March 18, 2007
Posted by Kurt
Digital Mall to Customers: Piss Off
I got up extra early yesterday to visit the newly opened Digital Mall in Section 14 PJ. They were advertising a weekend promotion featuring a limited quantity of selected electronics, accessories and consumables at RM1 each, and since I’ve never been there before, I thought, “Hey, maybe this would be a great time to ZOMG ONLY RM1 FOR A 1GB SDCARD MUSTGO!!!”
Big mistake.
I arrived at 9.30am – 30 minutes before opening time – braving the heavy rain, hoping to beat the expected hoards of drooling geeks and maybe walk away with a bargain or twenty. But it was clear I had grossly underestimated the Malaysian Spirit for Cheap Stuff, because by the time I showed, there was already a crowd of almost 200 camping outside the main entrance.
Prepare for GLORY!
Undeterred (ZOMG ONLY RM1 FOR A 1GB SDCARD!!!), I slipped into the moist mass of geek and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
10.15. 10.30. Nothing. The crowd had expanded to about 300, and eventually 5 security personnel turned up and pushed their way through the clumps of people to finally open the shutters. Elated, we marched in, grabbed some amazing deals and went home happy. What a wonderful day!
Or that’s what would have happened if Digital Mall management had half the competence of a yam. It hardly takes a genius to figure out that by offering items at crazy prices like RM1, you should expect an equally crazy amount of customers scampering for it, and put in place the necessary crowd-control mechanisms, such as setting up a line way before opening time.
Digital Mall Management: “Madness? This. Is. DIGITAL MALL!!”
Instead, we were toyed around by security for the next 15 minutes, who repeatedly raised the automatic shutters a few feet and then rolling it back down. The crowd was clearly unamused. None of the staff cared to explain what the hell was going on. Then a security guy (whom I assume to be the lead asshole) creeped out from behind the half-opened shutters and commanded that we form a SINGLE LINE and enter ONE AT A TIME, or no one goes in at all.
Well, let’s see here. 300 plus people and growing by the minute. Huddled tightly together. Been waiting for an hour, some longer. Getting increasingly impatient. Form a single line and enter one at a fucking time? Ha ha! I’d like to know what Mr Security Guy has been smoking. It didn’t help that he was rude, confrontational and arrogant — no doubt the secret to Digital Mall’s excellent customer experience (Motto: No customer is too small to be treated like shit)
Of course the crowd refused to budge, and promptly booed his ass. A gentleman from the back reminded Mr Security Guy that he shouldn’t be yelling at and talking down to his customers like a bunch of 5 year olds, and the crowd cheered him on in agreement. Mr Security Guy challenged the man, asking him to “jangan cakap banyak kat belakang la, tunjuk muka sikitâ€, obviously trying to engage the customer in beautiful acts of customer service. Fortunately, the gentleman didn’t take the bait, and things cooled down. For all of 3 seconds.
This time another security guy slid out from beneath the shutters and threatened to beat everyone up, in what was a genuine LULZ!!!! moment. He then ended his tirade by telling every waiting customer there to fuck off. Clearly, Digital Mall management should hire more people like him – imagine what they can do for the bottom line!
“Kalau ada orang pijak budak kecik, saya belasah dia!†he snarls. Strange words, because the crowd was nowhere near unruly and no kids were in danger of being trampled. In fact, the only real danger to the kids would be the exposure to 60 minutes of the security team’s incredible stupidity. “Siapa tak nak beratur boleh balik rumah tidur!†he continues before running back to hide behind the shutters, the brave soul.
Let us now pause to view the exclusive LULZ!!! Video:
Did I mention we were still waiting? It was now pushing 11.20am and I pretty much had about enough. I hung around for another 10 minutes just for the lulz (Mr Security Guy was now yelling at the crowd from behind the shutters every two minutes; it was very entertaining) and left.
Brilliant business strategy at work
Suffice to say, despite the amazing customer experience, I won’t be setting foot at the Digital Mall anytime soon, and will be spending all my geek money in Lowyat instead. At least there they actually let customers in.
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40 Comments
March 18, 2007
wow , what the hell is going on ?
Yeah , it’ll always be lowyat for me man .
March 19, 2007
Uh… so did they actually open after that?
March 19, 2007
a friend had the same experience. malaysian businesses are number 1 in the world….notorious and no brainer everywhere
March 19, 2007
If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Me, I avoid any thing that shouts out to my bargain crazed countrymen. Heck, I even avoid PC fairs and such. And by the way, the RM 1 offer may very well be for stuff like mouseballs and USB cables haha!
March 20, 2007
good promotion, poor management.
March 20, 2007
that was so stupid of the management. thats why malaysia will never become a develop country. its all from the brain.
any digital stuff, just head to low yat. they are the best i can think so far in kl.
March 20, 2007
Ditto with Plaza Low Ya. When I was there for limited coupons on offer for printers back in July/August, the customers were thoughtful enough to form lines on their own (two lines, to be exact) as early as 7.30 am, with some orderly control by the management when the mall finally opened at 10 am. The promo went on without a hitch.
When it boils down to it, it’s all depends on the behavior of the customers and the mall management’s ability to handle the crowd. Digital Mall is certainly a bad example in both regards.
March 20, 2007
Malaysia boleh!
