Shocked at being charged S$1,097 for three pieces of clothing at a store, a woman called the police when she failed to get a refund.
The incident took place on 29 May at a retail outlet on the third floor of Far East Plaza, reported Shin Min Daily News.
Source: Google Maps
Ms Zheng (transliterated from Mandarin), a 42-year-old bank employee, told Shin Min that she visited the shop at about 12 noon that day.
She was received warmly by the female retail staff, who kept bringing her clothes to try on.
Eventually, she chose two blouses and one skirt. As she did not see any price tags on them, she asked twice how much they cost.
However, both times the staff changed the subject and chatted about other things, she claimed.
At the same time, she told other staff to wrap up the purchases and asked Ms Zheng how she wanted to pay, making her “confused”, she said.
Thus, she forgot to ask how much the clothes cost for the third time, she added.
It was only after she had swiped her card that she realised she had paid S$1,097, Ms Zheng said.
Shocked, she quickly asked how much the clothes cost and was shown the price tags hanging on the hanger.
One of the blouses and the skirt — which are part of a set — cost S$299 each.
Source: Facebook via Shin Min Daily News
The other blouse was priced at S$499.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
The staff informed her that they were all imported from South Korea.
Ms Zheng asked for a refund, and was instead offered a 20% discount, which later increased to 30%.
She said the staff explained that she was not the boss and could not give out refunds.
However, Ms Zheng reasoned that if she could offer a discount, she should be able to give out refunds too.
She ended up calling the police, which sent an officer to the shop.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
She also reported the matter to the Consumers Association of Singapore, and did not take the clothes home with her.
When Shin Min reporters visited the shop, retail staff told them that it had been in business for 20 years and had five outlets.
All their products had price tags displayed, she said, adding that she had previously clarified the price to customers but got scolded as they felt she was looking down on them.
She also claimed she had offered Ms Zheng a discount as she did not want to offend her, but as she had paid with a bank card, she could not give her a refund as she could not confirm that the payment had gone through.
If the customer had paid in cash, she could have given her a refund, she explained.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.