A popular local Thai restaurant serving steamboat dishes has been ordered to stop making misleading claims that it was offering promotions to customers “for a limited time only” after it had been discovered that the restaurant had, in fact, been running the so-called deal for at least two years.
According to a news statement released today by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS), the agency began investigating Charcoal Thai 1 restaurant last year, after noticing that there were no expiry dates set for the promotion it claimed was “ending soon.”
CCCS said: “These promotional materials also stated that the discounts for meals such as lunch sets and steamboat items were either available for a ‘limited period only,’ or would be ‘Ending Soon! 50% Discount,’ when in fact they continued to be available for at least another two years since February 2016.”
The promotional text had misled customers who believed that there was a “price benefit” of acting quickly to eat at Charcoal Thai 1, which then gave the restaurant an “unfair advantage” over competitors that had been complying with fair business practices set out under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, the watchdog said.
Charcoal Thai 1 has since agreed to stop promoting its misleading advertisements but will continue to be monitored by CCCS, the agency added.
There is only one restaurant in Singapore that (sort of) goes by that name, and it’s located at Clementi Mall. A quick check on its website shows that its current 50 percent discount promotion comes with an expiry date set for Dec. 31, 2019.
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