Singaporeans, especially elderly Singaporeans, vented their anger on Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for allegedly duping them into lining-up by the hundreds at Huawei stores to buy a S$54 mobile phone, only to be told after a few hours the stock had somehow run out.
What incensed the thousands of Singaporeans who showed up at Huawei's 27 stores was the promo only started Friday morning (July 26) but before noon was called off because all the phones were allegedly sold-out. The promo was to have lasted until Sunday.
One customer said the staff at one Huawei store told him they had only 28 phones available. He said this meant Huawei only had fewer than 1,000 phones available for the promo if the other stores also had fewer than 30 phones available.
Another customer said store staff told him they only had 99 phones on hand for the promo. Still another irate customer told media he had to patiently wait in a line 1,000 persons-long before being told by Huawei staff the phones were no longer in stock.
Singapore police had to be summoned to keep order as the increasingly angry crowds of disappointed customers, many of them elderly citizens, began to exhibit signs of violence.
Huawei's S$54 smartphone National Day promotion slashed the price of the Huawei Y6 Pro 2019 from S$198 to S$54 for Singaporeans and permanent residents above the age of 50. The original price of the phone was S$198.
Huawei apologized to customers that had queued in vain for the S$54 phone. It also apologized in a post on its Facebook page and told customers not to go to any of its outlets on Saturday and Sunday.
It expressed regret for the "insufficient supply for the masses." Huawei made the excuse it experienced an "unprecedented surge of demand for the handset."
Huawei previously said the botched promo was meant to "celebrate the generation that made great contributions to the nation's development, and is but a timely gesture of appreciation leading up to the country's 54th National Day."
Huawei said it closed all its stores by noon because of "security reasons" after videos posted online showed thousands of elderly waiting outside Huawei stores. Videos also showed rowdy scenes of visibly agitated elderly people shouting and hurling expletives.
