Poor Experience Singtel iPhone 5S Event

SingTel iPhone 5S started at Exhibition Hall E in Basement 2 of the Marina Bay Sands. No queues, but location was terrible taking in consideration that it’s the F1 weekend. Some forward planning to avoid the road closures and perhaps hold it at for e.g. Ngee Ann City or even Comcentre would have been much appreciated. Overall purchase experience was pretty terrible as well.

Despite the lack of queues, it was a frustrating experience buying the iPhone 5S from Singtel. First, the good thing: Singtel used to charge an additional $50 for the handset if you are recontracting a CIS (Corporate Plan). Although it seems that Singtel has waived off this $50 surcharge, by factoring in a phone discount of $50 on the receipt. Just very strange, couldn’t they just sell it at the same rate? It might be this discount is just a temporary waiver. The CIS plan was supposed to be an incentive but it is being used by Singtel as a penalty instead.

Now, to the disgusting portions. Singtel has increased the CIS plans, from 29.80 to 31.32, a 5% increase. Next, AMPed WAS a music service for SingTel users that provides free, unlimited songs with no additional data and song charges. AMPed is now a value added service charged at 9.90 per month. Existing recontractors may not notice that it is being charged or priced into the new bill as a VAS, with the first month charged at $0.10, before increasing to $9.90. AMPed itself is a pretty useful service, but $9.90 may not bode down well with many, so do pay special attention to your monthly bills. If you are looking for a free alternative music service, why not try HypedMusic or Google Play Music?

The next bit is also incorrigible. I requested not to change the SIM card. But the counter service person insisted that I need to change from a micro-sim to a nano-sim. But he said he need to activate the nano-sim when I told him not to change my micro-sim to nano-sim card. Furthermore, this change from micro SIM to nano SIM is charged at $35. Susbequently, you still need to purchase a nano-sim to micro-sim adapter in order to use back the SIM card. This sucks, especially for users who are re-contracting the iPhone 5S or 5C on another family member’s line. Singtel is pretty insistent that it is a requirement to change to Nano SIM for all iPhone 5S/5C purchase at SingTel and the SIM Card charge is applicable. I don’t see why this needs to be enforced. Also, this is not a requirement by Starhub or M1 as well.

It’s really time to explore other telcos for better and more transparent charging practices.