March 20, 2007
Reading this is very disheartening especially with security guards threatening the crowd. I cannot imagine the crowd getting angry and bashing him up when he wasn’t behind shutters. It’s pretty brainless for the security guards to say that. Someone ought to write to the management and demand for an apology or put this up in the news.
March 20, 2007
Powered by oompa loompas?
March 20, 2007
Well, its understandable though how the security wants a single line. It’ll be a disaster if people were to be trampled over. Here in Winnipeg, during boxing day sales, people are let into the store 5 by 5 due to fears of people stealing stuff and making a riot. and that’s for about 20 people in line at the same time. Extrapolate that to 300 people, its purely understandable why they had to do that. It’s definitely stupid for the securities to yell at you guys.. but its also stupid for the person to yell back. its the same thing i think
March 20, 2007
The prices in the digital mall aren’t really that impressive. If you don’t want to go to lowyat from PJ, you can just get your stuff from computerwar in SS2.
March 20, 2007
security guards sucks!
March 20, 2007
I working part time on that day. Yup, I agree that their management really bad……..
And this is not the first time, the first time was the grand opening the mall.
March 20, 2007
gosh. maybe the guards are underpaid? Wahaha.
It seldom happen here in sg. Sg will queue one. :p
March 20, 2007
RM1! Don’t you think your time woth more than RM1?? spending time waiting there, hot, somemore horrible experince…..sigh…..lets see, if somebody were to pay you to do this for him/her, how much do you think he/she should pay you?
March 20, 2007
wow. i’ve actually went past that digital mall couple of times and thought it was as nice a place to shop for electronics like Low Yat. i am soooo wrong.
March 20, 2007
lowyat is still the best
i wonder if they have housing renovation !
March 20, 2007
I saw this whole digital mall promotion thing going on also,but didn’t know it ended in such mess.ohwell.Malaysians.
March 20, 2007
That’s so hilarious.
March 20, 2007
Lowyat’s way better man.
March 20, 2007
seeing that security guy running back in right after he said those words had me rolling on the floor
how chicken can they get?
i’ve been to digital mall quite a number of times to get some stuff, it’s still kinda empty and those cd shops are still selling bootlegs -_-”
March 21, 2007
lol
tat place sux.
parking susah.
things not complete.
the sale is just some trick to attrack crowd.
the auction is fake. they ask their staff to bid for it.
i was there last time.
March 21, 2007
Over here in Canada, we have massive boxing day sales which attracts hundreds of people. People camped outside the stores before the sale and they all line up to get in the store. It’s common sense. You don’t simply just MOB the freaking place.
March 21, 2007
Was in singapore last year when Apple were selling dirt cheap ipods for the first 5 customers of the day.
Punters waited outside the shop from the night before. Apple management had the foresight to station a staff member at the store that night to give out queue numbers/vouchers to the lucky first 5.
Only those who had the vouchers need bother to wait until opening.
Orderly, easy and saves latecomers from wasting their time.
March 21, 2007
That was hilarious!
Don’t blame the guard, he probably had a bad night.
Maybe got rejected in bed last night by his wife, or something rather…
but seriously… RM1 can’t even get you an ice-cream.
So kind of stupid to believe such promo…
March 21, 2007
I’ve heard of bait-and-switch, but bait-and-bitch, now that’s a first. Thank you Digital Mall.
March 21, 2007
digital mall is usually for those who dun want to go so far just to get extra CDs
haha..
yeah
but Lowyat still the best (just don’t go into the lifts)
March 21, 2007
And I thought having to queue to get into Suntec City was bad… Wow.
March 21, 2007
Are we ever going to learn? Anyone here who got the item for RM1?
March 21, 2007
Benny: Not me. But hey, the parking guys got my RM3. WIN! Anyone else here got the RM1 deals they advertised?
March 22, 2007
Lowyat has almost everything you need for computers. The lifts are wayyyyyyy better compared to Imbi the old Computer center of KL. Trust me i use to work in Imbi
March 22, 2007
thats just plain stupid… but it was all cool hanging about seeing them antics..
March 22, 2007
Actually the RM 1 stuff is real.But the catch is that they only allocate ONE piece per item.That means only one MP3 player will be sold for RM 1 and the rest will be sold at normal price.
March 23, 2007
Goodness! Lidat also can! Wonder if they did open after that? Served them right if everyone of their customers left! Where is this digital mall anywaY?
March 24, 2007
I’ll always head to computerwar.
March 27, 2007
Based on the picture painted, the security head n the guards should be fired. Change a new team that is customer friendly.
September 16, 2007
can someone teach me how to go digital mall from setapak. tq.
[Just get to PJ and ask for directions to Jaya Supermarket in Section 14; the Digital Mall is directly opposite. The nearest LRT train station would be Asia Jaya, but you'll have to take a 5 minute bus or cab ride to get there. By the way, the Digital Mall sucks matzo balls -- you'll find anything you want and more (and at better prices) at LowYat Plaza in KL. --Kurt]
December 13, 2007
And here I thought, reading at this blog, thought digital mall is a great place, i’m not even sure if I wanted to buy an R4 card in there anymore:/
January 8, 2008
It’s ok to get pissed off with that security guard. If he were smart and polite, he wouldn’t have been a security guard, would he?
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