G-Cash at SM: short of my (good) expectations

I've tried transacting G-Cash at SM Megamall.

The long and short of it: long transaction, falls short of my (good) expectations.

I bought an item at SM Megamall last Saturday. I informed the cashier that I wanted to pay via G-Cash. With a doubtful tone, the cashier told her bagger partner: "Kuya, G-Cash daw." Bagger man said reassuringly, "Sige, kaya natin 'yan."

I keyed in the SMS message in my phone:

PAY SM 009113 100

009113 - store code unique to each cashier
100 - amount to be paid
I sent the message to 2318

Response from G-Cash 2882:

1/2 Shoemart requests to deduct 100.00 of G-Cash from your wallet. Reply to this messge with your MPIN if you want to confirm.

2/2 No response after 5 mins. cancels the transaction. Please note that your MPIN will validate the txn but it will not be disclosed to any party. P1.00/txn.

I replied with my 4-digit MPIN

Within a few seconds, the G-Cash system replied (from 2882):

You have sent 100.00 of G-Cash to Shoemart on 09/23/05 08:54 PM. Your new balance is 29.75. Ref. no 29781695

And then there's this odd message from 2318:

Thank you for shopping at SM using your G-Cash. P1.50 fee for this transaction. Trace# 438251.

I could dwell in the P1.50 fee, but I won't at this time. I'll just note that either this transaction fee is hidden or in fine print in the G-Cash at SM brochures (to be verified later).

What is remarkable about the transaction is that: it took me 15 minutes to accomplish this transaction!

I'll tell you more about that in another story.

In the meantime, let me just share with you that the G-Cash in SM system isn't perfect yet. Tsk tsk tsk. Not good. This will scare away "normal" G-Cash customers. Note that by "normal", I refer to regular G-Cash customers. I consider myself "abnormal" ( my wife describes me that way too ) because I go through great lengths just to test services like these. Not many are crazy enough to put up with these experimentations.

Ah, the pleasure ... the adjective "masochist" comes to mind ...

Next time, I'll share why it took me 15 mins. I'll also share stories of G-Cash transactions gone wild.

ka edong

article length rating: a little too long