Customer who got charged $6 instead of $1.50 for side order wonders, “If no one checks, how many “mistakes” does the stall make in one day?”

SINGAPORE: A man took to social media, sounding somewhat frustrated after being overcharged for a meal and told that it would take a while for his refund to be given to him.

He ordered lontong topped with tempeh ikan bilis and was charged S$11 for a total of S$19, including S$0.50 for a takeaway container. “Wow, seriously, the lontong cost more than the rice set?” he wrote.

In a Nov 18 (Monday) post on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page, Mohammed Fauzi Mokhtar wrote that at Hajah Maimunah MINI at Tampines, he had ordered a rice meal with sambal goreng pengantin, sambal kentang, ikan bilis & Telor dadar that cost S$7.50.

After Googling the store’s phone number, he called them to inquire about the prices since his ikan bilis was just a side order, not an a la carte one.

A staff member requested that he send a photo of the food and the receipt given to him via WhatsApp and said she would check with the outlet manager about it.

Upon doing so, she told Mr Mohammed that they realized a mistake had been made and that he should only have been charged S$1.50 for the ikan bilis, not S$6.

What appeared to trouble the customer was that the stall could only issue a refund on Thursday since the company’s finance department would only do so on that date.

“I was pondering if no one checks (s) & (gives) feedback, one day, one outlet staff may make how many mistakes x how many outlets (in their) daily operation,” he added.

While some commenters on Mr Mohammed agreed that the store could have refunded his money more timely, others said that the fact that the company admitted the mistake and promised to refund him was enough “service recovery.”

One wrote that since the outlet belongs to a chain of stores, processing a refund may take some time.

“They have a system to do things; as long as they refund you in the end, then it’s good enough,” the commenter wrote.

The Independent Singapore has contacted the customer and HJH Maimunah for further comments or updates. /TISG

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