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Heh, similar situation here too but our authority may be too busy with the in-depth monitoring until no time to take actions in protecting our consumers. Or was the price increases due to many other factors, which make it very complicated, requiring many man-YEARS to calculate? Hahahaha I used to point out some of the offer advertisement to the respective supermarket, where was price was lower than the offer price, and the standard answer are either "Sorry, it is a typo", "The price actually increase quite sometime ago and now it is on offer, so a good time to stock up", etc. Australia supermarkets Coles, Woolworths sued by regulator for misleading discounts Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/coles-woolworths-sued-by-regulator-for-misleading-discounts SYDNEY – Coles Group and Woolworths Group, Australia’s two biggest supermarket chains, have been sued by the country’s competition regulator over claims they misled shoppers over discounting claims on hundreds of common products. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged the companies briefly inflated prices on popular items such as Coca-Cola, Tim Tams biscuits and Colgate toothpaste before reducing them to the same or slightly higher than the original price. “The discounts were, in fact, illusory,” ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement on Sept 23. “Many consumers rely on discounts to help their grocery budgets stretch further, particularly during this time of cost-of-living pressures. It is critical that Australian consumers are able to rely on the accuracy of pricing and discount claims,” she said. Australia has one of the world’s most concentrated supermarket sectors, with Woolworths and Coles controlling just over half of the market, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Both chains have come under political fire during the cost-of-living pressures sparked by stubbornly high inflation, with the government in June introducing larger fines for anti-competitive behaviour. “These are serious allegations that the ACCC is bringing before the courts,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sept 23. “If this is found to be true, it’s completely unacceptable. Customers don’t deserve to be treated as fools by the supermarkets.” The ACCC has been taking a tougher stance on protecting Australian consumers, who must contend with duopolies or oligopolies in many industries, including air travel, banking and telecommunications. The competition regulator alleges Woolworths made false or misleading representations about the prices of 266 products between September 2021 and May 2023, while Coles made false or misleading representations about the prices of 245 goods during February 2022 and May 2023. Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the allegations were “very serious”, and that the ACCC is worried both about the harm to consumers and the harm to competition by fake discounts. The allegations come as the ACCC undertakes a broader analysis of the supermarket sector. Ms Cass-Gottlieb added that the commission is looking in depth at competition, cost, pricing and margins. “We encourage genuine discounts – they matter to consumers,” she told reporters on Sept 23. “But they need to be genuine.” In one example cited, from at least Jan 1, 2021, until Nov 27, 2022, Woolworths offered Oreo Family Pack Original cookies for for a regular price of A$3.50 for at least 696 days. On Nov 28, 2022, the price was increased to A$5 for 22 days. On Dec 20, 2022, the cookies were placed on a “Prices Dropped” promotion at a new price of A$4.50 and a “was” price of A$5. The “Prices Dropped” price of A$4.50 was in fact 29 per cent higher than the previous regular price, the regulator said. The regulator also alleged that in many cases both companies “had already planned to later place the products on a ‘Prices Dropped’... promotion before the price spike, and implemented the temporary price spike for the purpose of establishing a higher ‘was’ price”, Ms Cass-Gottlieb said. BLOOMBERG

What is your first impression upon seeing the following advertisement, as a general public / consumer? While I believe many seasoned buyers would expect the "from" price to be that of the lesser model (e.g. entry level trim, lower priced model, etc.), I don't think anyone would expect it to be for USED CAR! https://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1075337&DL=2038 https://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.php?ID=1078169&DL=2213 Taking the Volvo S60 / V60 advertisement for example, anything that make it look like a used car advertisement? Used car need to "Book" and can choose to be registered (re-registered) in April meh? Wow... Wearnes Automotive and Vertex Automobile have really taken things to a new low! There might be more ADs doing the same... beware!

