How to piss-off you customers...

[dwtno]

I should clarify. The onion bit itself was really not the point of my original rant. I was simply dumbfounded by the management’s initial insistence that I pay separately for each component of the meal.

The meal wasn’t ordered a la cart and to charge for it that way after the fact seemed more than a little disingenuous (as bordelond put it). Yes, school yard justice would require a tit for tat accounting. If I eat half a potato I should pay for half a potato. If I eat part of a steak, put that thing on a scale and pro rate the cost. But this isn’t the school yard and real life merchant-customer interaction is a bit more sophisticated than that.

Bottom line, it was an inappropriate and (IMHO) stupid thing for the manager to do. Was the $5 you would have gotten worth the ill will you engendered? And as far as my being a ‘bad’ customer, I was polite, but resigned over the ruined meal itself. I didn’t get pissed until the inflated bill was presented (and FTR, I was still polite, just pissed). Before I got the bill, there was no indication that I ‘could never be pleased’ or a customer ‘not worth keeping.’ After the bill, he was probably right!

And for the record…

Yes I HATE onions! They’re evil, nasty and utterly inedible. How any of you can eat them, is beyond my understanding. Believe me, if you were tasting what I was tasting, onions wouldn’t even be considered food! I’m not ‘afraid’ of onions, as some have suggested, I just can’t stomach the taste or smell. Absolutely disgusting! Yes I know that onions are included in most prepared foods, but cooked onions are not nearly the same level of disgusting as raw or nearly raw onions. It’s not a question of what you can ‘sneak’ by me, it’s what I taste. It’s harder to taste a cooked onion than a raw one, granted, but when I bite into a piece of nasty onion, cooked or raw, I know and I’m not happy. I deal with my onion aversion just fine, thank you, but when you tell me you’ll bring me an onion free meal and then you don’t, I’m going to speak up!

I’m not particularly young and I’m also not a picky eater. I just don’t like onions! I also rarely eat at chain restaurants, particularly chain steak restaurants. But my dinner companion that evening was a bit less adventurous, so kangaroo steak it was. It also helped that there was no wait for a seat. (Me wait two hours at that restaurant? I don’t think so!)

[puk]

*Originally posted by Irishman *
puk said:

In general, what is the point of asking for (or giving) money back?

You’re not satisfied with the service of said establishment. Presumably, you do not want to return to a place that offers bad service. How is getting money back (no matter how much) going to make you return is the service does not improve? How is demanding money back going to make the service better?

**
In general, you chock up the error as the type of thing that occassionally happens. It is unpleasant, but it isn’t intentional and it is a one time occurrence that my not happen next time. So you may wish to return to the restaurant in the future and try again. Next time you’ll know better than to get the mushrooms, or whatever. For instance, last night I ate at a family steakhouse that specializes in a buffet bar. I go there regularly, because it’s easy and has a variety of food to choose from. Last night, none of the servers noticed me sit down and did the standard offer of fresh rolls, tell their name, get fresh plates, etc. I finished plate one and had to refill my own tea from a pitcher sitting conveniently nearby. I was ready for a second plate that I did not have, when a guy noticed and said something to the waitress for my area. It took her a couple more minutes to make it over with the fresh plate. Turns out it was her first week working there and wasn’t quite familiar with her assigned area. Did I get upset? No, not really. I was starting to look around for the staff when the guy noticed, and they did fix the problem. Was the service the greatest? No - I still had to refill my tea again, but I drink lots when eating and so that’s not entirely uncommon to be waiting on drink refills. She did manage to provide more plates, and apologized several times. Was I happy? Not entirely. Am I going to stop going there because this has happened? No. This is the second time in 6 years of eating there that the waitstaff missed a cue. Usually the service is acceptable to really good. So I’ll take it in stride and return, even though this particular experience was sub-par. It’s the same thing. A person goes to a restaurant, and for whatever reason there’s a problem with the order or whatnot. If the staff handles it satisfactorily, the person may feel that their response to solving the problem showed enough concern for customer satisfaction that it is worth returning to try again. Next time perhaps there won’t be an error. And if in the future there’s another error, you know they’ll take care of you.

Now if the service is just downright cruddy to begin with, and then there’s an error, then no, I’m probably not likely to return.
**

It’s a nice story, but that’s not what I meant. In your case, you’re still satisfied with the overall service at the stakehouse, even though yesterday wasn’t all that great. So, yes of course you would return. But did you ask for money back? Did the manager offer it? Would you have been more satisfied with the service if they did?

What I’m talking about is offering free drinks, meals, coupons, trips to disneyland and whatever else they give to customers who are not completely satisfied with the service.

*disclaimer: I’m refering to the practice in general, not any specific instances mentioned in this thread.

[bdgr]

*Originally posted by DebiJ *
**If you still feel that strongly that what happened was wrong, I would suggest contacting the customer service department of their corporate headquarters. They probably have a web site to get that info from. You can choose one of 2 ways - flat out tell them what happened and that you think you were right and they were wrong, or you could play coy and ask them what their policy is first.

I would use the phone rather than a letter, because you can interact with the CS rep. Oh yeah, in most cases, when you contact the big guys like that, you sometimes end up with coupons for the next visit - because they will ask you to give them a try again. This time you will know not to order the mushrooms. **

I have found emails to the corporate web sites of establishments do wonders. Lowes even send me a $40 gift certificate because I got bad service there.

