zakka zakka

I couldn’t find any concrete information on the web, especially in the Singapore context, so I decided to do my own research instead. And the answer is? It depends on which credit card you are using.

My total amount payable was US$311.04.

Paypal’s conversion
Credit/Debit Card : MasterCard XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-5230 $448.50 SGD
PayPal Conversion Rate as of Aug. 20, 2008: 1 Singapore Dollar = 0.688701 U.S. Dollars

Citibank
According to prevailing exchange rate, indicative exchange rate at $1 USD = $1.427 SGD or $1 SGD = $0.701 USD; $443.85 SGD.

UOB
Mastercard
Bank charge 1.5% + 0.8% on top of prevailing Visa exchange rate. Assuming the bank charges are not compounded (cos I forgot to ask):

Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for
transactions submitted to Visa on August 20, 2008, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 2.30%.
1 Singapore Dollar = 0.69 US Dollars

Total: $461.16 SGD

Visa
Bank charge 1.5% on top of prevailing Visa exchange rate.

Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for
transactions submitted to Visa on August 20, 2008, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 1.50%.
1 Singapore Dollar = 0.70 US Dollars

Total: $451.01 SGD

I’m going to pay with my Citibank credit card!

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Where I go when I’m in a beauty fix:

I’ve joined a couple of other forums before and was even the (hired) administrator for one of the pioneer Singaporean forums but CozyCot (CC) is still my favorite. Some may say that the forum-ers of CC are “dao” or proud but I disagree. Same reason why I keep my Blythe Flickr group invite-only; you need some form of gatekeeper so that there’ll be a certain level of “quality control”. Even though some of the moderators may be a pain in the ass at times, you’ll appreciate their efforts later on. Take some time and blend into their “culture”.

They’re now invite-only. Click on the banner above and leave a comment and I will invite you.

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So finally I managed to call SingTel customer service about changing the channels I subscribed to for my mio TV (because I am only watching SET and the rest of the channels suck)! I thought the new Favorites on Demand was quite interesting and decided to add that. I miss my 女人我最大 on Starhub CableTV so I added the Asia Plus channel as a substitute. I didn’t need CBeebies so I cancelled The BBC 3 and subscribed ala carte to BBC Lifestyle and BBC Knowledge. All these, my monthly bill was close to $40/month.

I surfed the mio TV website only to discover:
1. If you subscribe to Favorites on Demand via your mio TV interface, you stand to win a $70 Khiel’s hamper.
2. It will cost $14.98 to subscribe to BBC Lifestyle and Knowledge ala carte but The BBC 3 (including CBeebies) costs only $12.84.
3. Right now there’s a Supersaver Pack that costs only $19.90 and includes SET, The BBC 3, Asia Plus and more!

I had to call mio TV 3 times today because I discovered them subsequently while surfing the site. And all these while, none of the customer service officers advice me on how I may save some money or what the existing promotions are.

I’m a dissatisfied customer!
I gave mio TV a chance and it’s proven, Starhub CableTV is a better choice. Will definitely go back to Starhub once the Singtel contract is over.

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