Is Wendy from Carousell selling discounted Singapore attraction ticket a scam?

To make it short - she is totally reliable.

But to make sure we are talking about the same Wendy, this is her profile in Carousell:-
https://carousell.com/attraction_tickets_sg/

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For the full story, you might be interested to know that I planned to bring my son to Singapore Zoo before he turns 3 since it's free entrance and free tram ride to children below 3 years old.

Otherwise the entrance is S$22 for children (3 - 12 years old) and S$33 for adult. Tram ride within the park is S$3 (child) and S$5 (adult).

FYI there are no concession fare for senior citizens UNLESS your are Singapore citizens or PR holders. Dang!!

My search for discounted tickets on the internet was unfruitful and the best deal I can find is 5% for early online purchase as the 15% discounts are only for Singaporeans.. Double Dang!

But thankfully a week before my trip, a seller on Carousell suddenly followed my account and she sells.. "discounted tickets for ALL Singapore Attractions"!! Wow!! Talk about answered prayers!

Only S$27 for adult bundled with tram ride ticket! That is like almost 30% discount off the regular price!

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But then came the inner conflict of can I trust her..?? Even though she had more than 1,000 positive reviews, I had my reservations since the reviews were mostly Singaporeans buyers except 1 from Philippines. Maybe she's only genuine to Singaporeans...

Another down side was she only accepts Singapore credit / debit card. So that leave me with 2 options. Either COD or bank in through ATM machines when I am in Singapore.

Plus a call to her on whatsapp kind of give the impression that she is from China from her accent in speaking english (ok.. before you judge me, I just feel that China is kind of famous for scams.. think fake eggs.. fake oils.. fake baby milk powder).

I actually thought of just buying half of the tickets from her and the other half from the Zoo itself, as I figured if I have been scammed, at least it's not total loss.

Anyhow, I decided to take the plunge and buy all 4 tickets from her through UOB cash deposit machine because:-

a) her COD locations are mostly in Singapore's West side. Her COD schedule are as follows:-

9:40 - 11am      Harbourfront MRT
12pm                Dhoby Ghaut MRT
12:30pm           Orchard MRT
2 - 3pm            Harbourfront MRT
5:30 - 6:20pm   Raffles Place MRT
7 - 10pm          Clementi MRT

As I am in East, it will take me 40mins of travel time (one way) to meet her in the evening.

b) UOB accepts S$2, 5 and 10 which is great cos certain banks' ATM only accepts S$10 and S$5.

And bear in mind that normally ATM with cash deposits functions are found in the bank's branch and not in shopping malls. Do ask the Information Counter at shopping malls for the nearest ATM which accepts cash deposits.

c) UOB branch in Bedok Central offers free WIFI but you need roaming to receive the activation code through SMS.

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In conclusion, I banked into her account at 8am and whatsapp her using UOB free WIFI and I received the e-tickets from her at 8:30am using the Zoo free WIFI at the entrance.

My e-ticket for Singapore Zoo

The e-ticket contained a collection code which I have to keyed into kiosk or machines located at the right end of the ticketing counter. The machine will also ask for your nationality and once completed, it will auto print and dispense the tickets.

It was really easy and convenient and the best news is that she not only sells Singapore Zoo tickets! Most, if not all attractions tickets can be bought through her and they are all discounted tickets! Jackpot baby!!

My dog ate my RM50 note... went to Bank Negara for help

So your dog ate your money? Welcome to the club!

It happened when my husband was taking out his keys to the door, a RM50 note fell out from his pocket. Since it was dark, he did not notice until morning and all that was left was shreds and pieces.

Sob.. the dogs ate my RM50...

All that was left from the back   :(

So a bit research show that you can actually go to Bank Negara Malaysia to get "mutilated" or damaged notes exchanged for a brand new one.

The guidelines from Bank Negara as per their website at http://www.bnm.gov.my was:-

"There are three categories of redemption value of a mutilated note as follows :-
(i) Full value should be awarded to any piece of note which is more than two-thirds (2/3) in size of the original note or;

(ii) Half value should be awarded to any piece of note which is more than half (1/2) but less than two-thirds (2/3) in size of the original note or;

(iii) No value should be awarded to any piece of note which is less than half (1/2) in size of the original note".

Err.. so my case is 2/3 or 1/2? Plus my notes did not have the full serial number... Yikes!

So I went to Bank Negara to try and was basically given a piece of paper to glue the mutilated notes (see photo below for sample of the white paper). Then the "expert" will determine how many percent is left.

Sample of the white paper

The staff at the counter was sure my case was a total write off but thankfully, perhaps due to the fact that it was during Chinese New Year week, I was given FULL VALUE!

Yippee..! This was good news to the dogs otherwise they might have to fork out RM25 (since I was quite sure that it's more than 1/2) by hook or by crook through food rationing (evil laughing - Hey don't judge me.. RM50 is not money to be eaten by dogs you know).

So as member of this club, now you know about the implications of 2/3 and halves in money changing.

Where to park in JB to go to Singapore

Since 5 of us (including a toddler) are going down to Singapore, it's actually much cheaper to drive down to Johor Bahru and from JB make our way to Singapore.

It's also better for us in terms of comfort and flexibility. Our only concern was finding a safe place to park the car in JB.

Forget parking in JB Sentral as it's always full because it is only 4 - 5 storeys high. The situation is so bad that cars even TRIPLE parked in front of designated lots.

So the better bet is to park at Sun Parking (for location click here Sun Parking), an outdoor parking space adjacent and walking distance to JB Sentral. The open space is huge, well not exactly huge but it is bigger than normal outdoor parking.

Do note that due to high demand, it can also be full so you might need to walk a distance to get to the entrance / JB Sentral cum checkpoint.

Security is good. We made it a point to let the staffs know the number of days we are parking and they helped to get us a better parking lot (if possible).

Parking fee is at RM12 per day and for our 4 days, we paid RM45 cos we collected the car at about 1pm.

All in we spent about RM330 for the drive down including petrol, toll, parking and causeway link bus to and fro JB/SP.

For the bus, we make it point to take the JB-Singapore coach which takes us directly to Queens St. (near to Bugis MRT).

The fare from Singapore-JB is S$3.30 per adult. It's free for children below 7. For senior citizens above 60, there's 25% discount.

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And if you are heading to Singapore, then you might want to check my blog on where to get Singapore Attractions Tickets at almost 30% off - click here.