NTUC FairPrice States that The Mislabelling is Not Due to ‘Possible Dishonest Practices’

2022-02-08 , 11:10 am

On 5 February, Nina Monzolevska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian model currently residing in Singapore, went to Tiktok to reveal that NTUC FairPrice had mislabelled a piece of chicken breast she bought and thereby charged her a higher price.

The label stated that the chicken breast was 0.224kg, but when Monozolevska re-weighed the piece of meat at home, it showed that it was only 0.165kg.

NTUC FairPrice gave a swift response on Facebook to the trending TikTok video, stating that “ensuring product integrity, which includes accurate labelling is of paramount importance to us”, and subsequently reached out to the Ukrainian model to resolve the issue.

Mislabelling Rectified?

When Monzolevska went back to buy more chicken breast later the same week, she was pleased to find out that the issue had been rectified.

From the image, a new label on the old one beneath makes it evident that FairPrice had taken their claims about fair and accurate weighing and pricing seriously, since they had re-weighed their poultry products.

All in all, it seemed like the customer was satisfied, and the establishment held true to its name.

Except, this isn’t the last cut into the slab of meat.

Took Off the Top Label to Reveal the Higher Weight and Price Below

Afterwards, at the suggestion of one of her fans on Tiktok, Monzolevska went home to peel off the top label to see what the bottom label below.

The video was sped up slightly as the Ukrainian model visibly struggled to remove the top sticker without ruining the bottom one.

@ninamonzolevska Reply to @bruhvoants That’s a big difference! #sg #singapore #fyp ♬ original sound – Nina Monzolevska

To her surprise, the chicken breast that was repriced at $1.56 for 0.144kg of chicken, was initially priced at $2.38 for 0.220kg.

That is a price difference of 82 cents.

Another Instance of Mislabelling

Furthermore, there was another Tiktok video of another user at the Ang Mo Kio’s NTUC FairPrice Extra branch on 7 February.

@ben20220207#ntuc #fairprice #singapore #fyp #case♬ original sound – Ben1841

They could be seen holding onto a packaged salmon that supposedly weighed 0.296kg, but when he placed it on the supermarket-provided weighing scale, it showed that the piece of fish only weight 0.176kg.

It might be a 120-gram difference, but it will affect the pricing correspondingly.

Overall Implications of the Video Evidence

The timely rectification of the prices from any customer’s standpoint is a good thing, but from Monzolevska’s comment section, her viewers were starting to doubt if they have ever been cheated in such a manner without realising it.

Some were even joking about bringing their own weighing scales to the supermarket, with the more extreme ones suggesting that they should avoid NTUC FairPrice altogether to avoid the possibility of being cheated.

Similarly, for the second video, it also raised doubts whether the initial pricing and the weighing scales used at the supermarkets can even be trusted when there is such a large margin of error.

In the slang words of one of the commenters, they write: “NTUC use dirty tactics to cheat poor consumers like us.”

Others said they were “speechless” in Chinese because this time the weight was proven wrong by the supermarket’s own weighing machine, while others believe that it just gives more credence to the fact that they have been cheated for years.

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NTUC FairPrice’s Response

And once more, the Public Relations Team of NTUC FairPrice strikes again swiftly.

Their Facebook post stated: “We understand another video with a price label pasted over an erroneously printed label was posted by the customer suggesting possible dishonest practices. While we appreciate feedback for improvement, we do not condone any unethical business practices and take such allegations very seriously. We will safeguard the integrity of our reputation against false allegations if necessary.

“We advise the public not to circulate unverified claims which may cause unnecessary public alarm. We appeal to customers to contact us directly so we may address their concerns expeditiously and avoid any misunderstanding.”

In essence, the post acknowledges that the supermarket chain has made another mistake, but they do not wish for such a negative narrative to continue proliferating online as it damages their reputation badly.

FairPrice insists that the mislabelling is not a “possible dishonest practice” where the supermarket is trying to re-label the products at a higher price to earn more profits.

The island-wide franchise doesn’t condone such unethical practices and they will take action against false allegations if they are necessary.

Moreover, they assure the public that the weighing scales are independently calibrated by authorised vendors certified by the the authorities.

Aka, they have not been cheating customers by deliberately messing with the weighing scales and charging customers more.

That’s not why the the supermarket branch is called FairPrice Extra, people.

Hence, NTUC FairPrice do not wish for any unverified claims to be promulgated, especially when they have mechanisms in place to ensure that the customers’ interests are placed first, like the policy of honouring a full refund or exchange for the products if they have been mislabelled.

There is simply no need to post it online.

Reactions of the Netizens

Besides the naysayers, there are still plenty of regulars that are in support of NTUC FairPrice and offering some suggestions to avoid mislabelling again.

Some rightfully point out that the staff at NTUC FairPrice have always done the tireless work of ensuring that the shelves are well-stocked with products, and that they are only human in the end; prone to mistakes and placing a wrong tag or two.

That is to say nothing of how we are currently in pandemic times and in the middle of the festive holiday, where stocks run out faster and the staff have to work longer or graveyard shifts to accommodate our last minute needs.

Others stated that the additional labels shouldn’t come as a surprise as the price of poultry products tend to drop in price a day or two after it was initially placed on the shelves, in addition to a multitude of factors that could have led to weight changes.

There were also netizens that state that customers should be in charge of weighing the goods themselves and placing the tags on their own like the vegetable produce to avoid future troubles like this.

Future Steps to Take as Customers

To prevent such incidents from happening again:

Double-check the weight and price on your own at the nearest weighing scales, or bring your own weighing scale if you’re really that gung-ho
Approach the staff first instead to rectify the weight and price instead of posting it on social media and causing more widespread doubt and troubles
For further inquiries, the NTUC FairPrice Customer Service Hotline is always available at 6380 5858 or you can email [email protected]

Because frankly, posting it on social media scarcely solves anything, and you might even be at the receiving end of an exhausted and annoyed PR representative on overtime.

Spare a small thought for the NTUC staff, and let’s carry a mite bit of the responsibility of correcting the small margin of error whenever it happens.