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Billboards bar motorists' vision

Reply ABDULLAH Al Amri, Director-General of the Sharjah Municipality said that the municipality is aware of this problem and agreed that there is lack of control on advertisements and billboards spreading on Sharjah streets, publications and brochures are distributed in the emirate without permission from the municipality or economic department.

"To solve this problem, the municipality has just launched advertisement control sections which will be responsible for issuing permission for installing billboards based on specific conditions and criteria in terms of size of signboards and its contents. The inspectors of this section will soon survey the streets, main roads and highways to remove all the signboards that are affecting the vision of motorists while driving on the external roads in Sharjah. The section will allow installation of signboards only after it ensures they are not affecting motorists on the streets. It will also determine some areas for such advertisements and signboards," he said.

Al Amri said the municipality welcomes complaints from the public about any matter that affects their life, as the municipality’s main objective is to serve the public.

Parking zones and used cars dealers

FAREED, a resident of Sharjah, complained about the paid parking zone started recently in Abu Shagara area. He said that there are a lot of used car sellers parking cars in the paid parking area located in Abu Shagara, leaving no space for residents. The entire parking area is captured by the used car showroom owners only. The paid parking rule has been recently imposed, but still the used car dealers refuse to remove their cars. Besides, these vehicles have no number plates, so the parking wardens are unable to slap fines on cars parked without a ticket in the paid parking zone in Abu Shagara.

Reply OSMAN Al Marzouqi, Head of the Parking Section of Sharjah Municipality, said that May 1 was first day of the functioning of paid parking in Abu Shagara area. "The municipality provided the used car dealers with specific space for display of their cars for sale, but we understand that some of them try to park the used cars in paid parking zones earmarked for residents. The municipality has organised a campaign and has towed away 18 cars which belong to these used car dealers to give the residents a chance to park their cars," he said.

"The inspectors during this campaign will tow away all the used cars of these dealers if they were found parked in the residential areas. Number plates are not necessary after we tow away the cars, because we can fine the owner who comes to the police station to claim the vehicles, the official disclosed. This is a temporary solution for the Abu Shagara used car market until shifted to its new location in Al Ruqqa Al Hamra," he assured.

The Abu Shagara residents are welcome to complain about these used cars at 993 and the inspectors will immediately respond to such complaints, he said.

Lifestyle customer 'misled' on discount

A SHOPPER, who requested anonymity, claimed that some staff of the cosmetics store Lifestyle ‘misled’ her regarding a 25 per cent discount promotion when she went shopping more than two weeks ago.

“A sales lady at the Nivea counter told me that if I buy nail polish, I can get a ‘scratch and win’ coupon. After I paid for the items, the lady at the counter told me that I am not entitled to the coupon. Instead, since my total purchase amounted to Dh100, she said I can get a 25 per cent discount voucher, which is valid until the end of April. I went on buying other cosmetics, so I could use the voucher, but I was told that the discount only applies to purses and wallets,” the customer said.

She further said that the staff should be well briefed as to the extent of any promotion that they offer, so that they can properly inform and guide their customers, preventing any confusion.

Reply Suresh Ramchandran, Deputy General Manager of Lifestyle UAE, said in-store promotional materials like danglers, roll-up stands and shelf talkers are very clear and that their staff are well-trained to explain further in case any customer needs clarification.

“We wish to first clarify that the promotion was not a 25 per cent discount promotion, but all Lifestyle stores were offering Dh25 worth of gift vouchers on purchases of Dh100 or more. Such gift vouchers are redeemable only on Fashion Bags & Wallets and valid till April 30, 2006. At the same time, Nivea’s offer was a ‘Buy worth Dh80 of Nivea products and Get a scratch & win coupon free’, which entitles the customer to win exciting products and also a chance to enter a draw to win an I-pod. Bourjois, another cosmetics brand was also on offer where customers buying anything worth Dh150 would get a bag free,” Ramchandran said.

He went on to explain that the customer had made a total purchase of Dh100, composed of a mix of products from Nivea & Bourjois. “Both Nivea & Bourjois were running separate promotions. The customer unfortunately did not qualify for the respective promotions since she did not make purchases worth Dh80 or Dh125 within one single brand. Overall, however, she qualified for the Lifestyle promotion and was also given the Dh25 of worth gift voucher redeemable on Fashion Bags & Wallets. It was the customer’s choice not to take fashion bags or the wallets that Lifestyle offered, but insisted that she get either a scratch & win coupon from Nivea or a bag from Bourjois. Lifestyle store manager Cinclair D’Mello has attended to this particular customer personally and explained the promotion mechanics, but the customer refused to accept the offer,” the deputy GM explained.

Stuffy buses and shadeless stops

WITH the summer heat steadily climbing by the day, passengers of public transport buses will have a hard time waiting at bus stops in the extreme heat for the next few months. A caller complained that buses on route 4 are stuffy and hot as the air-conditioning units are not working properly.

Reply FEEDBACK from the users of public transport buses has played an important role in the development of the network and its services, an official said, in response to the query. He noted that the comfort of passengers is given much importance at the department, a proof of which is the ongoing project to install 500 air-conditioned bus shelters across Dubai. He called on the passengers to inform of such breakdown of facility so that the appropriate department can work to solve their problems.

Apart from the air-conditioned bus shelters, the department is also expanding its fleet of buses with another 80 brand new buses by next year. This will allow some of the old buses to be kept in reserve and maintained better.

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