http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/mobile-air-saga/1459524.html
The saga of the Vietnamese tourist whose attempt to buy an iPhone at Sim Lim Square’s Mobile Air sparked an uproar over the mall’s allegedly unethical retailers has reached a happy ending of sorts.
A crowdfunding campaign was started by Singaporean entrepreneur Gabriel Kang to raise money to buy Mr Pham Van Thoai an iPhone earlier this week.
On Thursday night, after a public appeal to get in touch, Mr Kang finally managed to get the details of Mr Pham’s departure flight from Singapore, from the Singapore Tourism Board.
He then spent over S$1,500 buying an 64GB iPhone 6 Plus, and around S$200 on Singapore goodies such as kaya, bak kwa, chili crab sauces, and chicken rice paste.
He met Mr Pham on Friday morning at the airport, before the latter boarded his flight to Vietnam. “I had to give it a shot, and he seemed quite happy to see me,” said Mr Kang of the encounter.
“He knew who I was because apparently, this news has gone viral in Vietnam, and everybody had been reading about it. So he was also curious and keen to meet me.”
Mr Kang told Channel NewsAsia he spent most of the conversation trying to persuade Mr Pham to accept the iPhone.
Mr Pham ultimately declined the gift, as he had earlier accepted a donation from someone else and had already purchased a phone. He did accept the food products though.
“I think it was a matter of pride for him,” Mr Kang said of Mr Pham, who was with his girlfriend and other friends.
“They were really nice people and invited me to visit them in Vietnam. He thanked me for starting the campaign and said he was quite surprised people would do such a thing for a total stranger. He was very gracious and very nice, and I am glad we tried to help. He did not deserve to be treated that way.”
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