Just when I was celebrating my lack of complaints nowadays, up came 2 incidents to piss me off.

I went onto the ACRA government site to register my freelance copywriting and design business. I had to click so many pages on the "easy-to-navigate" site before I arrived at the list of even more links to choose from. The 'idiot-proof instructions' pointed me to a link that, surprise surprise, was not on this final page. I chose the closest match and proceeded to fill up the form. But the 'submit' button wouldn't work for me. In the FAQ I found a number for their 'friendly' 7-day tech support. Called, and discovered it was not open on weekends. Huh?

When I finally got them on Monday, the guy replied that I filled the wrong form, with a sarcastic tone as if I'm a retard. But okay, at least he pointed me to the correct link and I completed my registration. A welcome screen appeared and offered me a starter kit to guide me on the technical and legal aspects of being business owner. Just click 'here'. I did and an error message appeared saying no such page. I searched the whole site for a long time and couldn't find a similar document, so I emailed them for help.

What a ludicrous reply I received:

The "Business Owner's Kit" is just a hyperlink to our Homepage. If you had clicked on the link, it would have brought you to our homepage at www.acra.gov.sg (There is no actual 'Kit'). The idea behind the link is to encourage business owners to view & read on the information provided so that they can know the do's and don'ts of carrying out their business activities.

Er, NO. I did click on the link, as I explained in my email. And even if it links back to the main site, why talk about a kit if it does not link to a page with more concise information? Rather than have to read the entire site, which was impossibly messy. Ridiculously lame excuses.

Makes me glad I'm finally not part of this huge inefficient government system.

 

Labels: Cynic In The House