Long queues line up for Simba telco promo, many turned away after hours of queueing

Large crowds turned out on Dec. 13 to take advantage of a offer by local telecommunications company Simba, but many of them ended up getting rejected when queues grew significantly long, with even the police getting involved.

Anniversary offers

On the evening of Dec. 12, Mothership reader Jimmy Chua received an SMS from Singaporean telco Simba, offering a series of promotions for its fifth anniversary.

Amongst other deals, was the opportunity to to “Recharge S$60 & get S$120 credits”, as well the change to get free gifts.

Subscribers were asked to head down to Simba service centers, along with a link that provided a list of 18 locations that were classified as “service centers”, and five more “authorised collection centres”.

Chua observed that the first text he received on Dec. 12 had no timing listed, but that subsequent text on Dec. 13 included a timing in brackets next to the S$120 credit offering, saying that it was available from “3-4pm only!”

Serangoon queue

Chua headed to a Simba outlet in Hougang on Dec. 12 at around 7pm, but was turned away and told to return the next day.

On Dec. 13, he then proceeded to Simba’s Serangoon outlet at around 1:40 pm, only to be met by a long queue.

Chua joined the queue at 2.20pm, and was told by staff to queue “in a loop” in order to prevent blocking a nearby OCBC outlet.

He remained in queue for almost three hours. During this time, he observed several elderly people in the queue, but no provisions were made for them, such as having stools for them to sit on.

At around 5:20 pm, when Chua was within five people of being served himself, members of the Singapore Police Force arrived to tell those in queue to go home.

Meanwhile the Simba shop closed down its shutters, seemingly done for the day.

Chua shared pictures and video of the queue, showing dozens of people, including several seniors.

Chua observed they would likely be on Simba’s five-dollar-a-month senior plan, meaning that the offer could have given them a free year of service.

Similar long queues were also spotted at Bedok and Tampines.

Confusion and complaints

A social media post by Simba on seems to confirm that the offers were real, but lists only eight service centers as participating outlets.

Many customers in the post’s comments complained of confusion and long queues at other outlets, with some wondering why Simba did not make the offer available online.

Mothership has reached out to Simba for comment.

Top image courtesy of Jimmy Chua