When a man sat down for a casual steak dinner on Apr. 23, he did not expect it to cost more than S$2,000.

After all, he had ordered a ribeye steak from the Common Grill by Collin's Geylang outlet, which should have set him back S$20.90, but instead cost S$2,020.90.

In other words, he was overcharged by S$2,000.

He then asked for a refund, but the response, according to him, was tardy.

That left a sour taste in his mouth enough that he took to social media to provide his account of what happened.

What happened?

When the customer noticed the S$2,000 discrepancy on his receipt, he said he approached staff to request for a refund.

He was advised it would take two weeks to receive the money back into his account, a response he was not satisfied with as S$2,000 was a "significant portion" of his income.

When he asked for an immediate resolution, he alleged that he waited more than one hour to be told there was nothing the staff could do without a manager's approval.

The staff then took down the customer's contact details and assured him he would be contacted the next day.

However, at the end of the day on Apr. 24, the customer claimed he was still waiting to be contacted.

Collin's operates 30 outlets across the island.

Always check the machine

Some online commenters were quick to point out that the customer should have checked the amount on the screen before making his NETS purchase.

The customer agreed, admitting it was "partially [his] fault".

Several commenters suggested that because it was a NETS payment, it is more difficult to initiate a refund compared with a credit card payment.

Others wrote that, regardless of the payment method, refunds will usually take at least a few days to process.

The refund has been processed

In response to Mothership's queries, a spokesperson for Collin's said on Apr. 25 that the incident was an "unintentional" and "bona fide mistake" that occurred when a staff member accidentally keyed "20" into the NETS machine twice.

Collin's has contacted the customer to apologise for the inconvenience caused and to immediately handle the refund process.

The S$2,000 should be back in the customer's account by the end of Apr. 26, a Collin's spokesperson said.

Top images from Complaint Singapore & Common Grill's Facebook page