Haidilao staff tells customer 'thank god you came back' after charging her $1.05 instead of $105 for meal

An entire hotpot meal for just $1.05 sounds too good to be true.

For Jesslyne Lee, who is in her 20s, that really was the case after a staff at Haidilao accidentally keyed in the wrong value for her bill.

But instead of taking this opportunity to get a cheap meal, this honest diner decided not to take advantage of the situation.  

In a TikTok video on Monday (May 22), Lee shared more about the incident which took place at the hotpot chain's Northpoint outlet on May 13. 

Lee told AsiaOne that she had gone to Haidilao with her mother to celebrate Mother's Day. And her total bill added up to $105. 

But when she paid with her American Express card, one of the staff missed two decimal points and keyed in $1.05 instead.

Lee and her mother only realised the bill looked "funny" at the entrance of the store when they were just about to leave.

"We decided to turn back as we were afraid the staff will get into trouble as the difference in price was too huge," Lee told AsiaOne. 

When they informed the manager, he was "rather shocked" and tried looking for the staff whose name was on the receipt.

However, he later realised that the actual staff who made the mistake during the transaction had used her colleague's account to settle the bill.

When this staff was informed of the mistake, she gratefully said: "Thank god you came back. Otherwise, it will be deducted from my pay." 

The $1.05 bill was then voided and Lee said she was given some vouchers by the hotpot chain. 

Lee said it's unclear if the staff got into any trouble for the mistake but "the manager didn't seem angry".

"They [all just appeared] really thankful and grateful that we returned [the money] and the staff apologised as well," she told us. 

@jesssoolio

Lucky day y’all

♬ Funny noise - Sound Effect

In the comments, many netizens praised Lee for her honesty. 

One added that as they personally don't look at their bills, they would have missed out on the wrong charge. 

Hawker tracks down diner who overpaid by 100 times 

In a separate incident back in January, a customer overpaid a whopping 100 times more for his meal from Xiao Mei Ban Mian at a Woodlands coffee shop.

Instead of $4.50 via PayLah, he had paid $450 for his bowl of mee hoon kueh soup. 

As the customer was an elderly man who does not frequent the stall, the hawker used Facebook to try and reach out to him. 

A few days later, the hawker managed to successfully settle the refund after tracking down the diner. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com