-
Seychelles – Singapore trip – Nightmare
I normally keep 3 sets of inks in stock and re order when on my 2nd set. In one way or another the guys did not alert me that there was only one yellow left. So I emailed my supplier in Singapore to send 3 yellow cartridges. They had only a single piece available and send such through cargo while they order the other from HP which normally takes 7 working days to deliver. I received the cartridge on Thursday 13th December 2012.
Saturday 15th December, the yellow ink in the printer ran out. I installed the newly received cartridge and a printer alert message appeared " Reseat Cartridge" So it was a faulty yellow cartridge.I emailed my supplier in Singapore who advised me to return the faulty cartridge for replacement. So we were out of yellow ink which means cannot we operate until we received new ink.
After weighing all possibilities we decided that the fastest way is to send someone to Singapore on Saturday evening, arriving Singapore Sunday 9pm collect the inks on Monday and arrive at 7am on Tuesday 18th December 2012. Yesterday, Monday 17th December 2012, my Supplier in Singapore and myself lost contact with that person. While we keep staring at the clock waiting for some sort of contact with that person, We contacted all possible hotels in Singapore to see whether she might have checked in, without success. Around 2 pm Seychelles time (6pm Singapore time) we decided to contact the Airline who inform us that the person concerned is returning prematurely back in Seychelles.
Now here is the story.
Arriving in Singapore on Sunday 16th December at around 9pm local time. After going through Singapore immigration and proceeded to luggage collection, On the way out of Changi Airport, the custom’s officer wanted to scan that person’s luggage and saw the faulty HP design jet 792 ink cartridge. According to them they saw something suspicious and decided to open the carriage to analyze the content of cause this is a factory sealed HP cartridge, the content is only Latex water base ink and the mechanism that allow it to work. They were not content with not finding anything illegal and repeated the testing procedures over and over. Still not satisfied they put that person in a cell at the Airport, sent her back on the next available fight with security escort all the way back to Seychelles via Dubai, humiliated that person as a criminal.Meanwhile we have wasted a lot of money and resources and were still not able to deliver any work until we receive inks in a few more days.
I have always admired Singapore for being well developed, organised and High tech. One of those places that is so well organised that you can do all your business in just one day. I have been there quite a number of times, even more than on other Seychelles Islands.
Spending most of our incomes there mainly on media, inks and equipment related to my Design & Printing business. The professionalism of the suppliers keep me trading with them with great satisfaction. Simply put " They are amazing"Being a high tech country like they are, I would have thought that they would have detected or even noticed a full HP factory sealed cartridge. The officers responsible is costing my business a lot of money in that peak moment including the airfares itself comes close to USD$1500.
I have gone as far as given the local Security Authority to scan and analise a similar HP Latex ink cartridge and could not justify as to why the above action has executed.
Please guys I would like to have your views and input on this incident.
Thank you and Merry Xmas and Happy New Year -
7 Replies
-
Wow, I tihought I’d had a bad couple of days!!
I can’t much commet on the situation – other than to say that I think it’s a pretty poor show by customs.
I can wish you all a mery Christmas and a happy new year!
oh, and if ever you need someone to sit on a lounger outside, you know – drinking a chilled beer while making sure to keep out salesmen and the like… I could be your man for the job!
-
Landed in Changi Singapore on the !7th myself and still cannot fathom out what any customs officers do in any country. This time there were no officers to be seen anywhere, just picked baggage up of the carousel and walked out, no officials insight anywhere. Your person must have gone through when they had finished all their refreshment breaks unluckily
-
omg… crazy
we get re-seat cartridge sometimes on Magenta… have found that taking the cart out and putting in another (used/empty?) will re-read it and then put the new one back in.. sometimes takes a number of tries.
HP need to be notified of this event!
-
Thank you for you input guys, I really appreciate. I understand that the officers where "Only doing their jobs" But I don’t think humiliations and treating someone as a criminal should be part there jobs. Finally a simple apology would have been sufficient.
Dave this is the 2nd time we get a bad cartridge. Six months ago we had it with a magenta it was fine for the first 50ml or so and then the sensor problem happened.
Cheers Guys.
-
Wow That is a nightmare
And a nightmare for the poor girl
Is she OK? She’ll probably not want to fly again
-
John, She is trying hard to get over this nightmare. We have been to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to report the incident. I have also notify the Authority in Singapore.
Rgds
Andre
-
wow just read this – what a nightmare
Keep smiling – happy Christmas
John
Log in to reply.
