SingTel and SingPost, Partners in Delivering Inefficiency?

These are two entities that do not appear to be talking to one another in terms of the services they jointly deliver.

On Oct. 28, I paid for an iPhone 128GB Gold device online through the SingTel shop portal – https://www.singtelshop.com/# and picked self-collection as my preferred option — given that I did not wish to contend with any delays if I went for the home delivery choice.

I promptly received an email from SingTel confirming that the phone would be available for collection on Oct. 30 (today, no time was given) at the Thomson Road Post Office (POP Station).

When I went there at 11 for collection, the staff there looked at each other in amusement. “iPhone delivery? You must go to SingTel”, they told me.

I showed them the email communication I received from SingTel, but they had no clue as to what this was all about.

I then called up SingTel and the customer care officer asked me if I had received any confirmation SMS from them. I told her I only received an email confirmation. “That is not enough, you will have to wait for the SMS,” she advised.  

A complete waste of my time: In fact, she told me that the first SMS was sent on Oct. 28 itself and the second would come in today. When I told her I did not receive any of the SMSs, she asked me to call SingPost. I was miffed and gave here a piece of my mind as this was a complete waste of my time.

Why on earth should I call SingPost when my transaction is with SingTel? She then agreed to call SingPost and get back to me.

An hour after I left the post office, I received the SMS with the collection details that included a PIN that I could use at the POP Station within the Post Office to get the iPhone anytime from 9am today. Isn’t that interesting? I was there at 11am and none of the staff had any knowledge about iPhone delivery.

Move Away from StarHub: When I ordered for the phone online, I had made a conscious decision to move away from my earlier service provider, StarHub, as I had not been pleased with their service standards. Number portability makes the transition easy if you are not on a contract.

My experience with SingTel is threatening to be no better even before the start of the service. My home line and my iPad connection, nonetheless, are with SingTel. 

In any case, I was told that the SingPost service was a new initiative from SingTel. So some teething troubles are to be expected. Still, I cannot avoid saying that there was a lack of professionalism.

G Joslin Vethakumar