heng i dun go all the way there to try these overpriced, and now "not so famous after all", hawker food rather go to the original ones also remind me of the famous claypot laksa at depot road last time.... many used "depot road" as their names, misleading the customers The week-old food street at Changi Airport, which was touted as offering 13 popular hawker stalls from different corners of the island, is not what it has been made out to be. The Straits Times has found that of the 13 stalls at the 10,800 sq-ft Singapore Food Street in Terminal 3's transit area, seven bear no direct links to the original famous stalls. Some are new start-ups while others are named after streets or areas well-known for particular dishes but have no connection to the original brands. For instance, Jalan Tua Kong Minced Pork Noodles at the airport food street is not an offshoot of the famed 132 Meepok in Marine Terrace, which was located in Jalan Tua Kong in the 1990s. It is also not related to Jalan Tua Kong Lau Lim Mee Pok Kway Teow Mee in Bedok Road. Instead, it is run by Mr Tan Dee Hond, 33, who told The Straits Times that he had worked at the Lau Lim stall for about two years in the mid-90s. The owners of two popular char kway teow stalls at Old Airport Road, Dong Ji and Lao Fu Zi, said they did not open the Old Airport Road Fried Kway Teow & Carrot Cake stall at Terminal 3. Nor is Mr Elvis Tan, 54, who owns East Coast BBQ Seafood at East Coast Lagoon Food Village, behind the airport's new East Coast Lagoon BBQ Seafood stall. As for the airport's Tiong Bahru Meng Kee Roast Duck, there is no such stall in Tiong Bahru hawker centre. The owner of the airport's Tiong Bahru Meng Kee Roast Duck Mr Wen Yee Thim, 40, said he named the stall after his older brother, and included Tiong Bahru in the name because he learnt his roast meat preparation skills at a stall in Tiong Bahru in the mid 1990s. When asked if naming the stalls after a street or an area that is famed for a particular dish was a misrepresentation, Select Group's executive director Jack Tan, 45, said: "If you use the name of the stall, then you're in trouble, but if you don't use the name and just use the street, it's free for all." He added: "I think there was a miscommunication because there really are some famous hawkers there but maybe not 100 per cent. We just want to associate the street name with our product and our concept of it being a food street." He added: "We can't use specific names because they may be trademarked or registered, that's why we use street names." The airport hawker stall called Changi Village Nasi Lemak is run by someone who once worked at one of Changi Village hawker centre's two famous nasi lemak stalls, Mizzy's Corner and International Muslim Food Nasi Lemak. When asked which stall in Changi Village she had worked for, Mr Tan said: "I don't know which stall, because she didn't mention which stall, but I think it is one of the quite famous ones. I trusted her by doing the food tasting." Only three of the stalls in the food street - Odeon Beef Noodles, Sin Ming Road Rong Cheng Bak Kut Teh, and Kampong Cafe - are directly linked to the original stalls. Changi Airport Group's spokesman Robin Goh said that while some of the stalls may have direct association with the original brands, and others have indirect links in varying degrees, for instance through former chefs or employees, "the operator's naming of the remaining stalls after certain locations may have given the wrong impression that they are directly connected to popular stalls at these locations". He said that the airport would be working with Select to rename stalls that do not have direct association with the original hawker brands. Engineer Kelvin Sng, 25, who dined at the food street last week, was taken aback when a staff at the food stall he was ordering from told him that its name was "borrowed" and that it was "not original". But he said the roast meat rice he had was "good and satisfying". It is a common practice for hawkers to capitalise on the name of a well-known, location-specific type of food such as Katong laksa and Jalan Kayu roti prata. Mr Boo Geok Beng, 63, owner of Kampong Carrot Cake in Tiong Bahru, said: "It is common for people to use the Tiong Bahru name because of the popularity of the hawker centre." But the prevalence of the practice does not make it right, said Mr K.F. Seetoh, 50, street food advocate and founder of street food guide Makansutra. He said: "The new stall will be living off someone else's reputation, someone else's good will. You cannot register a street name and there is no law against it, but it is not right." [email protected] - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/stalls-changi-airport-food-street-not-so-famous-after-al#sthash.LCmGFFJC.dpuf Changi Airport's hawker stalls: Not so famous after allPublished on Aug 1, 2014- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/stalls-changi-airport-food-street-not-so-famous-after-al#sthash.LCmGFFJC.dpuf Changi Airport's hawker stalls: Not so famous after allPublished on Aug 1, 2014- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/stalls-changi-airport-food-street-not-so-famous-after-al#sthash.LCmGFFJC.dpuf Changi Airport's hawker stalls: Not so famous after all - See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/stalls-changi-airport-food-street-not-so-famous-after-al#sthash.LCmGFFJC.dpuf

Got this in my email and first look, wondering why a undertaking co, going into property...surely got enfu bodies to handle/.... then read again, knn...not TONG AIK, but TiONG AIK..... [laugh] i am tired...need a break. too many MCF misleaders

Androids Hired to Build iPhones Monday, 1 Aug 2011, 10:28am (5 hours 35 min ago) Androids Hired to Build iPhones (Image Source: Foxconn corporate website) In a report that first appeared on Chinese news outlet, Xinhuanet.com, the founder and chairman of Foxconn revealed that the company will replace real workers with 1 million robots within the next three years. The Taiwanese company's rationale for getting all these robots, is to combat rising labour costs (and probably suicides). Efficiency is also another reason cited for the move towards automation. Menial tasks like spraying welding and assembling are some of the tasks that will be taken over. What we don't know is how many people will be affected by the increase in robotic labour. Seeing the recent demand for Apple products, it would make sense for Foxconn to use the robots (which are faster and more precise at everything) to increase production volume exponentially. Robots are also less prone to depression, shrug off abysmal working conditions and harbour no suicide tendencies. According to xinhuanet.com. Foxconn currently employs 10,000 robots, 1.2 million human beings, with 1 million of those humans based in China. To read more, click here. (Via Mac Rumours, via XinHua.net via AllthingsD.com) I find the one in bold interesting.

