And thus, a new chapter for thebackpackr.com unfolds – I vow to blog more regularly and talk about topics that will really be relevant for those interested in anything creative, technology and business.

Any feedback or suggestions you’d like to give me?

OLD AND CLUTTERED

NEW AND IMPROVED!

Initially, I was elated to find that flights via Tiger Airways were at zero dollars, and you merely pay SGD25 nett from Malaysia to Singapore. So a return flight is SGD50 each, which is really dirt cheap. With that perception in mind, I go about processing my booking…

First, I am presented with a summary of my flight, which is fine. SGD100 for 2 persons translates to MYR228 which is absolutely fine.

After it times out several times, I persist and finally get to the part where you’re supposed to put in your credit card details. Obediently, I comply and suddenly, I am presented with this screen.

Hold on a minute… my memory isn’t that bad, and I distinctly remember the figures MYR228 – what’s this extra MYR50 that is being snuck in? I click cancel and return to the previous screen where an inconspicuous section says “All bookings made using an electronic form of payment are subject to a CONVENIENCE FEE per passenger per sector”.

What on earth is this?

1. You blew your budget while developing the booking system, and are forced to charge us for it
2. You’re trying to be sly-er than the coyote
3. Tiger hopes our eye sight isn’t so good, and they can hoodwink us by 50 bucks

Whatever it is, how can you pass on a convenience fee to us? You jolly well are inconveniencing me and driving me insane. As a web user, I feel this in an injustice and am really disappointed to experience this. I would rather they have told me upfront that there is going to be a fee for booking.

Don’t mask it and coin funky terms such as “convenience fees”, that’s just not cool. Tiger Airways, if you’re reading this, I hope you reconsider your devious strategy and position your miscellaneous fees transparently and not at the last possible moment, without even putting it in the billing summary.

You don’t want your blog to look like a plain Jane one, so get cracking, and select a happening design theme, download it and install. Here’s an introductory chat about themes and plugins.

This clip does not cover the process of installing themes, but here’s a video clip by Steve Dougherty that illustrates in step-by-step form how to do it.

As for installing plugins, you could take a look at a step-by-step guide I’ve written on how to do so. It’s really dead easy.

Alright, have fun exploring WordPress even further!