S'pore woman, 56, buys S$8 chicken dish, says it's 1/3 smaller than usual, claims stall cheating her

A 56-year-old woman accused a Margaret Drive stall selling chicken dishes of cheating her after claiming that the S$8 portion of her food had become smaller by one-third.

Shin Min Daily News reported that in response, the head cook said that this was not the case and offered to produce CCTV footage as evidence.

Portion significantly smaller

Speaking to Shin Min, the customer, Chen (transliterated), said she visited the stall on Oct. 3 and spent S$8 on a chicken dish.

She claimed, however, that the portion was significantly smaller than usual.

As someone who used to frequent the stall, she said that the portions used to be very generous, but reportedly became smaller since last month.

"I was too embarrassed to say it before, thinking that things might improve next time I came, but I didn't expect it to be the same," Chen said.

Arguing that a serving of the dish should usually be a quarter of a chicken, she alleged that she received about a third less chicken on her last two purchases.

Chen found this unacceptable and complained to the stall staff on Oct. 3.

However, she was reportedly told that the portions remained the same and she could choose not to buy from the stall.

She told Shin Min that she was dissatisfied with their response and would not patronise the stall again.

No deliberate under-serving

When Shin Min visited the stall on the morning of Oct. 10, a 32-year-old head cook recalled the customer being emotional and accusing the stall of cheating her.

"She kept saying that the amount of chicken she bought was too small and did not match the price," he said.

He said the stall does not deceive customers and added that the chicken portions were always sold based on the same standard.

He pointed out that the stall has CCTV, and said customers who feel "shortchanged", could ask for the footage to checked.

Swapped dish

At the time, Chen said she found the employee's attitude unacceptable, and refused to accept the chopped chicken dish.

The employee explained, however, that the chicken could not be taken back since it had already been chopped.

Chen said: "I later asked him to change it to two portions of chicken rice for me. Afterwards, I also left an online review writing about my experience."

The head cook emphasised that swapping of dishes was usually not allowed, but the stall complied as there was a long line of customers and they did not want to make a scene.

After all his years there, the head cook said Chen was the first customer to complain about the portion of chicken.