A woman was shocked to discover the price of an ice cream sold by an ice cream street cart vendor in Tampines when she was about to pay for it.
Lola Quek took to Facebook group Complaint Singapore to lament that she forked out S$8 for two servings of ice cream.
However, the ice cream vendor later told Mothership that he provides a much larger portion of ice cream with bread for S$4.
Complaint
The ice cream cart is located at the traffic junction near Tampines MRT station, selling ice cream in cones, wafers, and bread.
Here's a photo of the ice creams Quek paid S$8 for:
Photo from Lola Quek / FB
Disbelieved, Quek said she had to ask the ice cream vendor three times in total if it truly cost S$8.
"He say it’s big size now, last time ice cream cone not so big 🤔 he was so insistent till the end," was the uncle's explanation, she wrote in the post.
Photo from Lola Quek / FB
Quek believed she was being ripped off, but she did not want to cause a scene over the amount "since he was an uncle".
She elaborated that there was no signage on his cart indicating that each ice cream would cost S$4, and she was only informed about the price after the man handed her the ice cream.
"I wouldn’t have bought if [I] knew beforehand," Quek said.
Some have come across the same ice cream uncle
Ice cream from the street carts these days typically cost between S$1 to S$2.
Commenters expressed their shock at the price as well.
Others shared that they had similar experiences with the same ice cream uncle and made sure never to purchase his ice cream again.
Others, however, claimed that they had bought the ice cream for much cheaper.
Larger portions
When Mothership went down to find the ice cream vendor on Sep. 4 at around 8:45pm, the vendor confirmed that he sold his ice cream with bread or in cones for S$4 each.
The S$4 servings come with a larger portion of ice cream.
Meanwhile, ice cream with wafers cost S$3 or S$4.
The vendor said the S$4 portion of ice cream is double the amount of the S$3 portion.
He added that he does not sell ice cream with bread for S$3 as he believes the S$3 portion of ice cream is too little when paired with bread.
Here are the S$3 and S$4 portions for comparison.
Photo by Mothership
Quek's portion of ice cream as pictured in her post did look to be of a similar thickness to the thick one the vendor showed Mothership.
The ice creams' prices were also written in marker on the side of his cart.
However, the vendor admitted that he had only just marked out the prices.
Photo by Mothership
The vendor told Mothership that his regular customers are aware of his higher prices and are fine with it.
He claimed that he has charged customers his ice cream at these prices for a "very long time".
In the 15 minutes Mothership was there, the ice cream vendor had three customers, although a fourth one walked off after learning of how much the desserts cost.
Photo by Mothership
The vendor added that he works from 2pm to 9:30pm unless it rains, and only takes a handful of off days each month.
He also shared that his ice cream prices are expected to rise after the GST hike in 2024.
For now, he has no plans to retire and will simply "做到死 (work until die)".
Top photo from Lola Quek / FB and Mothership