[bdgr]

*Originally posted by miticodan *
**Sorry but I have to disagree. If I own my own business, I focus most of my investment on getting and keeping happy customers. Grouchy customers, once pissed off, tend to stay that way no matter what you do. Unless you give them free meals for life, most people like will just find something unsatisfactory to complain about.

I get the guy out the door and try to make sure I don’t lose any more customers to the same thing. **

Not true. Most people understand things happen, but only really get pissed off if the management refuses to do anything about it.

When I go out to eat, the main product I am purchasing is the service. The food has to be good, but I can make most things better at home myself than I can get out. If I go somewhere, and the service is bad, or something gets seriously screwed up, I feel like I have been cheated. I didnt get what I payed for. I once got terrible service in a waffle house, where the waitress just dropped our food off and forgot about us. I complained to the waitress and she got snotty with me. So I demanded to see the manager. The manager asked what I wanted. I said a sincere apology would be nice. I could tell by the look on his face he thought I was just trying to get the meal comped. He apologized profusely, and comped the meal anyway. I would have no problem going there again.

Point is, I dont stop going to a resturant I like because of one bad experiance, unless the person just trys to get me out the door like you were saying. IF they do that, I make as much noise as possible and tell everyone I know to try and lose them as much business as possible. If they are reasonable, I am reasonable, and will come back.

[bordelond]

*Originally posted by dwtno *
Yes I HATE onions! They’re evil, nasty and utterly inedible. How any of you can eat them, is beyond my understanding. Believe me, if you were tasting what I was tasting, onions wouldn’t even be considered food! I’m not ‘afraid’ of onions, as some have suggested, I just can’t stomach the taste or smell. Absolutely disgusting! Yes I know that onions are included in most prepared foods, but cooked onions are not nearly the same level of disgusting as raw or nearly raw onions. It’s not a question of what you can ‘sneak’ by me, it’s what I taste. It’s harder to taste a cooked onion than a raw one, granted, but when I bite into a piece of nasty onion, cooked or raw, I know and I’m not happy. I deal with my onion aversion just fine, thank you, but when you tell me you’ll bring me an onion free meal and then you don’t, I’m going to speak up!

All that is well and good, but keep in mind that you just have to work a little harder to get what you want in a “cookie-cutter” chain restaurant.

<slight hijack>

As for dealing with your onion aversion – seriously, I’m intrigued here. What DO you do in ethnic restaurants, like the kinds I mentioned above? Or other places, for that matter. Onions are so integral to so many dishes that I can’t imagine you really EVER gettting a good meal out without mindnumbing preparation.

Also, does pulverised onion powder in sauces taste bad to you? If not, is it just that onion “feel” in your mouth? The texture? Onion powder and derivatives are all over the place, unfortunately for you. Read those labels closely in the grocery.

[Irishman]

dwtno, I know how you feel. I really don’t like coconut. It tastes dreadful to me, and I can’t understand why anyone could like it. And I’ve had it sneak in through desserts and suddenly find myself with a mouthful. It doesn’t quite make me gag, but it isn’t particularly tasty. In fact, I got snookered by a pina colada flavored candy cane. Oh how nice and pink. Blech, what is that horrid taste? Pina colada? Ick! Oh no wonder, pina colada is made with coconut.

puk said:

It’s a nice story, but that’s not what I meant. In your case, you’re still satisfied with the overall service at the stakehouse, even though yesterday wasn’t all that great. So, yes of course you would return. But did you ask for money back? Did the manager offer it? Would you have been more satisfied with the service if they did?

What I’m talking about is offering free drinks, meals, coupons, trips to disneyland and whatever else they give to customers who are not completely satisfied with the service.

Sorry, I did get sidetracked by that story. Your original question was what was the point of asking for money back. Look at it this way - if there was some problem, some mistake, some error that ruins the meal, well that’s just one meal. But the attitude of how the management responds to that problem effects my opinion of how they view me, the customer. If the manager comps the meal because it was ruined, that tells me that he cares about how I feel and whether I enjoy eating there or not. I guess some may call that ass kissing, but to me that is the idea of service. Now I’m not rude and even when the waiter/waitress screws up, I’m generally amiable about it. But if the manager blows me off by saying, “Oops, guess you’ll just have to live with a bad meal,” then No, I won’t go back. But if the manager reacts as if pleasing the customer is his job (does anyone want to argue that point?), then I’m more likely to feel like whatever was wrong with the service, it is likely to be a one-time problem and not a constant occurrence due to the attitude of the place toward the customers. So yes, if he comps the meal, then maybe I will return with the idea that the service may have been bad, but they care enough to fix it so it isn’t bad next time. But if they blow me off, then I think they don’t care about their customers, and if I go back I’m probably going to get shitty service again.

Does that make it more clear?

As for customer service reps passing out coupons and such, I think the logic is that whatever problem you encountered was a specific one-time event and in general the place will be much better, so if they can convince you to return and try them again, you’ll be satisfied and then want to come back. Which, incidently, matches nicely with the chain of logic I dished out for my reactions to restaurant experiences. YMMV.