oooh! you called the wrong number, you should have called 04-3905555" those are the ones who deal with landlines, but I made it perfectly clear I did not want help in "DU Land Lines" I want help in "Du Call Select" which has a device that when connected to regular (ETISALAT) landline you can call in DU’s rates.
He totally ignored my point and told me he is 100% sure that calling 04-3905555 will end my problems. So I called the number and after chatting for couple of minutes the lady tells me that they are not the ones who deal with this service and they deal only with DU Landlines and broadband and TV!!! So… She gives me another number, I call them praying that they can actually help or even answer my first question, but when I call them the guy says "Oh, I guess you made a mistake…", so I tell him "Don’t tell me that this is the wrong number, please do not give me another number", he laughs and say "well if you want help you should have called the number printed on the device, 800155"!!!!. I hangup, and laugh hysterically, non-stop tears run out of my eyes and I keep on laughing for around 15 minutes until I get myself under control and decide that this should be shared with my blog visitors & subscribers.
I think it is really a big big SHAME that a company such as DU has this low quality customer support, I believe that 800155 should be able to help current or potential customers in any matter ever, I like Etisalats new approach where calling 101 will lead you to each and every aspect and departments of the company. I am not saying that Etisalat customer support is fantastic but for sure they are million times better than DU. I also think that with DU not having such a great mobile service as everybody actually keeps complaining on the weakness of the network and mainly how crappy the reception is, I would have thought that they would be having a better customer service . Thank God that I do not have a DU card, my father and brother got it and they keep on having nervous breakdowns at least once a week.
Note: Please share any of your positive or negative customer support experiences with any company, especially Du or Etisalat.
Sphere: Related Content
October 8th, 2008
A 35-article law includes all procedures concerning a mortgage in Dubai was issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The goal for issuing a mortgage law is to better regulate the emirate’s booming real estate sector.
According to Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalita, chief executive of Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority “the law is basically covering the mortgage procedures in Dubai”, this is an effort to protect the rights of lenders and borrowers and to improve transparency. The Mortgage law will come into effect after 60 days from its announcement.
The new law states that mortgage contracts must get registered with the “Land Department” of Dubai. The size of the loan, the repayment period and the value of the property must be specified. The law also states that the mortgages that are taken out on properties in Dubai can only be sold by registered financial institutions and also should be insured.
Full financial documents should be presented by the borrower and lender. “It gives more confidence to the lender and gives more security for banks” Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalita said. Dubai started allowing foreign investors to buy properties in Dubai on a freehold basis in 2002.
Since then the mortgage business grew rapidly. Back in July Standard Chartered warned that the prices of the still under construction real estate will be inflated due to speculators in the market betting on quick gains.
Sphere: Related Content
August 21st, 2008
An amazing advertisement that is really so good that it makes you want to help in any way you can. It is to spread awareness on the issue of water problems in poor countries, as the ad said 1.1 BILLION which is the same as the population of North America and Europe wash with, bath in and drink dirty water EVERY DAY!! Those who want to help can get the full info from WorldVision.org .
You can watch an interesting 3 minute documentary on the this matter from the same website.
Sphere: Related Content
July 22nd, 2008
I have been hearing about it for a while now, but never saw it or thought it is that bad, well for two weeks in a row now the Dubai International City, especially the England side of it, got flooded by sewage. Car parks and roads are all filled and covered with stinking sewage. Only a meter separates the sewage from the entrances of some of the residential buildings in the England area. So the people are driving through the pools of “Sewage”. Of course there are tankers pumping out the water, but they sort of create even more hassle.
What really amazes me is why this was not taken care of while building the city? This is a newly built city, what?! they FORGOT about this thing. I know every time it rains here Dubai gets pools and pools of water in the roads and car parks. But we sort of understand that this is happening in OLD DUBAI, although still not acceptable and should be solved, but this is NEW DUBAI !!!!! I know it is different, but why this was not correctly planned for from the start?!
Dubai International City has around sixty thousand residents, so you can imagine what kind of health hazards this is. And the only news they are getting is that it will end soon.
