by Hanzky — Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
in Editor's Corner, Editor's Note, Shopping, Travel and tagged with Amanda Zuydervelt, Andrew Phua, Great Singapore Sale, Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, Great Singapore Sale Shopping Race, Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board
So I have written all about fun part of the Great Singapore Sale race here. Now here comes the disappointing part. There were two issues that we tried to raise. The first was the calculation issue. The second was the suspected foul play.
Before I start, let me clarify the shopping rules again. We were given $1,000 and we had to find discounted items in at least 3 different malls (Orchard, Marina, Harbor front) and buy at least 3 items in each of the malls. The team with the greatest dollar saving wins. Savings = The actual price – the discounted price.
The winning team saved $24,000+, the 1st runner up saved $11,000+ and we were announced as the 2nd runner up winner with a saving of $10,000+.
Which didn’t match our calculation, because according to ours we should’ve saved $12,002.
When we got to the finish line and dropped our shopping haul at the tabulation booth, we wanted to make sure that we were there during the calculation so we stick around. But we were shooed away. They took the items and the receipts with them so we never did have the chance to recalculate it ourselves. We have asked many times to be informed about the calculation but they didn’t want to disclose it.
So of course, we were surprised when it was announced that we only saved $10,000 +. We directed our concern to Singapore Tourism Board race committee and demanded to see our receipt and calculated it together with them. But they never seemed to bother.
First, they said the receipt had been brought back to the office for audit. Then one of them said that the receipt was on the way back to Orchard road and they would recalculate it for us, but later on they that it’s impossible for them to have miscalculated because it had gone through three different calculations.
All we asked was for them to bring out the receipt so we could calculate it together! How hard would that be?
Fast forward to four hours later, we still didn’t see the receipt. We met with Andrew Phua, the Director of Tourism Shopping & Dining of Singapore Tourism Board, again the next day to follow through with the dispute. But he didn’t mention anything about the receipt, so we took it as a sign that he didn’t have the intention to solve the dispute.
We couldn’t figure out why it’s so difficult for them to grant our simple request. Until now we still regret their decision because we think if they have done what we asked, it would have proved that the race was held with transparency and integrity as it should have been, regardless the outcome. We understand that our calculation might not be accurate too, but since we couldn’t see the receipt, we couldn’t prove it either way.
We shopped at the same store in Wisma Atria as the first winner, Amanda Zuydervelt and her partner (UK Team). In fact, they were right in front of us at the cash register (See pic below). As a rival, it was just natural for us to examine what they bought and how much those items cost.
We have visited that store before the race, so we knew that that store doesn’t sell anything above $1,000. There were dresses that were priced at $2,000, but the price tag was in Malaysian Ringgit. There was another price tag on it that says $920 which was the correct price in Singapore dollar, but was marked down to $70.
When the receipt was printed, it showed that the actual price was $920, the Singapore dollar price, not the $2,000 in Malaysian Ringgit. I heard Amanda telling the sales lady that the printed receipt was wrong, she pointed to the $2,000 price tag. She then asked the sales lady to make a correction, but then the two sales ladies told her that the actual price was indeed $920, that the $2,000 was in Malaysian Ringgit so that’s why they didn’t have $2,000 come out on the receipt. The sales lady knew we were in the race as there were three teams in the store so she wanted to be fair to all of us.
With my own eyes, I saw the sales lady crossed the price of the bottom two items because there was actually an error on their part. She left the remaining 11 items on the receipt as it was. (The UK team bought 13 items in that store).
Knowing that we and the UK team buy similarly-priced items, plus the fact that we still had more items in the other store with great discounts, we felt we still had a chance to win. Or even if we were behind them in terms of savings, the total would not have been too different.
So you could imagine our shock again when, after the committee announced our saving, we heard them announce that the UK team saved a whopping amount of $24,000+. It wasn’t possible because we know what they bought and how much those items cost.
Sensing there was something wrong there, we brought it to the committee along with our 1st complain. We told them what could possibly have happened. We also asked the committee to show us the receipt and after hours of hesitancy, they finally showed us the UK team receipt.
When we saw the receipt, we were shocked. The prices of all the items bought were all crossed off and changed into bigger amounts. We couldn’t believe that the committee didn’t even question that! The $920 were crossed and replaced with a handwritten amount of $2,616, $2160, $1500 and other big numbers next to it. It wasn’t only two that were crossed, but all 13 items!
Wow!
If it was that easy to win the competition we could’ve done the same. Just crossed the actual price and changed it to $5,000. After all, no one from Singapore Tourism Board would verify it with the store, right? But no, we did not do it because we wanted to play fair.
The Singapore Tourism Board committee had a long meeting on and off that night to discuss our request, I had no idea what they discussed really, I didn’t even understand what was there to discuss. If they really wanted to make everything straight, clear and transparent, they would have brought everyone together at the same table right away before everyone had left. (and showed us our receipts too!)
But since it was too late; the other team had left, the store had closed, there was really nothing we could do anymore. The committee suggested us to go back to the hotel and get a rest. At first they promised that the dispute will be followed through the Singapore Tourism Board office in Jakarta. Of course we refused the idea because Singapore Tourism Board Jakarta doesn’t have anything to do with it and we know once we left Singapore, we will never hear anything about it anymore. Then they promised to try their best to bring everyone together the next day.
The next day we got an SMS from Derek Liaw, the event manager from SPH Media Box who basically our liaison with Singapore Tourism Board. He told us that the meeting was set up at 6 PM (3 hours before our flight!) in Wisma Atria. We asked Derek if the sales lady, the key witness, would be there too since it would be pointless if she’s not there. Derek said he would send the request to Singapore Tourism Board.
So at six o’clock we went there and met the winner, Amanda Zuydervelt who stood not far from the escalator, and the first thing she said was, ‘YOU KNOW WHAT, this is my first day off in 30 days and it was ruined by you guys, I’M REALLY UPSET’ 
Not until the meeting was started that we understood why her day was ruined. Because she had to spend it all preparing her speech.
Yes, speech.
She wrote down every single word she wanted to say, page after page. She spent a great deal of time explaining about why, of all people, she would be the last person to cheat. She even thought it was important to try to intimidate us again and make us look like two ungrateful little Asians.
There was also one time when she played the ‘blonde moment’ by admitting that she didn’t know the currency of Malaysia. It speaks a lot about her credibility when Amanda Zuydervelt, as the founder of Stylebible.com didn’t know that an Anne Klein dress couldn’t possibly be priced at $2,000.
During the transaction, what my eyes saw was the sales lady only crossed two items, but I didn’t have the hard proof for the committee. Diana also heard that the sales lady told the UK team that the price was in Malaysian Ringgit. But we totally understand that they cannot just believe what we say. We knew we were in a weak position, that’s why we insisted to just bring the sales lady out.
But you know what? The sales lady wasn’t there because it was her day off. The Singapore Retail Association representative (I forgot her name), who obviously had the power to ask the other sales lady for her friend’s phone number and to ask her to come by, acted like there was nothing else she could do.
I then asked them why don’t we just ask the other sales lady, who was also behind the cash register when the UK team made the payment because that sales lady also told the team that the prices was in Malaysian Ringgit. But the Singapore Retail Association representative just brushed me off and said that that sales lady is not a trustable person.
We are very disappointed that The Singapore Tourism Board, who was supposed to be the neutral party, did not even try to summon the one person who could have verified the facts and settled the case once and for all.
Realizing that we would never came to a decision since the key witness wasn’t there and the fact that we had a flight to catch, made Diana just tell everyone firmly that there’s really no point of sitting here and discussing it because we don’t have the hard proof of everything we said, so point taken and case closed. And we walked out of the coffee shop with tears rolling down our faces. It was very frustrating for both of us.. 
After we left, we realized that there were a few points we missed. Well, English is not our first language and we didn’t come prepared with a speech, you know. We forgot to say that:
During the briefing, before the race started. Amanda Zuydervelt asked one question. And it was something along this line..
“If the price on the tag doesn’t match with the price on the printed receipt, can we match it with the price on the tag?”.
So, she did go to that store before the race (as confirmed by her Twitter) and she knew that it would be printed much less because the $2,000 was in Malaysian Ringgit. I also found a few other things she wrote that kind of raised a flag, like the ‘magic’ shop and the estimated saving she knew she could’ve saved after she visited that store (which was much less than $24,000)
By the way, Amanda was the winner of last year race too where she also ‘saved’ $25,000. And only Amanda Zuydervelt can save that much because the record before that was $14,451.
We were hoping that since The Singapore Tourism Board already know that the price was indeed in Malaysian Ringgit, they would at least make a correction to straighten the misleading information. Singapore is great for shopping, I would admit that, but saving that much is not going to happen. Especially not when you have to do it in less than 4 hours, not when you have to buy at least 9 different items in 3 different malls and not when you’re doing it FAIR and SQUARE, without the ‘magic’ store. But we are too naive to expect them to give such statement if they didn’t even have the courage to make us feel understood and fairly treated by giving us the acknowledgment that they know about the wrong currency on the price tag even though the misleading information work against to their advantage because that means the actual price in Singapore is much more expensive than the rest of the world. (Check the price of Anne Klein dresses here)
So that’s it. That’s our story. It’s sad that it had to happen. We like Singapore, we promote Singapore a lot in our network. We have worked together many times with Singapore Tourism Board in Jakarta office. In fact, there is one campaign lined up that unfortunately we have to cancel due to this It doesn’t feel right for us to proceed with the campaign as we don’t want our readers, who have supported us throughout the competition, to misinterpret our intention. We’re sorry that the Singapore Tourism Board Jakarta had to suffer the consequences of this incident but we feel that this is the best thing to do.
By reading this long post, we hope we don’t give you the impression that we’re just bitter we won third place and only pocketed $2,000 in cash. I just have to make it clear again in here that it’s not about the money, there’s a whole greater issue involved that is so principal and more important to us than just money.
It’s not easy for me to write this post as I have to consider other aspects, mainly out of respect for Singapore Tourism Board Jakarta office (they are inviting us for a meeting later on this evening to hear our side of story and see if there’s anything they can do). But I write it anyway because I owe you guys an explanation. Besides, we already informed Andrew Phua that we’re going to publish it in our blogs and he didn’t seem to see that it’s going to be a big deal.
—
The whole experience makes me wonder, is it really that hard to come out on top when you are playing fair? Is the world we live in really that corrupted? I know money can be blinding, although I don’t think any amount of money can ever justify sacrificing one’s integrity and dignity.
What I didn’t know was, there are people who have the position and the power to do something but don’t have the guts to do it. They choose to just play it safe and pick the easy way out. I mean, how can you just turn a blind eye and call it a day?.So sad!
But all in all, there’s no regret of joining the Great Singapore Sale shopping competition. We learned a lot about a lot of things, about life, about how the ‘system’ works and mostly about ourselves and what we’re made of. (Oh and I also learned that Diana Rikasari is such a remarkable person! I can’t praise her enough 
). We have nothing to be ashamed of. We came there with a determination to win, we played honest, we tried hard and planned it so well.
