The Consumer Council has, from time to time, received complaints related to buffets and all-you-can-eat in restaurants.
In the first 8 months of this year, the Council received a total of 8 complaints involving mainly sales practices and price disputes. There were 16 and 10 cases in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
In one typical case, for example, the complainant was enticed by a magazine advert that a Thai restaurant offered a shark's fin soup and a bird's nest dessert for free in a special promotion of its buffet.
It turned out that much to the protest of the complainant, the shark's fin soup was replaced with sashimi while the bird's nest dessert with a salad.
The reason: the special offers had already been cancelled and ceased to be available.
In another case, the complainant took her 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son to a Korean restaurant for an "all-you-can-eat" meal.
When the bill came, she discovered that her daughter was charged adult rate.
The reason: her daughter was taller than the "height limit" imposed by the restaurant on child consumer.
In both cases, and in other similar cases, the attention of the complainants was not drawn to the changes or conditions beforehand, and were only notified of them during or after the meals.
Furthermore, another cause for consumer concern was with web search engine for information on dining out.
Not infrequently, information such as the price and theme of the buffet was not up-to-date and inaccurate.
Some useful tips for reference of consumers:
- Do not blindly trust the information from advertisement or web search engine. Consumers should, at the time of booking for a table, check out the buffet price with the restaurant.
- Look for and read the buffet price posted at the entrance of the restaurant before being served. Or any changes and conditions that you may not be aware of.
- If in doubt, ask to find out, to avoid unnecessary dispute afterwards.
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