Finally....! Dunno how many ppl kena robert oredi... http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1109494/1/.html

As above this was advertised today in ST... LIFE...page C13... Do not attend as it is NOT OPEN today. FOR YOUR INFORMATION..... advert.pdf advert.pdf

ST misleading? Is that even possible?! Anyway, this could be a Primary School Maths question that might challenge the reporters (Amelia Tan and somebody else). (I'm paraphrasing from memory here). The ST reported that Singaporean students are "holding their own" against the foreign students in exams like the "O"-levels and PSLE. For the "O"s, they stated that 60% of the top students were Singaporeans - and this was the basis for their assertion. Q : What's misleading about this assertion? (Note that I didn't say it was inaccurate, it's a perfectly accurate statement, I'm sure, but it is very misleading for a simple reason).

[ Anwar Ibrahim is back in parliament, the first step in his mission to topple the Malaysian government ] any special intention to phase the title this way ?? media works or special intention ? KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - - Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in to parliament Thursday, only to stage a dramatic walkout hours later in a row over controversial DNA sampling legislation. ADVERTISEMENT Anwar won a seat in parliament by a landslide in a by-election this week in his home state of Penang, ending a long political exile after he was sacked as deputy premier in 1998 and jailed for sodomy and corruption. "I'm glad to be back after a decade," Anwar said, insisting he was on track to topple the government within weeks with the help of defecting lawmakers. The first order of business was a new bill which would force suspected criminals to give DNA samples -- legislation Anwar says is targeted at him, as he refused to provide a sample after again being arrested on sodomy charges. He walked out with his 81 opposition lawmakers after the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition refused to establish a special committee to review the bill. "We have walked out because they have refused to respond. Many MPs requested a select committee to be formed but the minister (Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar) refused," Anwar told reporters. "There is no point staying and participating in the debate," he said. Syed Hamid condemned the actions of the three-party opposition alliance. "They walked out contrary to the rules because they don't want to accept defeat. They know that they will be defeated," he told reporters. "They walked out because they don't want it to appear like a failure for its leader who has said that he will be able to win over Barisan Nasional MPs." Anwar arrived at parliament with his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who held his seat in northern Penang during his exile, and his daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, who is also a parliamentarian. Dressed in a dark blue traditional Malay outfit and black "songkok" hat, he was sworn in during a brief ceremony. Anwar attacked Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who has faced persistent calls to quit since March elections in which the opposition gained unprecedented ground. "The prime minister has lost the mandate of the country and the nation," Anwar said, calling on Abdullah, his deputy Najib Razak and "all their cronies" to be removed from power. Asked if he was on track to carry out his plan to seize power by securing the support of at least 30 government lawmakers by September 16, he said "Yes". The March elections saw the opposition gain control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats, in the worst ever setback for the coalition which has ruled Malaysia for half a century. Anwar faces another daunting hurdle as he fights to clear his name of the new sodomy allegations levelled by a 23-year-old former aide, which he says have been concocted by the government to sideline him. His original sodomy conviction was overturned by the nation's highest court in 2004, allowing him to go free after six years in jail. Sodomy is a serious offence in Malaysia, a conservative and predominantly Muslim country, and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. No trial date has been given yet for the new sexual misconduct allegations. The government dismissed Anwar's claims of being on the verge of seizing power. "There is no threat from Anwar, he has won in a by-election and he becomes just another MP," Syed Hamid said at parliament. "From the March 8 elections till now we have done nothing but politicking... but (the defections) haven't happened. They are waiting for it to happen but it hasn't happened -- good luck to them

looking at the car prices...i noticed that some car companies showed their price at 2.85%....quoting one example is mazda....the prices quote is so low...then induce people to go showroom then say interest rate is 3.5%....why so confusing??? machiam like PI...anyhow wack the prices...may them look low....why the car industry got no guidelines to proper standard car pricing????

Did you all see Sat's papers advertising the Fiat Panorama for S$39,800? It got me excited and I approached the staff at the Motor Show. There was a red Fiat Panorama on display with the large words on its front windscreen - "S$39,800" I was prepared to put a deposit on the spot & had brought my cheque book along. But the salesman said that this price is applicable only after the S$18,000 cash rebate, ie. meaning I had to take a loan higher than the car price at exhorbitent interest rates. This was not mentioned at all on the windscreen display. If I wanted to pay in cash, I would have to add an additional S$18,000, meaning the actual selling price of the Fiat Panorama 1.4 5 speed manual is S$57,800 ... NOT S$39,800 I condemn such dirty sales tactics - very misleading to the general public.