And most of all, we’re so glad that we had the COURAGE to take action and do something when we felt unfairly treated. We fought for our rights, for justice and for fairness.
What we fought for didn’t change the outcome, we didn’t get the prize that we think we deserve, and we didn’t get the confirmation that we were looking for, but it was worth fighting for and we went back home with our pride and dignity fully intact.
And we would not have it any other way
-
Click here to read Diana Rikasari story regarding the challenge. If you want to support us, you can spread this story by retweeting it or sharing it on your Facebook. Thank you for reading the longest post ever published in Fashionese Daily
Update: June 03 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sitta Karina, Fashionese Daily, Nukman Luthfie, yulia dela dacrea, de-chan and others. de-chan said: RT @fashionesedaily: [blog post] Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://fdly.me/cMdSjL #fb [...]
the UNFAIR singapore sale shopping challenge, ahaha. the "clean" neighbour is not that clean. http://bit.ly/cm2N3K http://bit.ly/cus2st
RT @bungtje: the UNFAIR singapore sale shopping challenge, ahaha. the "clean" neighbour is not that clean. http://bit.ly/cm2N3K http://b …
Btw, Singapore Shopping Race controversy, Hanzky (Team Indonesia)'s story here: http://bit.ly/9c3sgE
RT @fashionesedaily: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://bit.ly/9n3YYZ
RT @fashionesedaily: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://bit.ly/9n3YYZ
RT @fashionesedaily: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://bit.ly/9n3YYZ
read this. Singapore Great Sale http://fashionesedaily.com/blog/2010/06/02/great-singapore-sale-shopping-challenge-the-disappointing-part/
RT @fashionesedaily: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://bit.ly/9n3YYZ
RT @fashionesedaily: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://bit.ly/9n3YYZ
[From The Archive]: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://t.co/oBjj6X2e
"@fashionesedaily [From The Archive]GSS Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://t.co/oTCgcVBw" SG isn't good as it seems. ☺☹
[From The Archive]: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://t.co/oBjj6X2e
RT fashionesedaily: [From The Archive]: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://t.co/J2zLzM64
RT @fashionesedaily: [From The Archive]: Great Singapore Sale Shopping Challenge, The Disappointing Part http://t.co/J2zLzM64
“Panas” booook bacanyaaaa!!!!!
Hadeh. I’ll spread this story for sure!
Ckckckckckck, don’t know what to say after reading ur post here. It feels like i can feel that disappointment, that anger, and those sadness.
So sad, really sad, that Singapore Tourism Board didn’t seem to bother to do a really fair game. So what’s the point of this race actually if u can not give a transparent and fair game?
And for you, Amanda Zuydervelt, I feel pity for you.. A big looser winner..
Whewww….. it must be hard to accept this is happened in the “clean” country. Bravo for you two, You do the right things :twothumbup:
i was so annoying when i read fashionesedaily’s timeline at the day of the race. now i am reading its full story, and it’s getting me worse. how can they do it to us? Or to other participant? I mean, where did they put integrity, and professionalism? I really can’t believe it. Of course, will try to post it in my blog and facebook and twitter. So upset! X(
Shocked reading this but im so proud of both of you, played fair no cheat both of you are truly winners in my heart girls.
” We fought for our rights, for justice and for fairness” that the point…setuju bangeet
Dear Hanzky,
I really feel sorry for you both. I personally shocked while reading your whole story, because I know Singapore reputation before, as a “clean” and “honest” country.
But well, bad people are like rats & cockroaches. You will find em everywhere you go!
Don’t worry dear, we are here to fully support you. And I believe in karma.
Thanks for sharing this stroy and PLEASE.. put a smile on that beautiful faces cheers xx
That was such an awful ordeal! I’m sorry you girls had to experienced this. Who knew that you had to be involved in that dirty “politics” for shopping challenge. You girls stood up for your right and I couldn’t admire you more. Bravo!!!
So the shop had clothing with tags marked in $ which you believe to be RM.
Whos is at fault here. The tourist board ? The other competitors ?
No that would be the shop.
If you had bought the items that the shop had made an error on I guess you would have told them to them to use the correct price not the price marked on the tag!
tahun lalu amanda juga menang dan dia berasal dari UK
Singapore kan bekas jajahan UK, apa jangan2 ada laksa di balik big ben nih….
Never trust singaporean. And they dont care about indonesian either. If the one who is complaining from UK, I bet the boss will apologized and settle everything at once. Nothing coming from there is sincere.
I suggest write this on newspaper, or get it published somewhere and sent the printed copy to Singapore tourism board. Let them know you girls have power to tell the story to many other ladies who are potential spender in singapore. Hit them hard, so they will be sorry messing with indonesian.
adohhhhhhhhh… g gregetan!!!!! apalagi pas question dia yg ini : “If the price on the tag doesn’t match with the price on the printed receipt, can we match it with the price on the tag?”.
whatttt!!!! berarti taon lalu dia menangnya jg gitu, makanya dia bisa nanya pertanyaan gitu.
tp dari pihak panitia nya koq jg ga bisa tranparan ya huhuhuh…
eniwei.. congratz both of u (hanzky n diana) *HUGE APPLAUSE…
satu kata buat Amanda Zuydervelt…..shame on you! and satu kata lagi buat STB and related authories….why can you be justice and fair??
Geeeezzzz…. That’s so dirty,well but at least you guys stood up for your dignity
and that makes you the real winner
They can cheat all they want,but now the whole world will know that amanda zuydervelt is not trustworthy
And anything that comes out of her,blog,website,recommendation… Anything… Is just as fake as her
Cheer up…
saking penasaran ama org yg bernama amanda zuydervelt gw cari di uncle google, dptlah inih http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/travel/2010/02/05/singapore-shop-till-you-drop-115875-22021962/ ada kata2 “killed” sombong bgt dese ngalahin 19 contestant lain.
bravo for Hanzky and Diana…
so… the result is… cinta tanah air, cinta produk dalam negri, travelling dalam negri…
I thought the point of this race is ‘having fun’. Never imagine someone would do anything, ANYthing, including cheating or even put down their own dignity, to win the race.
I thought Singaporeans are ‘cleanest’ individuals compare to other countries. Guess ‘rats’ now build their nest there, huh?
I don’t think that tourism board, whatsoever, make this issue a big deal. At least we know what kind those people are…
I’m proud of you, Hanzky & Diana
You have learn so much and show us how remarkable in fighting the truth…
Off course we are not talking about money, the prize and NOT only about shopping value.
But you have shown us how an Indonesia lady can stand firm for the pride. Salut!
This is the thing that make us different from other resident, cause we are Indonesian who always be resilient for a good value
I guess Singapore Tourism Board just choose the “biggest amount” of saving. The bigger saving amount will be better for their great sale promotion around the world.
hehehe baru aja search nama amanda zuydervelt.. reputasi na di dunia maya dah mantep bener ya, walo ternyata …….
td iseng baca twitter na, dari timeline na nunjukin betapa bangga na dia as the winner of this competition
nambah lagi… search nama dia juga kuar di om google link blog ini muwahahahaha…. moga2 banyak yg baca :p
I have read your story and think that you sound like a really bad loser.
I think you have spoilt the whole event and been very rude about the winners.
Did you ask for the 2nd place winners receipts to be re-calculated? Doesn’t sound like it.
AND who says that you can not visit shops before the race to prepare?
What you seem to forget is that this was a COMPETITIAN!!!!!!! There is always winners and losers! You are a really bad loser.
Gilaaa…emosi gw bacanya!!..duh gak bisa berkata-kata deh. Proud of you Hanzky and Diana also, hal yg kayak gini jangan takut buat di sounding, kalau perlu di tereakin! yook rame2!!
Impartial reader: Thank you for the comment, you are entitled to your opinion and I respect that
.
I have no business asking the receipts of the 2nd place winners. I asked mine because I wanted to recalculate it and I asked for the receipt of the 1st place winner because I knew where they shopped and how much those items cost. The total saving couldn’t possibly be up to $24,000.
I didn’t say we were not allowed to visit shops. In fact, we were encouraged to do that and do some research, and if you read carefully, I mentioned that I also visited that shop before the race started
. I brought up that point to emphasize that Amanda visited the store before the race and knew about the difference between the price on the tag and the one that would be printed.
Hope that clears out the confusion.
Jason I think you need to reread the post
Thank you supportnya yaa semuanya..:) I do not have the intention to bring it out to a bigger media…just wanted to let it out of my system for once and for all.
@impartial reader or amanda fan whosoever,
COMPETITION mbak, bukan COMPETITIAN!
Dan hanzky & diana gue rasa ngga perlu re-calculated the runner-up receipts,
Kenapa? Soalnya hasil kalkulasi yg diperoleh mereka itu 12.000, sementara 2nd place cuma 11.000.
Ngerti nggak?
Kalo ngga monggo googlin’ lagi gih, anda nemu tulisan di blog ini jg karena hati ngga tenang kan, makanya penasaran sampe search di web?
Dan saya males ngomong inggris sama situ, abis situ dijelasin pake bahasa inggris juga kagak ngarti.
Buat Hanzky & Diana, tetap semangat!
A statement from the UK team
We are saddened to read your account of events. We had no intention of cheating nor did we act dishonestly and we feel this is a case of bad sportsmanship.
I was part of the team that won the competition last year, spending only $600 of the allotted $1000 and we made bigger savings than we did winning it this year – so I was aware that savings of up to 96% were possible, as your blog also pointed out. We scouted the shops and found a store that offered such savings, each of the price tags were labelled in Dollars and given we were shopping in Singapore we had no reason to suspect that the price actually shown was in Malaysian Ringgits. At no point in originally scouting that store, or making our initial purchases were we informed the price tags were incorrectly labelled.
We arrived at the shop first, enabling us to purchase the items with the largest savings – we also spent more money in that shop than any other team – meaning that our savings would have been the highest. It had however been pointed out to us by a shop assistant that the prices had already been marked down and therefore didn’t always reflect the original price – the competition rules state that in that event, the original price should be marked on the receipt. Something we requested when it came to paying the bill. When paying the bill both teams had chaperons to ensure ‘fair play’, as your photograph shows, our chaperon was standing next to us at the till! There were 3 shops assistants and the prices noted on our receipt were completed by the stores representatives – the lady on the till marked the first 2 prices, she then handed the receipt to her assistant who corrected the other prices, at NO point did we ever come into contact with the receipt as this was handed over to our chaperon for tabulation, the receipt was also signed by a representative of the store. Given our savings last year we had no reason to believe that the price was incorrect or in a different currency. Malaysian Ringgits has the RM symbol and the Singapore currency is represented by a dollar – no items we purchased were marked with the RM symbol. We left that shop confident we had purchased ALL of the highest priced items thus securing the biggest savings; despite the fact we noticed other teams adding to their initial purchases once they had seen our strategy in spending the largest sum possible.
At the end of the day, we still had $119 left, so we decided to go back to the first shop and spent the remaining amount. When we returned we found a pink jacket that was originally priced at $980 that had been reduced to $70 – however when we reached the till – the shop owner pointed out a large red label was marked RM200 – she explained that the price was in Ringgits and that the dollar amount was incorrect. We put the jacket back and selected a different item. At this stage we still had NO reason to believe a mistake had been made on our previous purchases – all the price tags on our items were in Dollars NONE had an RM amount stated.
