Complaints filed with Hong Kong consumer watchdog over more than HK$100,000 in Crostini vouchers, with bakery chain among latest closures amid rent woes
- Customers left with invalid coupons as Crostini bakery chain folds, citing end of government’s rent-deferral scheme
- Chain owner says he has chalked up HK$80 million in bank loans to cover staff wages
Dozens of customers in Hong Kong have lodged complaints to the city’s consumer watchdog after buying coupons totalling more than HK$100,000 (US$12,700) from closed bakery chain Crostini.
Gilly Wong Fung-han, chief executive of the Consumer Council, said one patron spent HK$10,500 on 350 coupons at a wedding expo last year, the highest amount involved among the cases.
“We found that 21 cases had purchased their coupons while at a wedding expo, while 13 bought theirs from the store,” Wong told a radio programme on Friday.
She said the council had received a total of 34 complaints related to the coupons issued by the store, amounting to about HK$107,000 spent.
Crostini announced the closure of its 15 branches citywide on Wednesday, with owner Wong Kwong-fai blaming the end of a government rent-deferral scheme.
Under the arrangement launched in May to keep businesses afloat amid the Covid-19 pandemic-hit economy, landlords were forbidden from terminating tenancies, cutting services or taking legal action against tenants in vulnerable sectors for failing to pay rent on time.
Wong Kwong-fai said landlords had started to chase him for payments after the end of the three-month scheme in July, and he had chalked up HK$80 million in loans to cover staff salaries.