Here’s proof that bad customer service, like haggling and buyer’s remorse, is a universal human condition. A woman in Brisbane, Australia saw an ad for 50% off the bill at Casa Flamenco, a local restaurant, so she and some friends went out for dinner. The experience wasn’t good—untrained waiter, mediocre food, small servings, long wait time, and despite the half-off coupon the meal was surprisingly expensive for the value. The woman—a restaurant marketer—wrote a polite email to the restaurant with some professional feedback and suggestions on how to improve service.
Here’s what the restaurant wrote back to the woman:
Dear Lorraine,??your are an idiot we dont need your feedback.
(Thanks to Amelie!)
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@Oregon: It’s hard to know where to begin with your absurd, misinformed post. But let’s assume you’re a troll (or an idiot) and just ignore it.
@selianth: Maybe one of those oh-so-trendy places on Shrewsbury Street?
@Zimorodok: Uncle Moe, my teefers hurt…
@selianth: @scoosdad: IIRC, it was the one in the Crowne Plaza hotel. Like I said, it was a rough day already so it honestly is hard to recall that detail. It was in the process of opening at the time, so I suppose it might have improved since then [it could not have gotten worse.]
@scoosdad: That’s what I suspected (I’m thinking VIA fits his description the best) but then it would surprise me if they had to resort to printing a 50% off coupon in the newspaper. So now I’m curious.
@BayStateDarren: Ahha, thanks for the tip. I’m glad it’s not someplace that I would ever actually think about going to. Hotel restaurants aren’t really my thing (although the brunch buffet at the Beechwood Hotel is pretty good.)
@CaptainSemantics: Well that’s too freakin bad!
Rod or Todd: Ow, my freakin ears!
Ned: I expect that kind of language at Denny’s, but not here.
That’s actually a very funny email.
Too bad though that she wasted her time composing an email to only get that back.
@junkmail: Wrong. Alive, well, and packed every weekend.
That has to be the worst feedback response to ever be written and actually delivered. I’m sure a lot of stuff is said behind the counter/closed doors, but actually send it.
So what free advice did the expert give to the restaurant?
I am sure somewhere in her rant she made a comment that deserved the rebuttal.
A friend had a similar experience at Romano’s Macaroni Grill, some pasta dish she ordered came burnt on top and still cold in the middle. She complained to the manager on duty, the manager would not give her money back for the dish nor offer apology for how the dish was prepared (I think the words she used was, “that how it’s supposed to be”). When my friend asked for the customer feedback form and wanted to know where to send it to, the manager insisted that there isn’t a phone number nor address to send her grievances, the manager said to just give her the form and she’ll forward it to upper management. Yeah, right.
This looks like a job for Gordon Ramsey!
I called a couple of places up there. Tourism and BBB along with the health department. Because I didnt go to the hospital they really couldnt seem to do much. They listened and the health department fellow said something about a note and some other issue over there.
Heck I still have the reciept somewhere. Until then I had NEVER gotten that sick and I pledged a frikkin fraternity in college!
@StevieD: Well, ya know, one would assume a professional establishment would find a better way to handle criticism, of any kind. So no matter what was said & done, nobody deserves that kind of response. The reply was unnecessary & idiotic.
I’ve had my fair share of chains and Mom n Pop hole-in-the-walls in my travels to give my (un)fair) and (un)balanced report. The chains, well they are what they claim to be. The Applebee’s at Laredo made me very unhappy and very poor considering their quality of food and loong wait times. Their decor was ok, at least they had their TV on ESPN. Now I can go into a ratty place called El Charro in Corpus Christi, dingy ceiling tiles, but the tables and floors sparkle. And their food? I’ll guarantee you’ll waddle outta there with a big smile on your face. Platters (not plates) heaped with some of the finest Mexican food I’ve ever had the pleasure of demolishing.
Im wondering what the advice was.
@vdragonmpc: On the Border is Brinker International (same as Chilis and Romano’s) So there was another level of escalation available to you. Also, it is very very rare for food poisioning to show up that quickly unless it was caused by Chemicals (that makes it a bit extra nasty.)
I love how she complains that the portions are too small. If they were bigger, then everyone would be complaining about how america is so fat and we always have to have huge portions and restaurants need to be regulated to provide calorie info and reduce portion sizes
@Its The Beer Talking:
Yeah, that’s in Denver. It’s fun for like 30 min, until you get your food. Then it sucks.
On the other hand, if you love botulism…
This is great! Finally the business is on the defense instead of the offense. I guess the restaurant marketer could dish it out, but couldn’t take it… HA! Let this be a lesson to those who post bad reviews and leave their email addresses for all to see. But, all the woman has to do is post the restaurant’s original response on the same page, and that will give potential customers an even better idea of how the restaurant thinks and acts.
The restaurant’s response, from my point of view, seemed poor only because of the lack of punctuation. I’m guessing from experience that it was written in haste, that they could have responded more politely had they taken a step back, a deep breath, then wrote in response.
the crazy woman who owns a vintage clothing store in oakland, ca called “pretty penny” was harassing people who gave negative feedback on yelp.com. i don’t know if lots of business owners are as idiotic as she is (i guess she just figures if they already don’t like her store she has free reign to make a COMPLETE ass of herself??) but it really doesn’t seem like a good way to build business.
Nice reply…not only is it childish and immature, and the person writing it obviously has no concept of capitalization, punctuation, or constructing a basic sentence.
