recently for the last few months in Malaysia, GROUP DEALS are popping up everywhere like mushrooms, must be the in-trend all of a sudden. Theres Groupsmore which is now GrouponMalaysia, Dealsmate and one of the newest member in town has to be IcedChili. I’m sure there are lots of out there, but those are the few i’ve come across of late.

Being an internet savvy person, i read up about it and saw some interesting cannot resist deals. Striking words like YOU SAVE 80%! YOU GET THIS AND THIS AND ITS ONLY RMXX AMOUNT! WOW! So yeah, i got sucked into buying 2 deals which i totally DO NOT NEED.

* * *

DEAL 1 : 4-course Bento Set: Unagi Don + Salad + Miso Soup + Fruit + Bottomless Green Tea at Kushi Q, Tropicana City Mall. Now just RM7 instead of RM13.90.

Did i like it? it was mediocre. i have ate at this place before and didnt find it great, i bought the vouchers anyways coz its cheap. Will i go back to that restaurant? probably not.

* * *

DEAL 2 : [63% Off] Exhilarating! 5 full laps (choose from Double-Seater Buggy / Krazy-Kart / ATV) + additional Human Hamster Ball experience. Must try! Only RM28 instead of RM75

Now this is an interesting one! the pictures posted on GrouponMalaysia as well as the vendor’s website was deceiving! Heres what was advertised:

800m (per lap) of rough-it-out adventure Total experience (off road driving + Hamster Ball) takes approximately 30 minutes Purchase multiple vouchers for double the fun Choose from 3 types of vehicles Experience the Human Hamster Ball Shower facilities available

I bought 8 vouchers and after going thru the hassle of gathering working friends to get together, we went with anticipation!

When we got there we were so so disappointed with the place. It was not at all “exhilarating” as the ad says.

- That place was simply just a piece of land next to some high-tension wired area and across a cemetery, clear off the land and you call that extreme park??

- The parking area was so small (barely fits 3 cars) so we had to park outside by the roadside, again across from the cemetery.

- We made an appointment at 3pm, we arrived at about 2.45pm and was told someone came in earlier and said that they were us and took our slot. So we had to wait for at least an hour before we can play.
Question is….didnt the company check the booking number or check the vouchers? How did another group came in and took our slot?

dangerous pieces of scrap metal around the premise

- The pictures of people in mud  portrayed in ad was not from the trek nor from the driving, but it was from their staff spraying water hose at you and stopping your buggy in the middle of the trek, by using some small pails, pour mud on you. Now, we are not kids and we do not accept this kind of cheap thrill. We thought that going on an ATV or Buggy is about going on some rough terrain, with mud holes, and that the tyres will “splash” the mud on you. Not getting dirty from water hose??

- The buggy / equipment were poorly maintained.

Also, there was no “hamster ball” available for the day. Again, from the condition of that place, i dont think i’d be too comfortable do any hamster stunt.

* * *

Simply, AGAIN, i’d like to stress to GROUP DEALS company to test out and visit vendor’s deals before putting up on sale. I also noticed that the “Extreme PD Buggy Trek Pit Stop” Deal is up again on GrouponMalaysia site. I strongly advice that you dont buy the deal. In fact I’m boycotting that Trek and would really like to see them closed down!

And will i be buying another deal after all these experience? Probably not for a long time.

new years was just 2 weeks ago. 14 days into 2011 and we have already heard of so many natural disasters since December with the snowstorm in UK & New York, flood happening in Australia, ice caps are melting are a very fast rate, land slide in Brazil and personally in Malaysia it has been raining and raining and raining (not that that is not a good thing since it cools the temperature) but its ridiculous to see mother nature calling out to us.

WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!

i think its all over the place, everyone specially companies & organizations are doing their part of CSR, cut down plastic bags, save the trees, treeplanting campaign yadda yadda yadda…and you know what? i think its just bullshit. they do it one time, you and i see it, 6 months later, the campaign is forgotten. they spend money, lets have family fun day, built up tents, treeplanting activity, hire some celebrity to endorse it…all these events EATS UP ENERGY and kills more trees. its pretty ironic isnt it?

my main main main concern and i think the bigger culprits are FACTORIES, LOGGING INDUSTRY and the non-stop ever building HOUSES & APARTMENTS. any piece of land available, they see business opportunity.

i can do my part and not use plastic bag, but hey, one bulldozer drives in, cleans up the grass and tress, thats probably more waste than i can throw.

