STOMPer Alex was appalled that the manager at Ben & Jerry's Orchard Central outlet, rudely told his family off that their bill was only for $28 when they presented a voucher to pay with.
Said the STOMPer in his email:
"My family and I dined at Ben & Jerry's Orchard Central outlet today (Mar 26) at about 9pm.We had the most unpleasant experience and that left a bad taste in our mouths.
"We were appalled by the rudeness and audacity of the staff in the store, having the supervisor speak to us in a rude manner was bad enough, when we requested to speak to the manager, Mr Jeff, his tone was equally bad, if not, worse off than his subordinates.
"This is the gist of the incident. Upon arrival at the restaurant, we presented a discount voucher issued by UOB bank to one of the waiters to check if we can use this voucher. The waiter was not sure and he proceeded to enquire from his supervisor, a China lady by the name of Jennifer. She confirmed that we were able to use the voucher and we went on to order our food and ice-cream. She then returned the voucher to us.
"After we finished our food, we called for the bill and presented the voucher once again. The supervisor, Jennifer brought the bill to us and also collected our voucher, she returned shortly after and told us that the voucher has expired and could not be used anymore.
"We were surprised as she was the one who gave the approval to use the voucher. A slight argument ensued and I guess for the fear of being reprimanded, Jennifer insisted it was solely our mistake and repeatedly mentioned many times that we should have checked the voucher before using and it was all our fault!
"At that moment, she could not find anymore excuses and we demanded to see the manager. The assistant dining manager came out and before we could speak, he told us, 'yes, you can use the voucher provided it was not expired'.
"We reasoned that it was his supervisor who told us we could use the voucher and that was why we sat down to order our ice-cream, how could he turn the tables around and say such illogical excuses?
"We held our grounds and told Jeff that this verification was done by his waiter and supervisor. He should not deny and he did check with Jennifer. Seeing that there was no way out, Jeff mentioned very rudely, 'it is just $28, I can buy you the dinner'.
"To my utmost astonishment and shock, that was not what I was expecting from a manager! Was he looking down on me by saying such things in a very rude tone? I warned him not to be rude and he mentioned once again, 'it is only $28 lah. I can buy for you'. He then walked away.
"Actually I was pinpointing at the rudeness of the supervisor, but seeing how rude and uncouth the manager is, I forgave her and thought to myself, maybe this is Ben & Jerry's way of protecting their staff and subordinates, by standing on the staff side and oppose all customers regardless!
"This will be my last visit to Ben & Jerry's. Customers to Ben & Jerry's at Orchard Central, beware."
