Singapore — A man has accused Subway staff of discrimination. He alleged he didn’t get what he ordered from the Subway Singapore menu, but the staff served the same item to a couple who came from their own country.
The man, whose initials are RC, wrote about the incident on the popular page ‘Complaint Singapore’.
He said that at 2.57 pm on Monday (May 31), he went to the Subway outlet at Woodlands Galaxy Community Centre to redeem a coupon for a free Bulgogi Chicken Sub on the Subway Singapore menu. He was told by the staff they were out of bread and he would have to wait for 30 minutes.
He added that others who came in after him were also asked to wait.
“In came a Philippine couple. During the wait, they spoked (sic) to one staff and saw them passed their coupons to one of the staff,” he wrote.
The staff were also Filipinos, he added.
When he checked again, one of the staff told him that the bread would be ready at 3.50 pm.
“At 3.40 pm when the breads are ready and I saw them already packing sandwiches for the Pinoy couple,” he wrote.
But, he added, after waiting for nearly an hour, he was told that there was no more Bulgogi Chicken and that he could no longer use his coupon to get the sandwich though it was on the Subway Singapore menu.
Upon checking with the staff, he was told the Filipino couple were only allowed to use their coupons because they ordered cookies and not Subs.
Incensed, RC stepped outside and asked the couple, who confirmed that they used their coupons to buy sandwiches.
The man added that he confronted the staff again, but this time, the staff said the couple had bought other sandwiches with their coupons.
But how could they use the coupons to buy other types of sandwiches that were not on promotion, RC asked in his post.
RC said he and another Indian Singaporean man, who had waited longer than he had, questioned the supervisor: “Why you only let your own Pinoy to redeem but not us Singaporeans ?”
“HELLO SUBWAY ! IF YOU ARE NOT SINCERE IN SUCH KIND OF PROMOTION, PLEASE DO NOT WASTE CUSTOMERS TIME IN WAITING AND ENDS UP EMPTY HANDED !” RC wrote.
He asked if any others had also experienced the same treatment at other Subway outlets.
TISG has reached out to Subway for comment and clarification. /TISG.
Update
In response to TISG’s media queries, a spokesperson from Subway said:
“Thank you for reaching out to us. There was an unexpected and overwhelming response to the “Free Subway” promotion (while stocks last) with purchase of Lay’s, Lay’s Poppables, Ruffles and Doritos, valid from April 26 to May 31.
As such, the free sandwiches were fully redeemed at many restaurants before May 31.
We value all customer feedback and we have offered our sincere apologies to those who were unable to redeem the sandwiches.
We have attempted to contact Ricky Chin repeatedly to better understand his feedback. We take his allegations seriously and are in the process of conducting a thorough investigation.”