REF : Tiger Prawns for S$239

Originally posted by The Straits Times
Tiger Prawns for S$239
SIX Americans who sat down to a seafood dinner at Newton hawker centre on Saturday just about fell off their chairs when they were presented a bill for $491, including $239 for eight tiger prawns.

Mr Michael Rigby, 30, an exhibition specialist from Oregon who comes here regularly for work, said: ‘It was more than what it would have cost us at a restaurant in the hotel.’

He said that when he asked the stallholder whether the bill had a mistake, he only got a shrug in reply. Seconds later, the man returned with four others, who he said looked to be in their 40s and well-built.

He said: ‘I guess they didn’t want us to leave without paying.’

Ironically, he and his wife, Dewi, 36, had set out to show their friends – Mr Sal Rubio, 53, his wife, daughter and son-in-law, all here for the first time – how safe, clean and honest this island city was.

The food centre was crowded then, so when the helpers from stall 43, Tanglin Best BBQ Seafood, showed them to a table, they felt obliged to order from them.

Besides tiger prawns, they had four crabs, baby squids, half a steamed chicken, four bottles of beer and fruit juices.

Mrs Rigby, referring to the price of the prawns, said: ‘They were prawns. It was not like we dined on lobsters!’

She added that halfway through the meal, the stallholder even plonked two grilled sting rays on their table.

‘We told them that we did not order them and they were quickly taken away. Afraid we would be charged for them, we asked for an itemised bill. When it came, we were shocked,’ she said.

Mr Rubio, who is from Arizona, told The Straits Times that the prices seemed comparable to those of an American restaurant and thought nothing of it – until Mr Rigby queried the bill.
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Its so expensive, almost $30 per prawn.
The tourist should always ask the prices before buying their meals so that there is some sort of confidence of the food is What-I-Get-Is-What-I-Pay.
But to counterpoint, Tiger Prawns can be expensive as recession times kick in + pollution + availiability.
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But soon after, this news kicked in.
Originally posted by Channel News Asia
SINGAPORE: Stall No. 43 (Tanglin’s Best BBQ Seafood Stall) at Singapore’s Newton Hawker Centre has had its licence suspended for three months for overcharging.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it had investigated the incident of overcharging of American Michael Rigby who was billed a total of S$491, including S$239 for eight tiger prawns.

NEA said it suspended the licence because the stall has breached licensing conditions.

The stall assistant involved in the incident will also be debarred from working at the Newton Food Centre for a year. – CNA/ir/de
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From this point, we can see the Government really took this point very very strongly. They want to protect the tourist confidence in Singapore’s Goods and Products. Proper action have been taken.
–
Meanwhile..
Originally Posted by The Electronic New Paper

THE towkay (Boss) was blase. There were other things on his mind.

It was 7pm at Newton Food Centre. The ang mohs (Caucasian tourists) were arriving.

And as he waved us aside, he stood hawk-eyed, forehead glistening with sweat, yellow notepad in hand. ‘This is Newton,’ he said. ‘Let them complain. It’s okay.’

With all the competition, how can he be so haughty?

Every other store here is a seafood stall with the same prawns and stingrays spread-eagled on ice beds.

Competition is cut-throat. Tourists are greeted almost instantly by hawker’s assistants who, with a sweep of their menus, lead them, still stunned from the heat and smell, to a waiting table.

Blink, and it’s easily a hundred bucks gone.

Little wonder then, that the man we believe to be the owner of stall 43 was not interested in answering any of the allegations made by the American tourists.

During the three hours The New Paper team spent at Newton Food Centre yesterday, he sure was busy.

All we could do was leave him a name card and tell him we would appreciate hearing his side of the story.

After all, the tourists’ complaints, though familiar, did leave some questions unanswered.

We went around talking to his patrons and other hawkers instead, as the hawk-eyed man spied us from afar. Finally, just as we were about to leave, the man called us and said he would meet us.

What transpired in the next 15 minutes, however, was a disappointment, a bewildering merry-go-round, the man slippery as an uncooked tiger prawn.

‘I don’t know anything about the incident,’ he said.

But we were quite sure we knew who he was.

Earlier, a customer had passed the name card of the owner of stall 43, with a name and photo.

The handphone number from which he called The New Paper team was also the one on the card.

But he flatly denied it.

‘Anyway, it’s not stall 43 that’s involved,’ he insisted.

But earlier that afternoon, the tourists had met reporters from English and Chinese newspapers and posed for pictures in front of the stall in question – stall43.

The stall is at a corner of the hawker centre, next to a DBS ATM.

It seemed hard to confuse it with the others.

When we met his protest with a protest of our own, he launched into philosophy.

‘In the world, there are good guys and bad guys,’ he said. ‘When I go to China, the same thing happens.

‘I buy a bowl of tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) and they charge me five yuan, when it should be one yuan.

‘I tell them, I am Chinese, I also speak Mandarin. I can go to the next stall and ask and easily find out how much one bowl costs.

‘But you know what? I’ll pay. Yes, I’ll pay.’

Does this mean you can do the same to others?

‘You never listen properly,’ came his curt reply. ‘I said there are good guys and bad guys.’

Fine. But all we’re looking for is the evidence. When you give a receipt to customers, do you indicate how the bill is calculated, we asked.

‘In life, it’s not good to split hairs,’ said the man.

But it’s only fair for customers, especially tourists, to ask for a decent receipt, we replied.

After 15 minutes of getting nowhere, we asked: So where’s the owner?

‘The stall’s not even open,’ he claimed. ‘Do you see the cook?’

There was none, but over at stall 43, the lights were switched on and at least 20 prawns were displayed.

Throughout the night, we had seen the man shuttling between stall 43 and a neighbouring stall, taking orders, and taking utensils from the former for the latter.

If you’re not the owner, then who are you, we asked.

‘Oh, I just work at a few stalls here,’ he said.

You work there or you own them, we asked.

‘I just work. When one stall closes, I move to another stall,’ said the man.

It didn’t make sense to us. But just then, his co-worker called out to him.

‘Sorry ah, I’m busy,’ he said, and took off.

There was a bill at another table to settle.

–

One more point to add on, the competition there is so strong until they are not making enough revenue so they have to increase the price to cover their capital.

Once again, this is a in-depth report which I like to thank all the sources mentioned : CNA / ST / TNP.
Jeremy

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