Hi all! I'm back again with my new post about my impending Uni life (lol). I think this is the start to some Back to School: Uni Edition series or something :P But anyways, just thought I'd note down some of the things I am / have been / will be struggling with (with regards to Uni).
As most of you may know, I'm living in a hall! So I've gotten a roommate who, thank God, is a friend of mine so both of us wouldn't need to share a room with a stranger :D It will be a whole new experience that's for sure! But with halls, come payment. I'm not sure about how hall payments work in other Unis, but for my Uni I have a few options to settle the bill. Of course, I opted for the internet payment because it is just the simplest thing to do - wayyyy easier than issuing a cheque or going down personally just to pay by NETS. But here comes the annoying part: after making the payment and receiving the email of acknowledgement which basically acts as a receipt, I was supposed to forward the email to the Admin Office. I'm not sure about you, but that term to me was so vague that I haven't the slightest idea about who to email to. After that sentence, it continued with "the one who gave you your notification email" (rephrased because I can't remember the actual words and I'm just too lazy to log in and search). With that second sentence, my doubts were pretty much clarified. I just had to forward the email to the person who sent me the Hall results in the first place, right?
... Wrong.
Or right.
See the thing is, up till now, I still have no freaking clue which email I was supposed to send to! After sending to the person who notified me about my Hall, I received no reply and my payment status wasn't updated. Needless to say I was panicking, because I paid hundreds of dollars for my lodging and there didn't seem to be any reply - at all! So I called up the department for Financial Matters (it is the apt dept after all) and after hearing the person on the line being as unsure as I was, I couldn't leave it as that. Thus I checked my email again for any replies and then I saw an email, saying that it was an acknowledgement of payment. Okay, hold up. I know it sounds really confusing and trust me, I was as confused as you are right now. There are TWO acknowledgements of payment? Whhhaaattt? This second email had my full name, matriculation number and all the mumbo jumbo so I thought (stupidly) that it was a delayed second acknowledgement of payment. And I forwarded it to the email, again.
Fast forward to the next day, didn't receive ANYTHING in my inbox despite sending two emails so I called the Hall again - this time, the department of the person whom I sent the email to. I was afraid that she didn't receive my email and didn't update my status, so I gave them a ring and after the person passed the phone to a woman (whom I am assuming is the person I sent the email to), she told me that I was supposed to forward to my Hall INSTEAD. After thanking her and still feeling super lost, I forwarded both acknowledgements to my Hall's email.
... You guessed it. No reply. That was early this evening and I was freaking out because if they do not realise that I've paid, my place in the Hall may very well be forfeited due to some crazy miscommunication and the like and I was just anxious and fretting - so I contacted my roommate and asked her which email did she forward the email to.
Surprise! It was a completely different email from the above.
What. The. Hell.
Feeling so damn frustrated and downright angsty, I was raging so bad (lol) and I was like okay that's that; if they still refuse to reply me after this I am not going to do anymore emailing bc it was taking such a huge toll on my emotions (okay, that's a stretch) and I've already done whatever I could. So I emailed to this new email my friend gave, while knowing fully well that the second confirmation email came right from them. So I was essentially forwarding the same email back to them. Stupid, I know. I refused to do it too but An was telling me that there wasn't any harm doing that and at least I'm trying again. The reason why I was forwarding the second email was bc the second call to the school told me that I should be forwarding the one with my matriculation number. So I complied and forwarded it.
After dinner I went back to my laptop and saw the (1) by my mailbox and I was so relieved. YES THEY FINALLY RECEIVED MY EMAIL AND REPLIED! :) :) :) I opened it up, and started laughing so badly then went on to send a WhatsApp picture of the email to An. In it was written:
Dear Jolene
We note that you've paid the acceptance fee.
Regards
XXX
Maybe the joke flew past your head, but this person "XXX" was the first person whom I sent the email to and probably the one whom I spoke to on the phone. Which essentially means that the second acknowledgement email was probably the reply that I was waiting for, except that it had exactly the same content as the initial acknowledgement with the addition of my name and matriculation number.
What. The. Hell. I think they were probably so fed up with my incessant emails over the past week that she just had to reply me (once more) that they know I've paid. Well, thanks a lot for your effort - but this wouldn't have happened if (1) the instructions were stated clearly on the payment page and if (2) they made it more obvious that the second email I received was the reply to the first email.
* the second acknowledgement email didn't come from the email address I forwarded the first acknowledgement email to
Hi all! I'm back again with my new post about my impending Uni life (lol). I think this is the start to some Back to School: Uni Edition series or something :P But anyways, just thought I'd note down some of the things I am / have been / will be struggling with (with regards to Uni).
