I happened to meet the owner (Kai's mom) at the Lippo Mall kids' cafe, so I was able to attend the first gathering just 3 weeks after arriving in Indonesia
and thanks to that I got to meet several lovely people hahaha
Today I'd like to share an episode...about registering at Rockstar....haha
1. How it all began
I came to Indonesia on November 27 following my husband, who got a job overseas, bringing along our 27-month-old child (born September 2022).
After about 3 weeks alone with the child, parenting got so hard that I looked for somewhere to refresh, and heard there was a place called Rockstar in the Lippo Mall where I live (Kemang), so
I went to have a look.
While I was looking around, a man came over and gave me an explanation.
An explanation of the programs, and the prices....
The cost was 3 juta with a debit card but something like 1.4999 juta with a credit card, so I wanted to pay by credit card
but I didn't have a credit card at the time, and when I said I'd go get one made, they said fine and let me go quietly for the moment..hahaha
But then they said they'd let me know if there was any Rockstar information and to ask anytime I needed something, and we exchanged contact details.
Maybe that was the mistake to begin with...haha
2. Where the trouble starts haha
But after that, several times a day they urged me to register at Rockstar, sweet-talking me that if I had no credit card I could just pay the registration fee and settle up when the card came out,
and in the end, since my husband and I were going to send our child to Rockstar anyway, we decided to get a credit card while we were at it and applied for a BCA credit card at Neo Soho Mall
. (We applied at Neo Soho Mall while we were there for the aquarium)
At Neo Soho Mall the BCA employee wrote down my husband's KITAS, passport information, SALARY and address on the forms and took the information.
And that day we received more than five calls from BCA and went through identity verification. (What's your mother's name, what's your name, what's your date of birth, and so on)
And then they told us the card would come out in 5 days, 7 at the latest...
Anyway, even while I was in the middle of getting the credit card made, the Rockstar staff kept contacting me, and I said "I'm applying for a credit card at Neo Soho Mall right now,
once the card is issued I'll come with my husband." and even then they contacted me saying I should come in advance and at least complete the registration....
A week after applying for the credit card (Sunday) I went to Rockstar with my child and husband to get one more consultation.
The employee came up to me and asked hadn't I made a card last week, had it come out, and when I said not yet and that I didn't know when it would come, they said it would come in a few days and
urged us to complete the registration first, and we too paid the registration fee first, intending to settle the cost once the credit card arrived, and started attending Rockstar.
3. The problem deepens
But... I went to Rockstar about 5 times, and every time it was won't you give us the credit card, did you perhaps buy the credit card from a friend rather than a bank, and so on....
The pressure came in a friendly tone, so
we called halo BCA, they claimed they didn't know and told us to go to Neo Soho Mall, and when we went there they didn't know either and told us to go to a branch, so
we went to the branch near my husband's office and again the information wouldn't come up, maybe it's still in progress — a game of ping-pong... passing the blame around, which made me think
ah, let me give up on the credit card for now and pay for Rockstar with debit, so I told the Rockstar staff that I'd pay by debit card.
And then they suddenly told me a 15% extra charge would be added,,,(there was no such mention originally. It was just 3 juta a month)
So I said even taking that into account I'd just pay by debit card and would come tomorrow, and suddenly it wasn't allowed... just this once it can't be done, they said... hahahaha
saying just this once please use a credit card,,,
4. The problem is solved
In the end, whether there's some deal between a credit card company and Rockstar, or something going on with the staff's promotions
anyway, when I brought my worries to nongKrong's Kai's mom, she readily offered to lend me her card....
But we hadn't thought about our Korean credit card at first
(We closed all our cards before coming here, along with our bank accounts and money ... there was exactly one card left, but since it was for emergencies I hadn't thought of using it)
So we decided to use that card for now, went on Christmas Day (yesterday) and asked whether payment was possible, they said yes, and the payment went through smoothly
We checked several times that this was our first payment and that once we paid there was nothing else we needed to do
and they said that's right, but then suddenly there's an additional 10% charge... so we said fine, paid and thought that was the end !! and left, but
a few hours later they contacted us again saying we hadn't registered the card, and showed us a cancellation receipt saying they had cancelled the payment on their own
They kept telling us to come back, saying if we came by seven today they'd give the 10% back (and that if we didn't come they'd face a penalty from Rockstar, so please come...)
We were in another area and there was no way we could go, so we said we couldn't and decided to go again today...
And then they said in that case they couldn't give the 10% payback, that we had to come today for it to be possible
Back and forth like this.... we told them to sort it out properly with the manager and just let us know the outcome, that we'd go tomorrow, and wrapped it up for now....
The Rockstar registration that still isn't over....!
And BCA still says it doesn't know the status of the card....
My husband and I are thinking that if the credit card doesn't get made this time, we just won't make one ever again....
We were rather sensitive about information leaks even in Korea, so having it happen abroad as well is quite worrying for us.
Anyway, I hope those of you registering at Rockstar look into it carefully..... before you do
It's probably only natural, but from what I could see, what matters to the staff is hitting their sales targets
Next time... I'll share my experience of being ripped off by the police, and what happened when I had a traffic accident abroad ..
Happy New Year, and I wish you good health and success throughout 2025