When we were announced the winners we had no reason to believe that anything was untoward. It was only after the competition that the concerns from the Indonesian team came to light, we were initially told that the Indonesian team were questioning their total as they believed the Singapore Tourist Board calculated their winnings incorrectly – at this stage there was no accusation that we had acted in any way dishonestly.
It was only the following day that we were accused of cheating, something that wouldn’t sit comfortably with anyone. Out of respect to the Singapore Tourist Board we attended a meeting to ‘clear the air’. The main accusation they levelled at us was that we were aware that the price was in Ringgits, something that we were categorically not told when initial scouting the shop or paying for the initial items. I would also add that the chaperons for BOTH teams were present and both stated they did not hear the shop assistant state the price was in Ringgits; the chaperons are there to ensure fair play so had either suspected that was the case they would have been bound to say something. Furthermore if the price was in RM not dollars why did the shop assistant update the receipt and SIGN IT showing a Dollar amount?
When this was brought up, the Indonesian team then said they wanted the shop assistant to verify the receipt, effectively now not only calling us cheats, but declaring the chaperons to be liars! If any mistake was made, it was made on the part of the shop, not us and we had no control over that. Even taking into account a mistake made by the shop and converting the price to Dollars, on our first purchase alone we would have had a total saving of $14.420 which would still put us in 1st place.
I was taught that when you enter a competition, you enter with the goal of winning, if you don’t win, you lose gracefully and that is something the Indonesian team clearly need to learn. An enquiry was held both on the night of the competition and the day after, and on both occasions we were declared to be the winners with NO foul play. The rules state the judge’s decision is final, we won fair and square and we now feel it is grossly unfair for you to continue with your false accusations.
Amanda: To quote your statement “Even taking into account a mistake made by the shop and converting the price to Dollars, on our first purchase alone we would have had a total saving of $14.420 which would still put us in 1st place”
No, honey… you’d be disqualified for cheating
And if you said we have to learn how to lose gracefully, maybe next time you should learn how to earn your winning with honesty, integrity and dignity
such a long post.
anyway there is nothing you can do about that.the committee of the competition had been corrupted in the first place.at least you fought through the end.that’s what make all of this experience worthwhile.
In response to Vanya – We were categorically not aware the price was in Ringgits, every item we purchased was listed in Dollars with no RM amount stated. When the confused pricing was brought to light AFTER the event, we would still have been the winners given that we spent the largest amount in the store and bought the highest priced items. There was two enquiries and both found us to be the winners with NO foul play so no we would not have been disqualified and it is unfair to now call us cheats.
Kayaknya ada pendukungnya winnernya nya nih disini…hahahhahahah…aku pake bahasa indo aja ah komennya.
Singapore yg ktnya negara bersih tnyata ngga juga ya, yg ktnya rules nya plg strict tnyata ga juga ya.
Sutralah han, yg penting smua org udh tau the whole story
Reading all the posts I can’t help but feel the shop is at fault, there was clearly confusion in the pricing and that isn’t either of the teams fault. This does happen and that’s why life is so challenging!
hey babe, anything we could do to help? my team was in the shop too, also confused by the prices. I can elaborate if you want. So sorry you guys had to go through all that, we left right after the announcement, haha.
lol…sorry to say this…but yeah, apparently we’re not ‘smart’ enough yes?
have the competition run for you only
but above all, i’m very proud that we have dignity, and self-confidence.
smart is nothing without dignity, specially if it was used cheaply like this.
go win another year and years to come then dears
Kok rasanya ada intrik dibalik perlombaan ini. Menurut gw dr pihak sgp nya ada kerja sama dengan pemenangnya ini.
1. Kenapa dia tidak bisa menghadirkan SA yg mengganti hrg di receipt, krn dia yg paling ngerti. Sepertinya ada kesengajaan dsini.
2. Kenapa gw bilang intrik, krn mgkn dr pihak sgp nya mau kelihatan, wow shopping di sgp pas great sale bener2 hemat. Bayangkan saja shopping dibawah 1000$ bisa menghemat sampai dengan 24.000$.
Kalo menurut gw, Gak masuk akal banged dan ini cm belanjaannya merk level Anne klein. Meskipun Chanel diskon 90% aja ga mungkin bisa hemat segitu banyak dengan limit belanja dibawah 1000 $.
Amanda: Can’t wait to see your next year “trick” for this race. Cannot use this trick liaw, everybody already know hor.
@amanda, @fashionese & @stb: the key is transparancy. until the calculation is opened, this story will cast a doubt on the future challenge. reading from fashionese’s account, all i can say is i can’t blame them to think and feel as they did.
unbelievable! singapore gitu..? edun.. panasss…!
Dear Amanda,
Thank you for stopping by. You have every right to say whatever you want to say and I don’t have any more to add in response to your comment as I have laid out everything I wanted to say in my post =)
Syuaip Thank you for understanding. Yupe, the key issue in here is transparancy
Nasa I will email you. Thanks, babe!.
kebayang pinter banget ‘speech’-nya miss juara satu ituh…
next time, kalo ada kesempatan lagiii.. jangan lupa difoto2in semua receiptnya sebelum diserahin ke panitia. kalo bisa sih cari tukang FOTOKOPI. biar jelas dan kita pegang bukti.
tapi kalo urusan yg satu lagi “kepintaran” miss juara itu, emang susah ya untuk dibuktiin.
masa mesti di shoot video biar ada bukti??
gw rasa ga perlu di published, cukup di sini jg udah cukup luas deh buat dibaca orang banyak, tmasuk STB-nya.. (hopefully)
retweet & fb kan ccukup powerfuuuulll.. hehehe
bravo lah pokoknya buat hanzky & diana!! *_^
komen bahasa endonesa aja aaah..
kebayang pinter banget ‘speech’-nya miss juara satu ituh…
next time, kalo ada kesempatan lagiii.. jangan lupa difoto2in semua receiptnya sebelum diserahin ke panitia. kalo bisa sih cari tukang FOTOKOPI. biar jelas dan kita pegang bukti.
tapi kalo urusan yg satu lagi “kepintaran” miss juara itu, emang susah ya untuk dibuktiin.
masa mesti di shoot video biar ada bukti??
gw rasa ga perlu di published, cukup di sini jg udah cukup luas deh buat dibaca orang banyak, tmasuk STB-nya.. (hopefully)
retweet & fb kan ccukup powerfuuuulll.. hehehe
bravo lah pokoknya buat hanzky & diana!! *_^
We don’t need Singapore to shop, but Singapore market needs us.
Support Jakarta Great Sale instead!
Congrats Hanzky and Diana for staying true to your values and relentlessly fought for your rights
One thing that crosses my mind when hearing this story first hand from Hanzky and reading this post was, how could the race committee accept receipts which have been crossed out and handwritten without any questions and verifications? That is NOT fair to the other participants who also shop at that particular store and did NOT have their prices corrected! So if the shop is at fault here for having such confusing price tags, Singapore Tourism Board, as the race committee, should have done something about it because this could have affected the whole outcome of the race.
And what’s with not wanting to show the calculations openly? Why didn’t they bring the shopkeeper to the meeting which could’ve resolved the issue easily?
Sorry, but I think the system was flawed and STB was too arrogant to admit it.
” But the Singapore Retail Association representative just brushed me off and said that that sales lady is not a trustable person ”
How can we spend our money there, if we can not trust the shop?? how can they hire someone they can not trust?? weird!!
” But the Singapore Retail Association representative just brushed me off and said that that sales lady is not a trustable person ”
How can we spend our money there, if we can not trust the shop?? how can they hire someone they can not trust?? weird!!
nice campaign GSS
Amanda…
let me ask this question. if you and hanzky & diana shopped in the same store..how come the receipt is different?
how come yours had been crossed and changed into bigger amounts?
how come hanzky & diana receipt wasn’t crossed?
because YOU asked them to cross it right?
or did you cross it yourself?
TERUSKAN sampe ke akar2nya! What a sham!!
Singapore is a very desperate country trying to rebuild on the wake of their bleaked economy. They are pushing hard for publicity and awareness to attract more visitors and shoppers there, and they will do whatever they can as long as it generates publicity including CHEATING! They treat visitors and foreigners with such grandeur but treat locals like low grade animals. It is sad that Singapore, allegedly corruption and nepotism free supports this kind of behavior. Unfortunately they picked the wrong individuals to go against and will certainly cost them a fortune in Publicity. What a Genius.
Indonesia remains to be the biggest source of visitors in Singapore, way much larger than the number of visitors from UK, Australia and USA combined. Outside of UK business travelers and professionals, most UK tourist are backpackers and budget travelers who have no intention whatsoever to shop in Singapore. On the other hand, Indonesians storm the country at any available opportunity with the most Total expenditure rates compared to other countries in the segment.
Bad bad move by STB for as a whole, and certainly not the type of publicity that Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board would like to get especially for the Indonesian public. STB is a MORON and someone their deserve to be FIRED!
memalukan..dateng dr negara maju..bukannya kasih contoh yang bagus buat kita..malah kelakuannya sama aja ma koruptor..pindah kesini aja Mba Juara 1…temennya banyak tuh…
salut buat Hanni n Diana…both of you already be a winner in other way…
I shop bargain all the time, and I know my way around sales bins. Even at Walmart you don’t get 96% discount, let alone at malls.
We love and support you, Hanzky and Diana!
Bloody Hell! Shame on you UK team and Singapore Tourism.
So sorry for you Hanzky, Duhhhh gregetan deh pas bacanya. Ternyata ga fair banget yah racenya
“She even thought it was important to try to intimidate us again and make us look like two ungrateful little Asians.”
wow…., that was totally enraging Hanzky, im glad u guys fought for your rights.
this sucks, big time.
i think there’s a possibility AZ just knew the loophole in the competition… and as Affi said, there’s a flaw in the system and STB just didnt want to admit anything.
Well done hanzy & diana!! thank you for sharing..
Kok aneh ya, apa emang peraturannya ‘pemenang’ taun lalu bisa ngikut lagi gitu? Enak banget. Dan menurut gue, pihak panitianya ga bakalan mau mengakui kesalahan, deh. Malu aja kali mereka ketahuan belangnya ngga bisa ngurusin event kayak gini dengan baik.
Ah, konspirasi ini mah.
Gpp, Hanzky + Diana. You’re still the winner, Ladies!
Its the systems fault. They won it last year, they knew the tricks and now they won it again. Definitely knew the loophole and flaws in the system. Now they playing the dumb and innocent game you bloody cheaters.
After reading everything and if singapore tourism board still ignorant we can conclude that
1. The stuff in singapore is expensive (2000 sing dollars for an anne klein dress?)
2. Singapore sales person is not trustable. Therefore, do not shop in singapore.
Nice move, singapore tourism board…
For “rets” – So, I made a typing error…….BIG DEAL!!!! There are plenty of other posts with spelling and grammatical errors…… Is that the best insult you can come up with just because you don’t like a personal opinion????
and for the record – I don’t know Amanda in the UK Team.
