This is sequel and “happy ending” to the earlier post on Monday, Haslinda vs EPF on the inordinate delay in approving her application for EPF Withdrawal Scheme for Education to the extent that she faced the risk of losing her student status in a local public university.

I had promised to phone the new EPF Chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman the next day on Haslinda’s case, as on Wednesday, I was to be admitted into the Penang Lam Wah Ee Hospital for an eye operation.

But the EPF Chairman could not be contacted in his office at EPF Headquarters on Tuesday as he was away in Putrajaya, though I left word with his secretary as to the purpose of my call.

The next day, Haslinda sent me a sms to inform me that EPF had called and informed her that the cheque was ready for collection in Shah Alam branch.

I have just received this email from Haslinda with advice for others in her shoes:

Dear Y.B. Lim

I hope you are ok and recovering from the operation.

I was on leave yesterday and collected the said cheque from EPF Shah Alam branch. They called me on Wednesday afternoon and asked me to come and collect it. I did question them why it was not posted to us as the normal procedure. They mentioned that there is some problem with the Bank (RHB) and as usual, blaming the system.

There was no hiccup when collecting and from what I could see, there is a minor improvement in terms of the waiting time as compared to my visit in January this year. The University did not charge us late penalties of RM80.00, guess they must have been contacted by EPF personnel.

In this case, I have followed their requirements by producing the necessary documentations required, i.e. photocopy of I/C, copy of exam results, student card, and also letter from the University. I believe if we follow the procedure closely, there should not be any hiccups or problems with our application (poor me, I was wrong!). Instead, I was given a piece of A4 paper, stating that the application will be processed accordingly (previous practice was, EPF would give an acknowledgement card, similar to the registered letter card from post office) and I have surrendered it to the Treasury Dept as a proof that I have submitted my application to EPF. Previously, we will be getting our cheque via Pos Laju, within 2 weeks after application. I have been using this method for the past 2 years and there is no major problem such as the recent one.

I was panicking when my friends called me up on Monday relating the same problem that I was facing. I did try to call up their Customer Service Hotline but as usual, I was being put “On Hold” for at least 20 minutes each time I called (my friends tried, same problem). As time is of the essence in this case, I had no other way but to call up Telekom Directory Services to get their HQ phone no. in KL. Again, as you mentioned in your earlier email, once again, I was put “On Hold” for at least 20 minutes and finally I managed to speak to Nariza, the Chairman’s PA. I voiced out my disappointments to her and she also confirmed that there are still a lot of claims that they have yet to process and will take quite some for them to process. I then asked for the Chairman’s fax no. and told her I wanted to put everything in black & white and the rest is as you have read in my letter.

Based on my experience, I would suggest that those who are facing the same problem to try to do the following:

1. Check your facts and make sure that they are accurate.

2. Make copies of what you submit to them, I even keep the “Queue Number” when I submitted the form on 17 January 2007.

3. Don’t be discouraged when being faced with sarcastic remarks/answers from them. Be focus on what you want to achieve at the end of the day.

4. Know your right. Do not simply accept their reasons because some times, they do give reasons for the sake of reasoning and it does not make sense. Remember at the end of the day, it is your money and not theirs!!

5. When everything else fail, go to Y. B. Lim, he can do miracle….hehehehee

Anyway, at the end of the day, I managed to get my cheque. Upon checking with my friends, they mentioned that on Wednesday evening, EPF called them up personally and asked them to collect their cheques. It shows that they do need someone to shake them up. I really pity those who are illiterate, who can’t write and don’t know how to complain…they will be lost when being passed around by these people.

Y.B. Lim, my friends and I would like to thank you for assisting us in getting our money. We know that the media could not be bothered with this kind of issue as there are more deserving cases such as “PM going overseas”, “Why Linda Onn did not appear on red carpet”, ” Siti Nurhaliza still not pregnant”…etc. Although the cheque issue is settled, I am still waiting for their response in black and white, as to why there is delay in our application.

Once again, thank you very much.

Regards

Thanks Haslinda for the compliments. I am no miracle-maker but I am prepared anytime to shake up the “authorities” to remind them that they are the servants and not masters of the people.