Durian lovers are incensed.

On July 29, Sengkang Community Club (Sengkang CC) held the Sengkang Central Durian Festival within its grounds from 10am to 8pm, with a durian supplier, Durian 36, providing the fruits.

The event advertised that the durians will be available throughout the event, so long as people who bought the festival's tickets were able to present them for the durians' redemption.

The actual festival, however, saw insufficient durians available for everyone who had bought the tickets, along with low quality durians being given out.

Each ticket cost S$5 and allowed a redemption of two durians.

Furious comments

Before the festival had even reached its official end time at 8pm, angry comments were flooding the Facebook pages of Sengkang Community Club and Member of Parliament Teo Ser Luck, who oversees Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which includes Sengkang.

Most of the complaints focused on the long waiting times they were subjected to, only to receive durians of inferior quality or discover that there were no more durians left.

Small durians of poor quality

Initially, when the complaints began, many of the complaints focused on the size of the durians.

Some were also angry about the durians' quality, with complaints that they either did not taste good or were rotten.

Many of the comments have since been validated by Shin Min Daily News, where one of their reporters, who was present at the event, noted that a refuse bin was filled with a pile of durians that were either unripe or have gone bad.

Queuing for nothing

Eventually, the complaints shifted to the long times wasted in queuing for nothing under the heat, along with the additional costs incurred in showing up for the festival.

Sengkang Community Club apologises

Sengkang CC subsequently pinned an apology to its Facebook page on July 30 for the long wait and disappointment that the public was subjected to.

Acknowledging that "the durians supplied was not of satisfactory quality", Sengkang CC has offered cash refunds for the tickets, along with allowing for the tickets to be exchanged at four of Durian 36's outlets.

Skepticism and anger about the effectiveness of the refund still remains, with some questioning how they can collect their durians from the supplier if their ticket had already been accepted at the event.

Teo Ser Luck attributes situation to change in supplier

MP Teo similarly apologised for the wait and disappointment, according to SMDN, and noted that for the previous two years, the festival had gone smoothly.

However, the change in this year's suppliers to Durian 36 resulted in issues emerging.

Previously, Durian Full House had been the supplier.

The image below is Sengkang Durian Day in 2017:

What is Durian 36?

Durian 36 advertises itself as a "durian party and event provider" that goes the "extra mile to quality-check our durians before they are served at your event."

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The firm is 18 years old, with 300-plus tonnes of durians served each year and over 150 parties catered to over the years, according to its website.

Top images from Sengkang Community Club

 

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