A few rotten apples won’t stop me from going back to Singapore, but it’s unlikely I’ll go back to Newton.
American tourist Michael Rigby, who was charged $491 for a meal at Newton Hawker Centre.
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very skillful in publicity
I have no sympathy for these hawkers or shops who are out to fleece the ignorants and taken to task by the authorities.Many times I have encountered salesmen who marked up prices to ridiculous levels. Even a simple meal at a hawker food centre can be expensive when you can count on the dishes they serve.
I know most businesses exist to make profits but they should ,to use a local
colloquail term “aga-aga” on the prices.
We should all stop patronise those shops or stalls that are expensive.
Why is it that the relevant authority had been unable to get rid of the black sheep after all these years?
It should have been a police case, a case of cheating. The stall owner should have been jailed instead for 1 week, and the tourists given a refund. The stall owner didnt even give the $9 change, but just took the $500 and kept it! STB should insist that stalls at Newton display prices. The tourists should have asked for and agreed upon the weights and the prices before cooking. Stall operators who have more than 2 past records should be banned from operating or working in same trade.
Also, the STB and the Police should stop passing the buck to the NEA. There should be an emergency number at NEA and STB, a 24 hrs manned duty counter to handle such cases where time and evidence and assistance are of the essence.
yeah all of them should be go to jail if they did not inform customers about pricing.
singapore is a free market. i can sell chicken rice at $100 per plate or $1 per plate.
most important the consumer must koe that price and the seller must not hide the price and tell them after they have eaten.
it is ok to spend $1000 at hawker but customer must koe about the pricing and what they are getting before they decide to buy or not.
The King of hawker may come out to say “dont begrudge the few hawkers who make a few times more than others, it is very common amongst the better performing hawkers” But then again that will be totally insensitive and unreasonable for the king of hawkers to say so hor??
Here’s an area where BolehSia is ahead of us. All makan places (foodcourt stalls, restaurants, etc) there are requred to display prices.
unfortunate indeed.
But its the American banks that made many Singaporeans lose hundreds and thousands of dollars…
and the people who created all these things received bonuses on top of it.
not of the same league, not of the same discussion thread, but still…i do have a point, dont i?
you win some, you lose some.
also, there are singapore tourists who got scammed in the US…but heck, does it make news in the US? Does the US media care? Do the US public care?
I just got robbed on the train from Prague to Budapest. Did i go to the press in Hungary? Do you think they care?
i dunno why we are all hell bent over an American tourist who got cheated in Newton? its not new..its been going for as long as Newton has existed. Tell me if none of those travel books, travel guides never warn them. Tourists get cheated all the time, all over the world.
Why is this tourist special?
Let’s move on, its happened.
our economy is tanking due to the lack of regulation by US govt on their banks…short of a better word, those banks cheated us.
so, my opinion, lets get things into perspective.
not much news to report recently
Straits Times would have put a different twist to the story if Newton Circus is our Supreme Court.
Give yourshelf a second thought! What’s the difference as compare to the ministers’ salaries? Is this a role model? The ministers are paid million $ salary, not surprisingly the hawker follow the example for charging that much!
so fast to act on a few hundred dollars case,but till now no one act to help those
people whose thousands dissappear through banks,and all motorists have to pay higher premiums because of fradulent claims.
Why doesn’t the American tourist need to join CASE to make a complain?
in fact ALL the shops at SIM LIM Square should be locked up!
World No. 1 touting places.
The Sim Lim Square
The Newton Circle Hawker center
Anymore ?
my advise: don’t come back.
Well, it is not surprising.
Some says it is the Quality that counts.
If any of you have watched CableTV, they said only the rich can afford a Pizza costing something like over US$1,000 in New York, the ingredients contain caviars.
I do not know the true story
I am pragmatic and not partisan and I just wondered.
It is like the recent MP case, where the reasons slowly unfold.
This overpricing fiasco is comparable to the way our govt pay themselves, right ?
