If you have an existing gym membership or personal training package and are unable to utilise your gym/trainings, you should contact your gym/personal trainer to understand how your contract is affected by the COVID-19 restrictions. As far as possible, you should negotiate with your gym to defer your membership contractual period or negotiate for a partial refund.
If you have an existing paid TV subscription where sports events are a substantial component of your subscription and are affected because many sports events have been cancelled or postponed, you should reach out to your subscription service provider to understand the various options they are offering. These options may include a temporary suspension of your subscription until the sports events resume.
(The following information is extracted from the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s
website.)
Defer Premium Payments (DPP) for Life and health insurance
Individuals may apply to their insurer to defer premiums for their life and health insurance policies for up to six months while maintaining insurance protection. Premium deferment is available for all individual life and health insurance policies with a policy renewal or premium due date between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 (both dates inclusive). Only policies which are not already on DPP are eligible.
Policyholders with policies on DPP who continue to face financial difficulties and remain unable to pay the deferred premiums in full at the end of their deferment period should approach their respective life insurers to find out about available options, which may include:
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Instalment payment plan of 3 months;
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Extension of policyholder’s DPP by 3 months;
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Existing options stated in the policy contract, for example, automatic premium loan, conversion to a paid-up policy, premium holiday.
Flexible Instalment Plans for General insurance
Individuals may apply to their insurer to pay their general insurance premiums (e.g. for property and vehicles) in instalments. Policyholders can pay their premiums in smaller amounts and enjoy coverage for the paid-up period, instead of paying a lump sum premium for the entire policy period at the start. Policyholders have up to 31 December 2021 to apply for flexible instalment plans.
More information can be found on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s website
here.
With more consumers shopping online due to the COVID-19 circuit breaker measures, CASE would like to offer the following advice:
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If you receive defective goods or goods that do not conform to contract from a merchant in Singapore, you are protected by the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA). You may first request for repair or replacement. If repair or replacement cannot be done within a reasonable timeframe and without causing you significant inconvenience, you may then request for a reduction in price or return the goods for a refund.
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If the good is found to be defective or non-conforming to contract within six months from the date of delivery, it is presumed that the good is defective or non-conforming to contract at the point of delivery. If the merchant is unable to prove otherwise, he is required to provide consumers with a remedy. This law supercedes any store policy. More information can be found here.
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If you paid for products with a credit card, you may file a chargeback request within 120 days with your credit card-issuing bank if the products are not as described, are defective or fail to arrive. The chargeback request can be filed for purchases from both local and overseas merchants. More details on the chargeback process can be found here.
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Save a copy of your transaction receipt and communication with the merchant in case of disputes
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Exercise caution with international transactions, as well as for high-priced and popular items