Shop asks woman to pay S$4.90 after her child touches cake on display, but later apologises, offers refund

SINGAPORE: In a social media post, a Singapore mother issued a PSA after her child touched a cake display and dented one of the items, resulting in her being charged S$4.90 for the inedible display piece.

While the shop later apologised and offered her a refund, the mum declined, as the amount she had been asked to pay was only a small sum. However, she suggested that the shop cover its display items in the future, to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The mum, content creator Dinah (@dinahnahnah), put up on Threads a photo of the cake display in a shop called Paparch, which is popular for its burnt Basque cheesecakes.

She wrote in a July 20 post that on her birthday, she had brought her two children to the shop and was not paying much attention to them as she chose her cake. While she was still making a choice, a staffer asked her to pay S$4.90, claiming that one of her kids had touched one of the display pieces, which then got slightly dented.

“Honestly, it’s not about the price; it’s only $4.90, but I feel if you don’t want kids to touch it, then it should be covered, right?” Ms Dinah wrote, adding that while there was a small notice that said “do not touch” near the display cakes, her child can’t even read yet.

“Kinda killed off the mood to even eat the cake, to be honest… already travelling all the way there. Spoiled my birthday mood,” she added.

She also wrote that the issue had already been reported to the boss in the past, according to the staff, but added that “they still don’t want to cover it up. Maybe so more kids can spoil it. So remember, don’t let your curious kids touch anything there.”

In a comment to her post, she wrote that Paparch has good cakes that she loves.

Ms Dinah later posted an update to the incident, sharing the message she received from the shop.

“Hi Dinah, we’re so sorry to hear about your experience, especially as it happened on your birthday. We completely understand how this would have affected your visit, and we sincerely apologise for the disappointment,” Paparch wrote, adding that as a gesture of goodwill, it wanted to refund the amount she had been charged and asking for her preferred refund method.

“We’ll process it right away,” the shop wrote.

Ms Dinah thanked Paparch for the refund offer, but declined, saying she was taking responsibility for her child’s action, but offered suggestions such as covering the display pieces or moving them further backwards to prevent similar incidents.

“Your staff member immediately told us that it’s dented. She probably already had her eyes on my kids while they were close to the display. This could have been prevented if she had given us parents a heads up. We will definitely keep them in check,” she wrote.

Paparch answered with, “Thanks for the feedback. We will definitely be reviewing this internally.” /TISG

Read also: ‘Nothing more can be done’: Wrong cake delivered for boy’s birthday, shop only offers 20% discount