The red tapes in USA for an alien are amazing. (And this is NOT a compliment.) Yap, and the complaining begins...and it's a REALLY looong one.
It first began with our apartment search. We fell in love with a particular apartment with fantastic views and decent location (and really good rent!). It turned out that we were unable to rent the apartment as Zim isn't paying US taxes and that is one of the requirements for verification under a rent stablized building. (WTF) The option given was to purchase insurance from an external party (I ain't too sure of the rationale behind it.) and the insurance would cost approximately USD8k. At the point of time, we weren't sure that the amount would be reimbursed by the company, thus we gave up the apartment. (Honestly, I kinda felt that the management was just making things difficult for us so that we won't be able to rent it. Oh well, too bad la.) But on a good note, we managed to find an even better apartment (At least this current one has an island and even better view, though we compromised abit on the space available) eventually. Nonetheless, the process for the current application was equally painful for Zim as he had to get several documents done for verification. I'm glad it's finally over! (And yes, we officially moved in on 16th February! Photos will be up shortly~)
The next pain came from the internet application. (This totally killed me and yes, it explains my tweet.) We chose to get Verizon Fios as the plan is cheaper (about USD30 per/mth) than it's competitors, so we went online to register. Well, rather, Zim went first. At the end of the registration and a call to the credential office to verify his credentials (Probably to prevent identity theft.), the application was rejected. Apparently, Zim failed the verification. (It was really dumb! They asked questions that were ridiculous, like they asked if you had stayed in any of the states mentioned and gave you three options that you probably never even heard before, thus you just answered negative. At the end of it, apparently we failed. Duh~ how do they expect us to pass the verification?!) He was told to have a copy of his documents verified by an attorney and then faxed over to the credential office. (Honestly, W T F?!) Annoyed, Zim cancelled the whole application and asked me to give it a try.
So, now my turn. Expectedly, I failed the verification as well. The operator gave me two options: the one that Zim got OR I could bring my documents down to the shop (which is about 1 hour away!) for immediate verification. Since I was super eng, I chose the latter. I travelled across to the other side of the world and searched for the shop. (Just a quick note: Apparently, there is a Verizon and a Verizon Wireless, and they are separate entities. How the fuck would I know....) I happily walked into Verizon wireless thinking it was the correct place. The lady was really kind and went through the entire process (photocopied my documents, faxed it to the credential office, followed up with a call to check that it's all cleared) to help me get my verification (took about half hour). It was only when she asked me which mobile line I was applying for that we realized that I was in the wrong place. So she directed me over and added that since I got my approval for this, there shouldn't be an issue for Verizon itself. (This further contributed to my impression that Verizon and Verizon wireless are ONE entity!)
I walked into the store that was about 4 stores down and was stopped by a security guard mending the queue. I explained my purpose and he directed me to a row of phones. (The store has a row of 5 phones cubicles on the left and some counters with staff in front.) I tried to tell him that I wanted to speak to someone about my internet application and he simply insisted that I was to use the phone to speak to the operator. WTF. So I got to the phone and explained my situation to the operator (with the impression that my documents had already been faxed to the correct credential office.). She didn't seemed to quite understand what I was saying and kept mentioning that they did not receive my fax. (I was trying to explain that it was faxed over earlier already and the verification was done thus the fax wouldn't be at the fax machine anymore.) Sigh, I was obviously speaking english, thus I didn't understand why the hell she couldn't understand me. After about 10 minutes of non-conclusive conversation and her insisting that I provide her with the fax number I faxed from which I did not have, I simply hung up. I was super frustrated at the situation and approached another security guard asking him if there were anyone I could speak to face to face. He insisted that there weren't and that Verizon had ended the face-to-face customer service about 5 weeks ago and all I could do was either to call them or to email them. (This is CRAP~)
I went back to Verizon Wireless to get their fax number and went back to the stupid line of phones and dialed for the operator again. Of course I was directed to a different operator and I had to repeat my super long story again. So the operator transferred my phone to the credential office and in the midst of doing so, they fucking disconnected me. (I was really really fuming by then.) So I redialed and was freaking put on hold for 30 MINUTES!!!! By the time I got connected, the store was already about to close. I explained my situation AGAIN while holding back my tears of pure anger AND was once again transferred to the credential office. The lady (My saviour for the day and probably the only one who could understand english) quickly clarified that the two companies are separate and that all I had to do was to bring my documents to the counter and the lady there would verify everything!!!! O.M.F.G.....................after one fucking hour of doing crap and arguing/speaking with idiots, all I was supposed to do was just to go the counter! WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK~
I sweared I looked like a bitch when I approached the counter. I slammed my documents and my bag on the table and trembled when I explained my situation for the FOURTH time to the lady. (She machiam looked like she saw a ghost and was obviously freaked out by me.) She calmly explained that they were closed for the day. Then my small eyes widen and I was about to swear vulgarities when she added that she would speak to her manager. I don't what she said to her manager (probably something along the line that a crazy lady was at the counter), but it worked. The manager (my second and BIGGEST saviour of the day) came out and agreed to help me with my application. He made a couple of calls and even stayed back half hour for me. I was so thankful. I guessed he saved everything. Had he not done that, I will be sending in an ultra LONG complaint letter and switching to a competitor provider. But thanks to him, I am going to send in a compliment instead, well, provided the installation is complete (It's supposed to be done tmr, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for now.)
When I finally met Zim about an hour later, I just started crying as I felt sooooo 委屈 (This is the first time I cried since I left Singapore lor and it's over such a ridiculous issue). It's like I was being put through all these crap just because (1) I am not a US citizen (2) I met some FREAKING stupid people (3) Verizon and Verizon Wireless are two separate entities (TMD, why can't they just have unrelated names!) (4) I had to repeat my ultra long story 4 times before someone finally understood and could point out what went wrong (5) was just super duper uber unlucky. And the best part is, I HAVE A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AND AN OFFICIAL PASSPORT WITH A VALID VISA!!! Doesn't that at least help?!
Okay, this post is just so long that I don't even want to bother complaining about the red tape in applying for a Citibank account. And I really hope that this is gonna be the end of the crap red tapes, else I am sooo gonna blow...
