Singapore teacher pays $4,801.50 for hot dog bun due to PayWave error

SINGAPORE: An early childhood educator took to TikTok to warn others with a PSA after she inadvertently ended up paying S$4,801.50 for a hot dog bun due to a mistake on PayWave’s part.

The teacher, @heyyymsmelissa on TikTok, explained in her April 21 video that she had decided to get a hotdog bun that morning, and went to a nearby bakery to buy one, which cost all of S$1.50.

When the auntie was processing her order, Ms Melissa took her phone out so she could pay.

“But then suddenly she screamed, and she said ‘wrong amount’ in Mandarin,” she added, initially thinking the error had been a fairly simple one, like the auntie had just added another 0 on Ms Melissa’s bill, so it would be S$15 instead or S$1.50.

“But guess what? She charged me S$4,801.50 for that bun.”

Ms Melissa added that the auntie went into “five stages of meltdown,” demonstrating how the older woman had gone into full crisis mode, which made Ms Melissa think to herself, “Auntie? Your money or my money?”

However, the auntie went on to blame her, asking why she tapped so fast, why she didn’t check before tapping, and even why her credit card limit is so high.

Ms Melissa then called the credit card company, but found out that it could do nothing about the situation, and that the onus was on the merchant to issue a refund.

She was told later that the bakery could not reverse the transaction right away, as it usually takes a day before it shows up on their system, which, naturally, caused Ms Melissa to worry even more.

Fortunately, this story does have a happy ending. Ms Melissa has newfound popularity because of the lucky/unlucky hotdog bun, complete with many more followers, and more importantly, the bakery refunded her S$4,801.50, which means she actually got the hotdog bun for free, she said in a follow-up video on April 23.

She celebrated by buying more buns, performing an experiment of sorts to see which bakeries would turn the terminal so that customers could see how much they were being charged for transactions.

“Let this be a reminder for you to stop and check before you tap,” she added.

Ms Melissa also had an appeal, seeing that a number of media outlets have covered her outrageously priced hotdog bun story. In her most recent video on April 23, she began looking for ways to help others, including asking for information about a woman who feeds children by holding a breakfast club at Ang Mo Kio. She also invited bakeries to partner with her in giving back to society by sponsoring free hot dog buns. Her account can be found here. /TISG

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