When one woman was offered a refund of $0.90 because her hot pot order had worms in it, she wrote, “NOOO. OMG.”
Ms Carolyn Cess posted screenshots of the text exchange on Facebook, along with a video and photos of two worms in her takeaway order from Piao Xiang Mala Hotpot Yong Tau Foo.
And while anyone would think that Ms Cess’ request for a refund was a reasonable one, what she was offered by foodpanda certainly was not.
“Ordered food from ‘Piao xiang mala hotpot, Yong tau fu’ on foodpanda & received 2 additional ingredients ….. lost my appetite and foodpanda only willing to refund $2 / 90cents,” she wrote.
Ms Cess told AsiaOne that the total amount on Saturday (Aug 13) for her order was $23.39, but she used a $6 voucher and therefore paid $17.39.
A worm was found in both bowls of soup that she ordered.
After she reached out to foodpanda’s customer service, she was offered $2 by way of a compensation voucher.
“I’m sorry there’s a foreign object in your order,” wrote “Iraj B.”
Iraj then thanked Ms Cess for sending photos of her order and reassured her they would help.
However, after apologizing, she was offered the $2 compensation voucher valid for one order for 30 days, to be instantly credited.
Ms Cess said no, and asked for a full refund.
However, this was not given.
“I’m sorry, I won’t be able to refund your order since a picture was not provided as proof of the issue. As a friendly reminder, if a similar issue happens again, please take a photo while chatting with us. It’ll help speed up the review and resolution of your complaint with us.
Please note that you can only snap new photos when the chat begins and won’t be able to attach any from your phone gallery.”
Ms Cess refused the $2 compensation voucher.
After a while, she asked them to hurry as she was very hungry.
It was then that she was offered a $.90 refund plus a $1 compensation voucher.
“NOOO,” Ms Cess replied, adding, “OMG. What’s wrong?”
But “Iraj B” told her it was the “best thing” they could provide.
AsiaOne reported that Ms Cess later emailed foodpanda, which offered her a refund of $4.80 plus a compensation voucher of $1 or to have $4.80 refunded to her via her credit card plus a compensation voucher of $2.
Ms Cess held out and did not accept this offer either.
Fortunately, foodpanda has reimbursed her already.
“Our customer service team has reached out to her to provide a full refund, and we have also cautioned the agent on the proper processes to follow,” a foodpanda spokesperson told AsiaOne. /TISG