First. A warning about bad service.
serene and i decided to co-celebrate our birthdays this week by treating the group to a dinner at fish & co and a movie at plaza sing.so i had the grand responsibility to book a table for us at fish & co, park mall yesterday evening. early on, in the morning already when calling in to make a reservation, the staff there taking the call 'teed me off. (strike one)
'we don't take reservations past 6.3opm' they said. 'so there is no way for me to come in past 7?' i asked. 'no.' was the reply.
point 1: don't you guys want to make money on a monday evening? bullshit if you claim you had full house, i was there and no way in hell did i see anything resembling a larger crowd than what i had. but i digress. if managment feels money drops in from those who will attempt to walk to an ulu location, then i shall not argue.
so i made the reservations for 6.30pm. when i arrived there with 4 frens at 6.40pm, the reception staff told me that no reservation under my name had been made! (strike two)
point 2: don't let a customer feel that his attempt to have a smooth dinner event is wasted because some idiot forgot to update the reservations list. making a reservation is a sign of respect by the customer of the establishment - that the restaurant has a reputation of being popular & crowded and therefore making a reservation is paying tribute to that assumption.
the manager decides that me! ( the customer who identified himself as the person who made a reservation by stating it clearly in the beginning of the conversation) is not worth talking to. directing all comments at my fren i.e. my guest does not make me feel happy at all. if i gather a group to dinner, i am the host. and the host does not take kindly to being neglected and having his guest answer any questions regarding group size, time of arrival or any other miscelleneous stuff. (strike three)
point 3: the customer wants to feel special. as a manager in the restaurant, if you lack basic courtesy, your business is one just waiting to fail. and fail miserably at that.
then mr. manager decides to impose a rule that 80 % of the group must be present before he will let the table out. for gawd's sake, the table has already been set. i had 7 people at that time with me. what would we have done? walk away after sitting down? people sitting at a table waiting for frens are people willing and ready to order drinks and starters. keeping the 1st half of the group waiting in limbo does not make customers feel like spending. we have 14 people, tell me the bill will be less than $300. but of cos, money falls from customers who decide to hike to the deserted lands in search of seafood. i must be really dense. (first base)
point 4: money in the pocket is better than begging, hoping and praying. you have 7 people. do you really think the 7 of them will wait for the remaining 7 and say 'let's go home.'? use your freaking brain that you were born with!exercise that muscle. it has apparently atrophied.
eventually we were all shown to a table for 14 people. right next to the kitchen.
'sorry ah, no more space.' says mr. manager.
well apparently, they also have forgotten how to join tables of two together in the middle of the restaurant to form a table for 14 people. (second base)
point five: think out of the box. run a business. not aim to lose it.
so dinner proceeds, food is served. fun and laughter is back with the group.
'can you split the cheque between two credit cards please?' we innocently ask. *silence*'you know like half on one card, half on the other?' we persist. *longer silence + open eyed stare* 'we need you to tell us how to split the bill...' starts the cashier. 'nevermind, just charge this card alone.'we gave up. (home run lar!!)
point six: do not suffer idiots. just walk away and maybe grab some fresh air, a walk might just make you feel better.
final point: just don't go to the fish & co at park mall. spare yourself the aggravation. it's all about the small stuff eh...
posted by inspirethereal @ 10:00 AM
3 straight, not straightened:
Long time ago, I went to their outlet at Novena Sq.
They mixed up our orders and took another 15 mins before our food arrive. But they got one order wrong. I waited another 10 mins before we walked off in disgust.
I didnt pay and stormed out of the place.
Why didnt u just walk off? Had a good laugh reading your article. I remembered your mini lecture on customer service the other day at Coffee Club when I whined to you abt the pathetic service in HRC.
grin
So when ya free for dinner?
Actually something like this happened to me and my colleagues when we went to the same place to dine about 2-3 motnhs ago... 6 of us are to turn up. 2 of us reached first (me included) whilst the rest showed up about 20 minutes later. Think we are supposed to meet at 7pm.
Making us wait like fools at the entrance (by Fish & Co) is one thing, but seeing the entire second storey empty plus only about half the ground floor is filled up makes my blood heated.
Letting us sit beside the toilet (what the!?!) is ridiculous. Not to mention that the television is directly above our heads and so other customers are staring above us, and while we can hear the football commentators' voices, we cant see a thing! Good customer service huh!
Food isn't superb and the waiting time isn't very short either. Had it not for my fellow diners, I will have given the Fish & Co staff a piece of my mind before stomping off the premises...
Blast...
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