‘Festival Surcharge 10%, but CNY hasn’t even started!’ — Singaporeans shocked by customer’s receipt

SINGAPORE: A customer took to social media to share that the store she bought from charged her an extra 10% even though the Chinese New Year hasn’t started yet.

“Aware that F&B outlets will charge extra during CNY but Chinese New Year has not started! They have already started extra surcharge $3. It is crazy profiteering!!!” the customer wrote on the Facebook Group ‘COMPLAINT SINGAPORE’ on Tuesday (Jan 6).

Disappointed by the unexpected turn of events, the customer added that she “will start cooking at home tomorrow.”

Additionally, a receipt was uploaded indicating that she paid S$17.00 for “The Original White Bee,” S$8.90 for “Prawn and Chinese Sausage,” S$2.00 for the 9% GST, and S$3.00 for the festival surcharge.

“That’s unreasonable”

Equally surprised by this revelation, social media users criticized the store for charging days before the Chinese New Year.

One user said, “That’s unreasonable, prices of raw food didnt go up nor are they paying staff overtime or holiday rates.”

Another user also said he was perfectly okay with the festive surcharge; however, he argued that “it should not start now because we are still 4 days away from CNY. Also, if there is no prominent notice of this charge, you can reject it totally.”

One user also shared his experience, “I went to TongLe restaurant on 21st January to clear birthday vouchers. They said they have started serving reunion dinner menu but if you want alacart menu, got to top up every $4 for each dish u ordered.

So some restaurants started real early but they did mentioned to me over the phone when I called for reservations.”

Another user also saw something wrong with the calculations in the receipts, asking, “How is 10% of $25.90, $3? And how is 9% of $25.90, $2?”

With the Chinese New Year fast approaching, some establishments in Singapore have started charging extra fees to cover expenses during the holiday.

However, not all citizens were pleased with the festival surcharge because it meant additional costs.

One customer in particular took to the Facebook Group ‘Complaint Singapore’ on Jan 29 to share that Qi Ji, a food chain that offers Chinese and Malay-style food, would charge their customers an additional 10% from Feb 9 to 12.

Read related: “I’m unwilling to pay 10% extra to eat here” — Customer says after seeing CNY food surcharge notice