Food stories

Brabant is plagued by serial complainer: ‘outrageous’

Suppose you go out for dinner, but it isn’t quite what you expected: do you say something about it? Personally, I’m always in favor of speaking up if you’d like something to be done about it. But you can also take things too far, and the idea certainly isn’t to turn it into a sport and get everything for free. Because that’s what one man is currently doing in Noord-Brabant.

Foto van culinair journalist Wieke Veenboer

door Wieke Veenboer

It is estimated that he has already harassed around 40 businesses with his complaints and demands for compensation. And the entrepreneurs have now had enough of it — quite rightly.

‘This strikes at the heart of what we’re doing’

Jaap van der Ham, who runs Het Ketelhuis and Doloris Rooftopbar, has already received a fake complaint from the man about both businesses. These complaints are often posted as a one-star review on Google, and as an entrepreneur, especially after corona, you can’t always afford that. So you contact the man behind this customer to resolve the matter properly. And that is exactly what this man takes shameless advantage of.

‘Those complaints are extraordinarily cleverly written, very empathetic and in exactly the right tone. And he knows about food,’ says Dolf Colen, whose Flanders business was also a victim. This serial complainer plays it very cunningly, for example by emphasizing that he never eats out (so it is a special occasion) or that he had already heard so many good stories about the business (so it would be such a shame if they failed to live up to them).

‘That man is sitting in an attic room typing messages and extorting money from people’

But the entrepreneurs have had enough and have taken action. Successfully, too, because the serial complainer feels cornered and has now started sending the gift vouchers back. His response to the entrepreneurs was as follows: ‘Unpleasant stories about me are circulating in the hospitality industry, from which I would like to distance myself. That is why I have returned your voucher by post. Apologies for the inconvenience.’ Indeed, apologies for the considerable inconvenience…

What did his complaints look like? Three of them are shown below.