However – I do think you should all be careful with what you say about other people.
If you are all so wonderful and act with “integrity” and “dignity” to fight for your “justice” after being “unfairly treated” – do you not think it is HYPOCRITICAL to now be unfairly accusing the UK Team of something they didn’t do PLUS the judges agreed on two occasions they had done nothing wrong.
- “What we fought for didn’t change the outcome, we didn’t get the prize that we think we deserve…” – That’s because Team Indonesia were not fighting for anything other than the money.
“…and we didn’t get the confirmation that we were looking for” – That’s because there WAS NO confirmation to have!
You lost fair and square – now grow up!
Duh, han … ikut panas bacanya … mau seneng2 di S’pore koq malah urusannya jadi runyam … tau gitu pas di tokonya minta diprint double receipt ya … jadi hanny punya pegangan receipt sendiri …
Anyway, ya udah lah let it go … yg waras ngalah … hiuehiuehiue
Hanzky & Diana.. so proud of you both.
I do understand your concern.. it’s not about WIN or LOSE, it’s not about money. it’s about Transparency, integrity and fairness.
and I really appreciate that you came out with the decision to brought this dispute to the committee. I believe it’s not easy for you guys to do this outthere! It’s your right anyway and your request was very simple if the committee was honest. You did the right thing and you must stand proud of what you did, Eventho it costs you a lot of time and energy and brought tears to you
Amanda… if you read between the lines, sadly to repeat again, it’s not about win or loose, or the amount of money.
You may bring the money and the Winner plague with you, but you can’t bring the dignity.
Committee, if there is an ethical competition said to be there, then you are really the LOSER. and if you think you can just ignore this, then you’re living in a jungle with no homo sapiens around.
Singapore Tourism Board, don’t be a fool by thinking that Singapore is the only place to stop by. there are many places that more attractive that we can choose to stop and shop, honey!
@impartial
The Indonesian team didn’t win. That’s a fact. It’s true. But, I think this post is not about “the money”. That’s not the main issue. I heard what happened directly, about what Hanzky and her partner saw there, what they experienced there. But, it came into a conclusion that it’s not about the money, at all. It’s more about how the race was running.
IF the committee had their own argument, that would be great. And, IF Indonesian team were wrong — made mistakes — with their argument, I believe they will apologize and accept the result. It’s fair.
So, I think the issue was simple: clarification. It won’t hurt.
Yeah, just my $0.02
hi impartial.. uhm really? u dont know them? i wonder why u react so emotionally then
uhm in my opinion the singaporean tourism board clearly feels that the UK team have bigger PR value than the indonesian team. its as simple as that. the goal of this competition is to create free publicity.. so i think they want more of those european tourist to come and spend all of their money in singapore.
personally i think its a bad2 move. because if im european why bother going alllll the way to singapore if i can shop in florence factory outlet for branded bags? plus i can just wait for sale season where everything are disc up to 70 percent or more
hey even the singaporean shop in europe 
all in all as an avid reader of the blog and the forum i know you integrity
you are a good person. u are just a victim of PR publicity stunt.
instead of promoting singapore great sale and places to shop in singapore lets start promoting jakarta great sale maybe? or mangga dua bargaining tips
Not sure about your dignity…..you have certainly made yourselves look like very poor losers……nothing to indicate the other team cheated only apparent victims of circumstance…..
You were all in the shops together and had the same opportunies…..in your initial comments you raised the issue of the UK team having visited the shops as though they had done something wrong to gain unfair advantage and then later in your responce to someone you pointed out you had all been encouraged to visit the shops to do research…..
Unfortunately despite being given the opportunity to prove any claim of cheating or irregularity you failed to do so, the organisers were obviously happy with the decision and I am sure they were just as keen as you to see a fair and correct outcome. So presumably it is also the organisers that you are accusing of being incorrect as well as the UK team.
Having read Amanda’s responce it certainly raises more questions with regards to your own behaviour and claims of ‘dignity’ and ‘pride’…..especially given the somewhat personal attack you seemed to have levelled against her ( hardly dignified )
I think you have done very little to help your argument or the reputation of the competition and it is very sad that such an event has been spoilt in this way.
Bluesparkling’s comments interestingly implying that you are ‘different’ from others because you are Indonesian……why does that make you better????
Let’s hope you can prove yourselves in next years competition and ensure your dignity helps overcome the apparent problem you have with not winning.
Best wishes to you all
Abdulla
hahahahahahahah – Dee – it’s not an emotional reaction based on knowing anybody…….
I do not live in the UK or Singapore and have never met Amanda – I think the comments on this blog are all bias and I am sticking up for the innocent victims (Amanda AND the Singapore Tourist Board) who are being defamed by everyone else.
I agree with all the other bloggers – you shouldn’t go to Singapore and ruin a lovely place with your moaning.
@impartial said “do you not think it is HYPOCRITICAL to now be unfairly accusing the UK Team of something they didn’t do PLUS the judges agreed on two occasions they had done nothing wrong.”
what the UK team did or didn’t do, that’s what we are questioning.
how can u be so sure that they didnt do? are u part of the team or did you urself follow them around during the contest that you are so sure? or are u the shop lady?
if you dont know or not sure or not the shop lady, then just shut up and stop calling people hyprocrites.
and Grow up.
AZ darl, calling these girls ‘bad sportsmanship’ is a bit rich coming from you..
You may claim ignorance on the race day that, what you may have assumed as SGD price tag was infact in MYR.. but once enlightened that your assumption was false, shouldn’t your ‘abundant’ sportsmanship quality have surfaced by say, being sympathetic and being more understanding to the girls???
and where is this so called ‘magic’ shop that confuses SGD with MYR??.. that’s an untapped gold mine.. imagine the GST refund one can claim by inflating the price by simply showing the MYR equivalent price tag and to receive the refund in SGD..
Thanks to the lovely people of STB the internet world now knows about that this ‘untapped goldmine’ exists…
must go now.. toodles! xoxo
Abdulla – well said!
Abdulla,
They were NOT given opportunity to prove their suspicions because STB couldn’t bring the key witness (a.k.a the shopkeeper) to the meeting AND STB also refused to show them their receipts and tabulation result. That is the point.
And Hanzky did not bring up the fact that Amanda went to the store because it was against the rules to do so, everyone was clear on that, but it was in relation to the question Amanda had asked to the committee before the race started (about whether it’s ok to change the amount on the receipt if it didn’t match the amount on the price tag).
Hanzky and Diana could be wrong about their suspicion, as Hanzky clearly said on the blog post above, but they never had the chance to confirm that.
impartial
You didn’t give any argument on why you think these girls are “rude” and “bad losers”. Judging from your comments, you think that speaking up and fighting for fairness and justice is “moaning” and without explaining why, you draw conclusions that Amanda and STB are the innocent ones. Who’s bias now?
even though it’s entitled with SINGAPORE GREAT SALE, we all know, these Indonesian shoppers who take Singapore as their second home kno wThe SALE never ever happened to give 96%!!!!it’s one of Singapore tourist attraction labeled that way!! There’s sale in fact, but not greater than 30%!!!
NEVER EVER!!!
once again, NEVER EVER!!!!
Then here comes the statement!
that Mrs Amanda lived in such a great “fortune” way to shop Anne Klein’s and more within 96% off.
Not only once. TWICE!!!!!
Wooooow…bener2 yah…bacanya….gak profesional sekali singapore….gak ada penyesalan ya..yg penting udah diperjuangkan….hmmm….semangat !!!! Sukses buat diana n hanny
seems to me like you just got a lot of your friends to try and make you feel better about coming 3rd ( you didn’t even make 2nd ) lol so you can’t be that good…..
did 2nd place cheat as well….how come they’re not complaining…..sounds like you Indonesians got a big chip on your shoulders…i keep hearing ‘Indonesian’, ‘pride’, ‘dignity’ and fair…..is easy to put someone down then get your ‘local’ friends to come support you because you are a bad loser…..you show no grace in defeat and are very poor example for Indonesians and this website…….
you are not a good example for Singapore Tourist Board……maybe you should not bother next year in case you get beat again then who do you blame……’little green me’
like impartial said you need to grow up and not act like spoilt little girls
imparsial : hehe telling others not to visit singapore because they will ruin the lovely place is NOT emotional? relax, its not like this article will create public outrage against amanda or singapore
i can relate with hanzky because ive had my fair share of disappointment with the tourism board.. but hey it doesnt stop me to go back to singapore.. it is still a good shopping destination whenever im in asia
i just learn from my bad experience and move on.. every place have their own “charm” right?
You know – All this rubbish about “speaking up for fairness and justice” – get a life…. it’s a freakin shopping competition.
I have no vested interest in this other than to waste your time and annoy you all :0)
impartial Hey..you again. I guess I don’t have anything to add, really. Feel free to comment though if you still have more things to say.
Abdulla Maybe you need to reread my post, I know it’s long and maybe not eloquently written but your comment shows that you missed a few points I wrote.
foo I won’t be back next year, that’s for sure.
Noted about the grow up part. Like I said in my post, I learned a lot from this competition
.
ha…..
‘little green men’ even
oh no are you going to have a go at me for making a spelling mistake as well…..
Impartial, stop waisting my time (lol) …..no no no ……this is not JUST a shopping competition it obviously means SOOOOOOoooooooo much to these poor losers that they want everyone to feel sorry for them as well…..ha ha
maybe next year i enter as well and beat you all then you can come and complain to me….OR kiss my winning a**
X
ha
Foo, you’re from the UK too right? We won’t be surprised if you do participate next year and win the race because you sure can ask for some “magic” tips from Amanda
XOXO
Lyda
Hanzky, my apologies if that is the case but unfortunately as this blog has just shown, I am not sure it’s worth it now.
The damage is done to you, the UK team and to the Singapore Tourist Board, maybe you should have thought a little harder about your actions, intentions and urgency to prove to the world you have retained your dignity.
Unfortunately a poor loser is a poor loser and it’s how you handle that that determines whether you are ever really going to be a winner.
Think hard next time….
Regards
Abdulla
Foo: ” maybe next year i enter as well and beat you all then you can come and complain to me….OR kiss my winning a** ”
Man, u need to grow up indeed!!!
Hey lydia, yeah I live in UK but am from Hong Kong ( the foo is kindof a giveaway really )
You guys serioulsy need to chill or will bring my own little green aliens and buy every item from every shop myself….
And sure if I can get ‘magic’ tips from Amanda that would be cool…..I already know how to do card tricks and can ride a bicycle with a monkey on my head while drinking a glass of water ( that’s me not the monkey )….
Is that Lydia or Lyda…..jeez can’t you even spell your own name, don’t you know there is people on here that will shoot you for that…
X
fo
OMG You GUYSSSS…..I JUST FOUND SOMETHING!!
Amanda was also accused last year by the Australian Team who was suspicious that the UK team has reserved some of the items before the race…..
…& it was also ANNE KLEIN dresses who she said was priced $2000.
