Free SMS Reminders from Google Calendar

A friend of mine has brought my attention to the Google Calendar SMS notification service; Zain and Wataniya subscribers can have their calendar events and reminders sent straight to their phones for free! (Note that Zain is not mentioned on Google’s list of supported carriers, but it works nontheless).

To set this up, simply log in to your account, go to Settings, enter your phone details in Mobile Setup and you should receive a verification code shortly after. Once your number has been verified, you can specify which calendars or events you’d like to be notified about.

The best part of all of this is that since you can share calendars with other google users, people can see your free/busy hours, pick a suitable time for an event and have the details sent directly to your phone. You’ll never miss an appointment again! :)

Cinescape at the Avenues

At first glance, Cinescape has done a wonderful architectural and interior-design job with their eleven cinema theaters at the Avenues Mall. (Check out New Bride’s video of the cinema’s lobby while it was still being built).

It’s spacious, covered entirely in black from marble flooring up to painted ceilings, contains several large display screens that alternate between the latest movie posters and current showtimes, a large snack bar that promises short queues, and it’s all lit with subtle turquoise and purple opaque pillars ––a color scheme which oddly resemble that of Zain’s logo.

My friends and I went to watch Resident Evil: Extiction yesterday, and we were slightly enthusiastic about the new theaters. For the first time in Kuwait, there were movie ratings indicated next to each movie title! Could this be what we’ve been waiting for?

18+, 15+, PG… (added after the Simpsons riot?)

More screens that have-yet-to-be-set-up over the snack bar

Sadly, shortly after we walked in, it was apparent that it was the, “same ol’ cinema”. The movie was illogically cut and censored at numerous points during the movie; they managed to leave out all the curse words but not include the view of a bleeding corpse. Well, what were they expecting from a zombie movie? Oh well, maybe some day Kuwait. Someday.

Second MTC Incident

Last year, I wrote about an incident with MTC’s (I still refuse to refer to them as Zain) customer service support. I had called in to have my account canceled and the agent on the other end had assured me that the phone line had been deactivated. I later found out that deactivating is not the same as unsubscribing.

Yesterday, my mother, who is already aware of my previous incident, decided to go to a phone branch to cancel her subscription. The shop keeper asked that she’d pay all outstanding fees and then an extra 5 KD to issue a cancellation request.

Having done all that, today she noticed that her phone line was still active. She called MTC and explained that she had already paid the 5 KD to cancel, but they said, “only official MTC branches have the authority to cancel accounts!”. Great.

I’m going to investigate the whole issue tomorrow and talk to someone face-to-face, but what I still don’t understand is why can’t salespeople be honest about these requests? Keep this up and they’ll lose customer loyalty.