Singapore — A Facebook netizen who related her unhappy experience with a food stall in a group called Complaint Singapore found several other customers who were just as unhappy with the very same yong tau foo stall.
Their dissatisfaction with the operators of this stall at Westgate mall also struck a chord with other Facebook users who had frequented yong tau foo stalls elsewhere.
Although stalls are required to state their prices, things can get complicated at yong tau foo stalls, some of which offer a variety of sets at fixed prices and others where customers pick and choose a mix of differently-priced items from the display.
In the initial complaint, Susan Ho was unhappy with Ah Chew YTF food stall’s customer service, and apparently, a number of people have the same experience.
Ms Ho said that she had ordered a meal priced at $6.30 but to her surprise, found that she had been charged an additional $1.20 for chee cheong fun, a rice flour roll. When she checked with the cashier, she was told that two chee cheong fun were stuck together, so she was being charged an extra $1.20.
Upset, she said that the cashier should’ve checked it with her or advised her in advance about the additional charge. When she decided to have the additional piece as a take-out, she was told that take-outs were not allowed, she said, and the cashier told her that she should have double-checked. Ms Ho, now aggravated, retorted that it wasn’t her fault.
So whose fault was it? This is how Ms Ho saw the issue:
“I told the staff dat it wasn’t my fault dat the 2pcs were stuck together! When they prepared the ingredients, they shld make sure dat the pcs r not stuck together, not make the customer check! All the pcs were stacked high on a tray, how to check? Usually customers will get the 6pcs with noodles or ccf set, if she saw there are 7pcs, shouldn’t she double confirm with the customer whether they want 6 or 7pcs?”
Ms Ho provided this photo as proof of her claim that it is indeed hard to check when the pieces are stacked up high up like this. She ended her post by cautioning people to “patronize the stall at your own risk”.
Netizens responded by sharing their sentiments, and apparently, a number of citizens have similar experiences with young tau foo stalls. It seems like almost every food centre and food court will have such stalls.
Even on the same day, under the same Facebook group, another netizen also had a problem with the pricing of such stalls.
Netizens commenting on the posts felt it’s only right for the Food Republic Westgate to monitor situations like this, as a few of the netizens, Ben Hun and Jun Yang Lee, advised that stalls should say out loud how many pieces the customer is being charged for to avoid dispute. /TISG