This is the second in my ad-hoc series reporting bad experiences I have encountered.
This relates to a recent stay in an Ibis hotel in London.
Attending a trade exhibition in London ExCel I needed accommodation close to the venue and my usual choice of hotel was fully booked. I therefore booked a nearby Ibis hotel. So far so good.
Upon arrival I checked in, and apart from reception being rather chaotic the check in process went well. I was asked for a swipe of my credit card for a guarantee of the payment of my bill and a figure was quoted which was about eighty percent of the total bill so I was happy with this. Fairly standard practice and one which had never caused me any problems before.
Whilst my wife and I were checking in to our room, a colleague who was down in reception overheard an argument between a guest trying to check in and the receptionist. The short story was that although they had made a reservation there was no room available for them and they were sent to another hotel in the chain. This scenario was repeated more than once so I am intrigued as to what the point of making a reservation is!
The room itself was clean and functional but clearly the focus was on reducing costs as guests were only provided with one towel each, nominally called a bath towel but rather smaller than any bath towel you would buy. No hand towel was provided. Toiletries were also limited with just a fixed liquid soap dispenser in the shower and a tiny bar of soap by the washbasin.
Going to the restaurant for dinner was interesting. They had a rather limited and exceedingly expensive (even for London) menu of average quality food. There was no draught beer at all and only a few of the bottled beers on the menu were available.. Suffice to say that on subsequent evenings we had a much better, much cheaper, meal in a hotel just a few yards away.
Breakfast was an all you can eat buffet. The quality of the food was better but the selection was somewhat limited, and if you wanted eggs for breakfast you had better like them scrambled as that was the only choice. The hash browns had a good flavour but due to the manner of serving they were soggy.
When retuning to the hotel for our third and final night we found that neither my keycard or my wife's would open the door to the room. This meant a trek back to reception (we were on a high floor) where the reaction of the receptionist suggested this was a common occurrence. They were reprogrammed and all was well.
With a mind to expediting check out the following day I also took this opportunity to settle my bill. There was some confusion over the correct amount but finally they got it right and charged my card accordingly.
I thought that was the end of it until two days later when I checked my credit card account on line. It was showing that I was exceeding my credit limit. Straight away I rang the card company for clarification as the online account made an allowance for pending transactions which were not yet detailed. They were able to tell me that in addition to the guarantee amount I had agreed to at check in a further guarantee charge had been applied the same day for the first night's stay - this equated to about thirty seven percent of the total bill so I had now got guarantee charges for almost twenty percent more than the total bill, still on my account, and also the actual payment of the bill which I would expect would have released the guarantee hold.
Calling the hotel they were apologetic but could offer no explanation. The guarantee charge was released some two working days after I had settled my bill in full. Clearly not acceptable.
I have now written to the hotel and will update this post if I get anything of note from them.
For now however my advice is clear - if using an Ibis hotel make sure it is very clear how much they are holding in guarantee against your credit card and make sure they release this promptly when you settle your bill.
For the record, Ibis is seen as a budget chain - however given that they were advertising room rates of £219 per night, room only, at one point during my stay you would expect a lot more than you receive!
Update !!
I received no reply to my letter to the hotel so I posted a review on TripAdvisor - it seems they do read that. The manager posted a comment asking me to email a copy of my letter to him, which I did. After acknowledging receipt I then heard nothing for a while.
I followed this up with another email direct to the manager asking for an update and received a response. He promised that changes were being made and also some financial compensation for myself. Although the compensation did take some time to arrive it did so eventually.
Whilst the manager has promised various changes, I will keep an interested eye on TripAdvisor to see if their feedback gets better or if people continue to raise the sorts of issues I had.
Watch this space!
Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Service. Show all posts
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Franchise Restaurant Chains
I regularly eat in my local Pizza Hut and enjoy the food and the experience very much - probably explains my size!
On returning from holiday recently therefore when looking for somewhere to stop for lunch my wife and I chose a Pizza Hut just off our route.
To say it was totally different from our usual experience would be an understatement. The restaurant was dirty, the staff were uninterested and seemingly untrained and the service was hence appalling.
In view of this I filled in their customer satisfaction survey, expecting to receive a call or email from someone to discuss my concerns further.
