Claws celebre: claw machine complaints spike as Hongkongers struggle to get a grip
One enthusiast says he received just a few trinkets instead of the waffle maker he had spent HK$500 securing
A claw machine enthusiast who received just a few trinkets instead of the waffle maker he had spent HK$500 (US$64) securing is among the growing number of Hongkongers lodging complaints over the games.
The Consumer Council said on Monday the number of claw machine-related complaints had risen to 42 in the first 11 months of the year, well above the 16 in the whole of 2023.
Kenneth Chan Kin-nin, the watchdog’s publicity and community relations committee vice-chairman, said the customer in the waffle maker case spent 45 minutes playing on the machine to pick up one of the slips of paper inside. Each of the pieces of paper were marked with point values that could be used to collect rewards, while others offered “instant prizes”.
The man secured one of the “instant prize” slips, which he wanted to redeem for a waffle maker. But when he tried to collect the prize, staff simply handed him a gift box containing “nothing more than a few trinkets”, Chan said.
The customer, who had spent nearly HK$500 and refused the prize, had “extended discussions” with the machine operator via instant messaging. The operator offered alternative prizes, such as a chocolate fountain machine, but the pair failed to reach an agreement.
“From the complainant’s perspective, the instant prizes inside the claw machine were not numbered, and the terms and conditions regarding prize collection were nowhere to be seen around the machine,” Chan said.
