Timaru man trespassed over price dispute at Burger King drive-thru

Thursday, 28 March 2019

A Timaru man has been banned from his local Burger King restaurant for two years after a drive-thru dispute over the price of a muffin on Thursday.

The trouble began for David Eymael when he went through the fast-food company's Timaru drive-thru on Thursday morning to order his favourite bacon and egg muffin.

Eymael said he ordered the muffin expecting to pay the $5.40 price he says was advertised as on a board at the entrance to the drive thru.

David Eymael says he's upset he won't be able to buy his favourite bacon and egg muffin for two years after being trespassed from Burger King Timaru.

But when he arrived at the window to pay, he said he was asked to pay $5.70.

David Eymael said he was prepared to pay $5.40 for the muffin, not $5.70, which he says was the price advertised at the entrance to the Burger King drive-thru.

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'I said: 'well, the billboard says $5.40'.

'I asked them why $5.70 wasn't shown on the sign … I said I was only going to pay $5.40.'

Eymael said the person at the window then went to get their manager.

'The manager told me the price had gone up, and I said 'aren't you supposed to correct the billboard?''

'By law you pay the advertised price,' Eymael said.

A Burger King Timaru spokesman confirmed on Thursday the price of a bacon and egg muffin had increased from $5.40 to $5.70 'two days ago'.

He said he was not on site when the incident occurred, but was adamant the advertised price on the sign in question had been changed to $5.70.

'I was the one that was here yesterday [Wednesday] and changed everything.'

Eymael said he was refused service as a result of the incident, and the police were called.

'They trespassed me from Burger King for two years.

'My favourite muffin … I can't get it for two years.

'Nothing against the police, they do a great job of course, but they said I had to pay the extra 30 cents before I leave.'

He was told he would be arrested if he didn't move on, he said.

'They wrote me a trespass notice and I left, because I didn't want to be arrested. I'd done nothing wrong except order a burger.

'It's not fair … I'll stick up for my rights, I did nothing wrong and I'll pay the advertised price.'

A police spokeswoman confirmed a man was trespassed from Burger King Timaru at 10.40am on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Consumer Protection website, a retailer cannot charge more than a displayed price.

'Advertised prices must be genuine, and there must not be extra costs you weren't told about.'