A Nakheel spokesperson said: “A specialist team is currently working on measures to resolve a situation related to the sewage system at International City and we expect operations to normalise by the end of the week.
In addition, design and supply waste water treatment company Metito was appointed in May to double the existing capacity of the sewage treatment plant located within the development and these works are also expected to be complete by the end of the week.”
[Via Gulf News]
Sphere: Related Content
July 3rd, 2008
I saw a lot of videos showing employees going crazy. But this is really funny video. The Great Office War by Runaway Box is really funny and nicely directed. Enjoy.
Sphere: Related Content
June 18th, 2008
I just knew few hours ago that the British Embassy in the United Arab Emirates raised the terror alert level from (General) to (High), I heard that some Britons and people from other nationalities are panicking and it looks like most of them are taking this seriously, as we all should, and trying to avoid going to public places. This was posted on the embassy’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office website (www.fco.gov.uk) this Saturday:
“There is a high threat from terrorism. We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE, Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests,”
The website also states that over a million British visitors travelled to the UAE in 2006, and more than 100,000 British nationals are resident there.
None of the other western countries such as USA have issued any warning of this sort yet.
Sphere: Related Content
June 16th, 2008
I love comedy shows, who doesn’t, and believe me I love Ikbis too, I am actually an Ikbis user, and I do find their contest ideas interesting, Airplane Contest Singing Contest and so on. They even have a new contest choosing the best of your uploaded images to be hanged on their wall, you might end up getting an Ikbis mug, I know its not much but still new and nice way to engage the users. They are trying to build an interactive community, so that is great.
Their latest “thing” is a new Comedy show named “Ground Zero”, Only 2 episodes have been released til now, and more to come for sure. They are very short episodes, each episode has 3 segments, Movie Dubbing, Lost in Translation and Coming Soon Movies. The show has some other tiny segments, such as the intro and the end bits. I will be a liar if I say I didn’t laugh, I did laugh but I think, and after watching both episodes, the only “FUNNY” part of the show is the “Doblage” Movies Dubbing segment.
The other segments are simply NOT FUNNY, the intro is ok the Movie Dubbing is Hilarious, the Lost in Translation segment were they translate English sentences or proverbs into Arabic which could sound funny is not really funny, but the really really REALLY annoying segment is the last one where a pirate appears and start speaking in English and tries to crack a joke or two and then they show a movie’s trailer, that I can easily say is not funny and even ANNOYING.
The two guys, Mike V.Derderian and Mohammad Jaradat are talented, and I see potential in the show, and it might end up to be a net sensation, but they really need to reorganize their show, cancel segments and add new segments. The possibilities are endless here.
Here are both Episodes…
Sphere: Related Content
June 1st, 2008
My brother went to an event on EARTH DAY in the American University of Dubai, and they had a well known Palestinian folk singer, he is nicknamed as”Abu Arab”. I had the video for a while, its just a part of the concert, I wish I had the full thing. He does have a website, not sure if it is official or not but it has some songs to download, its called Ya Bladi.
Here is the video:
Sphere: Related Content
May 16th, 2008
Previous Posts
At first I would like to thank all those who emailed and asked what’s wrong, and why ibrahimo.com lately is not as usual. Well I had couple of issues before and during the holy month of Ramadan, and then after Ramadan by around ten days my Toshiba Qosmio G30 stopped working properly, the screen would melt (as seen in the image) just after few minutes from booting. Later I find out it was the Nvidia video card which is embedded on the motherboard. After calling Toshiba (Al-Futaim) here in Dubai I gave them my notebook’s model number and an explanation on what was happening, and they quickly and over phone told me what was the problem, they told me they needed around a week to order the card from Germany!!
Tremors were felt at around 3:00pm Dubai local time, at first I thought it was only me but I confirmed it with family and friends. It lasted few seconds, but sure felt as minutes. The source is a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Bandar Abbas in Iran. In Dubai tremors were felt most heavely in tall towers.
