Of Policies And Disgruntled Applicants
AnimalCare 
Jul 12, 2013 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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Yesterday, we received a most unpleasant email from a disgruntled applicant who accused us of:
1. Not helping her “fully” with her claims.
2. Practising “double-standards” whereby we informed her that we do not publicise for fosterers and we suggested that she goes to other forums to looks for fosterers.
3. Practising “double-standards” whereby we sought for sponsors for certain needy cases and did not do so for her cases.
We do not often get disgruntled applicants, at least in that they do not write to us with their grievances, but we do welcome feedback from any unhappy applicant. We shall certainly look into the grievances, address them and see if they constitute areas where we can improve on. Unfortunately, this disgruntled applicant’s three accusations were unsubstantiated and without evidence.
Apart from our reply to her yesterday, we thought it would be good to post our response here just in case there are other applicants who are also unhappy with the above three matters:
Grievance No. 1:Not helping her “fully” with her claims.
Ever since our policies were in place to provide 50% for all claimable medical treatments and a maximum subsidy for neutering (http://myanimalcare.org/subsidy/), we have been practising this policy on all cases unless it is for the very needy cases where (a) the applicant requests for extra funds and (b) our readers respond by giving extra contributions. Other than these cases, all applicants have received 50% for medical treatment claims and our maximum subsidy for neutering as per our policy.
We also advised this disgruntled applicant that since Dec 2012 until July 2013, we have paid out a total of RM1697.50 in claims for her 9 cases. All of these claims have been disbursed as per our policies. Each one of her cases have been published on the blog with the full amounts of subsidy stated.
Grievance No. 2:Practising “double-standards” whereby we informed her that we do not publicise for fosterers and we suggested that she goes to other forums to looks for fosterers.
As of 21st November 2012 (http://myanimalcare.org/2012/11/21/no-more-publicising-for-fosterers-only-for-adoptions/) where we made the announcement that we will stop publicising for fosterers, we have not done so. We have asked this disgruntled applicant to provide evidence of her accusation. She has not replied.
She has asked us once to find her a fosterer and we advised her to seek one from the various pet forums as we no longer advertise for fosterers, only for adoptions.
Grievance No. 3:Practising “double-standards” whereby we sought for sponsors for certain needy cases and did not do so for her cases.
While we have ONLY disbursed funds from AnimalCare based solely on our policies, we have also given extra funds to certain individuals as follows:
a. Maslinda Abd Talib – Maslinda has received only 50% for all her medical treatment claims from AnimalCare but two readers (one anonymous and now, Angel Inc.) wrote in to offer to top up the balances for her cases. Angel Inc. now continues to help in all of Maslinda’s cases.
b. Maslina Omar and Obot the Cat from Chini: Maslina received the maximum of RM500 from AnimalCare and another RM500 came from our readers (Alida Mahyuddin, Sau Yee and Jasmine Ong):http://myanimalcare.org/2013/04/27/medical-subsidy-for-obot-the-sporo-cat-from-chini-pahang-maslina-omars/
c. Hoo Ruh Yu, a dog feeder from Kajang who was feeding 200 over street dogs: This feeder received our funds as per our policies and the top-up was contributed by our readers (Edward Lee, Elaine Chan, Peggy Tiong, Amelia, Sau Yee, Andy Lew). The last subsidy paid out to this feeder was on 9th March 2013. Since then, there has been no claims from her.
d. Kelly Tan and Jacinta Emmanuel: Kelly & Jacinta also received subsidies as per our policy. Extra top-up donations were from Mr Kok Khee Wee who wrote to us to offer to support their work. Kelly and Jacinta are on their own now (since theirs is a shelter).
