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Christmas Eve was disrupted for many customers of local restaurant chain Collin's Grille, who failed to receive their festive takeaway orders despite waiting for hours outside various outlets islandwide on Dec. 24.

On Dec. 25, at around 3:30pm, Collin's Grille released a statement to apologise and explain as well as assuring affected customers that they will be given a full refund.

Delivery time delayed to 5:30pm

In an email tip-off, Mothership reader Ian Soh shared that he first placed an order for Collin's Grille's festive meals on Dec. 19.

The bill came up to S$181.80 and was scheduled for self-collection at the Great World outlet between 5pm to 5:15pm on Dec. 24.

Arriving at the restaurant at 4:45pm, ahead of the collection time, Soh was told that there was a delay with the delivery truck, which was on its way to the restaurant with the items.

Soh said he was told by the staff that the festive menu was prepared at Collin's Grille's central kitchen at Bedok Food City and would be delivered to the respective outlets. This meant that the kitchen at the outlet itself could not prepare his order.

He was informed that the scheduled arrival time was 5:30pm and the staff were trying to contact the delivery driver for more updates.

As the staff remained courteous and apologetic and continued to provide good customer service, the customer was willing to wait, he added.

A large crowd had gathered outside the outlet at 5:30pm.

Delivery truck supposedly broke down

At this point, he had learnt that the service staff had not managed to get in touch with the delivery driver and there were customers with orders scheduled for self-collection at 4pm that were still waiting.

According to Soh, many other customers were demanding answers from the staff and seeking confirmation about where the food was and when it would arrive.

He spoke to a lady whose order was scheduled for self-collection between 3:45 pm to 4pm. She had waited until 6pm before seeking a refund.

The manager also promised that the food would arrive at 7pm and explained that the delivery truck had broken down and they were facilitating a transfer to another vehicle to make the delivery instead.

The customer disclosed that he had guests waiting at home for the food but chose to continue waiting as the manager was very apologetic and insisted that the food would arrive at 7pm.

Furthermore, the manager kept reassuring them that the food was already prepared and is in the delivery truck, the customer added.

The customer had felt that they would need some time to make any alternative takeaway plans on Chrismas Eve, which would probably only be ready at around 7pm.

Hence, he decided to continue waiting.

Still no updates at 7pm

As the time approached 7pm, the customer approached the manager again for an update, who kept insisting that the order will be delivered eventually.

Even when Soh's father offered to collect the food directly from the location where the food delivery truck had broken down at, the manager was unable to give a clear answer.

According to the customer, the manager eventually said that the food will not arrive by 7pm and was unable to give another estimated time of arrival for the food but continued insisting that it would arrive within the day (Dec. 24).

Backup plan

Soh and his family decided to stop waiting at 7pm.

Besides waiting for over two hours without adequate updates from the Collin's Grille staff, his guests had been waiting back home since 6pm.

Fortunately, his mother prepared pasta, meatballs and asparagus for the dinner and was able to quickly put together some broccoli and fruit salad at the last minute when she was notified of the incident.

Trying to get a refund

Soh also dropped by CS Fresh at Great World to purchase two chickens and pork ribs after writing down his particulars to seek a refund for his unfulfilled Collin's Grille festive order.

According to Soh, Collin's Grille at Great World only started to accept refunds at around 5:30pm.

However, he noted that the refund was not transacted electronically, and involved writing down affected customers' order numbers, names, contact details, and total amount spent in a book.

The staff also told him that they will try to process the refund as soon as they can, most likely by next Tuesday (Dec.28).

As of 3pm today (Dec. 25), his order status still has not been updated on the order tracking portal.

Complaints at other outlets

Apparently, other outlets at Westgate, Nex, Jurong Point, and Northpoint, were also affected.

Another Mothership reader shared a picture of the queue at the Westgate outlet when she arrived to pick up her order.

Another affected customer, Sandy Toh, who shared her experience on Facebook said that she had arrived at 4pm at the Westgate outlet to collect her order but was informed that the food will only arrive at 5:30pm.

Customers who were supposed to collect their orders at 3pm were still waiting, she added.

She still did not receive her order at 5:30pm and a long queue of customers waiting to collect their festive orders had started to form outside the restaurant.

Together with many other customers, Toh had asked for a refund as they did not wish to continue waiting.

Her Christmas Eve dinner was salvaged when her guests helped her to purchase roast meat from Cold Storage, which was "embarrassing and upsetting" for her.

Another affected customer, Ziling Tan, resorted to ordering "Din Tai Fung for the adults" while the children were served home cooked pasta and Vitagen.

Here are more complaints on social media by others claiming to be disgruntled customers:

Notably, some customers highlighted that the staff on the ground were generally apologetic and tried their best to manage the situation, and felt that they could have been better supported by the management.

Some customers claimed their order status is marked as "delivered" even when not

Some customers who have opted for food delivery claimed that their order status said the food has been delivered even though they did not receive the order:

One customer at the Jurong Point outlet was informed that the management would contact them on Tuesday (Dec. 28).

One customer even said they received a text message at 11pm regarding collection.

Customers unamused by Christmas greeting

Collin's Grille's earlier announced that its Festive Christmas Orders had been sold out on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by COLLIN’S® Singapore (@collinsgrille.sg)

The post provided a convenient venue for disgruntled customers to leave feedback on the long waiting times and other problems they experienced.

Apology, full refund, and voucher

At 3:29 pm on Dec. 25, Collin's Grille shared an official statement on its Facebook and Instagram pages to apologise for disappointing customers.

They are offering a full refund and a Collin's voucher of an equivalent value to the order places to customers who had to cancel their orders.

Affected customers can email them at [email protected] with:

• Order number
• Name
• Mailing address

They explained that customers had to collect orders from their outlets as they encountered "driver issues [at] the last minute" from their third party logistics provider.

In addition, the restaurant claimed their new central kitchen experienced a power outage, causing a backlog during their food preparation.

Mothership contacted Collin's Grille for comment and will update this article if we receive a reply.

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Top images by Ian Soh and Sandy Toh on Facebook.