'Beware of underhand methods': Man accuses Bukit Batok durian stall of charging him durian offered for free

As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch, or a free durian in this case. 

In a Facebook post, Robert Yeo shared how one durian seller had allegedly promised him a free Musang King but then later made Yeo pay for it after he accepted the "kind gesture".

Taking to social media last Saturday (Jan 7), the customer shared that he bought three Black Gold durians from Top Durian Station at Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre on Jan 5 evening.

"The seller, a young man, kept insisting that I should buy four durians so that I would get one free. I refused to comply and so he reluctantly chose three Black Gold durians for me," Yeo said.

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The durian seller then "suddenly" offered a free Musang King, Yeo claimed, adding that he said "why not".

Challenged to a fight

"Another durian seller began to weigh the four durians. I quickly stopped her, reminding her that I should not be charged for the Musang King."

After the durian seller denied that the stall was giving the durian to him for free, Yeo said that he approached her colleague, the one who earlier made that promise, to verify the earlier offer.

"To my consternation, he rebuffed me and pretended that nothing like what I claimed happened," the furious customer said.

Unwilling to back down, Yeo shared he returned to the durian stall the next day and confronted the sellers.

He said: "I told them not to use such underhand methods to increase the sale of their durians.

"Guess what? They surrounded me and pushed me around. [One of the workers] also challenged me to a fight."

During the commotion, an elderly passer-by "sternly told" the workers to "stop the ruckus", Yeo said.

"Beware everyone of this stall and their underhand methods that they use."

'Our staff maintained his composure'

Yeo's dissatisfaction was due to his misunderstanding with their in-store promotion, Top Durian Station said in a Facebook post on Sunday (Jan 8).

Describing how their staff had informed Yeo that their offer was "buy five durians for one free", the durian stall said: "We would like to emphasise that at no point in time did we force him to make his purchase.

"After acknowledging that he'll go ahead and [buy five durians], he requested to have the four durians weighed first. He then found that it was too much for his taking, and we took one from the scale."

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When Yeo questioned why four fruits were weighed, a staff member told him about his misunderstanding with the promotion, Top Durian Station said, adding that the customer left the store with three durians "rather unhappily" and returned the next day "feeling cheated".

"Yeo [claimed] that 'Malaysians are a total dishonest lot, and that they should all go back to Malaysia rather than to work in Singapore if they are unable to fulfil their duties well'".

An altercation broke out after the staff were irritated by Yeo's barrage of "verbal attacks", Top Durian Station claimed, while denying that they "behaved like thugs".

"He also openly challenged our staff to land a strike on him, whereby our staff member maintained his composure and remained calm, the stall said," adding that they have lodged a police report. 

AsiaOne has contacted Yeo, Top Durian Station and the police for comment. 

ALSO READ: Prickly issue: Seller taunts customer after sending her wrong durians

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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