When this was not forthcoming I wrote to the manager of the branch, detailing my concerns - this was on the 3rd October. On the 17th October I received a reply, dated 5th October but as it was posted first class I don't know where the delay occurred. Either the Post Office were slow or the manager backdated it to make it look better.
The reply merely served to reinforce my concerns - apparently I should not have raised it with the manager but gone straight to Head Office! The manager's explanation was that he was on holiday at the time - apparently his staff cannot run the restaurant if he is not there.
To compensate me for the poor experience, he would like to offer me a voucher, but get this, it can only be used at that Pizza Hut. So I would have to travel out of my way to use this voucher and would also have to trust his word that all the issues had been addressed - I don't think so!
One of the supposed benefits of restaurant chains is that you should be able to expect the same standards of food and service wherever you go. We seem to have found the exception to the rule here as we have not previously had a bad experience.
It seems that Pizza Hut are a franchise operation, part of the Yum group. It is time the big bosses saw what some franchisees are doing to their image and took action.
** Update - November 2012 **
After writing to customer service and receiving no reply I took the next step and emailed the CEO of Yum.
Finally a satisfactory response. I was contacted by the area manager responsible for that region and was offered a full and genuine apology, a promise that the issues would be investigated, and a gift card I could use at ANY Pizza Hut.
Why it had to get to this stage I have no idea, but I am happy with the outcome and grateful to the area manager who finally did what those below them should have done.
The company's reputation has been restored with me! Shame it was necessary to go right to the top.
On returning from holiday recently therefore when looking for somewhere to stop for lunch my wife and I chose a Pizza Hut just off our route.
To say it was totally different from our usual experience would be an understatement. The restaurant was dirty, the staff were uninterested and seemingly untrained and the service was hence appalling.
In view of this I filled in their customer satisfaction survey, expecting to receive a call or email from someone to discuss my concerns further.
When this was not forthcoming I wrote to the manager of the branch, detailing my concerns - this was on the 3rd October. On the 17th October I received a reply, dated 5th October but as it was posted first class I don't know where the delay occurred. Either the Post Office were slow or the manager backdated it to make it look better.
The reply merely served to reinforce my concerns - apparently I should not have raised it with the manager but gone straight to Head Office! The manager's explanation was that he was on holiday at the time - apparently his staff cannot run the restaurant if he is not there.
To compensate me for the poor experience, he would like to offer me a voucher, but get this, it can only be used at that Pizza Hut. So I would have to travel out of my way to use this voucher and would also have to trust his word that all the issues had been addressed - I don't think so!
One of the supposed benefits of restaurant chains is that you should be able to expect the same standards of food and service wherever you go. We seem to have found the exception to the rule here as we have not previously had a bad experience.
It seems that Pizza Hut are a franchise operation, part of the Yum group. It is time the big bosses saw what some franchisees are doing to their image and took action.
** Update - November 2012 **
After writing to customer service and receiving no reply I took the next step and emailed the CEO of Yum.
Finally a satisfactory response. I was contacted by the area manager responsible for that region and was offered a full and genuine apology, a promise that the issues would be investigated, and a gift card I could use at ANY Pizza Hut.
Why it had to get to this stage I have no idea, but I am happy with the outcome and grateful to the area manager who finally did what those below them should have done.
The company's reputation has been restored with me! Shame it was necessary to go right to the top.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Overloaded Restaurant - Revolution Liverpool
Whilst on holiday recently my wife and I visited Liverpool's Albert Dock area. As lunch time approached we checked out the various eateries and selected the Revolution Bar which had a promising menu and being a Monday they were running an offer of half price on all food which was good (though to be fair some of the others offered similar offers so it was not unique)
Entering the bar it certainly seemed popular but not what I would call full and we had no problem finding a table. Shortly after taking our seats we were approached by a waitress whose opening greeting was 'It is about a thirty minute wait for food, as we have the Monday offer on'. This was not a promising start but we decided that that would be acceptable as we could have a drink and relax after much walking. She took our drinks order and disappeared.
Foolishly we expected she would shortly return with the drinks and then take the food order - how wrong could we be! After about half an hour we had still not received any drinks and there was a distinct absence of staff to assist us.