e. Then Lai Fatt: Ah Fatt receives our subsidies as per policy too. Extra funds for him has come from Maria O’Connell and recently, we posted his appeal for boarding fees for the two dog families and our readers responded to help:http://myanimalcare.org/2013/06/02/mother-dog-and-puppy-boarding-fund-then-lai-fatts/
f. Low Hong Hang: Before we raised our dog neutering subsidy to RM150, Mr Low received our RM100 maximum subsidy and the extra RM50 per dog was topped up by Kok Khee Wee, Martin Lui, Peggy Tiong and Andy Lew. Mr Low requested this full sponsorship as he was not able to come up with the funds himself and our 4 readers responded. Now, Mr Low receives the full sponsorship of RM150 per dog from us since this is our rate now.
g. Lester Hiew Thiam Hock and Jenny Khong Chin Chin: Lester and Jenny received our subsidies as per policy. Extra funds to help them come from Mr Kok Khee Wee and Ti-Ratana Penchala.
h. Kwan Pei Kuan (for Bonny) and Yap Mei Han (for Whitey): Both of these cases received our subsidies as per policy. The extra funds came from Angel Inc., Mr Kok Khee Wee and Berjaya Cares.
Bonny:http://myanimalcare.org/2013/06/14/medical-sponsorship-for-bonny-now-rip-kwan-pei-kuans/
Whitey:http://myanimalcare.org/2013/06/14/medical-sponsorship-for-whitey-tvt-male-dog-yap-mei-hans/
i. Michelle Lee Soke Hui and Cane-Cane the Cat: Michelle received our maximum of RM500. The extra funds came from Julia & Friends and Angel Inc.:http://myanimalcare.org/2013/04/02/another-rm300-subsidy-for-michelle-lee-soke-huis-rescued-cat/
Other applicants who have received extra donations from Mr Kok Khee Wee and Angel Inc. are Norshahadah Rusli (a top-up of RM50 her cat for the neutering of her cat colony at her foodstall in Skudai), Lim Teang Seouk (top-up for the neutering of the community dogs in Kangar), Lydia Telleson (a top-up of RM50 per cat for the spaying of the 6 rescued Persian mix cats (females only)) and Norely Abd Rahman (for the boarding of the targeted 8 Lebuh Ampang cats).
As above, all these extra contributions came from our readers who read the posts and offered to donate further. For Ah Fatt’s case, we made an appeal on his behalf as it was an urgent case of either leaving the dog families on the street to be captured or rescuing them for boarding.
We have reviewed all emails from this disgruntled applicant and she has not asked for any extra funds in her applications. If she has, we have asked her to forward the emails to us, but she has not done so. Making accusations without substantiated evidence is quite a waste of time. As far as our records show, we have paid out all her 9 claims as per our policy and she has acknowledged receipt by email for each claim.
We managed to contact a few people who are acquainted with this disgruntled applicant and we were told that she has been badmouthing us throughout, including during the months that she had been receiving our subsidies (Dec 2012 to July 2013).
We urge unhappy applicants to please seek help from other organisations if they are not happy or agreeable to our policies. Whenever any applicant (new or old) applies to our funds, we send them our policies so that they are informed of our constraints, limitations and requirements. The onus is therefore on the applicant herself if she wishes to pursue with her claims.
If any unhappy applicant wishes to lodge a complaint against us, by all means, please do so as we welcome constructive feedback for the purpose of improvement but please do so in an appropriate and coherent manner with substantiated evidence and proof.
On a personal note, I am reminded by a wise teacher that in everything that we do, no matter how well we do it, we will never be blameless. If we talk too much, we will be blamed. If we talk little, we will also be blamed. If we do not talk, we are also blamed. I am well aware of this fact: That we can never please everyone. On this note, I will go on running AnimalCare as best as I can, with the help of our committee, volunteers, well-wishers and you, our readers. And I am glad I can do so with a clear conscience.
If you have constructive feedback, critique or ideas on a more efficient way of running AnimalCare, please do write in or leave a comment.
Thank you.
Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2013/07/12/of-policies-and-disgruntled-applicants/
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