Customer pays $161.40 for 6 tins of pineapple tarts but a tin is mouldy, gets refund after 1½ months

It was not "huat" she expected.

A woman paid $161.40 for six tins of pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year and was horrified to discover the contents of one tin were mouldy.

"The fruit which means ‘prosperity comes’ in dialect translation does not seem to work on me," said Stomper K.

"At the end of December, I walked in and made the purchase with cash," recounted the Stomper.

"I chose to buy from the shop as it is recommended as one of the top 10 best pineapple tarts in Singapore. I decided to give my support to the local brand.

"I bought six tins of pineapple tarts and some love letters. Four tins were given away as CNY gifts for my siblings and I kept two tins for own consumption.

"To my horror and much disappointment, the tarts in one tin became mouldy when I wanted to enjoy them on the fifth day of CNY (Jan 26). The expiry date was Feb 9.

"I brought this issue to the shop's attention via WhatsApp and they agreed to make a refund within five to 10 working days.

"However, my subsequent follow-ups were completely ignored by them and I have not received the refund after more than 1½ months.

"After this unpleasant experience, I believe that this was my first and also the last time I purchased from them."

In response to a Stomp query, the pineapple tart shop told Stomp on Thursday (March 23): "We did a search through our WhatsApp history and found her chat but most of the chat history is gone as our WhatsApp has been reformatted by a previous staff who has left.

"The staff has left the message unattended before handing over her work which resulted in us overlooking the entire chat."

"We have reached out to the customer regarding this matter and will definitely process the refund as soon as possible."

On Friday, K told Stomp: "I have just received a message from the shop that they have already made the refund of $161.40 to me via Paynow.

"I told the customer service manager to make a refund for the affected one tin only. I guess probably out of good will, they made a full refund of the six tins instead of one."

She added that she was also offered a $100 voucher, but she rejected it.