A frustrated Grab user expressed disappointment after paying an additional $8 to pre-book a ride in order to ensure punctuality for work, only to have the driver arrive late, according to a netizen on STOMP.

Consequently, the user had to cancel the initial booking and make a new one, resulting in lateness.

The incident occurred on June 6 when the user, David, had work that required him to be prompt at 8:45 am, as any delay would disrupt the entire operation.

On June 5, at 11 pm, David utilized the pre-book feature on Grab and paid the $8 booking fee.

Driver A promptly accepted the booking, and the scheduled pick-up time was set for 8:30 am, allowing for a 10-minute journey and ensuring punctuality.

However, on the morning of the appointment, David discovered that the driver was still in Tuas at 8:28 am, just minutes before the scheduled pick-up time.

The driver messaged David, explaining that he would be delayed by eight minutes due to another booking. Faced with the urgency of his work commitment, David had no choice but to cancel the booking and request a new ride, resulting in him being late.

Dissatisfied with the situation, David lodged a complaint with Grab Support, only to receive a standard templated reply that failed to address his specific concerns.

David expressed frustration at the response, emphasizing that he had paid the extra fee precisely because being late was not an option for him.

Grab’s “template reply”

Greetings from Grab

First and foremost we would like to apologize over the recent experience you had with us This Is not the experience we would like you to have with us.

We understand that you made an advance booking for this ride and the driver took up another Job which made him late for your pick-up and then proceeding to cancelling it.

At Grab. your booking will be assigned to the closest available Driver Partner Driver Partners may choose to cancel or not accept the allocated booking due to unforeseen circumstances such as traffic conditions or accidents which may disrupt your trip.

Rest assured, that our Quality team is constantly monitoring and assessing our Driver Partners cancellations to ensure that they do not cancel without a valid reason

Our Quality team will take the necessary actions against Dnver Partners who cancel excessively without valid reasons, and this will be done upon the conclusion of their investigations.

We are constantly upgrading our services to serve you better, and improvements are always explored and implemented (by us) at Grab.

This is to ensure we provide the best (service) to our customers.

Paradise Group, a restaurant group based in Singapore, gave out 98 Rolex watches during their annual dinner and dance to their staff members, with each watch being worth about $10,000.

Among the recipients of the luxury watch was 67-year-old Singaporean cleaner Tan Ai Tee, who has been working for the company for 10 years.

Speaking to The Straits Times, Tan said that she has never owned a Rolex watch before in her life, and that she feels very happy and touched that the bosses and company recognised her for her work.

She added that she didn’t expect to receive the Rolex because she was just a part timer.

Tan started working at the age of 16 after leaving school in Primary 6, taking on various jobs to make ends meet, including selling chicken rice at a coffee shop, working as an assistant at a department store, and working inside a factory assembling computer parts.

She joined her current company, Paradise Group, back in 2013 as a kitchen staff at their Seafood Paradise restaurant at Defu Lane 10, until the restaurant closed in 2016.

Tan then started working as a cleaner at the headquarters of Paradise Group, beginning her shift at 8am to 2pm, 5 days a week.

She told ST that the company is like family to her and that she feels a strong sense of belonging, adding that she can’t bear to leave them and appreciates her co-workers for sharing food with her and greeting her.

She also highlighted how she receives red packets from the company every Chinese New Year.

On the Rolex, she said that she is planning to leave it for her daughter, and is keeping it alongside the other gifts that she has received from the company over the years, including a Suisse gold bar weighting 2.5g that she received after 5 years of service, and another 5g gold bar that she got for her 8th year of service.

Her 76-year-old husband is retired and they have 3 children and 3 grandchildren, but she says that as long as she is healthy enough to keep working, she will, because she likes to wake up early and stay active.

Tan also added that if she stops working, she thinks she will fall sick easily; and that she feels very appreciated by her bosses and will keep going as long as she is able to.

A Facebook user, Serene Ho, posted online alleging that Singapore Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam had attended an event for only 5 minutes because he wanted to avoid questions on the Ridout Road saga.

Shanmugam has since taken to his Facebook page to refute Ho’s allegations and clarified that he spent about 25 minutes at the event, before explaining to the residents that he had to attend another event.

He also pointed out in his post that Ho “seems” to be an anti-vaxxer and an opposition supporter, and called her out for “put(ting) out untruths”.

Shanmugam responds

I notice active efforts to spread falsehoods.

The post below (by one Serene who was not present at the event) is an example.

I went for four events in Chong Pang, this evening, starting with Goodlink Park, where I was when the photo in the post was taken.

At Goodlink Park we had organised an event for residents to have some durians together.

Went around the tables, residents here always friendly. Very warm reception. Took photo with everyone. Spent about 25 minutes, then explained to the residents that I had to go to the next event.

Went for three more events , tonight was busy.

All four events: very warm- typical of Chong Pang residents. Some photos attached.

Will put up posts on these events in due course

Serene seems (from her posts) to be anti-vaxxer, and an opposition supporter. That doesn’t however require her to put out untruths.

Serene Ho responds to response

I think it is kind of petty for a minister to dedicate a post to me and to accuse me of spreading falsehood just because I estimated that he was at an event for 5 minutes but he said he was there for “about” 25 minutes.

No reason to mention that I am an opposition supporter and anti-vaxxer. It is a lie to say I am anti-vaxxer just because I disapprove of the Covid vaccines, which have caused deaths and vaccine injuries. I am not opposed to other vaccines which have undergone full clinical trials and have a good track record of preventing infection. So many took the Covid vaccines but still got infected. It is untrue that I am anti-vaxxer just because I am opposed to experimental Covid vaccines. I also do not agree with the restrictions placed on the unvaccinated to coerce them to take the jabs.

There is nothing wrong with being an opposition supporter. Singapore is a democracy and we should have alternative voices in parliament. It is not healthy to have no opposition. Quite disappointed that a respected minister would take such a cheap potshot at me. Maybe I became collateral damage to distract people from the Ridout saga.

Adds that “5 minutes is a figure of speech”

5 minutes is a figure of speech for a short period of time. “About 25 minutes” at an event is really quite short so why is there a need to take my words literally and blow it out of proportion? Is this how ministers shame citizens? Just because of “about 20 minutes” he had to check the attendee list to the event and call out my vaccination and political view. This is so unwarranted.

I am very disappointed that a minister is so petty to target me this way. Not once have I said anything negative about his performance as a MP. Even my posts about Ridout are just general questions and I have never been disrespectful or insulting. I leave it to people to judge for themselves what they make of Shanmugam’s post.

I will take this positively. I am getting so many page views. Free advertising and publicity.

Ridout Road saga

On the Ridout Road bungalow rentals by Shanmugam and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, a review was conducted by senior minister Teo Chee Hean and no misuse of power or conflicts of interest were found.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) also conducted investigations into the matter and found no evidence of corruption by the duo.

The saga is set to be discussed further in Parliament later this month.