Bad Customer Service

[thompson4]

I am writing to express my disappointment with organising my cousin’s b’day dinner which was held on 15/8/08 at Goodlife Pizza, Glenelg, dealing with a man by the name of Sam, the Restaurant Manager. Each time I spoke with Sam he was abrupt & short with his answers sounding as I was being an inconvenience. There were many incidents in which I received this attitude as below:

In an attempt to make my cousin’s dinner a little special, I asked Sam whether it would be possible to collect pieces of the brown paper used on the tables to decorate. I explained that I would be happy to return them a day before given the tables are laid prior to the food service. Sam said that this wouldn’t be possible because “it’s too much trouble to tear the paper prior to this time”.

I noted on the “FAQ” that a Cakeage fee applies when bringing a cake to the restaurant. I enquired if the fee applied with large bookings I was told that not only does it still apply but there is no point in discussing it further as the fee can’t be waivered. Sam also said that the restaurant has a dessert menu for a reason and if people are having cake they will not purchase their desserts
Later my mother called the restaurant regarding this matter questioning whether Goodlife provide cakes themselves. Sam told that they do not and reiterated that there is no leniency regarding the Cake fee. He the said -$25 was not a lot of money to spend on someone for their birthday. On principle we decided to go elsewhere for dessert.
On 14/8/08 I got a call from Sam to confirm the number of guests for the dinner. During the call I asked Sam about the system used to pay for drinks with a large group. I was told that bowls would be put on the table for people to place their money & an itemized bill would be presented at the end. When I expressed my concern about having to sort change between 29 people I was told that this is the way it was done. I was also told that although they can change notes for people they couldn’t get change after each round of drinks & were also not to approach the bar for drink service. Sam suggested that I call the 28 guests to tell them to bring change for drinks on the night. As this was an unrealistic suggestion I was the only one inconvenienced once again when I was left with the $55 difference of the bill.
In my conversation with Sam (14/8/08) he explained that once the numbers of the dinner were confirmed any guests that didn’t attend would still be charged $10 per person. On the night of the dinner 3 of our guests were unable to attend. This caused confusion when a waitress approached me to see that all guests were coming. I informed her that 3 were no longer still coming to which she informed me that I needed to tell the restaurant this information prior to food service so that we will not be charged for these people. As I was under the impression that we would be charged regardless of whether the full number of guests arrived.

[lea77y]

Seems like you should have been aware of how difficult this restaurant was going to be before the event just from the conversations about table cloths, cake charges and paying for drinks that you had prior to the night.

I probably would have been looking elsewhere at that stage. But maybe that was not an option.

Would have been a lot beter if they just let the guests go to the bar for there drinks and I cant imagine why they would not allow this to happen. Seems they did not care that it might be a hassle and that you would be left to make up the rest of the bill when it did not add up at the end of the night which is always the case.

As far as paying for guests that did not attend then as far as I can see you should have had 3 extra seats at your table and 3 extra amounts of food otherwise what exactly did you pay for.

[Caliope]

I agree! No way this crowd would have got my business if that had been their attitude prior to the event. I organise quite a few dinners for large numbers and most places will bend over backwards to obtain a booking

[Cowboyboots]

I agree, it would have been much easier to go to another venue but unfortunately it wasn't financially an option!

I attended the birthday event in question and I do believe in this instance the girl who was organising it was led to believe that as the numbers had been confirmed they would be charged a fee per person for cancelling at that time. She was also told that a per person fee would be charged for people in the confirmed numbers which did not show up. It wasn't until the night of the dinner that she was informed that the charge didn't apply if she were to tell them how many people were missing from the original booking before the food was brought out.

Very frustrating!!

[thompson4]

unfortunately we had already sent the invites out to the 30 people before we encountered these issues

[Croman]

You sent out invites before you sorted out details with the venue. That is not good management, but are quite critical of the venue for their lack of management skills. By the sound of it, it is a cheap place and one gets what one pays for. I know that being cheap is not an excuse for being disorganised, but that is one the reasons they are cheap.

[thompson4]

I can tell you that things were most organised it was when adding the final touches that we experienced the problem. As for being cheap, dinner in total was over $1000. Whether a person pays $1 or $1000 it makes no difference in a role of customer service it always pays to be professional.

[Croman]

If the total includes drinks, I would say that it is cheap.

"Whether a person pays $1 or $1000 it makes no difference in a role of customer service it always pays to be professional."

While we would all like to get the best service possible, whatever we spend, the reality is that cheaper usually means inferior service. I personally don't expect 5 star service when I buy 2 star product or service.

[thompson4]

I may not expect 5 star service but a level of politeness knows know star rating

[thompson4]

excuse my spelling error