I’m a girl who just loves a bargain,
giving me all the more for life’s little luxuries.
Hence it was understandable that I felt
a considerable degree of irritation, when the hotel manager, rather
aggressively I thought, waved the ‘Come Dine With Us’ voucher
purchased from my local newspaper, in my face and said ‘ It does
say DINE you know, and I will allow it this time, but not again. You
should only be using this in our restaurant, in the evening.’
I minded not, as I’d got the two
glasses of mid afternoon champagne I’d ordered, having checked
beforehand mind you, with the poor underpaid poorly trained Polish
waitress that it was OK to use said voucher.
When I had the temerity to point out
that I had previously used another voucher in the same bar with no
problem, the manager responded with ’then that’s someone else who
will be in trouble.’ I sincerely trust not, or there will be a
fuss, I promise you.
Another venue, another voucher, on the
same day, for lunch. I admit I had not booked in advance, as
instructed, but enquired on entering the establishment that seems to
pride itself on its snooty, snobbish appeal, judging by the behaviour
of the receptionists on duty, who declined my voucher, and began to
argue over terms and conditions in relation to dining in the evening.
On both occasions I was with a friend
who was mightily embarrassed, but I stood my ground, and in both
cases the vouchers were eventually accepted, but it left a bad taste
in my mouth.
My point is this; yes, in both cases
there were terms and conditions, but these were not apparent at the
time of purchase; in both cases neither establishment was exactly
full to the brim with rabid customers begging to hand over their hard
earned money for a bite to eat; in both cases there was little
consideration for the customer, for what would be considered good
customer service.
The response I might have been looking
for is something along the lines of ‘I’m so sorry madam, but the
requirement is for dinner to be taken in our restaurant in the
evening. However, as we are not busy at the moment, of course we will
accept the voucher, and hope you enjoy the experience sufficiently to
return again. Let me show you to a table.’
As a professional customer standards
inspector for the hospitality industry, I also like to eat out, a
lot, in my free time, albeit on a budget. When out and about I tend
not to dress for the occasion, looking liking a typical grey haired
middle aged woman. On both occasions I would have bet the price of my
meal on the fact that had I been a man in a business suit I would not
have been treated in the same way.
Incidentally, the last time I spent
£500 on a meal for two, I was treated with respect, and not because
of the size of the bill, but because I was a valued customer, and was
therefore willing to push the boat out for a mind blowing experience
worth every penny.
What both these establishments need to
remember is that when they themselves sign up for such schemes,
including the likes of Groupon, if they were doing as well as they’d
like us to think they are, they wouldn’t need to be going down the
discount route.
Pleasingly both the champagne and the
food were as expected, but please don’t mess with me, I’m a
customer paying your wages, and I don’t like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment