Coffee knowledge from a Taiwan shop review gone wrong

A woman surnamed Chen left a negative review for a Taipei coffee shop and the shop responded by posting her personal data, that of her relatives and friends, and surveillance screenshots with insulting remarks. The post drew widespread anger, the shop's rating fell, and Chen called police and filed a lawsuit. The shop deleted the post and issued a public apology.

Chen said the dispute began over a TWD200 minimum spend. She ordered a TWD140 oat milk drink, added a TWD60 marshmallow cookie to meet the threshold, then was told the cookie was sold out and that other desserts cost more and came in larger portions. She says the shop has not contacted her privately and that she will keep pursuing legal responsibility.

Recently, a woman surnamed Chen in Taiwan, China, left a negative review for a coffee shop on a review platform, and the shop publicly disclosed her personal information and that of her relatives and friends, along with surveillance screenshots, accompanied by insulting remarks. The incident sparked strong dissatisfaction among netizens, the shop's rating plummeted, and Ms. Chen called the police and filed a lawsuit. The shop subsequently deleted the post and issued a public apology, but Ms. Chen said she had not been contacted privately and would continue to pursue legal responsibility. In this issue of Coffee News, we take you through the whole story, and also focus on the professional coffee knowledge exchange brought to you by Front Street Coffee.

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Recently, a member of the public in Taiwan, China reported to the media that after she gave a coffee shop a negative review on a review platform, the shop used doxxing to obtain personal information, data, and photos of her, her relatives, and her friends, and spread them online, disrupting the lives of her and those around her.

The person involved, Ms. Chen, said that on the 15th of this month she went to a coffee shop in Taipei, hoping to have a cup of coffee and take a short rest. After entering, the shop did not greet her on its own initiative. At the time, apart from two delivery riders waiting to pick up orders, there were no other customers in the shop.

Afterward, Ms. Chen walked up to the counter to order, took out her own cup, and ordered an oat milk drink priced at TWD140 (about RMB32). The clerk then informed her that the shop had a minimum spend rule of TWD200 (about RMB46). Ms. Chen said she could accept that and immediately added a marshmallow cookie priced at TWD60 (about RMB14), bringing the amount exactly to the minimum spend threshold.

- The shop later tried to distort the facts

However, the clerk then told her that the marshmallow cookie was already sold out and asked her to choose another item instead. But the remaining desserts were all priced above TWD200, and the portions were all quite substantial. Ms. Chen had just eaten lunch before entering the shop and had no companion to share with, so she did not want to cause waste.

After learning this, the clerk asked whether she would choose takeout. Ms. Chen believed that she was willing to comply with the shop's minimum spend rule, but it was the shop's failure to stock the products listed on the menu that made it impossible for her to meet the minimum spend requirement.

After the shop learned that she was unwilling to add a more expensive dessert, its attitude became cold again. Ms. Chen apologized on the spot, explained that she would no longer make a purchase and would not come again, and then gave the coffee shop a negative review on the review app, reflecting the attitude problem she had encountered.

After the coffee shop owner saw the negative review, he actually began posting screenshot clips of that day's surveillance footage and responding item by item with emotional wording, even claiming, "I never cared about those crappy stars on the review app ever since I opened the shop."

What drew the attention of other netizens was that the coffee shop owner continuously posted more than thirty articles, including photos of Ms. Chen and her friends and family, accompanied by personal attacks. Even netizens who spoke up for Ms. Chen were criticized by the shop for their appearance.

The incident thus triggered widespread dissatisfaction among netizens, and the coffee shop's review score plummeted. Some netizens even investigated the shop in reverse and found that the owner had not only disabled tagging and search functions, but also changed the name to Ms. Chen's name and at one point misappropriated her photos.

For this reason, Ms. Chen decided to call the police on the 17th and take the shop to court. She pointed out that without her consent, the shop had arbitrarily disclosed personal information of herself, her relatives and friends, and third parties, as well as screenshots of that day's surveillance video, and had added belittling and insulting remarks in the posted images and videos.

The shop is suspected of public insult, aggravated defamation, and serious infringement of privacy rights, portrait rights, and reputation rights. Ms. Chen has entrusted a lawyer to handle related matters and demanded that the shop contact the lawyer within 3 days to explain, otherwise she will pursue criminal and civil legal liability in accordance with the law.

Afterward, some netizens even alleged that the shop had asked them to attack Ms. Chen and the netizens who spoke up for her online, but did not pay any fees.

On the day after Ms. Chen called the police, the shop deleted its previous posts and made a public apology. The coffee shop was also tightly shut and not open for business.

At the same time, the shop said that he was abroad and had not fully understood what had happened in the shop at the time, and regarding directly publicly attacking Ms. Chen and her relatives and friends, "I set a very wrong example, I'm sorry!" He also said that such behavior had brought great trouble to his family and friends, and that "I will humbly accept all kinds of scolding, and I beg the public to spare my family and friends."

But Ms. Chen said that although the shop said this online, it did not contact her or her lawyer privately, and she would continue to pursue the matter.

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.