A vape user caught on camera trying to enter a wrong flat in Sengkang is a full-time national serviceman, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) told Stomp on April 22. Stomper Cheng had earlier shared a 28-minute CCTV video of the incident that took place outside his flat at Block 452A Sengkang West Way on April 2 at 1.25am. The bespectacled young man can be seen vaping in the video.   “I think he took Kpods until blur and thought this was his flat,” said the Stomper, who called the police. The youth stumbled about in the common corridor for about half an hour until the police arrived at 1.51am and eventually escorted him away.          In response to a Stomp query, the police said one vaporiser and one pod were seized. A Mindef spokesperson told Stomp that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is investigating the case. “Mindef/SAF expects all personnel to uphold high standards of discipline and adopts a zero-tolerance policy towards the possession and use of vaporisers as well as prohibited substances,” added the spokesperson. “Service personnel who commit vaping-related offences will be dealt with firmly in accordance with the law.” From May 1, vape users face fines of up to $10,000, up from the current $2,000.

A Circles.Life customer trying to cancel his “contract-free” plan was upset to learn that he could not “cancel any time” as advertised by the telco. Stomper Maninder had taken up the Senior Plan in early April. Designed for Singaporeans aged 60 and above, the Senior Plan is a mobile plan offering 500GB of data and unlimited talk time for $5 a month. It was touted as “contract-free”, where you can cancel anytime without penalty, and there are no hidden charges.   However, Maninder was unhappy with the plan. “I was most dissatisfied and disappointed by the limits in their AI promises,” he explained. Therefore, he decided to cancel the plan after less than two weeks. “I was told by their rep that termination can only take place after at least two billing cycles and that is in the agreement,” recounted the Stomper. “I was asked to message back after the second billing cycle to terminate my plan.” The Circles.Life general terms and conditions state that for the customer to initiate a termination request, he must have been a customer for at least two billing cycles. A billing cycle is one calendar month. This means the customer can terminate his plan only after at least two months.   “This goes totally against their promise of no contract and being able to terminate the line at any time,” contended the Stomper   He complained to Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on April 12: “This is very unfair and entrapment at its worst, and goes against their promises in the ad for their service.” IMDA replied that it had asked Circles.Life to look into the matter and contact Maninder directly to address his concerns. Maninder told Stomp he received a call from Circles.Life immediately afterwards. “The officer who called told me she did it in response to my complaint,” said the Stomper. “They resolved the issue by allowing the termination and even cancelled any charges. They also promised to alter the website to reflect the truth. That is left to be seen.” In response to a Stomp query, a Circles.Life spokesperson said on April 17 that its customer service team was working directly with the customer to resolve the issue. “We address all individual customer matters,” the spokesperson told Stomp.

A customer spotted honey cakes on sale at FairPrice’s Old Airport Road outlet, only to realise that they were already past their ‘best before’ date. Stomper Lion said he was shopping in the supermarket with his wife on April 11 at around 10pm when they saw the goods on a shelf. He was shocked when he took a closer look at the product labels. Photos he shared show containers of honey cakes going for $1 each, with labels listing a ‘best before’ date of March 30. The containers were displayed alongside other festive goods that were also on promotion.   Lion said it was the first time he had encountered such an incident. “Anyone could have bought the honey cakes and consumed them without checking the date,” added the concerned Stomper. Q Lion also noted that the honey cakes, a festive snack commonly sold during Chinese New Year, were likely intended for clearance sale.   According to the price tag, each container of honey cakes was 250g and originally cost $6.20. The $1 promotion was set to run until April 30 — a month after the products’ ‘best before’ date.   “Luckily my wife and I spotted them and got them removed,” said Lion, who shared a photo of a staff member removing the honey cakes from their shelf and placing them into a shopping basket. PHOTO: STOMP Investigations ongoing: FairPrice In response to Stomp’s queries, a FairPrice Group spokesperson said the affected products were immediately removed from the supermarket’s shelves. According to the spokesperson, investigations into how the incident occurred are still ongoing. “Shoppers can return affected products to the same store of purchase with their receipt for a full refund,” the spokesperson added.Q ‘Best before’ date vs expiry date According to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), labels reflecting ‘use by’, ‘expiry date’, ‘best before’ or ‘sell by’ are important indications of when the food might start to lose its freshness and quality. It is illegal to sell food past its expiry date. The Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association said a ‘best before’ date is akin to a recommendation based on the manufacturer’s experience. After the date, the food could still be edible but might have lost its texture or flavour. Meanwhile, ‘expire by’ and ‘use by’ date marks can be taken as “hard deadlines” for food safety, after which a product might be contaminated.