The father who was left perturbed at what he and his family faced at Platform 1094 has spoken out again in response to the Harry Potter-themed cafe’s clarification.
Edroos Alsagoff had taken to Facebook on Sunday (Nov 1) to express his discontent with the Serangoon Road bistro, implying that his family was treated differently from other patrons.
After failing to make a reservation, Edroos and his family dropped by Platform 1094 nonetheless, knowing that they would have to wait for a table to open up. However, he claimed that other people waiting in line behind him were offered to queue up for outdoor tables at the fully seated cafe, but his family was not afforded the same kindness despite his children having dressed up in costumes for a birthday celebration.
In the wake of the backlash induced by his post, Platform 1094 owner Fresh Fruits Lab Group conducted an internal investigation and clarified the matter in response to media queries. Though the cafe acknowledged that communication could have been better, it claimed that Edroos had been insistent on getting a table and threatened them to go onto social media to publicise the matter.
Image source: Facebook / Edroos Alsagoff
‘Inaccurate and untrue’
Speaking to AsiaOne, Edroos dismissed the cafe’s recount of the incident as “totally inaccurate and untrue”.
“It is pretty unfair for the cafe to portray me as an aggressive, unreasonable and self-entitled customer when the matter could have been dealt better if the staff had any form of explanation on why we were not allowed to wait in queue when they are accepting walk-ins,” he stated.
He also mentioned that his family had not, as what Fresh Fruits Lab Group said, insisted on having a table. Instead, they just enquired if an alternative arrangement was possible, he said.
“The server gave us no alternatives or explanation other than repeating that the cafe is fully booked and we should have made a reservation. And at no point any threats of going online was being mentioned,” Edroos told AsiaOne.
He also clarified why the family turned down the offer when a server eventually gave them a table after it was freed up. He believes that the server had initially offered the table to a customer queueing behind him without offering it first to his family. When that customer let Edroos have the table, he declined.
“Only upon the customer offering the table, we were then offered the same table. By then we decided to not dine at the cafe as we were perplexed at the double standards in their service.”
No further comments
Father unhappy with service at Platform 1094 has spoken out again. | Image source: Facebook / Edroos Alsagoff
When contacted by AsiaOne, a spokesperson from Platform 1094 said that the company will not be giving out any further comments on the matter and that they have already stated their side of the story “as a matter of facts”.
”We would, however, like to clarify that it has never been our intention to portray the customer in a bad light,” the spokesperson assured.
“Once again, we would like to apologise for our staff’s poor communication on that day and would hope that the customer can be forgiving and put the matter to rest.”
On his end, Edroos stated that he does not think that the dispute was of a racial nature, despite Fresh Fruits Lab Group’s belief that it had turned into a “situation of racism in the eye of the customer”.
On hindsight, however, the father said he regrets naming the Platform 1094 staff member in his post and now knows that he should have directed his grievances at the cafe instead.
This article was first published in AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
ALSO READ: Father unhappy with service
‘Dad, am I not a Singaporean?’ Girl Asks After Classmate Comments on Her Skin Colour