‘Tis the season of cheap durians. These days, most durian lovers have been making a beeline to buy the King of Fruits at the best prices possible.
Some of these sellers, however, may have slightly unscrupulous intentions — as a customer found out the hard way.
A seller in Bukit Batok allegedly tricked him into buying four durians instead of three. Their confrontation then escalated into a physical altercation.
The stall filed a police report against him, alleging that he verbally abused their staff.
Speaking to MS News, Robert Yeo said he visited a Top Durian Station stall in Bukit Batok on 6 Jan to buy three Black Gold Durians.
However, he claimed that the seller insisted that he buy four to get one free.
This was not what Yeo wanted, as his home was more than 2km away, and he would have to walk home with his loot. He said the seller eventually chose three durians for him in a seemingly reluctant manner.
After opening the third one to show him as agreed upon earlier, Yeo alleged that the seller offered a Musang King durian for free.
I ascertained with him if he would really give me a free durian. He even asked if I would accept his kind gesture. I said if it was free, then why not.
During payment, another seller at the shop began weighing the four durians. Yeo reminded her that he should not be charged for the Musang King durian, as it was free.
She reportedly replied that he must have misheard her colleague, while Yeo insisted that the durian was offered to him free of charge.
To his dismay, he said the seller refuted his claim when approached, pretending that the offer did not happen.
Yeo also alleged that another staff gestured at him to go home, pointing at his watch with a “fierce look”.
The day after, Yeo returned to the stall to confront the sellers for their “underhanded methods”.
The situation then escalated when they surrounded and pushed him around.
“Another young man with a ponytail claimed his courage was greater than mine and kept shouting as loud as he could into my left ear,” Yeo recalled. “He even challenged me to a fight.”
Fortunately, an elderly man stepped in to dissolve the tension.
On Sunday (8 Jan), Top Durian Station addressed the matter in a Facebook post, stating that they had conducted an internal investigation into the case.
Source: Facebook
A misunderstood communication by Mr Robert is likely to have occurred in this instance. At no point in time did we force Mr Robert to make his purchase.
When weighing the four durians, Yeo claimed that the fourth durian should be free as agreed upon.
This led the stall to explain that the promotion was valid for purchasing five durians, not three. Yeo was said to have eventually bought the three durians, albeit unhappily.
They then alleged that Yeo confronted their staff on two separate occasions following this encounter. He hurled abuse at them in a loud voice before returning to shout for five to eight minutes.
An altercation ensued as the staff grew irritated, unable to focus on storefront operations.
It is also vital to point out that we did not push Mr Robert. One of our staff is trying to pull both sides aside upon concerns of the matter escalating into a bodily scuffle.
The elderly man who had intervened in the situation had apparently taken part in the investigation, labelling Yeo a difficult customer at other stalls.
In no way, we were acting like thugs. We only have the utmost respect towards the law.
They have also confirmed that they filed a police report against Yeo for the incident.
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Featured image adapted from Complaint Singapore on Facebook and Google Maps.
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