No ANNE KLEIN Dresses is priced at $2000, dumbass. Perhaps its the same store that gets the stuff from Malaysia too.
ONCE a cheater always a cheater!!!!!!
Go read stylebible.com, read may 2009 of the editors blog.
Don’t let her get away with this cheating again. OMG I can’t believe Singapore Tourism Board have been fooled by this UK woman twice…………..shameshameshameshame!!. that’s $20,000 Singapore tourism board gave away to her in total…..
Good job hanzky & diana for being so critical.
she protected her twitter account now….but i already read about the ‘magic’ shop…LOL….
huh? surely if she really cheated she wouldnt blog about it?
am not sticking up for her but just saying that i think if she had really cheated she wouldnt have written about it.
i am singaporean and i think this is all pretty bad stuff. i think it is unfair to blame singapore and the tourist board and i know someone who entered the competition and they told me that there are chaperones for every team doing all the purchases so i am not sure whether i believe that uk team cheated because the chaperones were impartial, or possibly just that the shop made a mistake and uk got lucky
Mbak Hanzky tetap semangatt ^^
Hanzky & Diana,
Gw turut prihatin dengan kelakuan panitia lomba yang terkesan ngasal & males banget.
Tapi tetep bergembira kalian sempet ngerasain “the fun part” balapan belanja STB.
Trus tentu saja ikut bangga atas segala usaha untuk mendapatkan perlakuan yang jujur dari panitia.
Bravo!!!
hang on?? where did the previous comments go from Foo??
Censorship in full swing.
Of course – couldn’t expect anything fair from this site – take down what you don’t like…..
wow imparsial you really do love this amanda person.. u wait for every single reply and memorize it. im amaze
hanzky and diana sabar ya, dengan banyak nya comment aneh dari random people ini menandakan ada yang kelabakan sama blog post ini.. semangattt yahhhhhhh
AbdallaPoint taken, thank you for the advice
impartial Don’t worry, I can handle educated critics. Here are the comments from foo that I deleted. They are deleted because they are rubbish…and of Foo went to the Spam folder. Don’t worry though, he might come back with a different name/different IP address. Anything else?
“ahh wait….someone wanted to tell me to grow up but not man enough to use their own name…..”
“There is an imposter on here…….!!!!!!”
“last time I looked there was only one of me here”
“hey who’s that pretending to be me”
Rissa That’s an interesting finding you have..:D. I’ll go read some more after this…
Waduh, rame di sindang.
Han, great post. Makes me proud to be in the FD team!
So did you get any prize for coming in 3rd?
I’m still interested in the ugly shoes if there are size 38-39 there…
As to the truth, I see the can of worms has been opened. Australian team last year, Indonesia team this year, and the same Anne Klein dress, from the same store. Actually, it’s kinda funny. I mean, are Singaporeans really that gullible?
Apparently…. yes.
Still under the thumb of the Brits, eh?
Next year we should find a store selling in Rupiah; probably not hard to find an Indonesian-owned store somewhere in Sin. Imagine the savings, from Rp2 million to Sin$2!
Folks, after reading the story and read some of the comments above, understanding the phenomenon. Here’s some possible educated guess:
1.) Ms Amanda Zuydervelt and UK team is a Shopping Genius.
2.) Singapore Tourism Board is a complete idiot for letting the same team won not once, but TWICE.
3.) Ms Amanda Zuydervelt knew it was wrong, almost got caught last year and got away with it again this year.
4.) For the sake of publicity, Singapore Tourism Board plotted a scheme to make the UK team appears as a shopping genius and portray themselves as idiots.
Only Singapore Tourism Board knew and have the power to straigthen things out if they wanted to be transparent.
I am singaporean and i object to your comment Lena.
This blog and the ensuing comments has totally degenerated into racial slurs; regardless of whether the uk team did cheat or not; this blog followers have now shown themselves to be racist (against brits and singaporeans) and completely lacking in any dignity whatsoever. ironic, as you all go on about it so much.
the more i read this the more you seem like really sore losers. i am proud to be singaporean and certainly will not be following this blog anymore. i took a look at the stylebible website and it is much nicer looking too.
buat yg males nyari:http://stylebible.com/Establishment/EditorsBlog/Blog.aspx
first of all, how can the committee accept manually crossed off receipts in the first place?! THAT in itself is very questionable.
Also, if it were a S$2000 dress it’ll translate to roughly US$1400. AK’s dresses are no where near the US$1000 mark anyway, as AK’s link has shown. sure, prices get marked up when you bring goods in from overseas but it wouldn’t be THAT outrageously different otherwise no one would buy them.
dodgy that this mix up in pricing can happen twice!! lets all wait and see if this trickery can be pulled off for a third time.
i googled and didnt find any writing from the Australian runner ups from last year, so apparently the issue was clear according to them (the accusations were of the UK team pre-booking the items, not about the notable price difference).
hey coco, i don’t see anything racist from all the previous comments, in fact we were actually praising singaporean cause they are known to be clean and honest.. and we don’t hate amanda cause she’s british.. we are talking about her actions.. my sister lives in singapore, most of my friends too.. then how am i able to hate singapore… oh let’s just put a stop on this.. it’s just getting nasty and unhealthy..
aha, touched a nerve, have i, coco? if it gets the attention of the right authorities, and gets them to move their butt to resolve the queries in a transparent and fair way, then slur has achieved it’s goal. after all, rational reasoning apparently is not (yet) working.
enjoy your stay at the stylebandit!
Agreed with [b]Syuaip.[/b]
The key is transparency! If the Singapore Tourism Board is being transparent and willing to open all evidence, then none of this would’ve happened.
I can understand that “jury’s decision is final” in every competition, but this competition is based on calculation. Unlike beauty pegeants where jury’s decision is based on subjectivity. So, it is only fair to open the calculation to every participant when a reasonable doubt has arised. Bring up all witnesses (store keepers and chaperons) and all evidences (receipts of all participants, items bought from the store and their correct prices) to clear things up.
That way, the comittee will remain as respectable jury and the race is kept fair and square.
This is just so disappointing. A splatter of ink to the face of Singapore Tourism Board. I’m personally proud of Hani and Rika for standing up to their rights. You’ve done great, ladies!
Deevin:
Vian described singapore as supposedly “clean” country ( ie the emphasis on supposedly )
DewDew referred to singaporeans as rats
Suhakri said never trust singaporeans
Saputra describes Singapore as a desperate country ( i laughed at this as i assume saputra is writing from indonesia… )
Lena – said that Singaporeans are gullible and under the thumb of the Brits.
Cannot even be bothered to read through any more of the posts as they now just all lack credibility to me. i will tell all my singaporean friends what bad losers the indonesian team were and how they got all their friends to say bad things about us.
Incidentally, i spoke to a friend who told me that their friends actually won the year before last( was NOT the UK ) and they were also accused of cheating. It seems this competition just attracts bad sportsman who accuse winning teams of cheating because they cannot handle the fact they are losers.
disti, very good point. such a savings just implies that outside of the great sale event, singapore prices are abnormally overpriced and marked up.
really, all these is just amounting to bad publicity for singapore, i really wonder why they just let is slip by, considering they always say customer is king. what a way to treat customers.
*yes authorities, these comments are not stopping until you really show good faith to resolve the matter. next up, a poll: “what was your disappointing shopping experience in singapore?”
just want to confirm the calculation for the UK team. as mention by amanda in her blog, they managed to saved up $25,000 by only spending $650, meaning that they buy stuffs that in average have a discount roughly around:
(1- 650/25000) * 100% = 97%!
and i think that both diana and hanzky will be surely the one who KNOW that it is NOT possible to find so much stuffs with a discount of more that 96%. Even she bought that anne klein dress with a discount of 96%. it is still not possible to get $24-25 thousands of saving..
it’s from my mathematical point! you can surely try to count it, 24 or 25 thousand will give the same result around 97%
Coco, funny you made comments to not visit this blog just because someone is sharing an honest personal experience and just because the other blog looks nicer. Go ahead and follow the other blog and don’t forget to ask the editor on tips and tricks to save 98% in Singapore. I’m sure your pocket will appreciate that.
betcha the GSS commitee & STB will try its very best to wipe this all under the rug or put their own spin on it..
Lena, i think you misunderstood my point. the dress in question was priced at S$920/ RM2000. what i meant was if it WERE a S$2000 dress, it still wouldn’t be sensible!!
but then you could create even GREATER savings because that would roughly be RM … waittt.. *crosses with ballpoint*… S$4500 LOL).
Just read the story from a friends Facebook. As a Singaporean I’d like to emphasize to not be judgmental on Singapore as a whole. Some organization indeed screwed up and they should be accountable and should clarify things in a transparent way. I feel bad that this has ruined your experience but lets make this a lessons learned for them.
totally agree with Shin Mean Cheng, even Indonesian taltk about ‘Singaporean’, It doesn’t mean that they talk about the whole country. here in this context it does mean about STB. Please don’t exaggerate and just take this as a story to learn not something to be seen as a racial attack or something.
Shin Mean,
Nicely put. I’m sure we all here agree to that. Let’s hope this kind of experience doesn’t happen again to the future participants and the committee and STB learn a hard lesson on this unfortunate event. They should be more transparent and fix the competition system!
dear amanda zuydervelt,
ok, so your team would still win if it were S$14K. great. congrats.
as we said before, we don’t mind. the issue here is transparency.
and YES, we know how to lose with dignity. why else do you think we only bother cross-checking your team and left the 1st runner up in peace? because it’s not about the title nor the money… it’s about honesty…
taking aside all accusation and subjectivity, the receipt has ’13′ hand written prices yet the committee doesn’t even bother checking it. (not to mention the corrected numbers doesn’t make sense.)
why? because the sales lady is not trustworthy? but I supposed the handwriting belong to them, doesn’t it?
also, why aren’t there any corrections whatsoever on other teams’ receipts?
tapi gw juga bisa ngerti dikit maksudnya bbrp org di atas yg kontra…
it sucks that we didn’t prove them cheating, but it’s the truth. jadi, IMHO, post di atas rasanya perlu dikurangi kalimat2 berbau menuduh (no matter how true it is) bahwa team UK curang…
you’ve fought hard in spore for your rights and come home with dignity. now let’s keep our dignity intact, shall we?
(after all, Mba hansky dan si AZ kan sama2 punya reputasi buat dipertahanin..)
I believe that would include no racism on the comments too…
coco, well it’s really hard to avoid pointing countries because the race was set so that teams represent countries. look at the name tags, hani and diana were ‘indonesia 1′. so it was Team Indonesia, Team UK, Team Timbuktu. And the host ‘country’ is Singapore. So the Brits = Team UK. Singapore = Singapore great sale rally race blablabla organizing committee. Indonesia = Team Indonesia.