Given that we had been warned it was a thirty minute wait for food, and our order hadn't even been taken we decided we had had enough and went to find another bar to eat in. As we were leaving we heard an American couple commenting as they were paying their bill that it had taken two and a half hours for them to get a 'quick' bite to eat. Another table were also complaining that the thirty minute delay appeared to be somewhat under quoted.
I should have checked with Trip Advisor or other review sites before we went, as the reviews are somewhat mixed and it seems to be rated highly for drinks but somewhat lower for food. In particular there are a number of people who commented on the wait for food and in some cases they had to send it back as it was cold or had some other problem.
Given that the next bar we went to also had a deal on for meals but was able to serve them in a reasonable timescale (and the food was good) it is clear that it can be done. Revolution needs to get it's act together and if the offer is to continue they should make sure they can cope with the increased custom.
The availability of sites such as Trip Advisor (to which I have no connections) mean that where once poor service was reported by word of mouth, now it can spread much faster and wider. In future I will check even for bars and restaurants - easy with modern smart phones - and not just for hotels and holiday destinations.
Lesson learned!
Entering the bar it certainly seemed popular but not what I would call full and we had no problem finding a table. Shortly after taking our seats we were approached by a waitress whose opening greeting was 'It is about a thirty minute wait for food, as we have the Monday offer on'. This was not a promising start but we decided that that would be acceptable as we could have a drink and relax after much walking. She took our drinks order and disappeared.
Foolishly we expected she would shortly return with the drinks and then take the food order - how wrong could we be! After about half an hour we had still not received any drinks and there was a distinct absence of staff to assist us.
Given that we had been warned it was a thirty minute wait for food, and our order hadn't even been taken we decided we had had enough and went to find another bar to eat in. As we were leaving we heard an American couple commenting as they were paying their bill that it had taken two and a half hours for them to get a 'quick' bite to eat. Another table were also complaining that the thirty minute delay appeared to be somewhat under quoted.
I should have checked with Trip Advisor or other review sites before we went, as the reviews are somewhat mixed and it seems to be rated highly for drinks but somewhat lower for food. In particular there are a number of people who commented on the wait for food and in some cases they had to send it back as it was cold or had some other problem.
Given that the next bar we went to also had a deal on for meals but was able to serve them in a reasonable timescale (and the food was good) it is clear that it can be done. Revolution needs to get it's act together and if the offer is to continue they should make sure they can cope with the increased custom.
The availability of sites such as Trip Advisor (to which I have no connections) mean that where once poor service was reported by word of mouth, now it can spread much faster and wider. In future I will check even for bars and restaurants - easy with modern smart phones - and not just for hotels and holiday destinations.
Lesson learned!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Royal Mail Woes
Yet another issue has persuaded me to write this item on the Royal Mail here in the UK.
Supposedly intended to distribute post around the country, over the years the services offered have declined and the standards to which they are delivered has declined even more.
There are proposals to sell off the Royal Mail to a private sector company and to my mind that cannot come soon enough. Sure, there are negatives to this as well as positives but at the moment it would seem that the positives outweigh the negatives.
Let us start with the delivery schedule. Once there were two deliveries a day to most areas. The first of these was often before nine in the morning, and the second being an afternoon delivery. The decline in posted matter meant that this was reduced to one delivery per day - quite reasonable.
The problem is that for many now the ony delivery can be very late in the day and effectively makes the first class delivery effectively a two day service. The Royal Mail have cottoned on to this as a money spinner by allowing payment to ensure a before nine delivery service. So we now have a service that is based on how much the recipient wishes to pay (remember the sender pays to send the item) This doesn't even work as intended - in my last employment the company was on an industrial estate with a number of other businesses. Fewer than half of these paid the premium - and my company chose not to - yet all received their mail before nine as the postman saw no point in visiting the same location twice in a day and so delivered all as if they had paid the extra.
My next gripe is with mis-delivery. I cannot be the only one who receives post that is not addressed to them, or their property. If I know where the post should go and it is close I then take it round myself - and I have neighbours who bring post for me that has been delivered to them in error (or the postman's haste). Sometimes however the post is for an address some way off or that I do not recognise - so my only option is to put it back in a post box in the hope that it gets there next time through the system. This does not help if you are expecting time critical post or your neighbours aren't as helpful.
