Google Alerts

Do you have some news or particular topics that you would like to follow? Do you feel like keeping yourself updated from certain issues or blogs? Do you find yourself consistently searcing for the same term at Google?

If yes, we would like to introduce you the awesome page Google Alert. Google Alert will send you an email whenever there are relevant results to your search. You can further refine your alert by setting the frequency of receiving emails, sources, languages, regions and number of results. Hence, you will not be discouraged from receiving too many junk emails but only the best results from Google. And more, you can keep yourself updated and save your time from searching the same topics everyday. 

Here are the 4 simple steps to set up Google Alert in 2-minutes-time.

1. Click Google Alert or you can simply type Google Alert on Google Search, it should be shown in the first result.

2. You should see the "Search" box on the top of this blue-ish page. Type the news/topics that you wish to follow. Immediately, it will show you some Alert Preview for you to double confirm whether these are the updates that you are looking for. Otherwise, you can simply type in another keywords/phrases to obtain better results that suit you.

3. Then, type in your email address but do not click the "Create Alert" just yet but the "Show Options" beside it. Here, you can start setting up your preference. For instance, if you are interested in looking for migration to Country A, you would not want to get the results/news from other countries, i.e. you can select the region box there for this specific preference. 

4. After you have done all the setting, click the "Create Alert" and you have officially created an alert. 

Congrats! You're done.

[Tip 1] The alert is not limited to just one. You can create a few but bear in mind, too many alerts can spam your email quite badly which can turn out to be very annoying.

[Tip 2] This may be subjective but usually, users will select at most once a day and to only get the best result. This means you will be updated everyday and only with those best results that you should spend some time to read on.

[Tip 3] You can create alert to follow your favourite magazines such as Business Insider/ Harvard Business Review or National Geographics to get free articles.

Credit Card Double Charged

This is my personal experience recently. On a typical weekend, I shopped for groceries in a sundry shop nearby my house. Like usual, I handed my credit card to the cashier to pay my bill. The cashier inserted the card into the machine. A few minutes later, she told me that their machine is offline and cannot be used. So, I ended up paying the bill with cash.

A few days later, while I browse through my credit card transaction history, I noticed that they did charge my credit card. I remembered clearly that I DID NOT sign any transaction receipts. Luckily I kept the shop receipt which stated I paid by cash. So, I informed the store manager and the issue resolved pretty quickly.

The store manager told me while this is not common, it does happen occasionally. Therefore, if you face similar situation like me, keep calm and follow the steps below:

1. Evidence

Collect documents such as the transaction receipts and credit card statement. You can print screen the online banking statement.

2. Inform

Visit the store/shop to inform the store manager. The shop will give instruction to the bank to refund your money. 

3. Check

Keep an eye whether the refund is made. This might take awhile, depending on how quick the shop inform the bank.

There is no use in calling to the bank or credit card company. You will have to communicate with the transaction counterpart. 

[Tip 1] This kind of situation is rather common, therefore, do speak up if they double charge you. The shop know how to handle it.

[Tip 2] Usually, the act is unintentional. Therefore, do speak nicely with the manager about the situation. They are more than happy to help you getting back the money.

[Tip 3] It might be a good practise to keep your receipts for awhile, so that you can have supporting evidence if this were to happen.