Anyway, if you want to complain, you should do so to the race organizing committee, for they have misrepresented Singapore by being non-transparent, non-responsive and authoritarian (maybe they just take after lee kuan yew–> now this is a slur).
disti, no, i think i got your point, jeng, and i’m making another one. it was claimed to be a sin$2,000-ish dress to get the prize. as mr google will tell us, anne kleins don’t cost no sin$2,000. for the committee to accept that it’s sin$2,000 original price, and sold for sale at some 98% mark down, implies that singapore prices are waaay marked up than rest of the world if items are not on sale.
the great singapore mark up–>new slogan for seasons outside the GSS hahaha.
so, here’s another thought. not all items for sale in singapore would be at the great singapore marked up prices, right? so let’s say the great amanda z spent 90% of the aloted money on items that are for sale at 90% off. she still has 100$. to make it an average of 97% savings across the board, she would have to find something at ….more than 99% discount! amazing, huh? but then again, at those singapore great marked up prices, that’s probably not hard to do….
woww…the longest post in FD with the longest comments…
just wanna say congratulations to Mbak Hanzky and Diana…you are truly a winner.
it’s your blog and you can express anything in it. i didn’t see any accusation or whatsoever, you clearly pointed out your concern and disappointment. and that’s really natural after a competition (in any kind).
I think, it will be great, kalo next year ada lagi yang seperti ini.. receipt dari tiap team dipajang dan ditutup kaca.. totalnya jg dihitung secara transparant dan dipajang jg, jadi semua bisa liat.
Hanzky and Diana… salut buat kalian berdua
I do think we complain because we don’t get transparency. So, if you, Singapore (I mean the COMMITTEE not ALL CITIZEN OF SINGAPORE nor THE COUNTRY) feels that you had fair game, please show us the proof. But, it’s too late, huh? We don’t get racism here, I am pretty sure if this competition held in other country, and Hanzky and Diana feel something’s going wrong, they will be questioning it too. That’s what human do, right? And, if we don’t get clear solution, of course we will get upset.
I am not accusing Amanda and team UK. Nor STB. Maybe they had fair game, and no cheating. I am pretty sure they must have some dignity to do it. Buuuut, if they do have, what’s exactly the problem to show it completely? If they do everything right. according to mechanism, why it is so hard to do together calculation, or calling appropriate witness, so there will be no misunderstanding between us?
I am pretty sure if we get some explanation and transparency, we’re not going to complain as long as this. and, if you don’t like about our comments, please just go.
Some drama…I like it
….been following it since yesterday. Now let’s all help Amanda on what to spend with the $5000, maybe you all can tell her where she can buy some honesty…? lol
I feel like writing my own blog post just to summarize what I see…but I’ll try it here first..
- Amanda is the winner of the 2010 and 2009 GSS shopping challenge where she saved $24000 and $26000. And only Amanda can bargain shop that smart because from the whole 6th years they have held this event..the record was only $14000!!
- Hanzky stated that this year Amanda bought Anne Klein stuff that were originally $2000. In Amanda’s blog post (read stylebible, editor’s blog, May 2009) Amanda also stated that she bought some Anne Klein stuff, reduced from $2000. As quoted
“Route planned, our first stop was the Wisma Atria mall and a shop selling Anne Klein, not the sassiest of labels but we’d spent hours in the shop the previous day and had discovered the discounts were huge; in some cases up to 97%. We found five skirts, two blazers and two cardigans all priced at 50$ reduced from $2000″
Now all of us here is a fashion enthusiast and know about the pricing range of each brand, Anneklein.com proves that their most expensive stuff is about $500. So for Amanda to write that AK dress is originally priced $2000 in Singapore is a bad publicity for Singapore!.
- Last year, the Australian team shopped at the same store with Amanda but they only saved $14000…because they used the SGD price..not the $2000..which was probably MYR.
- Now the joke is on the Singapore Tourism Board..for having been duped by the same girl two years in a row..hahahaha…..OMG this would make a great headline news……
Udah yuk udah…kurang lebih kita udah tau kan sm apa yang terjadi, sekarang kalau kita tetep entertain komen2 ga penting itu malah berujung sm SARA dan malah ngotor2in FD aja. Karena lama2 orang2 ga bertanggung jawab itu cuma bakal nyampah doang…Tutup buku dan maju terus aja lagi.
Oh…rame aja
gw demen klo yg rame-rame begindang 
)
Biar bagaimana pun, gw teteup banggalah sama kalian, Hanzky & Diana…mau kalah mau menang…
Dan udah berusaha ngejelasin sama mereka, soal curang2an ituh…
Selebihnya, kite curhat ye…komen2 yg jelek, ah…cuekin aje
Aggre with you cassandra by quoting….now the joke is on the Singapore Tourism Board..for having been duped by the same girl (AZ) two years in a row..hahahaha…..OMG this would make a great headline news……
Singapore Tourism Board……can we have your comments please…?
Lesson learnt: Shop in S’pore? you better think again…..
And for you Amanda, we wait for another CHEAP TRICKS from you darl’ (in next year GSS) hahahaha…..
Dahsyat gals!!
my friends who’s coming from other region just ping me about this story which has been blown up. As being part of regional team, the equality is my daily meal
as told you before.. not about money or the prize.. surely I’m proud of you gals who stand out for a good value.
WoW, wait until next month to see the full impact of conversation like this has made to Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore after other blogs and mainstream media picks it up in full swing. Surely some Search Engine Optimizer and a PR agency will be filthy rich to clean up all the mess. STB needs to tackle this heads on ASAP and be transparent and not buried themselves into a deep hole.
@Amanda,
Last Year, we know what you did last summer – part 1
This Year, we know what you did last summer – part 2
oow…someone mistakenly interpreted my comment. Surely i had no intention to insult all Singaporean… have so many friends and family who live there! For that, Im truly sorry, especially for someone who comes back to this blog when she promise herself wont back again and choose another site *grin*.
Here are the rules. Visitng shop previously is allowed.
http://creative.asiaone.com/2010/IA/sphshopandwin_IA100421/rules.html
Wow, so the post had created a lot of comments from the ones supporting Hanzky and the ones who doesn’t.
Anyway not siding on anyone just want to clear up one thing. As a blogger I thought a blog is a mean for us to express anything from our point of view right? So what’s wrong with Hanzky writing the story from her view? There’s nothing wrong right?
And does by expressing your disagreement towards something means “whining”?
I am also shocked with the comments that called Hanzky a sore loser because she wrote this post. I am sure that as Hanzky said above she had considered a lot of aspects before publishing this blog so she meant no harm towards anyone except for clarifying and explaining to the loyal readers of fashionesedaily.com who had been supporting her through twitter during the whole competition.
As for the ones who disagree with this post of her, you may also express it right? At least Hanzky didn’t delete your comments (which she has the right to) but instead allow it to be published.
Say what you want to clarify but please don’t call names on people (sore loser, etc). And even some comments asking to “grow up”. C’mon if you think that you are more mature than the rest of the readers or the people who comments here at least show it the way you give comments or your wordings.
If you are still unhappy with the response, it’s a free world. Build your own blog and published it to counterfeit the so-called-accusation. Easy right?
Cheers,
wlauw
Maybe so but its against the law to defame someones character
I’m a Singaporean and was the Chaperone on last year’s event. I will have to admit the competition system is not perfect and I’m sad that if the story holds to be true, some individuals may have took great advantage of it. As a Chaperone, our job is to assist the shoppers and ensure that all rules are followed. Like myself, most of us are young college students and we were given $60 by STB to assist the shoppers all day. I assume all Chaperones are honest but as in any case we know money talks. Now I’m not implying anything but I’m just saying.
And it also against the law for not implying transparency in such a competition which is participated by many country.
Well Tony, thanks for saying
Selamat untuk Hanzky dan Diana
Posting ini gue catet sebagai postingan dengan comments terbanyak sejagad sepanjang Fashionesedaily muncul:)
bacanya mengalahkan sinetron, dan sejuta dorama yang ada…
Jadi males banget ke Sing….
lebih enak ke Jakarta Great Sale dan memberdayakan produksi negri sendiri
Girls, I think it’s totally okay to write your point of view on things, that’s what blogs are for. Please don’t let the harsh anonymous comments back you off. We know it doesn’t take a genius to dig more about this AZ character on her behavior towards the last year and this year competition. A little help from MR google is all you need. STB is just too arrogant to ignore all facts. Or maybe they are just stupid?
dela you are incorrect have fun reading below
http://www.singaporelaw.sg/content/CompetitionLaw.html
Tony — Appreciate it
I believe so.
Agree with wlauw, using words such ‘loser’, ‘grow up’ and any negative tendency will represent who you are as immature one.
I believe if the process of should have control point and it should be able to be audit.
As we are aware that the audit trial should be performed as required if incompliance happened. Again.. not talking about money, % of savings nor the prize.
Freedom to express the thought as inalienable rights and privileges of every human being
Cheers!
Tony — Appreciate it
I believe so.
Agree with wlauw, using words such ‘loser’, ‘grow up’ and any negative tendency will represent who you are as immature one.
I believe if the process of the race should have control point and it should be able to be audit. As we are aware that the audit trial should be performed as required if incompliance happened. Again.. not talking about money, % of savings nor the prize.
Freedom to express the thought as inalienable rights and privileges of every human being
Cheers!
If I were a Singaporean, I would shoot STB, as their lack of transparency and flawed rules have given my country a bad name.
Since I am an FDer, two thumbs up for Hanzky and Diana. You make me proud being an FDer.
BTW the 97% discount calculation is just HILARIOUS.
whoa, yes ur upset but please try to write ur sentence clearly so I can understand better!
what does this super long sentence mean?
“But we are too naive to expect them to give such statement if they didn’t even have the courage to make us feel understood and fairly treated by giving us the acknowledgment that they know about the wrong currency on the price tag even though the misleading information work against to their advantage because that means the actual price in Singapore is much more expensive than the rest of the world.”
pardon my tiny brain that can’t comprehend sentences that are 5 lines long.. please break them up in more manageable pieces so that the readers (ok just me) can understand ur point..thanks
The shop made some errors.
The winner capitalised on them.
STB refused to let you see the receipts.
You came 3rd boohoo
whatever the problems that occur in this competition, I’m still proud of diana and hanzky,, yeeeeaaayyy
third place is good enough for the name of fairness, let’s say, this time fortune was not on your side, but i believe that both of you can get rid of them in the next STB,,
you go girl
-loovveee
was just reading the long thread. im from singapore and im a fan of fashionesedaily.
all i have to say is it appears that the organising committee sucks! totally dissapointed and sorry to hear that this had to happen.
team indonesia, i think you girls did well overall and played a great game. what goes around comes around eventually.
im still a fan and will definitely shop in indonesia. the GSS sucks anyways.
@ wina: get ur self a translator dear…
Ckckck…gw bayangin pasti rasanya kesel setengah mati buat Hanzky dan Diana. Plus orang2 yg seharusnya turun tangan malah lepas tangan begitu. Tp emang bener, integrity dan dignity yg paling penting.
For Amanda : CHEATERS NEVER WIN, WINNERS NEVER CHEAT…!!!
