SingTel Hello! Shop (Parkway Parade)

Dec 2007, I was there to buy a new mobile phone. At that time, I was eligible for a handset upgrade and have to sign another 2 years of my life to Singtel.

1st, one has to queue to get a queue number. This is another form of "streaming" the crowd. Good system, until there are just too many quentions by a single customer, resulting in a almost stagnant queue.

Finally, my turn. I conveyed my purposes to the guy and was promptly given a queue number to view my next handset. This happened to be a shorter waiting time (for a reason). I told the customer service person, the brand and model of the mobile phone I like. I liked it and wants to buy it. Here comes the part. There is zero buying experience at this stage. The person just proceeded to process my transaction, without going through the features of this new phone to me. I may not be a first tiem user of a smartphone, but I am new to this model. In fact, I just switched brands and you can imagine the "at a loss" whenever one does that. She did not even turn on the phone to show that it works. What I got was merely going thorugh the parts that came standard with the phone, and then led to the cashier for payment.

Sure, I can explore the new features as part of the fun, but, I felt that she doesn't even bother about the buying experience.

Months later, I realised that I was given the wrong subscription plan to sign. It is a lower plan and I know that for the price I paid for the phone, I should not be able to sign for this wrong plan.

This plan does not suit my usage at all. I did called up customer service and wants to rectify it but was told to go back to the same store in order to change it. I just don't bother.

Business is too good and the training given to front line may or may not be sufficient. One part I am sure, the QC on the service was not there.