so heres something new i learn from TED.COM the other day, instead of the regular 3R, theres the 4th R now: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Refuse.

you should already be cutting down plastic bag usage, saving water & energy, but heres also few other pointers which you might add on…

• discourage products that has too much plastic packaging, and encourage those who uses recycled material
• buy local food products in supermarket to cut down flown-in products.
• eat less / cut off red meat
• discourage new building plans / constructions (if the world stops building for a year, i think it could make a drastic change)
• use paper cups instead of styrofoam ones
• for takeaways in malaysia, theres way too much usage of styrofoam boxes for hawkers. bring your own plate / containers!
• switch off the aircon and use the fan when possible

unfortunately, going green and choosing recycled paper packaging products definitely will cost but if you have a small family and can afford extra 1ringgit to spare to encourage, do it!

i admit, i dont even follow 100% whats been said above, but hey, at least its at the back of my head and i’ll try to work on them, even harder this year.

* * *

adding on, i’d like to say kudos to the government for implementing a no-plastic day on every saturday, starting from selangor, and its nationwide! hoorah! and kudos to both IKEA (no plastic bags everyday) and Carrefour (for providing carton boxes at check out counters for your goods).

recently for the last few months in Malaysia, GROUP DEALS are popping up everywhere like mushrooms, must be the in-trend all of a sudden. Theres Groupsmore which is now GrouponMalaysia, Dealsmate and one of the newest member in town has to be IcedChili. I’m sure there are lots of out there, but those are the few i’ve come across of late.

Being an internet savvy person, i read up about it and saw some interesting cannot resist deals. Striking words like YOU SAVE 80%! YOU GET THIS AND THIS AND ITS ONLY RMXX AMOUNT! WOW! So yeah, i got sucked into buying 2 deals which i totally DO NOT NEED.

* * *

DEAL 1 : 4-course Bento Set: Unagi Don + Salad + Miso Soup + Fruit + Bottomless Green Tea at Kushi Q, Tropicana City Mall. Now just RM7 instead of RM13.90.

Did i like it? it was mediocre. i have ate at this place before and didnt find it great, i bought the vouchers anyways coz its cheap. Will i go back to that restaurant? probably not.

* * *

DEAL 2 : [63% Off] Exhilarating! 5 full laps (choose from Double-Seater Buggy / Krazy-Kart / ATV) + additional Human Hamster Ball experience. Must try! Only RM28 instead of RM75

Now this is an interesting one! the pictures posted on GrouponMalaysia as well as the vendor’s website was deceiving! Heres what was advertised:

800m (per lap) of rough-it-out adventure Total experience (off road driving + Hamster Ball) takes approximately 30 minutes Purchase multiple vouchers for double the fun Choose from 3 types of vehicles Experience the Human Hamster Ball Shower facilities available

I bought 8 vouchers and after going thru the hassle of gathering working friends to get together, we went with anticipation!

When we got there we were so so disappointed with the place. It was not at all “exhilarating” as the ad says.

- That place was simply just a piece of land next to some high-tension wired area and across a cemetery, clear off the land and you call that extreme park??

- The parking area was so small (barely fits 3 cars) so we had to park outside by the roadside, again across from the cemetery.

- We made an appointment at 3pm, we arrived at about 2.45pm and was told someone came in earlier and said that they were us and took our slot. So we had to wait for at least an hour before we can play.
Question is….didnt the company check the booking number or check the vouchers? How did another group came in and took our slot?

dangerous pieces of scrap metal around the premise

- The pictures of people in mud  portrayed in ad was not from the trek nor from the driving, but it was from their staff spraying water hose at you and stopping your buggy in the middle of the trek, by using some small pails, pour mud on you. Now, we are not kids and we do not accept this kind of cheap thrill. We thought that going on an ATV or Buggy is about going on some rough terrain, with mud holes, and that the tyres will “splash” the mud on you. Not getting dirty from water hose??

- The buggy / equipment were poorly maintained.

Also, there was no “hamster ball” available for the day. Again, from the condition of that place, i dont think i’d be too comfortable do any hamster stunt.

* * *

Simply, AGAIN, i’d like to stress to GROUP DEALS company to test out and visit vendor’s deals before putting up on sale. I also noticed that the “Extreme PD Buggy Trek Pit Stop” Deal is up again on GrouponMalaysia site. I strongly advice that you dont buy the deal. In fact I’m boycotting that Trek and would really like to see them closed down!

And will i be buying another deal after all these experience? Probably not for a long time.