Disgruntled customer calls cops after zi char stall upsized his dishes without consent

One man's attempt to flame a zi char stall online backfired when he became the target of criticism instead.

The reason? For calling the cops on the stallholder who had allegedly upsized his order without his permission.

In his bid to name and shame the stall, the man alleged in a Facebook post on Saturday (Sept 12) that Lucky BBQ Seafood at Pasir Panjang had changed his order from small to medium dishes and attempted to charge him an extra $21.

The man had paid for the food before discovering the discrepancy and realised something was amiss when his order of four small dishes and rice added up to $69, he told Lianhe Wanbao.

However, the man, who was having dinner with his family, only confronted the stallholder after being served a suspiciously large plate of cockles.

"The cockle dish that was served was clearly a bigger portion, not what I ordered. So I went up to the stallholder to ask for an explanation," he recalled.

When he confronted the stallholder, she told him she had upsized the order as she was worried that his family would not have enough to eat, the man claimed.

"I thought it was very strange when I heard it. How can she take the liberty to upsize customers' orders?"

He decided to call the police after the woman displayed a hostile attitude and slammed his money on his table while giving him a refund, he told the Chinese daily.

He also mentioned in his Facebook post that he only received a refund after the police arrived on the scene and maintained that the woman had asked him to call the police.

In the same post, he cited several of the stall's one-star Google reviews that complained of similar incidents.

Unfortunately for him, his post drew brickbats instead of commiseration, with many accusing him of wasting police time.

But the saga didn't end there. Not long after the post made its rounds on the internet, a woman who identified herself as the stallholder responded to his post, sharing her side of the story.

While she did not deny upsizing the dishes, she claimed that she had read the order out to the man before payment.

Nevertheless, he had gotten upset after the first dish was served, she said.

"He started complaining and shouted in front of my stall that he ordered S size, why I send him M size? [sic] I told him that I will down-size the remaining dishes.

"He shouted, 'I am not satisfied, you cheat me, you apologise to me.'"

She then offered him a refund, but he still called the police when she did not apologise to him, she added.

According to the woman, one of the man's companions even shouted at the police officers, who eventually left after assuring her that the situation was a misunderstanding and reminding her not to raise her voice even if customers do so.

She concluded: "You can say what you like. My business is very good and customers keep coming back."

kimberlylim@asiaone.com