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Chocoholic wrote:Er no, not this time, but you never know.

I just have a lot of experience i the customer service area and sometimes you just have to do things to keep people happy.

Pulling your leg kitty.

Same, am glad restaurant days are behind me.

freza wrote:Scottie,

Louis Vuitton does not consider itself obliged to provide availability of all its catalogued items or to keep all their shops stocked with all of their latest lines; of course their customers are aware of it. Lack of inventory doesn't make luxury brands and their retail stores any less customer-service friendly; but it definitely makes them more exclusive - some of their limited lines are therefor more sought after precisely because they're not available to everyone.

Not every business aims to be inclusive (as supermarkets do) actually many strive to be exclusive; it's perfectly fine to draw lines as to the what type of people some businesses attract. If that means not catering to the demands of the obnoxious, opportunistic and tacky - so be it.

One last thing - that pompous attitude doesn't make what you state any more relevant, quite the contrary.

Good times.

Not in that example, though there are times when it would be obliged to fulfil orders as the restaurant has done. I'll be extra pompous and not tell you what they are

JojoHK wrote:Maybe thats the reason i hate doing customer service. Coz i can't stand their attitude

There was a time i pick up the phone & yelled 'Wassup?' lucky it was only our receptionist in the office. lol

Tell me about it... try Dubai. Everyday having smile to these axxhxxxs thinking that they are someone special coz they are earning a lot of $$$ in Dubai, thinking they come spending $$$ we have to lick their toes to make them happy!! While they are earing good $$$ here at the same time they a a tightaxx to spend money, asking for discount, complain to get some freebies!!! Well.. sorry some people just have to work for living and have no choice but smile to these axxhxxxs everyday!!

was the nationality of these people ever divulged? I would have put money on them being Russian myself!

Rosbif71 wrote:was the nationality of these people ever divulged? I would have put money on them being Russian myself!

actually, I think russian are very easy, they have money and they don't care about it. Never got any complaints from russian. They are good spenders!!

Out of so many different nationalities, only one nationalities will complain for freebies. Those are the one have high income, earning good 'package'.

@ FeiPo

no wonder u got so annoyed but u should take it easy and try not to get so affected by their nags as hard as it may be otherwise u will end up crazy after a while:wink:

FeiPo, get rid of the attitude!

With the wne scenario, it is your duty to be able to provide every item you have on the menu to the customer. It is NOT their fault YOU ran out.

It's not always about people wanting to get freebies - how narrow minded is that! - but some people just know what they like and that's that.

If your outlet is in a hotel, which I assume it is, did you go to one of the other places to see if they had any stock?

You missed the point completely.

scot1870 wrote:

gtmash wrote:

^ian^ wrote:I bet they were British, those guys really know how to whinge.

I heard the same thing from courier-service employees.

Er, the Brits actually have a reputation for not complaining and just never going back! We don't like to cause a scene you see...

Back on topic, actually in the West case 1 is very common. By theory of law in the UK for example, if you ask for something as advertised for a price and isn't available on the menu, they should offer you a product of same or higher value for the same price. In the case, if the differential is quite high the restaurant can refuse, but if it's a small change then as the mark up restaurants put on wine is so high, they normally let it past. I can say with utmost confidence that your restaurant would still not have lost money on the wine had it given it, though clearly it was within its rights to say no. As it is, you'll have lost a customer for good, so was it worth it to lose a few dirhams on the wholesale cost of a bottle of wine?

I must say though if you are a busy eatery....good management would have sufficient stock levels! In the eyes of the customer it is not an excuse to say we are out of stock. This is not their problem either. Even so the couple went a bit OTT. I wouldn't bother myself. However, you are there to provide sales and service.

Personally I would choose something else. I don't drink alcohol anyway so if coke was out I would take...orange juice.

Customers will be angry if you have a menu and can not provide what is on it. Does the menu state subject to availability? Maybe it should, because then that is what you fall back on in these circumstances.

Chocoholic wrote:FeiPo, get rid of the attitude!

With the wne scenario, it is your duty to be able to provide every item you have on the menu to the customer. It is NOT their fault YOU ran out.

It's not always about people wanting to get freebies - how narrow minded is that! - but some people just know what they like and that's that.

If your outlet is in a hotel, which I assume it is, did you go to one of the other places to see if they had any stock?

You missed the point completely.

Ironic you should state that........

feipo's post is illustrating how some customers can get really nasty attitudes, how some even commit shameless scams. I think she has every right to vent her frustrations.

