Durian Stall Wins Netizens’ Sympathy With Dramatic TikTok Apology For Late Delivery
According to what durian sellers have told 8days.sg over the years, truck drivers take around seven hours to ferry the thorny fruits to Singapore, usually reaching local stalls in the evening. The journey time is stretched even longer when there is a traffic jam or inclement weather.
Which means that sometimes, customers who buy durians may encounter delays when their orders fail to reach Singapore by dinnertime. This, of course, may ruffle some feathers, but one durian stall called SGDurian earned netizens’ sympathy for its viral over-the-top apology video on TikTok for a delivery delay.
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Bowed deeply with solemn music
The video, posted on the stall’s TikTok channel @sg.durian, started with sad piano music (a song titled ‘Sorry, Kind Piano Music BGM’) playing while the stall’s owner and a group of staff stood solemnly in a row.
They then bowed deeply, Japanese ojigi-style, as a subtitle declared: “Sorry for the delays and bad experience to our customers today.” A caption accompanying the post reiterated their apology, along with an earnest explanation for the delay.
It expressed: “Dear customers, We are very sorry for the late deliveries today. The durians arrived later than expected and we were unable to send out the durians in time. In the midst of rushing out orders, it quickly became chaotic due to our inexperience in online sales (we have a physical shop since 2019 but am very new online, 1 week in) and thus causing a bad experience to our customers.
We really and sincerely apologize for the bad experience and as much as we wish for it to have turned out differently - it has happened and we own up to our mistakes. We are relooking into our logistics and operations, making changes immediately and we promise your next experience will be better. We have tried to call affected customers / send an apology voucher. If we did not reach out to you, please reach out to us. Once again, we sincerely apologize for the mistake and late delivery. We promise to do better and we wish to serve you again #sgdurian #sorry #apology”
According to comments in the post, SG Durian had disappointed folks by getting its durians late, not having enough delivery riders to dispatch orders, and failing to communicate the delay to its customers, who were left waiting in vain for their durians.
TikTokers won over by contrite apology
But it seems like honesty and contrition is the best approach when it comes to service recovery, as amused netizens expressed empathy for the distressed staff.
“Apologies accepted. Although I never order before,” remarked TikToker @setepek, while another netizen @nadh wrote: “PLS YOUVE NO WRONGED ME BUT I ACCEPT THE APOLOGIES PLSSS WHY DID THIS MAKE ME CRY [sic].”
But there were also people who gently poked fun at the stall’s dramatic apology. “Eh [expletive] I haven't uplorry [internet slang for dying/being transported on a hearse], don't bow like songka [Hokkien term for funeral],” said TikToker @byftfqp7ch3pqchk8fo3, as another user @xoxoneon quipped in response: “The durian also never up lorry that's why got delay.”
Netizen @Char_lot_Adven_Peace also chimed in: “Aiyo just a durian… I thought what accident or incident happened until all employees need to bow.”
But most of the commenters agreed that the stall was a good sport for issuing an apology and owning their mistake. One netizen @Naz wrote: “Thank you for taking ownership. the order and experience yesterday was not ideal, but when you've fixed your ops, I'm willing to try again”, while @Le_An said encouragingly: “A mistake that makes you humble is better than an achievement that makes you arrogant. Things will get better.” So wholesome.
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