A popular noodle stall, Soi 19 Thai Wanton Mee, has publicly called out a customer for allegedly exploiting Grab’s complaint system to enjoy free meals at the expense of hawkers.
In a Facebook post on October 1, the stall claimed that the customer, identified as Oliver Ong, had been making repeated complaints about “missing items” in his food deliveries, despite receiving complete orders.
According to the stall, Ong would place orders through Grab and make special requests. After the food was delivered, he would remove items from the meal himself, snap a photo, and file a complaint with Grab claiming that parts of his order were missing.
This time, the stall said they were prepared. They took photos of the packed food before delivery to show that everything was accounted for. Despite this, Ong allegedly went ahead with his usual tactic and reported missing items to Grab.
The hawkers explained that when Grab receives such complaints, the platform typically refunds the customer, but the hawker bears the cost:
“The result? Grab withholds payment, and we as hawkers take the loss. The reality? He enjoys a free meal in the comfort of his home, while we bear the cost.”
They also clarified in the comments that Grab had not yet taken action on the latest incident, but if an appeal was required, they would need to submit proof, such as the photos they took:
“No action taken” means we have yet send an appeal. If we appeal then we need to provide evidence such as the photo taken above that we did not miss out anything. Otherwise we dont get paid any $$ if this went through.
The stall also said they are considering filing a police report and urged fellow business owners to be on alert.
Photos attached to the post showed:
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A packed box of noodles with all items intact.
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Screenshots of Grab’s complaint system showing the customer’s claim of missing wanton and noodles.
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A copy of the order slip as evidence.
The post has sparked discussion online. Some commenters called the behaviour “cheating” and urged others to “make him famous”, while others remarked that there are “many such people” in Singapore.
