"Four More Salmon Sushi... Calculating Delivery Time" 'Problematic Customer' Abusing Star Ratings for Power Play

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] A customer who demanded excessive services under the pretext of writing a review while ordering food through a delivery app is facing criticism.

On the 3rd, a post titled "Baemin (Baedal Minjok) Requests" was uploaded on an online community. The author, who introduced themselves as a sushi restaurant owner, attached a photo of a receipt saying, "This is how the delivery request was written."

In the store request section of the receipt in the photo, it read, "I'm very hungry. Please add 4 more salmon sushi," followed by "I will write a nice review. Promise, a five-star review." In the delivery request section, it also said, "No combined delivery," and "Please come immediately. I am timing the delivery. If you come combined, I will return it."

The customer is presumed to have made these requests using the star rating and review as leverage against the restaurant. Combined delivery refers to the practice where a delivery driver saves time by delivering to two or more places at once. The author explained, "Requesting sushi worth about 7,000 won (for 4 pieces) as a free service," and added, "Since we use a delivery agency, the request to prohibit combined delivery made it difficult for the delivery driver to be assigned, so I immediately canceled the order."

The author also said that the customer called the restaurant as soon as the order was canceled. When the author cited running out of ingredients as the reason, the customer responded rudely, saying, "Did you cancel the order because you didn’t want to fulfill the request? How can you cancel at your own discretion like that?" and "Is it easy to run a business these days?" The author expressed their feelings, saying, "I feel bitter in this economic downturn," and "I am wondering if I have to accept all these requests just to earn 40,000 won. It feels like my mental state is breaking."

In response, netizens commented, "I would have canceled the order if I received such requests," "I hope the owner is not hurt," "It’s strange to behave rudely using reviews as leverage," and "Isn’t there a need to introduce a blacklist system?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.