Singapore Expats

Hey Guys, I was living in Singapore up till last year when I relocated. When I left I broke my Starhub contract(s) incurring about $1600 in cancellation fees. I asked them to forward my final bill to my new international address and it never showed up, after a couple of months I forgot about the bill altogether.

I was recently going through some old documents and remembered I still owed some cash. I called up Starhub and they confirmed that the debt was outstanding and so I paid it in full using my credit card - about 12 months late.

I asked Starhub billing whether any legal proceedings had been initiated to recover the debt but they were pretty vague about it. They forwarded me an email confirming I'd paid the bill, but that was about as much detail as I could get out of them.

Am I going to have any issues re-entering Singapore at a later date? If so, who should I contact to figure this out?

I genuinely just forgot and I'm trying to do the right thing, however I'd rather not end up in a Singaporean prison over a debt I've already cleared.

You should be okay. The bill is paid and you, I am sure, have receipt for same.

Just make sure you have the reciept with you if arriving.

Most Likely they have already written off as bad debt or can't be bothered to follow up. oh well. it's "awesome" starhub as always

Thanks guys. Yeah I have the emailed receipt that the billing department sent me to confirm payment.

I've been reading up on the small claims tribunal and the hoops required to recover cash and I think pink is right - it's probably just written off as bad debt. My old landlord didn't contact me to say court summons were showing up for me... so I guess they only really chase people who have large outstanding debts.

Just to follow up on this, since I've seen this question about 15 times on these forums with varying responses, I got some advice from an actual lawyer. The lawyers comments were as follows:

"As you have correctly noted, this is a civil matter and they very rarely issue any warrants against defaulters.

Moreover the amount is for $1600 and it will cost Starhub much more money just to proceed to that stage. At most, your credit standing will be affected should you decide to come back to Singapore to work and tried to apply for credit facilities or Starhub services.

Reasonably therefore, I do not forsee you being detained at customs."

Once again I'd like to stress that I personally have paid my bills, and I would urge anyone else who is leaving Singapore to do the same. However if you find yourself in a similar situation to mine through forgetfulness then you can make amends by simply paying up.

Dear Friends,

Its the same situation for me too. I had to leave Singapore Urgently on a family emergency. I always remembered that I owe Starhub some money. Didn't know how to pay from India. I called Starhub couple of times and they promised to send me the bill however I didn't receive it.

Finally I spoke to a Gentlemen from the Customer Service of Starhub and he promised that he would send me the bill, Which he did. However he asked my credit card details with my CVV Code and I was bit reluctant to give him. I have now decided to fly down to Singapore to pay my outstanding bill which is close to about 1000$.

Will I face any issues in the Customs ? I have the email communication from Starhub along with the bills and my reply to them stating that I am coming to Singapore just to pay the bills and finish any outstanding payment with you.

Any thoughts friends?
Cheers!
M

manoj-menon wrote:Dear Friends,

Its the same situation for me too. I had to leave Singapore Urgently on a family emergency. I always remembered that I owe Starhub some money. Didn't know how to pay from India. I called Starhub couple of times and they promised to send me the bill however I didn't receive it.

Finally I spoke to a Gentlemen from the Customer Service of Starhub and he promised that he would send me the bill, Which he did. However he asked my credit card details with my CVV Code and I was bit reluctant to give him. I have now decided to fly down to Singapore to pay my outstanding bill which is close to about 1000$.

Will I face any issues in the Customs ? I have the email communication from Starhub along with the bills and my reply to them stating that I am coming to Singapore just to pay the bills and finish any outstanding payment with you.

Any thoughts friends?
Cheers!
M

No you won't have a problem.

You don't want to pay by credit card (despite misuse of your card info not be your liability), so you're flying to Singapore especially just to pay in person.

On the face of it this doesn't add up, and I suspect immigration are not going to wear it either.


p.s. Curious how many of the people who forgot to pay their phone bill owe four-figure sums.

SGD $1,600 sounds like an awful lot of money - why so much?

I may need to cancel mine and my wife's contract early, which is up in August, and hope it won't cost anything like that.

you can pay your outstanding amounts/bills with a credit card via touch tone telephone - i have done it with m1 and starhub.

Dear All,

Thank You Very Much for your valuable thoughts. I called Starhub again and I gave my Credit Card details and they confirmed the payment and they did send me an email confirmation as well.

@Brah : The Reason why it was SGD$ 1,480 is because they took the cancellation / contract termination charges and taxes into consideration. I didn't want to end up negotiating as it was my fault that I should have closed / terminated the phone contract which I didn't. So I accept my fault and paid the penalty.

Thank You All
Cheers!
M

Props to you for doing the right thing in the end.

Brah wrote:SGD $1,600 sounds like an awful lot of money - why so much?

I may need to cancel mine and my wife's contract early, which is up in August, and hope it won't cost anything like that.

You must read the original contract that you signed. Its a has a table detailing how much the contract breaking fee is depending on how early you terminate. The amount keeps reducing the longer you keep the contract. If you are ending the contract like just 3-4 months to spare, it shouldnt hurt a lot.

Found it on the web. Here you go:
http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... 99648.html

http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... 00174.html

http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... voice.html

Wd40 wrote:

Brah wrote:SGD $1,600 sounds like an awful lot of money - why so much?

I may need to cancel mine and my wife's contract early, which is up in August, and hope it won't cost anything like that.

You must read the original contract that you signed. Its a has a table detailing how much the contract breaking fee is depending on how early you terminate. The amount keeps reducing the longer you keep the contract. If you are ending the contract like just 3-4 months to spare, it shouldnt hurt a lot.

Found it on the web. Here you go:
http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... 99648.html

http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... 00174.html

http://www.starhub.com/support/general/ ... voice.html

Yes, and it is a huge money maker for the company. the charges border on outrageous.