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At Senibong Bay Seafood in Permas Jaya, JB, a casual dinner turned into an unexpected drama of numbers and a whole lot of cash.
On 21 Aug, a simple 1.25kg of red grouper was mistakenly billed as 12.5kg. That slip of the decimal transformed what should have been a RM297 dish into a jaw-dropping RM2975 charge, calculated at RM238 per kg.
The diner, known only as Nina from Table 51, didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow. She quietly paid the bill, later leaving a 5-star Google review complete with snapshots of her meal, as if nothing were amiss.
It took 3 days for the restaurant to spot the error. Mortified, the staff took to Facebook with an earnest apology, pleading with Nina to step forward for her refund. Their post described the mistake as a “cashiering error,” sparking both sympathy and skepticism online.
The restaurant also tried contacting her through Google Reviews after seeing the post that she left there, urging her to WhatsApp them.
Then, on 26 Aug, came the breakthrough. In a heartfelt video statement, owner Sim announced that Nina had finally reached out — not through the viral Facebook campaign or the media buzz, but via the email address they provided under her Google review.
By then, however, the restaurant had weathered a storm of criticism. Some online voices accused them of being a 黑店 (“black shop”), a Chinese term for unscrupulous businesses, while others speculated the whole ordeal was a publicity stunt.
Sim stood firm, stressing the importance of customer trust. Their transparency and persistence gradually turned the tide of public opinion. Senibong Bay Seafood’s handling of the mishap felt refreshing by owning up to the mistake and even reaching out to Nina first.
It’s the kind of story that makes us chuckle, but let’s be honest — most of us wouldn’t have handled it with Nina’s grace.
