Singapore — Despite pre-ordering their Christmas dinners weeks in advance, customers of Collin’s Grille were disappointed to have their celebrations ruined after waiting in queue for hours, yet their meals never materialised.
Photos and videos of the fiasco began circulating on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with Collin’s Grille customers posting negative reviews following the incident.
The gastro dining restaurant initially offered its Christmas sets priced from S$128, with an option for ala carte orders.
On Dec 19, the company posted on Facebook that it was sold out on the turkey sets and confirmed on Dec 21 that “festive Christmas orders were closed.”
On Dec 23, Collin’s Grille extended the opportunity to those who ordered to post their celebrations while tagging the company. The top five winning posts stood a chance to win S$100 Collin’s dining vouchers.
However, as customers queued at the respective outlets to claim their pre-orders, the festivities soon turned into disappointment.
TikTok user @tansimmyyi posted a video of their experience, noting it was the “worst Christmas with Collin’s.”
Others highlighted waiting for up to three hours yet not receiving their orders.
Many also commented on the restaurant chain’s “Merry Christmas” post on Dec 25, wondering how it had the “audacity” to post the greeting.
“Merry Christmas! Thank you for spoiling our Christmas celebration last night,” wrote Facebook user Jacqy Peh.
It was reported that the long wait for the takeaway Christmas meals happened at Collin’s Grille outlets at Northpoint, Nex, Great World City, Jurong Point, Westgate and Ang Mo Kio.
Since the incident, Collin’s published an apology on its Facebook and Instagram accounts.
For customers who had to cancel their orders on Christmas Eve, the company was giving a full refund and vouchers equivalent to their orders.
Collin’s Grille explained that its third-party logistics providers had issues with their drivers at the last minute; hence, customers had to go to an outlet for collection.
“At the same time, we experienced a power outage at our new central kitchen, and since our food is all freshly prepared, a huge backlog was formed,” the post noted.
The company added this was the first time it had happened in their years of operations.
“We have deployed our marketing and admin team to reach out to affected customers who cancelled their orders.”
Customers can also reach out to the restaurant through enquiry@collins.sg
“We appreciate your understanding that our team are working overtime and sacrificing their personal time during this holiday season period for each and every affected customer; hence the waiting times for a response may be longer than usual.” /TISG
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