My friend is extremely polite and does not complain unnecessarily, but it was clear she was unable to eat her meal; we called the manager, and politely told him that the food was overdone and not what we had ordered. To our amazement, he put his hands on his hips and said ‘well what do you expect me to do about it?’, at this stage my friend just lost it, and told him that she too works in the sales industry and it is not for her to resolved the problem, she is looking to him, being the manager to sort it out. Eventually in a very disgruntled way said he would not charge us for the meal.
My friend was so enraged by his response that she put pen to paper and wrote a formal complaint to the company, by return email she received a grovelling reply from the head of the company, apologising profusely. They had contacted the manager and reported that he conceded that he had been wrong, and as a sign of goodwill; she was offered a £30 restaurant voucher.
This has created a dilemma; my friend was pleased with the response however she is worried that the manager may tamper with her food, as revenge for getting him into trouble.
Having worked in the food industry, not every customer will complain, but they will, as it were vote with their feet and never return to your restaurant. They may tell all their friends about the appalling meal they have had, thus losing the establishment many more potential customers.
Most restaurants will fall over backwards to try and make amends if a customer complains. Like with most things, you get people that will abuse the company’s goodwill, they will complain for no apparent reason, mainly to get free meals and vouchers.
I ran hotel restaurants in South Africa for many years before immigrating to the UK. One couple, I remember well, they ordered a huge meal, and once the bill arrived they asked to see the manager, and then complained about the temperature of the coffee served to them, it was a tad cooler that they preferred.
Eventually they were offered a free meal for their family which they readily accepted, arriving on mass the following Saturday, they proceeded to eat their way through the ala carte menu. The sheer volume of food they consume that evening was staggering; in hindsight we realised that we should not have been so generous.
Sometimes companies will used humour to answer petty complaints, like the makes of a bread company that received a complaint from a customer who complained that he only found one currant in a currant loaf that he had purchased, the reply was ‘it is a called a currant loaf, if you want more currants, then you need to buy a currants loaf’, or a woman that used to routinely complain about products she felt weren’t up to scratch, she maintained she was cured of doing this, when she found a burnt cornflake in a pack. She carefully removed the offending cornflake, placed it in a matchbox, and returned it to the company. They responded by sending the matchbox back, with two cornflakes and a covering letter to say they were very sorry, and they hoped that the returned cornflakes were to her satisfaction.
Getting back to restaurants, last night we were at a restaurant, the service was good, the food, again- the steak was overcooked. We called the waiter; he acknowledged the problem, returning the food to the kitchen. The manager came over and apologised and asked if we wanted to have a salad or more drinks while we waited for our food to be re-made. (A bit different from our previous experience).
There was an apology, no refund or vouchers offered, not that we were expecting them, but I came away feeling that I would dine there again.
As a paying customer, you have a right to complain about poor quality of service; compliments are very welcome too when service is good, but it’s appreciated more if your gratitude is shown in monetary terms. The waiter serving us last night, received a good tip, because I felt the service was excellent, he was not to blame for the ill prepared food.
About the author:
Moira Rowan
Immigrated to the UK 20 years ago, has an interest in art, culture, community and upliftment projects, is a keen cook, and has a cordon bleu qualification. Currently involved in academia and research. Loves a bargain, and is known as the Voucher Queen amongst her friends. Enjoys writing on topics that interests her. You can follower her on twitter @rowanmoira
