A Swedish businessmen concluded his Shanghai trip with "huge disappointment" after he was lured by two young women to a downtown coffee shop and charged nearly 5,000 yuan (US$676) for beverages.
The man was said to be a department manager at OMX Group, Sweden's biggest Stock Exchange, and was on a group business trip to the city starting on November 26, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.
The man has already returned to Sweden, but filed a complaint delivered by his local guide.
The man told the newspaper he was stuck with a 4,966-yuan bill after he met two Chinese women while strolling around Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall on November 27.
The women dressed like university students and asked whether they could be free tour guides to practice their English, the report said.
The man accepted their invitation to have a coffee at Manabe coffee shop on the 3rd Floor of Brilliance Shimao International Plaza, the report said.
They initially ordered three cups of coffee, which, according to the foreign businessman, cost about 40 yuan each. There was no alcohol available on the menu, the man said.
Soon after the coffee arrived, one of the women ordered a whiskey despite the man's refusal, the report said. While he took a phone call, the women quickly ordered 11 more whiskeys and drank them in about 10 minutes, the Swedish businessman told the newspaper.
He decided to end the conversation and was handed a bill of 491 yuan, the report said. He decided to pay with a credit card and then the bill changed to 4,966 yuan, the report said.
Manabe employees insisted that each whiskey was 400 yuan and the two women had ordered 12, the report said.
The young women claimed they were students and could not afford the bill, the report said.
Feeling pinched, the foreigner was forced to sign the huge bill as he had no idea how to call police and report his location, the report said.
The women fled, saying they had to go to a hospital as they drank too much, after they left the coffee shop, the report said.
The Brilliance Shimao Manabe branch is run by Shanghai Baimingyuan Food & Restaurant Co. Most Manabe coffee shops are not licensed to serve alcohol, the report cited Manabe headquarters as saying.
Reporters of the newspaper visited the Manabe branch on Friday night and found two menus on the table with one listing alcohol for up to 1,000 yuan per ounce, the report said.
The reporters also spotted several young women talking to the coffee shop owners. They also found two German tourists who were charged more than 2,600 yuan for only two cups of coffee, the report said.
The Manabe headquarters told the newspaper they will punish the Brilliance Shimao Manabe branch for allegedly ripping-off foreign guests.
(Shanghai Daily December 10, 2007)