According to the Korea Times , a customer ordered food from a Japanese-style fried meat restaurant in Mapo District (Seoul) via a delivery app. This person later complained that he discovered a 2cm long hair in his food and demanded a refund.

The restaurant owner was very upset by the incident and responded by posting on a community page for small businesses in Korea on August 18.

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Photo of the restaurant owner's "clarification". Photo: Korea Times

"The customer said he found a 2cm long hair in his food and asked me to refund his money, while my hair was only about 3mm long," the restaurant owner wrote. The man also did not forget to attach a photo to prove the restaurant's "cleanliness".

The owner added: "A similar incident happened about 3 years ago that surprised me. Since then, I have only grown my hair 3mm long. When the delivery app contacted me and asked me again about not refunding, I said: 'If that hair is longer than my hair, I will refuse to refund'. I can even send a photo to prove it."

In fact, there was no response or review after the incident. The restaurant owner said he would contact the delivery app to resolve the matter.

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Restaurant owners in South Korea regularly deal with customers who lie to get refunds. Photo: Jean Chung/Rest of World

The story received a lot of attention from members of the group. Many people said they had encountered similar situations when some customers lied because they wanted to "eat for free". "Good job. If all restaurant owners did that, there would be no more customers who lie and act like they are being punished," one user commented.

This is not an uncommon case in Korea. Many restaurant owners are often hesitant when receiving negative reviews, not only refunding but also giving away free food and drinks to avoid getting a "1-star review" or bad feedback.

A customer at a popular buffet restaurant insisted on getting his money back, saying the food was bad even though he had eaten there for nearly 2 hours.