As most of you may know, I'm living in a hall! So I've gotten a roommate who, thank God, is a friend of mine so both of us wouldn't need to share a room with a stranger :D It will be a whole new experience that's for sure! But with halls, come payment. I'm not sure about how hall payments work in other Unis, but for my Uni I have a few options to settle the bill. Of course, I opted for the internet payment because it is just the simplest thing to do - wayyyy easier than issuing a cheque or going down personally just to pay by NETS. But here comes the annoying part: after making the payment and receiving the email of acknowledgement which basically acts as a receipt, I was supposed to forward the email to the Admin Office. I'm not sure about you, but that term to me was so vague that I haven't the slightest idea about who to email to. After that sentence, it continued with "the one who gave you your notification email" (rephrased because I can't remember the actual words and I'm just too lazy to log in and search). With that second sentence, my doubts were pretty much clarified. I just had to forward the email to the person who sent me the Hall results in the first place, right?
... Wrong.
Or right.
See the thing is, up till now, I still have no freaking clue which email I was supposed to send to! After sending to the person who notified me about my Hall, I received no reply and my payment status wasn't updated. Needless to say I was panicking, because I paid hundreds of dollars for my lodging and there didn't seem to be any reply - at all! So I called up the department for Financial Matters (it is the apt dept after all) and after hearing the person on the line being as unsure as I was, I couldn't leave it as that. Thus I checked my email again for any replies and then I saw an email, saying that it was an acknowledgement of payment. Okay, hold up. I know it sounds really confusing and trust me, I was as confused as you are right now. There are TWO acknowledgements of payment? Whhhaaattt? This second email had my full name, matriculation number and all the mumbo jumbo so I thought (stupidly) that it was a delayed second acknowledgement of payment. And I forwarded it to the email, again.
Fast forward to the next day, didn't receive ANYTHING in my inbox despite sending two emails so I called the Hall again - this time, the department of the person whom I sent the email to. I was afraid that she didn't receive my email and didn't update my status, so I gave them a ring and after the person passed the phone to a woman (whom I am assuming is the person I sent the email to), she told me that I was supposed to forward to my Hall INSTEAD. After thanking her and still feeling super lost, I forwarded both acknowledgements to my Hall's email.
... You guessed it. No reply. That was early this evening and I was freaking out because if they do not realise that I've paid, my place in the Hall may very well be forfeited due to some crazy miscommunication and the like and I was just anxious and fretting - so I contacted my roommate and asked her which email did she forward the email to.
Surprise! It was a completely different email from the above.
What. The. Hell.
Feeling so damn frustrated and downright angsty, I was raging so bad (lol) and I was like okay that's that; if they still refuse to reply me after this I am not going to do anymore emailing bc it was taking such a huge toll on my emotions (okay, that's a stretch) and I've already done whatever I could. So I emailed to this new email my friend gave, while knowing fully well that the second confirmation email came right from them. So I was essentially forwarding the same email back to them. Stupid, I know. I refused to do it too but An was telling me that there wasn't any harm doing that and at least I'm trying again. The reason why I was forwarding the second email was bc the second call to the school told me that I should be forwarding the one with my matriculation number. So I complied and forwarded it.
After dinner I went back to my laptop and saw the (1) by my mailbox and I was so relieved. YES THEY FINALLY RECEIVED MY EMAIL AND REPLIED! :) :) :) I opened it up, and started laughing so badly then went on to send a WhatsApp picture of the email to An. In it was written:
Dear Jolene
We note that you've paid the acceptance fee.
Regards
XXX
Maybe the joke flew past your head, but this person "XXX" was the first person whom I sent the email to and probably the one whom I spoke to on the phone. Which essentially means that the second acknowledgement email was probably the reply that I was waiting for, except that it had exactly the same content as the initial acknowledgement with the addition of my name and matriculation number.
What. The. Hell. I think they were probably so fed up with my incessant emails over the past week that she just had to reply me (once more) that they know I've paid. Well, thanks a lot for your effort - but this wouldn't have happened if (1) the instructions were stated clearly on the payment page and if (2) they made it more obvious that the second email I received was the reply to the first email.
* the second acknowledgement email didn't come from the email address I forwarded the first acknowledgement email to
Situated in the sunny island of Singapore, Jolene recently (is 2 years considered recent?) graduated from university and is now working in a job she never expected herself to hold. Besides having frequent quarter-life crises, she also indulges in video games, anime, and aesthetic korean girls documenting their life in vlogs.
Although not as eloquent with words, she still aims to try her best to bring across her thoughts to the Internet.