I think this is all rather sad. The competition is set in place to encourage a fun way to communicate the great sales that you have in Singapore and the fact that you invite other countries along to join in the fun is surely all about international relations. Do any of you really think that a foreign team would go out of their way to intentionally cheat in a very public event? I would imagine, from reading all of this that it was a genuine mistake on the part of Amanda’s team. I very much doubt she would choose to cheat, knowing that if exposed she would be treated in the way she is on this blog. It is all very well going on about dignity and integrity on behalf of the losing team but it seems to me that there is no compassion and you are all being hurtful to an individual person who has feelings. In my eyes, seeing that the Indonesian team stated in the first part of the blog (the fun bit) that they too found discounts of over 90% why would it not be possible for Amanda’s team to also find such discounts. Besides which, every team had a chaperone, if I am correct, to ensure all was above board and so if cheating was going on the Indonesian chaperone would surely have been the first to notice. I would simply advise you all to remember that this competition is about fun and community not about pointing fingers and being nasty to individual people. Surely it was a fun event (I would love to have been there) so with that in mind, everyone who got to take part was a winner.
@competition_follower, cannot agree with you more, this should’ve been a fun event to raise the profile of the event and create some positive spin… H recognised that it was fun by writing it in a separate post..
You must agree though that you can feel H&Ds frustration for noticing a ‘flaw’ in the comp system, making the organisers aware of the issue and to only see their effort received by deaf ears…
AZ herself admitted she confused MYR with SGD.. claiming innocence because of ignorance on the race day is one thing, but to still insist that her assumption was correct after being revealed the error?? AZ then tried to push the blame to a mistake done by the shop keeper.. (mind you, this is a mistake done for the second year in a row, by the same shop (so she implies) you can read it in an entry written by her last year on her site).. Fact is AK’s dress do not retail for SGD2k.. all the above do not add up and results in some unanswered questions… the frustration will still linger until STB can come good and deliver some explanation..
I must say, I’m still in shock after reading this post. Not only did the STB fail to present a solid argument for not being as transparent as they should’ve been, but the audacity to insist that the indonesia team are sore losers and are ‘attacking’ the UK team by writing this post. Sheesh.
Frankly, I’m really glad I read this post. Makes me realize that Singapore’s so-called ‘great sale’ isn’t that great after all, we gotta double check their price tags and ask for mr.google’s help just to be extra sure. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Hanzky! Will surely be more cautious the next time I visit Singapore!
Guys..
Just want to inform you that I made an update at the bottom part of the post.
boring & basically & jason C, can you stick with one name, please?. Thank you.
wina, if you don’t have anything to add to the discussion in relation to the issue, please refrain from posting. Thanks.
a competition follower, yes it was indeed a fun event, until the transparency issue appeared
this improve something to me, that no matter what the nationality is, anyone could be cheater. just because they are from developed country, it doesn’t mean they can’t be a cheater!
Hani, let’s make a cup of tea, take a deep breath and try to make yourself feel better… and smile
. Yes, what u’ve experienced make you angry and dissapointed, but please don’t take it too seriously and think about it too much anymore. What you and Diana have done was very good. I’m so proud of you. Too much angry & dissapointment in our heart will make us sick, right? (at least puyeng atau sakit maag atau jerawatan, hehe…)
huggg!
sometimes life is so unfair, just be thankful for all of u’ve experienced, for all the lessons u’ve learned from it.
keep doing the best and keep playing fair everytime and everywhere!
“But the Singapore Retail Association representative just brushed me off and said that that sales lady is not a trustable person.”
I found it funny that in an event like this, which purpose is to advertise tourism and Singapore as “the heaven” for international shoppers, this person stated that the sales lady is not trustworthy.
and that too this person was representating Singapore Retail Association.
If the Retail Association cant trust the sales lady in their own country, how can shoppers from around the world?
well, sigh..
yulianne, mungkin karena kenyataannya memang penjaga toko di singapore ada yang seperti itu.. gue pernah di tipu sama satu toko sampai 1000 sing dollar.. begitu sadar kita langsung ke balik ke tokonya hanya jeda 2 jam langsung di marahin sama yang punya toko.. lapor ke polisi di suruh ke singapore tourism board ujung2nya kurang lebih sama seperti hanzky mereka ga helpfull sama sekali.. so i decided utuk let go aja.. anggap aja buang sial lah..
so i guess to some extent representative nya mengatakan hal yang jujur tuh.. gue ga generalisasi tapi memang kenyataannya ada yang nakal dan mau se clean apapun reputasi singapore tetep saja ada yang berani bandel juga and i was too naive utk mikir sebaliknya saat itu hehe.. kalau sekarang saya sih sudah lebih pintar setiap pergi kesana
@misha, i think u got me wrong.
kita gak se-naive kamu saat itu yang mikir dengan reputasi singapore tidak ada penjaga toko yang “nakal”. pasti ada lah penjaga toko yang “nakal” dan itu di mana2 sama, gak cuma di singapore saja.
cuma maksud g, basisnya apa buat representative itu bilang bahwa penjaga toko itu not trustworthy, dia kan tidak bertransaksi langsung dengan penjaga tokonya, bagaimana dia tau?
kalo kamu kan kasusnya lain karena kamu bertransaksi langsung dan memang jelas2 dibohongin.
kalau representativenya tanpa bertransaksi langsung dengan penjaga tokonya saja bisa ngomong begitu di event international berarti sudah judging orang (penjaga toko) tanpa basis dan impactnya buat orang2 yang mendengar bisa jadi men-generalisasi bahwa memang penjaga2 toko di sana tidak bisa dipercaya.
i just want to support Hanzky and Diana. The Malaysian team who are willing to give a testimonial, it shows that is something fishy about the ‘winning’ team. Hopefully the Singapore Tourism Board has good intention regarding this matter.
Salute!
Great job Hanzky and Diana
Gini aja gampangnya. Jangan pernah lagi ke Singapore. Kita itu kan negara penyumbang turis terbesar ke sana. Kalau kita boykot dan gak berlibur ke sana lagi juga mereka yang rugi kok. Lagian hampir semua brand ternama sudah ada di Jakarta.
Ini sudah cukup bukti kalau mereka tidak menghargai kita yang jelas-jelas adalah negara yang membangun negara mereka.
Dear Amanda Zuydervelt, (although i’m quite sure she won’t be reading this already by this time, but anyway..)
If I were you, seeing that the ‘accusation’ (as you put it) of cheating were brushed off so easily, I would say “NO NO, I won’t accept this win disgracefully with foul play accusations still on the table. May the STB be transparent and call the receipts, shopkeepers and all who may clearly clarify this to the table and we crystal these out? So that we can prove that WE (italic, bold) won this FAIR & SQUARE?” but Noooo…you did not. You just scar people’s emotion by saying they ruined your day and stick with your yada yada and stayed silent although you knew, by means of transparency, it wasn’t set right by the STB, just so you can bag the $10,000.
And as for the accusation of bad sportmanship and the ‘advice’ that the Indonesian team need to learn to accept the lost gracefuly, I think unlike you, they already did. They thought the results were questionable, raised the issue, nobody paid attention, and so they decided “fine, let’s just head home and consider this a rare unfortunate occurance.”
Quoting Hanzky,
“What we fought for didn’t change the outcome, we didn’t get the prize that we think we deserve, and we didn’t get the confirmation that we were looking for, but it was worth fighting for and we went back home with our pride and dignity fully intact.”
In your face, lady.
What a way of promoting Singapore shopping by the way, by labelling their shop keeper as not trustworthy, a.k.a CHEATERS.
LOL!
Smart shopper knows that Anne Klein dress will never costs $2000, and apparently the UK team is lacking of that ‘knowledge’
Noted form STB that singapore shopkeeper = not trushtworthy
All in all, beware of ‘clean’ labeling, for sure from my experience there’s no such thing as ‘clean’ in singapore.
geez. would have loved to dicuss if u would take in constructive criticism. u want a discussion? ur right, they’re wrong. ur the victim and the amanda lady is a cheating scum. case still unsolved. end
Loving all the unfounded cheating comments. No one cheated. The shop mislabled some goods. DUH
@ Jenn you need to be a bit more specific.
I have been in may cities all over the globe. Singapore is one of the cleanest I have been to.
Maybe the shopkeepers dont label their goods too well but that happens everywhere during sales. Shops increase the prices to make you ‘think’ you are getting a bargain or sell clothes from many seasons ago.
udahlah han, taun depan ga usah ikut ginian lagi….ga asik bgt tuh komitenya:(
kok ya tega2nya lho mereka….
setuju sama elyas, in some points negara kita yg bangun tuh negara ya kan? plus para koruptor yg naro duit disana
rasanya Jakarta skrg hampir punya segalanya kok, all the branded brands and lots of luxurious malls….etc but IKEA en Target yaa
A quick update: I received an email last night from STB Jakarta saying that they are trying their best to resolve this and not brushing everything aside. So I’m keeping my faith in them..:)
illiana, Thank you for your long comment, you spoke my mind..:)
wina, there you go..you seem to understand my point perfectly. Good thing I didn’t waste my time by rewriting my sentence just for yourself. Thanks again, though
Dear Hanzky & Diana. I’m so proud of the two of you, standing your ground and doing it with full integrity intact.
I’m sure the international public will realize that you guys are telling the truth ^_^, I know I do.
We already know the truth the labels were incorrect on the clothes. Good luck verifying that one
i am an auditor. and in our world, we cannot accept evidence who has been altered manually without further investigation.
Hanzky & Diana for me you have been win
I never have posted on anything before but this whole affair has really bothered me, so I am posting a second time. Wina – it is totally unacceptable to call AZ cheating scum – whatever happened to innocent before proven guilty? Can you not at all accept that this may have been a genuine mistake. Also, do any of you know what AZ is doing to try and solve this problem? For all you know she might be speaking to the STB to get this sorted out – i imagine she would want to “clear”her name and stop all the personal insults coming in. And seriously Cherryblosson – lets not talk about developed and developing countries. This is not an international political issue – it is an insult to everyone to talk in this way. As someone who has spent two years travelling throughout all of Asia I find it very sad to hear you talk like this. You are right – cheaters come from every country, and likewise bad manners are in every country too – so lets stop the bad manners and insults and just wait and see what STB says – I am sure that all involved will accept their decision with grace and dignity.
ohh great Hanzky they did give you a response then!! Let’s hope for the best then shall we.
but Han, i do have a curious question tho, as you’ve written (quote)
” There were dresses that were priced at $2,000, but the price tag was in Malaysian Ringgit. There was another price tag on it that says $920 which was the correct price in Singapore dollar… ”
The symbol in front of the 2,000 was that a dollar sign or the Malaysian Ringgit sign (i’ve no clue what this is so don’t pick me apart on this)? if it wasn’t the S$ then AZ will have a less solid alibi =p
Han, kalo mau cek lagi ke tokonya harusnya bisa lho.
Mereka print receiptnya bukan cuma buat customer doang soalnya. sepanjang pengetahuan gue, mereka pasti print lagi dan simpen juga buat file mereka.
dan mereka juga ada closing sales per-harinya. so, harusnya sih ada tuh copy receiptnya.
just my 2 cents. hehehe..
Girls,
Let’s not fight anymore. Stick to the support, encouragement, critics without mocking anyone or any race.