Finally for this article (as there may be others) is the matter of so called 'Signed For' deliveries. The idea is that the letter or package should be signed for on receipt. This is intended to provide traceability and a more secure service. Maybe, but that is not how it works. Only last week I had a 'Signed For' item just put through my letterbox. I was at home at the time but the postman didn't knock, merely pushed it through the letterbox with all the other post.
In these instances, what is offered by the signed for service (remember this costs extra)? Nothing! If the sender were to track this all they would be able to determine is that it had been delivered somewhere. No signature would be available and not even the name of the person to whom it had been delivered. Yet this service is recommended by eBay and the like to protect senders.
I myself sent an item using the signed for service last week. If I trace now it tells me that it was delivered on the 6th January, and the sorting office it was delivered from. I ask for an electronic proof of delivery and am told, sorry - not available. To me that means it was just pushed through a letter box, somewhere. And if you refer above, it may not even be the one for the address I typed on the envelope.
Roll on the sale of the Royal Mail - maybe a private company can get it right!
Supposedly intended to distribute post around the country, over the years the services offered have declined and the standards to which they are delivered has declined even more.
There are proposals to sell off the Royal Mail to a private sector company and to my mind that cannot come soon enough. Sure, there are negatives to this as well as positives but at the moment it would seem that the positives outweigh the negatives.
Let us start with the delivery schedule. Once there were two deliveries a day to most areas. The first of these was often before nine in the morning, and the second being an afternoon delivery. The decline in posted matter meant that this was reduced to one delivery per day - quite reasonable.
The problem is that for many now the ony delivery can be very late in the day and effectively makes the first class delivery effectively a two day service. The Royal Mail have cottoned on to this as a money spinner by allowing payment to ensure a before nine delivery service. So we now have a service that is based on how much the recipient wishes to pay (remember the sender pays to send the item) This doesn't even work as intended - in my last employment the company was on an industrial estate with a number of other businesses. Fewer than half of these paid the premium - and my company chose not to - yet all received their mail before nine as the postman saw no point in visiting the same location twice in a day and so delivered all as if they had paid the extra.
My next gripe is with mis-delivery. I cannot be the only one who receives post that is not addressed to them, or their property. If I know where the post should go and it is close I then take it round myself - and I have neighbours who bring post for me that has been delivered to them in error (or the postman's haste). Sometimes however the post is for an address some way off or that I do not recognise - so my only option is to put it back in a post box in the hope that it gets there next time through the system. This does not help if you are expecting time critical post or your neighbours aren't as helpful.
Finally for this article (as there may be others) is the matter of so called 'Signed For' deliveries. The idea is that the letter or package should be signed for on receipt. This is intended to provide traceability and a more secure service. Maybe, but that is not how it works. Only last week I had a 'Signed For' item just put through my letterbox. I was at home at the time but the postman didn't knock, merely pushed it through the letterbox with all the other post.
In these instances, what is offered by the signed for service (remember this costs extra)? Nothing! If the sender were to track this all they would be able to determine is that it had been delivered somewhere. No signature would be available and not even the name of the person to whom it had been delivered. Yet this service is recommended by eBay and the like to protect senders.
I myself sent an item using the signed for service last week. If I trace now it tells me that it was delivered on the 6th January, and the sorting office it was delivered from. I ask for an electronic proof of delivery and am told, sorry - not available. To me that means it was just pushed through a letter box, somewhere. And if you refer above, it may not even be the one for the address I typed on the envelope.
Roll on the sale of the Royal Mail - maybe a private company can get it right!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
How not to run a restaurant
Recently we have had a new restaurant open just a few miles away.
This is part of the Chiquito chain and replaces an 'Old Orleans' restaurant that has been on the site for many years and although frequently quiet, served very good food, with good service.
The new Chiquito restaurant however has gone to the opposite extreme by being moderately busy but offering poor food and disappointing service.
On entering the restaurant we did have to wait a while before being seated, not because of a shortage of tables but because all the staff were running around, heads down and prodding away at their electronic order devices with a stylus.
We were duly shown to a table - standard fit I suppose, just too small to do the job! The waitress was pleasant but struggled with the electronic device and could have taken the order in a fraction of the time if only she was allowed to use a pad and pencil!
