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A man driving a Mercedes allegedly went to a shop in an industrial area off Bartley Road East to pick up live seafood and drove off without paying the S$334.50 bill.

A request has since been put up on Facebook seeking the driver of the vehicle to return to the shop to make payment.

The social media post included a picture of the receipt, the sum owed, and even a photo of the Mercedes that pulled up and drove off that day.

The post said the customer claimed to be called "Mr Jia".

The incident was then reported by Shin Min Daily News, which went down to the scene to suss out what happened.

What happened

According to the Chinese media, the man who arrived at The Morning Catch Seafood restaurant in his Mercedes wanted to buy a mix of fresh crustaceous and abalone from the shop at New Industrial Road.

The man was at the shop at around 7:50pm on Monday, Sep. 19.

The owner of the seafood shop, who was interviewed for the story, said she was was not around at that time and learned about the incident from her staff who attended to Mr Jia.

In total, Mr Jia wanted to buy three American lobsters, nine mantis shrimps, nine baby abalones, and 1kg of flower crabs worth S$334.50.

How he allegedly excused himself

One staff at the shop packed the merchandise, while another handled the bill.

Mr Jia then claimed he knows the owner of the shop and would make a fund transfer later on for the purchase.

When the staff responsible for finalising the bill asked Mr Jia for his contact details, the customer said he had to rush off to deal with the seafood.

He then drove off in a huff.

The employee managed to take a photo of the silver Mercedes the customer drove.

Shop owner no clue who is Mr Jia

The seafood shop's owner said the customer was standing at a blind spot in her premises at that time, and his face was not captured by the surveillance camera.

She does not know what he looks like as a result.

She then searched her mobile phone directory for a "Mr Jia" but drew a blank.

The shop owner said: "Generally, regular customers will contact me directly to place an order, and I only tell the staff what time the customer will come to pick up the goods."

"I will not tell the customer to come directly to the shop to pick up the goods and leave without paying."

Hopes customer can return, police report made

The owner added that she hopes to make this incident public so that the customer can go back and make payment.

The owner also claimed that this is the first time such an incident has occurred in the two years she has been in operation.

Even though the amount of the unpaid goods was just over S$300, which is not significant, the shop still has to bear the cost as a result, the owner also said.

She added that her employees are now more wary about customers coming to the shop and will be more careful in dealing with them.

The owner said she had already given five days' grace for the customer to return to pay her back the money, and has waited long enough, as she believes the seafood would have been consumed by now.

She said she has made a police report.

Even though a report has been lodged, she reiterated that it is best that the customer returns to pay the bill, and to leave aside the question of whether his actions will be overlooked for now.

Top photos via Shin Min Daily News & Facebook