Is Starhub selling refurbished phones to customers who re-contract?

The question of whether local telecommunications operator Starhub sells refurbished phones to customers who re-contract has cropped up online after a customer shared on social media today that she might have been sent a used phone instead of the new device that is supposed to have come with her phone plan.

Facebook user Samantha Tan shared a photo of an iPhone she allegedly bought from a Starhub store in Singapore, that shows that the phone is linked to a supposedly unknown Apple ID. Tagging Starhub’s Facebook page, she said:

“Recontract from StarHub, got my phone delivered to my home. But when i on my iPhone for the first time, this image appeared. So is it Starhub selling refurbished phone?”

Tan later added in a comment that she has proof of purchase and she will be visiting a Starhub store to sort out the issue.

One netizen offered that, perhaps, Starhub staff used the phone before it was sold. It remains unclear whether Starhub really does sell refurbished phones or whether this incident was a one-off mistake.