The tourists ate at this hawker stall in Newton in good faith but were taken advantage of, the bill says it all, however special the prawns were.
Now look at our govt , most of us voted for them in good faith, but we tax payers were taken advantage of, their obscene pay says it all , however talented this govt claims to be……which is one big BullShit !
Tourists were too trusting because Singapore oversold itself as “squeaky clean, honest and non corrupt”. But they never said don’t trust the hawkers esp. Newton Rd ones.
8mth bonus can get away, this one slapped with a fine and license ban just in 24hrs
Look, we adopted the american-style business model of free trade. If the consumer assume such, than its the consumer’s fault!
If we are unsure, wouldn’t we check the cost before ordering?
A prawn that size will definitely commands premium and let alone 8 pieces. S$30 a piece is reasonable based on suppliers and trades people.
We all know that Singapore was recently ranked Top 10 most expensive city in the world.
We all know our Ministers are paid by the millions. We all know that land cost is driving up the cost of doing businesses in Singapore.
Let’s try to understand the fundamentals.
Lastly, if the complainants were to be of any other race, will there be such a big hoo haa? Let’s all ponder………………….
It was no surprised !.
Was it a meal for “a person” or “1 person”?
I usually go to Fairprice supermarket, and at one time the large king prawns (‘ang ka”) were selling in the region of $30 + per kg. Fresh prawns, I was told, not cooked and served even ! Luckily, I did not buy or I could be ‘taken’?
Maybe in this case, as the hawkers did not know how to write and reply, could be baby prawns cooked in sambal, yeah !
I heard that the stall rentals there are different too, comparing to other centres.
Anyway, I like the way, some of our reporters reported on some incidents.
ho ho ho
Once my american professional writer friend said,
“using the new media to disseminate news and information without sufficient understanding…..”
and/ or omitting the details, and hoping that some nerds will accept the contents blindly! “You don’t ask, we will take care, just read”, he would say with a laugh.
I still remember the incident live on CNA when one of the male American reporters was commenting on one of our MediaCorp (relief) female reporter on MoneyMind. Anyway, I don’t see her hosting the program quite some time already.
Cheers !!!
This incident comes as no surprise !
American tourist ?
Next, let us re-capped the F1 Formula Race last year ?
What came the remarks ? The Singapore circuit was a ‘circus”?
The response was ‘Then you are the monkey”?
European racer ?
Then it was the trishaw ‘YouTube’ incident !
British tourist ?
Any intellectuals around ?
Is this the other axis ?
Some are indeed ‘small’, are they not !
Now lets reflect on the American military personnel incidents in Asia.
What happened when rape was reported ?
Any comments ?
Hope there would not be any ‘would be terrorists’ in the making or ‘Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves’ grouping.
It was a perfect business deal anyway… “you have the sands we have the billions in cash…..”
ha ha ha
You may like to add Lucky Plaza to the List.
Singapore’s Name is in the thresh hold. Why allow hawkers like these to continue running the store. This is daylight robbery. The hawker knew the person was a tourist, so he took advantage of him. Have the hawker to pay the man back his money. We cannot just slap their hands and say, “naughty, naughty”, and let them back again.” Take the license off and see if others will take it as a warning to them. Remember, this incident story is going to travel to many ears like cancer.
Its just a matter of time when it takes toll on our country.
Hi, I overcome this problem by paying in advance whenever food I ordered. This way, I could just walk away after finishing my food. At the same time, I know precisely how much I spent. But dishonesty is a serious problem if goes checked. Many country mandate that stall/shop must give the customers their receipts as VAT/GST number must be clearly stated. However, I do recognise that many food court stalls do not have such facility. The state law enforcement must then do its duty to stamp out such malpractice. Otherwise, Clean & Honest SinKapore will have a nasty reputation as a cheating and dishonest country right on top of Malaysia & Indonesia. It seemed we do not do thing by half measure.