Long queues formed at various Simba telco outlets on Dec 13 for the company’s fifth anniversary promotion, but many customers were turned away after hours of waiting, with police eventually dispersing crowds at some locations.
On Dec 12 evening, Mothership reader Jimmy Chua received an SMS from local telco Simba offering promotions for its fifth anniversary. Among the deals was an opportunity to “Recharge S$60 & get S$120 credits” plus free gifts. Subscribers were asked to head to Simba service centers, with a link listing 18 “service centers” and five “authorised collection centres”.
Chua first tried heading to a Simba outlet in Hougang on Dec 12 at around 7pm but was turned away and told to return the next day. On Dec 13, he proceeded to Simba’s Serangoon outlet at around 1:40pm, only to be met by a long queue.
He joined the queue at 2:20pm and was told by staff to queue “in a loop” to prevent blocking a nearby OCBC outlet. Chua remained in queue for almost three hours, during which he observed several elderly people in line with no provisions made for them, such as stools to sit on.
At around 5:20pm, when Chua was within five people of being served, Singapore Police Force officers arrived to tell those in queue to go home, while the Simba shop closed its shutters for the day. Similar long queues were also spotted at Bedok and Tampines.
Chua observed that many in the queue would likely be on Simba’s five-dollar-a-month senior plan, meaning the offer could have given them a free year of service. A social media post by Simba appears to confirm the offers were real but lists only eight service centers as participating outlets.
Many customers in the post’s comments complained of confusion and long queues at other outlets, with some wondering why Simba did not make the offer available online instead. Mothership has reached out to Simba for comment.
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