bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Ten months ago, Jon Wilson of Capital Enterprises bought a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 600 printer for $2,600.

  A few days ago, he received a letter.

  'Dear Customer, Our record indicates that the warranty coverage of your HP equipment will be expired on 08 November 96,' it said. 'We are pleased to forward our contractual hardware support service information for your consideration.'   Below was a coupon which said: 'I would like to join the following hardware support scheme and agree to pay the following annual support charge.

  'HK$4,493 per year including labour and parts.'   Jon naturally assumed this was a mistake.

   How could a maintenance contract for a $2,600 piece of equipment cost $4,493 a year? He telephoned the company.

  There was no mistake. He was given a lot of blather about ongoing new product releases necessitating engineers needing continual training and so on.

  He said: 'It seems they would prefer you to throw it away and buy a new one than have to service it for you.' It was reported yesterday that First Shanghai Investments, a mainland-backed company in Hong Kong, has signed a deal with a firm called Goodbaby Holding Co. Surely the corporate world is not moving into the niche business, now dominated by domestic workers and young women, of baby-sitting? Ho Puay-peng, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, read a report about the Japan-France Cultural Summit 96, a conference which has just ended in Tokyo.

  The Asahi Evening News reported that delegates came to the following conclusion about modern life: 'Virtual reality created through digital technology may limit natural human senses and may hinder development of interpersonal relations and community.

  'This problem may be solved by combining virtual reality and real life.'   Brilliant. Talk about mixed signals. In the early hours of yesterday morning, police raided that oversized beehive, Chungking Mansions, and found 33 foreigners who had overstayed their visas. The gist of the police message: 'Get out.'   At the same time, government messages about the raising of typhoon signal No 8 went out to everyone through radios: 'Stay in.'   There was a major court case in Hong Kong a few years ago which hinged on whether playing the share market was gambling in the same way as horse racing and betting in casinos.

  The courts decreed that it was not the same, to the relief of the financial community, whose self-important members were horrified at the thought of being classed alongside bookies.

  The folk at Wharf Cable are not fooled. The station has a punters' channel, which operates around the clock, alternating financial data and horse race winners. If Citibank Korea adopts the maternal-maiden-name password system, conmen called Kim should not pretend their mothers are also called Kim, I am told by Michael Jardine.

  Archaic laws in that country prohibit anyone from marrying a person with the same surname.

   A Kim's mother thus cannot be a Kim. This is tough on citizens in Korea, since almost everyone is called Kim, Lee or Park, so you immediately lose a massive number of potential marriage partners.

  But conmen calling the bank would only need two guesses to get the right answer.

  Citibank: What's your mother's maiden name, Mr Kim?   Kim: It's Park, er, Lee, er, Park, er, Lee . . .

  Citibank: Correct! I note that Professor Philip Love, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, was in Hong Kong last night.

   One presumes he was a PhD on his way to becoming a professor, during which time he must have carried the wonderful name 'Doctor Love'. Angus MacKillop was thinking about Hong Kong's weather. Rainstorms and typhoons frequently hit the territory in summer.

  'What if the number eight signal went up on June 29 and the number 10 on June 30 next year?' he asked.

   'All flights would be cancelled and the Governor would not be able to leave.'   On the contrary, Angus. I think the Beijing authorities would be delighted to bend the rules and allow Mr Patten to head out into a dangerous force 10 typhoon. Thought for the day: If at first you don't succeed, do unto others.



Welcome to the disposable office era