PUBLISHED ONOctober 08, 2025 5:11 AMBYChing Shi JieAn eatery in Ang Mo Kio has accused a customer of trying to cheat his way to free meals by submitting dubious refund claims through food delivery platform Grab.
Speaking to AsiaOne, Eleanor Ng, the owner of Soi 19 Thai Wanton Mee, said that they have encountered the same customer more than once — in June, August and the latest on Oct 1.
His modus operandi was to make an order through the Grab app indicating special requests, but later claimed that items were missing from his delivery after they were delivered.
Ng, 44, added that Grab then deducted the full amount from the eatery’s earnings after the customer made the complaint through the delivery platform.
The eatery’s boss said that it took two appeals through Grab before the payments were released to her a week later.
“That’s where we found [it was] unfair and started to take notice of the customer’s name,” she said.
In a Facebook post on Oct 1, the eatery said that the same customer had ordered from them again — but this time, the eatery was prepared.
When the customer had asked for no fried wantons and extra noodles, they took photos of the food before delivery.
But after the order was delivered, Sol 19 Thai Wanton Mee received a notification that the customer had claimed there were no wantons or extra noodles.
In the Facebook post, the eatery said they suspected the customer had removed the ingredients himself, before filing a complaint to Grab to seek a refund.
“The result? Grab withholds payment, and we as hawkers take the loss,” said the eatery. “He enjoys a free meal in the comfort of his home while we bear the cost.
”Running F&B is already tough. Dishonest acts like this make it even harder for small businesses to survive.”
Ng said that she has since filed a police report, and Grab has released the payment from the order to the eatery.
“Most Singaporeans are honest and they do support our local F&B,” she added.
Responding to AsiaOne’s queries, Grab said that it had reviewed the customer’s past records, and issued a warning in line with their code of conduct.
“We understand the inconvenience this situation has caused our merchant-partner and take such matters seriously,” its spokesperson said.
“We have existing processes in place to ensure both consumers and merchants have proper avenues to convey their feedback, which we review and process on a case-by-case basis.
“In this case, the merchant previously appealed chargebacks, and the refunds were made accordingly.”
Grab said that it is committed to “maintaining a fair and respectful platform for everyone”, and “continuously strengthen our checks to safeguard the interests of all members of our community.“
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chingshijie@asiaone.com