The first course arrived OK and tasted very good - no problem there. The trouble started when the main courses arrived. Given that we were a table of only two it should be within their capability to ensure both meals arrived together, but no they were slightly staggered in timing. I should have expected this because a nearby table had theirs delivered in three lots for a table of four!
I had ordered the fajitas which were excellent but this is where the small table got in the way. The tray with everything on is quite large and by the time you have your drinks on the table it becomes very crowded.
My wife ordered the chicken burger. This was where it all went downhill fast. The chicken in the burger was extremely dry and tough. We duly summoned the waitress, who had to call a manager because she was clearly not empowered to do anything.
A somewhat unkempt individual came to the table, and arranged for the chef to prepare a replacement, calling to the chef 'make sure you do it really nicely this time' - something that could be heard by the other customers.
The replacement burger was equally dry and tough despite this and once again the waitress was summoned, who then of course had to find the manager again. We decided that we had had enough and were going to leave. Graciously the manager agreed to not charge for the inedible food.
When the bill arrived, the way in which it was presented was confusing. So once again we asked the waitress, who summoned a manager (get the picture?).
This manager was far more smartly attired and professional in his manner and explained the confusion on the bill. He also did more to try and make up for the problems. However by now we had had enough, paid the bill and left.
This is clearly NOT how to run a restaurant. OK, it is new but I think the staff were poorly utilised, the electronic order machines took them away from being customer focused (and slowed them down) and at least one of the managers could learn about customer service. It would also help if the waitresses were empowered to address issues such as this themselves, OK not the cancellation from the bill but certainly organising a replacement meal.
I was extremely disappointed with the experience and given the price of the meals I am very reluctant to try the restaurant again.
The chain had a customer feedback survey on the Internet to which all customers are invited to respond. I reported my experience, fully expecting to be contacted further. As yet - nothing.
This is part of the Chiquito chain and replaces an 'Old Orleans' restaurant that has been on the site for many years and although frequently quiet, served very good food, with good service.
The new Chiquito restaurant however has gone to the opposite extreme by being moderately busy but offering poor food and disappointing service.
On entering the restaurant we did have to wait a while before being seated, not because of a shortage of tables but because all the staff were running around, heads down and prodding away at their electronic order devices with a stylus.
We were duly shown to a table - standard fit I suppose, just too small to do the job! The waitress was pleasant but struggled with the electronic device and could have taken the order in a fraction of the time if only she was allowed to use a pad and pencil!
The first course arrived OK and tasted very good - no problem there. The trouble started when the main courses arrived. Given that we were a table of only two it should be within their capability to ensure both meals arrived together, but no they were slightly staggered in timing. I should have expected this because a nearby table had theirs delivered in three lots for a table of four!
I had ordered the fajitas which were excellent but this is where the small table got in the way. The tray with everything on is quite large and by the time you have your drinks on the table it becomes very crowded.
My wife ordered the chicken burger. This was where it all went downhill fast. The chicken in the burger was extremely dry and tough. We duly summoned the waitress, who had to call a manager because she was clearly not empowered to do anything.
A somewhat unkempt individual came to the table, and arranged for the chef to prepare a replacement, calling to the chef 'make sure you do it really nicely this time' - something that could be heard by the other customers.
The replacement burger was equally dry and tough despite this and once again the waitress was summoned, who then of course had to find the manager again. We decided that we had had enough and were going to leave. Graciously the manager agreed to not charge for the inedible food.
When the bill arrived, the way in which it was presented was confusing. So once again we asked the waitress, who summoned a manager (get the picture?).
This manager was far more smartly attired and professional in his manner and explained the confusion on the bill. He also did more to try and make up for the problems. However by now we had had enough, paid the bill and left.
This is clearly NOT how to run a restaurant. OK, it is new but I think the staff were poorly utilised, the electronic order machines took them away from being customer focused (and slowed them down) and at least one of the managers could learn about customer service. It would also help if the waitresses were empowered to address issues such as this themselves, OK not the cancellation from the bill but certainly organising a replacement meal.
I was extremely disappointed with the experience and given the price of the meals I am very reluctant to try the restaurant again.
The chain had a customer feedback survey on the Internet to which all customers are invited to respond. I reported my experience, fully expecting to be contacted further. As yet - nothing.
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