A high-end steak restaurant in Eco Botanic, Johor Bahru, had no choice but to take to social media in an effort to locate a group of patrons who allegedly left the eatery without settling their whopping RM1,095.95 bill recently.
In a viral Facebook post, TEMPER, an open-fire kitchen with outlets in Mount Austin and Eco Botanic, published photos of the patrons arriving and dining at their Eco Botanic outlet, as well as a snapshot of the unpaid bill.
Public appeal to find alleged dine-and-dashers
Based on the photos, the incident took place on the evening of 16 August and involved five customers, comprising three men and two women.
In the post published on the same day, TEMPER issued a notice for payment assistance, stating that they were trying to get in touch with the customers as their records showed that they had not settled the over-thousand-ringgit bill.
“We believe this may have been an oversight, so we kindly ask the customer concerned to DM us as soon as possible so we can resolve the outstanding payment privately. If you recognise yourself in the attached CCTV image, please contact TEMPER directly,” the post added.
TEMPER further asserted that the post and images of the patrons would only be removed once the matter had been resolved.
CCTV footage and breakdown of the unpaid bill
In an update the following day, TEMPER confirmed that the dine-and-dashers had not yet contacted the eatery. Accordingly, the restaurant published more information about the incident, including CCTV footage of the patrons arriving at TEMPER and the full unpaid bill.
According to the photo of the bill, the patrons ordered the following items:
- 3 Medium A5 Miyazaki Sirloin (RM334.80)
- 3 Medium Dry-Aged Sirloin MB5 (RM216.00)
- 3 Medium MB1 Tenderloin (RM216.00)
- 3 Wild Mushroom Soups (RM72.00)
- 1 Teriyaki Chicken Burger (RM38.00)
- 1 Wagyu Bliss Burger (RM68.00)
The bill came to RM1,095.95 after adding the 10% service charge and 6% SST.
However, TEMPER did not disclose what transpired or how the patrons actually managed to leave the restaurant without settling the bill. At the time of writing, the matter remains unresolved.
Public reaction and speculation
In the comments section, many Malaysians expressed their belief that, based on the footage, the alleged dine-and-dashers were not locals but foreign tourists. A majority claimed that the patrons were from China and had already returned to their home country.
One commenter urged TEMPER to post on Chinese social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu instead for a better chance of reaching the patrons.
Besides that, some netizens questioned the standard operating procedures (SOPs) at the restaurant, which ultimately allowed the patrons to leave without paying.
One even suggested that the patrons used deceptive payment tactics to skip paying, such as reversing a card payment via their bank after paying, or showing a fake payment app screen to the cashier.
Whether the incident was a deliberate attempt to avoid payment or a genuine oversight remains to be seen, as the restaurant awaits further contact from the patrons involved to clarify the situation.
What do you guys think of the viral incident? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Saiful Ridzaimi (saiful.ridzaimi@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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