Hanny and diana had already did their part by expressing their feelings in their blogs that’s free-speech categorized.
So let’s just avoid unkind words and hurting each other while what we really meant were actually just being supportive or want to critisized.
No generalization, girls… just justice. No hurting each other’s feelings, ok?
Hany, diana, good job trying to express how you felt when you’re noticing something is not right.
Amanda, good job trying to explain all from your side. But maybe you could consider get another meeting together with STB and all the girls and witnesses. So that your reputation will be back for good.
Girls, let’s keep all the issues at the right track and places.
No mocking, no generalizing, no judgement…
Hany, diana, and amanda know that you guys support them..
you know what they say, “a happy customer tells one friend, an unhappy customer got 87 retweets, 158 facebookshares, 158 comments, and growing”
a VERY GOOD advertisement for Singapore Tourism Board and the upcoming Jakarta Great Sale. Go ITC! Go Mangga Dua! Let’s go ng-Ambas!
i’m hoping this situation could be resolved soon
Buat hanzky,
Selamat, apapun yang terjadi lu n diana adalah pemenang (at least buat kita pendukung atau buat dirilu sendiri). Karena lu berani mencoba berjuang untuk mendapat kebenaran dan keadlian, walau pada akhirnya tidak disetujui oleh tim STB, not a big deal. Perjuangan yang lu lakuin membuktikan kepribadian bangsa, kita bkn bangsa yang adem ayem nunduk aja, tapi kita juga pejuang yang sangat berjuang untuk mendapatkan harga diri kita..
Semangatttt ^^
mbak Hanz, trus gimana kelanjutan nya dr STB kantor Jakarta& STB pusat? udh ngikutin dari twitter dan memang banyak hal yg janggal.. wish you both the best!
Wew… this post is even longer and more thorough than the one I read in Diana’s blog.
STB should have cleared out the issue, otherwise it’ll be a big turn-off for their Great Singapore Sale, considering so many Indonesians visit there every year.
Hanzky and Diana, at least you’ve fought for your dignity and stood up for the truth! Let’s just learn from the experience
Letter from the Singapore Retailers Association to Ms. Hanifa Ambadar and Ms. Diana Rikasari:
Dear Ms. Hanifa Ambadar and Ms. Diana Rikasari,
Thank you for your participation in “Your Great Singapore Sale Experience” shopping challenge. We regret that Ms. Hanifa Ambadar and Ms. Diana Rikasari’s challenge experience at the event on 29 May 2010 was not entirely pleasant.
We would like to assure Ms. Hanifa and Ms. Diana that your feedback and participation is valued. Investigations have been conducted with regards to the points raised by your team. These were led by the challenge organiser Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and event manager SPH MediaBoxOffice (SPHMBO).
Issue 1- Miscalculation of Indonesia team’s savings
In accordance with the game regulations, all results were verified three times in the standard calculation process for the challenge. First, all teams’ chaperones were required to present and confirm the teams’ purchases and receipts or price tags with the officials at the tabulation booth upon completion of the race. All teams were welcomed to witness this. Next, the results were computer generated and verified after the pricing data was keyed into the computer. Finally, the figures were verified again to ensure accuracy.
With regards to your team’s concern on the miscalculation of your savings after the announcement of the results, the STB and SPHMBO had further re-checked the calculations and found the results to be in order.
Issue 2 – Whether sales assistant told UK team that tags with ‘$’ actually referred to prices in Malaysian Ringgit
With the documentary evidence (price tags and sales receipt) from the UK team in order, the SRA had no reason to suspect that the prices were not in Singapore currency as the sale transaction took place in Singapore.
Nevertheless, on the night of the challenge, the SRA immediately conducted an investigation upon receiving feedback from Ms. Hanifa and Ms. Diana. The investigations showed that the sales assistant in question was not able to provide consistent responses and that there was internal miscommunication amongst the shop assistants themselves. The SRA was hence not able to verify if the UK team had in fact heard that the prices on price tags were in Malaysian Ringgit.
The SRA, together with STB and SPRING Singapore, has issued a letter to the shop to advise it to take immediate action to implement proper retailing practices, including proper price tagging and staff training.
Issue 3 – Price tags and handwritten receipts
All items bought by all the teams during the challenge showed prices that were marked with “$” signs. There was no indication at all that any of the prices shown were in fact of a different currency.
As part of the rules and regulations of the challenge, receipts with handwritten original prices were accepted as proof, as long as the receipts were signed by relevant sales staff. This was because some retailers may have marked down the prices more than once and may not have reflected the first original price in the receipt. In such instances, the officials would tally the handwritten changes on the receipt with the price tag. In the case of the UK team, these changes were verified to be correct.
We would like to assure Ms. Hanifa and Ms. Diana that the SRA, STB and SPHMBO have conducted the necessary investigations to ensure that the challenge was conducted in a fair and proper way.
In acceding to your request, we had recalculated the Indonesia team’s savings to confirm that the results were in order. We had also arranged for a face-to-face meeting with the UK team on the 30 May 2010 to address your concerns. Thereafter, the STB also arranged for their Indonesian office representatives to personally meet you on 2 June 2010 at the Jakarta Office to better understand the situation and follow up with your concerns.
We thank you for the opportunity to address your concerns and to clarify the situation in detail. Indonesia has traditionally been and will remain a key visitor market for Singapore. The SRA and STB will continue to work hard to ensure visitor experience is pleasant and we will always look forward to welcoming visitors from Indonesia.
kesimpulannya? ngga ada yang berubah..
A lady try hard to clean her name. Keep telling lies to cover her previous lie. Once a liar always a lair. Lady, you know who you are.
Saya baru membaca keseluruhan cerita dari blog FD dan DR, pastinya jadi pengalaman yang nggak menyenangkan buat kalian.
Tapi saya lihat SRA sudah mengirim klarifikasinya pada komentar di atas. Keluhan kalian ternyata berlanjut dengan investigasi, syukurlah … Mudah-mudahan semua hal sudah jelas sekarang dan berakhir dengan baik ya.
Saya tahu pasti masih ada yang mengganjal di hati kamu. Mau sharing aja, saya juga dulu pernah berpartisipasi di acara GSS race, 5 tahun yang lalu. Tim kamu jauh lebih beruntung dari tim saya, karena waktu itu tim saya hanya bisa meraih posisi 7! Hehe! Jadi kurang lebih saya tahu rasanya seberapa besarnya effort dan tenaga yang harus dihabiskan untuk acara itu. Saya turut bersimpati atas kejadian yang kamu alami kemarin. Ya, saya tahu banget ini bukan masalah juara atau gak juara. But hey, ambil dari segi positifnya aja, ya itung-itung lumayanlah bisa pergi gratisan..dan toh barang belanjaannya jadi milik kita smua kan?!
waaa! Asyiik banget bisa ikutan racing shopping! Seru banget pastinya! Ngiri +99 banget deh!!! Semoga ada win-win solution dari problem yang sempat terjadi ya!
So sorry to read about your unfortunate experience mbak, hopefully the information from SRA has answers several concerns that you have.
Reading it I can see that it’s not the answer you are hoping for and it can not pay back all the disappointment from your side but perhaps it can help clear some issues.
Keep the spirit high mbak, you are my idol!
As part of the rules and regulations of the challenge, receipts with handwritten original prices were accepted as proof, as long as the receipts were signed by relevant sales staff. This was because some retailers may have marked down the prices more than once and may not have reflected the first original price in the receipt. In such instances, the officials would tally the handwritten changes on the receipt with the price tag. In the case of the UK team, these changes were verified to be correct.
jadi ternyata ada peraturan yg menyatakan boleh dicoret2 mba struknya…
(>.<)
udah nyok kita ke PRJ ajah.
g usah ke singapur… ^^
wow SRA, so the items in questions were in Singapore $ ya. ckckck, then it’s true that outside the GSS, singapore prices ARE way marked up. anne klein dresses for thousands of $ dollars? anne klein must be very proud up there.
OMG, did a PR robot regurgitated that letter?? it’s so impersonal.. Now I can imagine the girls frustration having to dealing with them.. the organisers skirted around the issues but haven’t really dealt with them.. sutralah, cuman buat gemes aja kalo dipikirin
The outcome of the race is a clear reflection of them as an institution and the values they chose to hold..
Intinya sih you girls rock!!!
quote from SRA :
“First, all teams’ chaperones were required to present and confirm the teams’ purchases and receipts or price tags with the officials at the tabulation booth upon completion of the race. All teams were welcomed to witness this.”
*BOLD : “All teams were welcomed to witness this”
quote from Hanzky:
“When we got to the finish line and dropped our shopping haul at the tabulation booth, we wanted to make sure that we were there during the calculation so we stick around. But we were shooed away. They took the items and the receipts with them so we never did have the chance to recalculate it ourselves. We have asked many times to be informed about the calculation but they didn’t want to disclose it.”
*BOLD : “But we were shooed away.” and “We have asked many times to be informed about the calculation but they didn’t want to disclose it.”
—————-
LOLZ……
wah, kok gw bisa2nya baru baca blog ini yah? =p
wow, bener2 panjang yah ini blog, tapi gw ga bisa stop bacanya.
jadi kesel.. ga tau STB nya emang yang ga beres, atau saking bego nya yah..
yang pasti i’m really proud with hanzky & diana..
and yesss… forget SGS, support JGS!
Disappointing!!!
geeez, bikin gw males ke singapore…
and yes gw setuju very Disappointing!
Shame on Amanda Zuyderfelt!! That is sooooooooooooooooooo LOW of her. I won’t ever trust anything on Stylebible anymore – shame shame shame.
She’s a cheater and apparently also won the last year’s race by the same low thing too
Go FD and don’t be sad we hope that you girls get to bring the justice out!
kmrn liat dress anne klein d rumah mode harganya sktar 300 rb an gtu.. dr pada beli d sing 2000$…curiga yg ngejait sodara sebangsa sendiri dahh
buat mbk hanzky&diana kmu dikasi kesempatan untuk meminta sama yg diatas.konon katanya doa2 org yg didzalimi itu dikabulkan lohh
hanzky n diana tetap semangat yahh
pheewww the longest ever blog comments i’ve ever read….
cant say anything more…all the comments above are enough..
sing sabar ya hanzky..diana…jangan jd kapok mengeluarkan pendapat selama itu benar ada Tuhan dibelakang kita..Aaaaminn
TETAP SEMANGAT JENGss!!!!!
Amanda from UK is really a mess. She won the play by cheating. grrrrrrr! Yeah it made her upset cause she knows that her dirty tricks has now been revealed. Cheater! Go Asian!
Hopefully ini jadi pembelajaran buat kita semua, supaya lebih mencintai produk dan wisata dalam negri.
Cos in fact, singapore needs indonesian, cos lot of indonesian people come to singapore, buying apartment and else. so if all indonesian took back they invesment, singapore couldn’t do anything.
One of our president had say “singapore is only a red dot near indonesian archipelago”
tetep semangat untuk menjadi orang jujur
Come on…wake up Indonesia..^^
cintai produk dalam negeri..
I am new to blogging. What website is good for blogging for a summer reading book assignment?