Kairita!!! My goodness. Hinding hindi na ako kahit kailan papatol sa mga pasaway na agents sa mall! Tospek oh!

An incident happened this afternoon, as in, impyerno! It's the Family First scam and I almost fell into their deceitful way of luring "potential" customers.

My mother and I had just gone from FEU Hospital for a follow up check-up and before going home, we dropped by SM Fairview to withdraw (sana) money from the ATM. As we were walking our way to the nearest Equitable PCI ATM Machine, a guy (i think he's gay) approached us, saying that we were being given a free umbrella, etc... I didn't really care but my mom was easily persuaded. Then and there, I was asked to sign an info sheet and afterwards, the gay man asked me to show him my credit card. No problem there.

We were then convinced to proceed to their office at the 2nd floor for a small talk. Of course, since we were being given a "free" umbrella, it wasn't so courteous of us if we refused him. Inside the office, I was informed that I was going to have a 45 minute talk with a representative who was about to orient me of what the company is about. Naturally, I started showing resentment.

First of all, it was a waste of my time. We only wanted to withdraw and planned to go home quickly because my brother was waiting for us. As the representative talked and talked endlessly of something that seemed to ultimately be one and the same, and nonsensical, I tried to explain to her that I wasn't prepared for such long conversation. My mother has been waiting for me, we've just gone from a hospital, practically every reason in the entire universe but Carmela, the representative refused to let me go. She even made me feel bad by saying, "If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't want to be treated this way, right?" I answered, "No, you don’t get the point. It has nothing to do with you, nothing to do with what you are trying to tell me, it's just that, I do not have the luxury of time to be doing this, that I was just forced into this..." The girl got a little irritated. But she continued, "Let me just finish this."

So there, I wasn't feeling okay na, she insisted pa rin. She talked again, in circles talaga. She kept going back to things like "savings, income, priorities, etc." I was like, "Hey, we're going nowhere," My mom, who's sick is waiting for me, why can't she just go straight to the point?

I think I tried at least 8 times to cut her, to ask her to have mercy on me and let me go. She won't convince me at all into doing business with them if that’s what she wanted. But she still insisted. Sobrang sama ng loob ko, maiiyak na ako talaga pero parang walang puso at awa, she still talked.

And then, there's a woman, a big, scary-looking chunky woman who came up to me and said, "Patapusin lang natin siya, Ma'am." My God, it's like the people there at Family First were all coercing me. Parang may bouncer na naka-ready to do the dirty work of forcing us to stay out of fear.

Ano ba 'yun? Tama ba yun? I was becoming less and less patient. Carmela was beginning to get nasty and para bang, ako pa ang masamang tao sa aming dalawa when in fact, I returned to her the same statement she gave me. What could she have done if she were in my shoes? Ako na naman ang tinuro niya, patapusin ko raw siya. Kung ibang tao raw yung kumausap sa akin, na-high blood na sa akin.

Oh my...the nerve of that woman. I told her that prior to that, I begged off na, but they said it was going to be just 45 minutes, that's maximum. She was like, "Who told you that? That's not an accurate information." I was like...So how long pa ba before she gets to the point? She couldn't tell me. I was with her for over an hour na. Gabi na, oh Lord. Sabi ko, "Can I just go home? I really have other things to do, I’m not interested." Sabi niya, there are formal ways of leaving the room. Tapos yun nga, she continued to talk, convincing me to choose a bank daw for savings purposes. Sabi ko, I don't like saving up money sa bank. Sabi niya, “Naku, dapat meron.”

Ang kulit niya, sabi ko, ayaw ko nga, mas magaling pa siya sa akin. Tapos sinabi na nga niya na they have something like a 300k - 600k plan na if you give a certain amount for three to 6 years, you'll have that much savings sa bank. I said, no, no matter what they do, I won't settle with them. Ang kulit pa rin ni Carmela. Halatang asar na siya sa akin, asar din ako sa kanya, walang intindi! Kulit!

Finally, my mom went wild and crazy na. She got into the room and when I saw her, I went hysterical na rin. Siguro people inside the room were curious. Hay naku, I didn't care if looked like someone without proper breeding. Basta, I wanted to leave that office instantly. I told my mom, get rid of the umbrella and the damn bag. Sinauli ni mommy and then, I frantically said, "You are all giving me a trauma! Ipapahuli ko kayo. Bawal ang ginagawa nyo!"

They couldn't do anything. Umalis na kami eh.

I read on the internet so many complaints about Family First. I hate their marketing strategy. I mean, if they really want customers, genuine customers, they should just post bulletins and be a little more creative into advertising their firm. Eh with what they're doing, seems like gusto lang nilang manloko. I think this is true since may mga nagreklamo dahil pinapapirma sila pwersahan sa contract bago sila pinapayagang lumabas. I'm lucky I didn't sign any damn contract pero just to be sure, pina-block ko na rin ang credit card ko. I sought for another one in replacement of the blocked card.

Hay, naiirita pa rin ako...the authorities need to do something about it. Bakit ba pinapayagan ng SM ang ganitong garapalang panloloko sa premises nila? Tospek talaga!!!!