'Lizard in bubble tea' viral post mired in drama

PETALING JAYA: A "traumatised" Tealive customer, who claims she found a lizard in her drink, decided to post the incident on Facebook after the popular bubble tea chain refused to give into her demands of a cash compensation of RM10,000.

On Saturday (Feb 10), the customer using the pseudonym Hasler Hoho posted a photo of a small lizard together with a half-empty cup of Tealive's roasted milk tea with pearls that she had purchased from the chain's Bukit Jalil outlet.

She claimed that while sipping the drink, she felt a "long jelly" on her tongue.

Feeling something amiss, she spit out the drink into the cup and found a dead lizard without a tail in the drink.

Loob Holdings chief executive officer Bryan Loo told The Star that the incident happened three weeks ago and Tealive's top management had met with the customer to investigate the incident.

Loob Holdings owns the bubble tea chain.

Loo alleged that during the meeting at the Bukit Jalil outlet on Jan 24, the customer had demanded for RM10,000 in cash as compensation or she would take matters into her own hands.

The Star has seen WhatsApp messages between the customer and Tealive where she asked for RM10,000 in cash.

"She subtly mentioned that if the compensation is not fair to her according to her demands, it would be entirely her decision to do whatever she wants over the matter," he said.

Loo added that the company is unable to meet the customer's demand as they have no proof that the lizard was actually found in the drink despite carrying out internal investigations.

"We have even sifted through CCTV recordings from the outlet but there is no evidence to prove that the incident is genuine," he said.

He said they cannot provide cash compensation for unverified reports as it could lead to customers lodging false reports.

Loo added that they offered to compensate her in kind with vouchers and offered to cover her medical bills despite the lack of evidence.

In the post, the customer said she had lodged a complaint to Tealive headquarters and requested her friends to share the photo.

When contacted, the customer who refused to be named declined to respond to the allegations.

"I cannot comment, I have appointed a lawyer to protect myself from any kind of accusations," she said.

Tealive has also engaged a lawyer over the matter.

Meanwhile, Loo also said that they have also reached out to Nabila Jalil, the woman who alleged that Tealive stole her tagline for its Yomie drink that she had submitted as part of a job interview test with the company.

Loo said they have apologised to her and both parties are currently in negotiations.