PUBLISHED ONJune 05, 2023 10:13 AMByClaudia TanAn elderly woman wanted to get a new mobile phone to replace her faulty one, but ended up receiving one worth much less than the one she paid for.
The woman's son, Simon Lee, took to Facebook to share his mum's experience with the staff at Novel Communication's outlet at Tiong Bahru Plaza last Sunday (June 4).
Lee said his mum wanted to re-contract her mobile phone plan at the Singtel retailer store and get a new Samsung phone as her old phone's battery was bloating.
But he noticed things were amiss when she returned home with an Oppo A78 instead of a Samsung Galaxy S23 — the phone she originally wanted.
"[My mother told] the saleswoman that she wanted a Samsung phone, but the saleswoman insists that Samsung phones are not up to standard [sic]," wrote Lee.
According to Lee, his mother opted for the telco's XO Plus 122 plan, which allowed her to get a Samsung S23 phone by topping up $20.
"But they gave her an Oppo A78 which can be gotten for free with a plan that is not even half the price of my mother's contract."
A quick check by AsiaOne shows that an Oppo A78, a budget phone, retails for $369, while the flagship Samsung Galaxy S23's price starts at $1,038.
Lee discovered more fishy details when he took a look at the receipts of the transaction.
He discovered his mother had been issued a receipt stating her phone contract included an iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Many netizens urged Lee to confront the saleswoman at the store to clarify the details of the contract, and also make a police report.
AsiaOne has contacted Lee and Singtel for more information. AsiaOne's calls to Novel Communication went unanswered.
A Google search also showed that the company's Tiong Bahru Plaza has permanently closed.
This isn't the first time a customer has voiced displeasure with Novel Communication's service.
Back in 2018, Singtel took disclipinary action against the retailer after they were found to have committed lapses while handling a customer's contract, reported Stomp.
The customer's daughter, Yeo Hui Ting, took to Facebook to share that her mother came home with a Samsung J3 Pro after re-contracting her mobile phone plan.
The invoice stated that her mother had chosen to get an iPhone X, but "agreed" to trade back the phone in exchange for the Samsung model.
"Given the above scenario, Novel Communication took the opportunity to use my mum's recontract plan to get an iPhone X 64 GB (highest value phone in the market) from Singtel and pushed the kuching kurak phone to my mum," Yeo wrote in her post.
She ended up returning the Samsung phone for a $48 refund.
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