Giant Sembawang Branch Mistakenly Restricts Some Payment By Budget2020 Grocery Vouchers

Our contributor went to Giant at Sembawang Shopping Centre to buy some items like frozen stuff, baby stuffs mainly food and drinks. When he tried to make payment using the Budget2020 Grocery Vouchers which were issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the cashier said he could not use the vouchers for the full transaction. The cashier then proceeded to separate his purchases into groceries and non-groceries.

Curiously he was asked to pay for frozen goods and fresh food in cash while the rest of the items like wet tissue, cereal, pampers, milk containers, toothpaste, battery and others could be paid using the vouchers. According to the cashier, frozen food is not classified as groceries but “dry items” are considered as groceries. Amid this confusion, out contributor paid $80++ cash for the frozen stuff. To make matters more confusing, the cashier could only scan 5 items per transaction when keying in payment for his Grocery Vouchers.

Our contributor even went ahead to show proof of his purchase to stop people from doubting his story as these Grocery Vouchers could be used normally at other supermarkets like NTUC or Sheng Siong.

Fortunately Giant reached out to this contributor and admitted their staff had made a mistake. Apparently the cashier were not well informed and had mistakenly separated the goods. Giant clarified that the items he paid $80++ in cash could have been redeemed with the cash voucher. It seems the only exception to using these vouchers is for the purchase of items like alcohol or cigarettes.

The supermarket was sorry for this incident and apologized many times throughout their call. All their branches have been updated and informed on the use of these Budget 2020 vouchers.