Revenge is a dish best served colder than the meals you received?
@Stevied – This happened to my friend Lorraine and I have a copy of the original email she sent them. Too bad there wasn’t any room for it in the article above. She was very polite and did not ask for anything. She truly wanted to assist Casa Flamenco in improving their service.
Guess their email response is as good as the service she received!
Brisbane, eh? This is a city with one casino and a few hotels and shops that calls itself “Bris-Vegas” I’m sorry her schnitzel was overbreaded.
@Oregon: I love the way you assume you know more about her meal than she does.
hey, at least they are honest & didn’t give her any bullshit. i think that email is totally hilarious even if it probably the WORST customer service i have ever heard.
@lemur:
Off the OT a bit, but “Much Better” is an understatement. I watched all of the US S1, defended it a bit, then went and watched Season 5 on Channel 4.
Apparently, I’d forgotten everything from S1-4. The US version is really an entirely different (and horrible) show. It barely keeps ANYTHING that made the original series good.
Of course, this is a pattern…..
@Petrarch1603: Haahaa, I went to Ed’s while visiting Milwaukee. It was probably one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve ever had!
As one of the attendees I can confirm that the email to the restaurant was 100% for their benefit.
The article is incorrect as the person is a marketing manager, not a restaurant marketer.
I’m at home and don’t have a copy of the email here – will see if I can add some details at work.
In regards to portion size, we picked enough ‘banquets for 2′ for everyone plus extra. However *everyone* ordered desert as they weren’t satiated.
@tomsucks:
Here is the text of the emails.
Hi,
I saw your ad in the city news last week and dined with 8 friends last night. I wanted to pass on some feedback regarding our experience at your restaurant. As someone who has experience in restaurant marketing I applaud your concept of 50% off the total bill – it will certainly get people in the door to try the restaurant. However, if you are going to retain them as regular customers who will not only return to the restaurant but tell all their friends and family to go to your restaurant you need to make the first visit memorable. Here are my suggestions;
1. Staff. We were the only table dining last night so the fact that there was only 1 staff member working should not have been a problem. The waiter was a sweet, friendly guy but he was not properly trained in waiting. He was unable to explain the menu when questioned. He did not regularly check back on the table to take drink orders, he left the menus on the table after we had ordered and didn’t bring out the cutlery before dessert arrived. He was obviously a little nervous which didn’t help the cause either.
2. Food. The food was good, we enjoyed it but it was not enough and it took far too long to arrive. We had ordered the chef’s tapas selection which the waiter said was good. It was good. However, it took over 1 hour to arrive on our table after we had ordered and the dishes that were meant to be served hot were cold by the time they arrived. Also, I would consider paying $36 or so for the size and contents of the platter brought out but if I was paying $55 I would have been very disappointed (in fact I think I would refuse to pay!). I had assumed that the ‘chef’s tapas selection’ would also have included at least a salad and some breads for the price so we didn’t order any. After we had devoured the food in a very short time as we were starving we decided not to ask for breads or salad as we assumed they would take too long to arrive also. We actually assumed that the platters brought out were going to be followed by a second platter based on the quoted price on the menu. Really, for $55 I would be expecting that platter to be supplemented by 1 salad, some bread and perhaps some olives, calamari and prawns also. We also ordered dessert (crème brulees and crème caramels) because we were still hungry after the tapas- the crème caramels were okay but the crème brulees were lumpy and inedible. Again, if we were paying $15 each for them we would have been very disappointed. I was disappointed enough paying $7.50 for them. Also, the coffee was brought out after dessert was served and was not good coffee.
3. Value for Money was awful. We ended up paying around $30 per person for our meal which was okay for what we got. However, should we have been paying full price I would not have been happy at all. There simply was not the variety or amount of food served for the money that the menu quoted.
I am afraid that my experience at Casa Flamenco was very disappointing. I am not seeking any recompense here – I think you have a good concept in the restaurant and your website shows you are passionate about what you do. The fact that you are offering diners a 50% discount to try the restaurant out shows that you are keen to attract new customers. I do hope you take my feedback into account and use it constructively to improve your customers’ experiences. You are doing the right things in your marketing to attract customers. However, the key is to retain these new customers and keep them and their friends coming back for more. To do this you will need to improve your service levels and your value for money substantially from what my friends and I experienced last night.
Thank you for your time,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
And in reply:
From: casaflamenco_restaurant@hotmail.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: RE:
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:50:38 -0500
Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
your are an idiot we dont need your feedback.
I send out regular feedback to Australian beverage websites ([www.ozbevnet.com]), most of them are to afraid to answer or fix the issue without saying thanks. The internet is a powerful medium most Australian businesses fail to see how it works both ways. But I guess bad publicity is good publicity! If the Restaurant owners had a business brain they would use the negative experience and turn it into a winner. C’mon Aussie put on your creative hat on and work out something together.
I am from Brisbane and it’s getting to a point over here that customer service in all places has gone down the drain. My best friend experienced a chef abuse her at a restaurant on Valentines day because they asked for their money back because their food was inedible! These business’ don’t realise how powerful the email genre is over here. Well done to her for going about it in a professional way (a lot of people would just get abrupt in the actual restaurant) and i hope the owners of the Casa Flamenco’s take a good look at how they run their business and do something about it.
oh and i forgot to mention… I did get forwarded this email and other people before me had left comments saying they’d been there and received the same treatment…. so she’s not just a whining b!tch
calling Gordon Ramsey!