A customer in Singapore was aggrieved after an automated bubble tea machine malfunctioned and did not dispense the bubble tea she had paid for.

In a bid to contact T-Lab, the company behind the machine, she visited their website but found no contact details.

However, she found multiple complaints on the company's Facebook page.

Suspecting that it was a scam, she lodged a police report.

T-Lab has since offered an apology for the customer's experience, and refunded the money she spent.

The brand's founder also clarified with Mothership that the malfunction was likely due to a "network latency issue", which they are working to resolve.

No bubble tea after payment made

Ng, 29, told Mothership that she was with her family at the HomeTeam NS Khatib clubhouse on Dec. 17, when the automated bubble tea machine caught her son's eye.

The unmanned booth relies on a robotic arm to prepare and dispense a cup of bubble tea for customers.

Ng also said she had seen other customers using the machine on past occasions, but this was her first time trying it out.

Enticed by the novelty, she paid for a S$3 drink via a payWave transaction.

She also recorded the entire process with her mobile phone.

At first, the machine seemed to perform smoothly, albeit with a noticeable interval between some of the steps.

Then, the robotic arm stopped working abruptly.

The camera then panned to Ng's son, who had a confused look on his face as he watched the scene unfold.

Ng was then shown an error message on the machine's display, which directed her to scan a QR code or call customer service to process the refund.

Ng claimed there wasn't a phone number indicated anywhere on the machine, so she scanned the QR code and was directed to fill up an issue-reporting form on the company's website.

In addition, the company's website did not list any contact details, which seemed dodgy.

Suspected it was a scam

When Ng did not get any reply or acknowledgement from the brand over the following 24 hours, she became wary.

She also came across similar complaints by customers on the brand's Facebook page, some of which were accompanied by videos of malfunctioning machines in other locations.

"It's been two weeks now. After multiple complaints and attempt to reach out to T-Lab I still don't have my money back!" one customer wrote.

Lodged police report

Ng tried to dispute the transaction with her bank, but was told it was a physical transaction done through payWave, so her request could not be processed.

She then suspected that the business owner had "gone MIA" as were no contact details provided on their website.

When Mothership accessed T-Lab's website on Dec. 20, we found a site with bare bones design and features.

Some pages contained a header and nothing else, and the Contact Us page had no clickable links and at least one spelling mistake -- common features that we are often told to look out for in a scam.

It appeared that customers who wanted to contact the company could only do so through the issues-reporting form that Ng had filled up.

Suspecting she had been scammed, Ng lodged a police report on Dec. 18.

While she had paid only S$3, she felt she had to surface the issue as it was a matter of "principle", given that the goods had not been delivered.

"If the owner is truly trying to manage his 'faulty' machines, at least put up a sign or stop collecting payment," she added.

We are a legitimate business: T-Lab founder

In response to Mothership's enquiries, T-Lab founder Goh Eng Teong apologised for the customer's experience, and said that the company is committed to providing full refunds to affected customers.

Goh noted that as the payment process involves multiple parties, it might take "up to 10 working days" for the transaction to be fully completed and reflect on their account, after which the refund will be processed.

"We want to assure everyone that we are running a legitimate and honest business and we will perform full refunds if any customer does not get their drinks after payment," he added.

Goh also clarified that the malfunctions experienced by some customers were likely due to "network latency issues" as the company's servers are currently not based in Singapore.

He said that the company plans to deploy local servers by the first quarter of 2024, which should greatly reduce such issues from occurring.

Goh added that his team has been monitoring the feedback from customers closely, and will continue to refine their service quality and customer engagement processes.

Ng also confirmed with Mothership that T-Lab has reached out to her following the incident, and refunded her payment on Dec. 21.

Only two pieces of feedback received for said machine: HomeTeamNS

A HomeTeamNS spokesperson clarified with Mothership that the vending machine in question has been deployed at the clubhouse for over a year, and has been well-received and well-utilised by visitors.

"Apart from two [pieces of] feedback this month on operating issues, no other feedback has been received," the spokesperson said.

Top image courtesy of Ng.