Blacklisted phone shop in People's Park Complex to close

SINGAPORE - A mobile phone shop in People's Park Complex will not renew its lease when it ends at the end of this month, The New Paper reports.

The shop, S Team, which is on the Consumers Association of Singapore's (Case) consumer alert list, held a major sale over the past few days, selling three mobile phone covers for $10.

According to Lianhe Wanbao, four shops at People's Park Complex, including Tele Infinity and Mobile Alliance which are also on Case's list, have also been closed.

It was previously reported that People's Park Complex was the mall in Singapore that has received the most consumer complaints.

The New Paper reported that 96 out of 244, or 40 per cent, of complaints against the mobile phone retail industry handled by Case from Jan to Oct this year involved shops at the Chinatown mall.

In comparison, Sim Lim Square accounted for 20 per cent of the complaints.

Sim Lim Square had made headlines recently when a shop there, Mobile Air, refunded $1,010 in coins to a woman, and then subsequently refused to refund a Vietnamese tourist, who was filmed in tears and begging on his knees.

Mobile Air, which had been closed for about a week after the incident, re-opened on Nov 14 with a new name and owner, citizen journalism website Stomp reported.

The tactics of shops in both places are the same: attract customers with low prices for phones, and then demand more cash for the phone's warranty or to "unlock" the phone.

Consumer complaints filed with Case - Sim Lim Square

(For the 3 months of Aug-Oct 2014)

Source: Case

Consumer complaints filed with Case - People's Park Complex

(For the 3 months of Aug-Oct 2014)

Source: Case

seanyap@sph.com.sg