General Chat

I think our local council has a site you can visit for reports on hygiene etc of each eatery in the city and area. I can't find it at the mo, but there is a site about Food safety telling you what you should expect of a restaurant etc.
Hope you get a satisfactory response, Errol.
Lizx

Liz do you ever go to bed? lol
TW, they probably will send vouchers but I doubt whether I will use them - I generally avoid that sort of place like the plague.

Hi Errol, you should know my sleep pattern by now lol Ooops, that might start the tongues wagging lol

I prefer my quiet time on here at nights, and keep away from snoring coughing person who sleeps upstairs. If I was there with him I wouldn't be able to sleep for the noise, and would get woken up by three Enya tracks on the hifi alarm at 5 am then if he forgets to switch it off when he finally crawls out of bed, and fumbles in the dark cos he doesn't like the light first thing, the alarm beeps madly at 20 past 5 as a backup! At ten to six after mutterings and clomping about upstairs and down, the front door slams, and the car starts up and leaves, scraping noises this morning due to windscreen etc being covered with snow. Next door gets up and switches the engine of his Discovery truck on, lleaves it running outside the window, while he clumps about and his dogs bark till he slams his door and leaves too, about the same time. After that I can relax and get some sleep unless we get delivery or bin lorries which have to reverse into the close, so more beeping lol
Lizx

Excellent letter Eroll-but I feel the satire will probably go completely over their heads-Infact I need to draft one to a magazine company-daughter bought one of these mags with a free lip gloss inside-she tried the gloss on. Then I did and it burnt our lips-god knows what is in it-I feel getting young girls to buy magazines with paint stripper products is not good. What you think? Should I just chuck it or write to them?
catherine
xx

Write to them if it gets it off your chest.

Liz, could you post a disclaimer referring to any potential unfounded rumour about us please? lmao

Catherine - I would threaten to sue, in fact I think you should bring this to the attention of your local Health and Safety dept,
Errol - letter is fine but they will probably use the old line "you should have complained at the time". You may be offered vouchers and if you don't wish to use them, do as my daughter has done and give them to the next Big Issue seller you see.

if ever I have a complaint, I write a letter not just to the top dog of the organisation but to many others in the system as well - MD, Complaints Department etc. and for special effect if warranted I put at the bottom of the letter cc - a solicitor - don't neessarily have to send a copy to a solicitor, but just the mention of one usually brings results. Conversely, if things are good, I always say so at the time and if necessary send a letter to confirm - I feel that if I am ready to complain of bad service anywhere, I should also compliment good service, be it restaurant, hospital, shop, whatever. If people do not complain at bad service in whatever area then services will deteriorate

Woody, if you actually read the letter you will see that I have covered the fact that I did not complain at the time.
Ann, it is never a wise idea to say you have contacted a solicitor if you have not actually done so. Also, if it just says "cc a solicitor" then it is fairly obvious that you have not actually done so.

why does it say you haven't actually contacted one?

Surely it would carry more gravitas if you actually named the solicitor otherwise it sounds like an empty threat.

I do put the name of my solicitor - just didn't want to put it on here obviously so just put solicitor!!!!!

Is your solicitor ok with you doing that? And what happens if they put their solicitor in touch with your's? A good idea though.

my solicitor would be fine with it and if needs be I would use him but usually I manage quite well without him

A speedy response.


Dear xxxxxx

I am very sorry that you have had to contact me about your complaint and I can understand how disappointed you must be feeling. Please be assured that we take all customer complaints seriously and I have forwarded your comments on to the Business Development Manager, xxxxxxx, who will carry out an investigation into this matter.

As part of our investigation we may wish to speak to you personally regarding your experience.

However, I notice that we do not have your telephone number. Therefore I would appreciate it if you could call Customer Services on xxxxxxxx, in order to provide a contact number for yourself.

Yours etc

and?????

Another response arrived today. It sounds like I may have ruffled a couple of feathers.



Dear xxxxxx

Thank you for drawing my attention to your recent experience. I have discussed your complaint with the Pub manager for xxxxxx at xxxxxx.

xxxx and I would like to convey our sincere apologies for your disappointing experience on the 17th March 2008. I can assure you that your experience does not reflect the normal high standards of quality and hospitality that we set ourselves.

Please be assured that I take this very seriously and have, therefore conducted, a thorough investigation to ensure that neither you or any other future guest experiences anything similar going forward. There is clearly no excuse for the poor meals and service that you experienced on the day of your visit.

There will of course be repurcussions for those on duty that day and I know that xxxx has also organised for the whole restaurant team to be retrained in the relevant service that was so clearly missing. There is no doubt in my mind that if we had been more attentive to your needs and the correct standards that we set ourselves then the poor experience that you suffered could easily have been avoided.

I am also aware that the kitchen team have been spoken to with reference to more regular communication with the front of house team and the importance of ensuring each meal is served to the correct specification and also at the correct temperature.

We are, as a rule, very proud of the service that we give at xxxxxx and I, for one am very disappointed that one or two individuals who have clearly not prioritised our customers could damage our reputation. Going forward I am now confident that we have put steps in place to ensure that this does not happen again.

In addition to the above action and to demonstrate the change, which I hope, will restore your faith, I would like to personally invite you back to xxxxxx, at our expense, to the value of £30.00. This can be redeemed against food or drink.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know your comments. We do value your custom and we hope that your experience will not deter you from visiting xxxxxx in the future.

Once again our sincere apologies, and may I thank you for taking the time and trouble to contact us, as it is only by receipt of such constructive comments that we are able to improve our standards of service.

If I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

xxxxxx
Business Development Manager

THAT`S A CRACKER --WILL YOU GO BACK ?
Ros xxx

Hmmm Don't think I would lord knows what they will add as a garnish if they twig Errol dobbed them (quite rightly) in

very impressive letter Errol....lets hope they mean what they say x

oh id go errol and just spend it on booze hahahaha