Places to avoid: OTWC Menara UOA, Bangsar

I have fond memories of Old Town White Coffee (OTWC), Menara UOA, Bangsar. We had Nanowrimo write-ups last year there, and despite the exorbitant prices, most found the place pleasant and easy to work in. We had no hesitation ordering food as we were assured that we could keep separate tabs, which was one of the reasons why we enjoyed the place so much, even if we were almost kicked out for making a wee too much noise (whoops!).

This year though, it would seem that the OTWC is determined to rip us off. What’s happened?

Well, for starters, they insisted that we could no longer pay our bills separately. The new manager says that they instituted the rule where if you wanted to pay for your own food/drink, you’d have to order and pay at the counter straight away, as apparently they had numerous cases where in a group, everyone claims to have not ordered the last item on the order chit, implying that they had a difficult time getting the customer to settle the bill in full.

Fine, I thought, that seems reasonable.

What is NOT reasonable though, is that if you follow their system, and you forget to take your receipt, they charge you twice.

During the first write-in I went to, I ordered an ice-cream, which I later paid at the counter before I left instead of when my food was ordered, as I forgot that they wanted us to pay on the spot if we wanted separate bills. Never mind, I thought, paying for my food after the manager told me sourly not to do it again. I went back to the table and told them that I had paid for my food. I was later informed by Karcy though, that they had charged her (as she was the last to leave) for the ice cream, claiming that it had not been paid, when I know it was. This is partially my fault though, as I pocketed the receipt and did not leave it at the table, having faith in their machine to note that the ice-cream was already paid for. But no, the fact that she was charged again means that the machine did NOT register that my ice-cream had already been paid.

Having been forewarned, the past three weeks, Nano’ers attending write-ins have been paying as soon as their food arrives. However, today was an exception. Chet had to chase the waiter down as after she paid for her food, he took her money but did not give her the receipt. Both Ultra and Karcy ordered food at separate times and did not pay on the spot (Karcy’s food and drink were left on the counter a good ten minutes each time; we all had a clear view of her wheatgrass drink sitting on the counter waiting to grow before it was finally brought over) as they were concentrating more on eating/writing.

So when Aikuchi ordered his food and tried to pay, they ended up charging him for Karcy’s and Ultra’s meals as well. No issue, he paid, took the money they owed him, and we all went on our merry way, thinking it was solved.

As you can guess, that was NOT the end of the issue.

Ultra was the last to leave. When she went to pay for her extra order, she was told by the counter that our whole table had not paid. When we had. This time, Chet and me left our receipts on the table in clear view where they could be seen; our drinks had been paid for. When she disputed the fact, ONLY then did they bother to check in their system to see whether they had paid and guess what?

The receipts for my drink and Chet’s were there. The largest bill of all was not. In the end, Ultra had to pay, for a meal that had been paid twice. I’m waiting for Aikuchi to reply, so yes, consider this a warning.

STAY AWAY FROM OLD TOWN WHITE COFFEE MENARA UOA BANGSAR.

6 thoughts on “Places to avoid: OTWC Menara UOA, Bangsar

  1. During the first write-in, Cindy (dragoninabottle) paid for Michelle’s and ultra’s water but I don’t think they were asked to pay for the water later.

  2. I stopped going to Old Town (any branch) a long long time ago since their food and service went to hell for some reason. Which is sad, cause five years ago they were the best neo kopitiam around.

    Now it’s Paparich or nothing for me.

    • I still avoid Pappa Rich because the last time I went there they were ok in service but the food was bland.

      Hmm… did they get bought over or something? I thought this was a franchise and not a chain of stores? @@

      • Yes it’s a franchise. But the problem generally is because it’s 100% staffed by foreign workers. This is a plague that affects even the best restaurants like Delicious.

        Also they expanded their menu to too many things instead of focusing on making their key items good like when they started.

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