So restaurants should always stock up, yes, agreed, but sometimes they run out of stuff - big freakin deal! No need to make a drama out of it and no need to take it out on employees who have no control over the inventory situation. If the customer is dissatisfied they can request the manager and complain. But making a fuzz about it and pestering for discounts is not only unreasonable but just plain obnoxious and tacky.

Not at all. Anyway it's pointless to argue the thing, the point is I would have handled it differently, but then everyone's different. But the upshot would be a disatisfied customer goes away. And hey everyone keeps saying what's the big deal for a customer to pay an extra 20 Dhs, well on the flip side, what's the big deal if an outlet loses 20 Dhs to keep a customer happy that would generate more business for them.

The second issue FeiPo had is absolutely a scam, but the first issue in my humble opinion could have been dealt with better.

Chocoholic wrote:FeiPo, get rid of the attitude!

With the wne scenario, it is your duty to be able to provide every item you have on the menu to the customer. It is NOT their fault YOU ran out.

It's not always about people wanting to get freebies - how narrow minded is that! - but some people just know what they like and that's that.

If your outlet is in a hotel, which I assume it is, did you go to one of the other places to see if they had any stock?

You missed the point completely.

you are right! I did not miss any point. I agree totally it is my duty to stock up, if it run out it's my fault, if the supplier cannot supplier enough stock is also my fault, there is no excuse, coz customer will not ask you about your supplier, if you are our is your fault. BUT it doesn't mean people can use this as an excuse to ask for discount. I got complaints sometimes about food, sometimes about service, but trust me, the people who truely want to make a comment or they truely not happy about something will just tell me or the management. NOT asking for a discount!! And certainly will not come back to eat for free <--- with the attitude like 'I am giving you one more chance (for free) it is your pleasure to have me to give you one more chance to make me happy' PUKED!!! if the food is so bad and the service is so bad why come back?

My point is to those 'cheap' people, making excuses to get freebies. I am in the hospitality and totally understand what is a customer satisfaction, but hey sh*t happen... ... I try my best to do my job, but there is no excuse for people trying to push to get discount and think that they entitle for it. And I mean those people are nasty, they treat the staff like sh*t, shouting or talking very loud and got angry over one item is not available out of 100 items? I do not know how angry you will get if a waitress come to you and say sorry madam today's lobster is out. Tell you what at the end they all say one sentence 'you have to do something about it' or 'you have to do something to compensate me'

You know what, I feel ashame to walk into the restaurant where I made a complain 3 days ago to eat there for free!!! If I decide to go back and give it a try again, I will pay! If my favourite item is not on the menu, I will walk out. If I need to express my disappointment I will write a comment card, or complain to the manager. I cannot ask for a discount on something else to compensate the item they are not available. What is the point of it? Does the discount makes it taste like my favourite one?

I am only pointing out the black sheep!! Not saying people are not allow to complain. Consumers can make their comment anytime, but a discount is not entitled.

I have been to country like Australia, or the UK... I have been into a pub or restaurant that they ran out of my favourite beer, and the service is almost like selfservice. I do not see any people complain about the service or asking for discount. Why do it here? I certainly did not see some customer raise their tone to the staff in those countries! Maybe the four years of living in Australia is a short time or a couple weeks visiting the UK is even shorter, but I have been in Dubai 20 months and I see it almost everyday!

The point is, that you ran out of their favourite drink, therefore forcing them to buy something at a higher price. In my eyes would certainly not have been an unreasonable request to offer a bottle at the other price. You have to weigh up the following:

a) Satisfy the customer and get good feedback.

b) Make them unhappy so they bad mouth you and put other people off coming to your establishment.

I know which I'd rather have.

It doesn't make people 'cheap' at all. In fact your establishment could be labelled 'cheap' as you ran out of stock, and proceeded to make people have what they didn't want. Your problem, you should have offered the discount, end of.

Also you cannot compare a bar to a resturant. Beers are mostly all the same price. And I guarantee you there's a hell of a difference between the 'cheaper' bottle of Chilean than the medium and expensive.

Because people don't complain enough is the reason we have lousy service in this country.

Chocoholic wrote:The point is, that you ran out of their favourite drink, therefore forcing them to buy something at a higher price. In my eyes would certainly not have been an unreasonable request to offer a bottle at the other price. You have to weigh up the following:

a) Satisfy the customer and get good feedback.

b) Make them unhappy so they bad mouth you and put other people off coming to your establishment. I know which I'd rather have.

It doesn't make people 'cheap' at all. In fact your establishment could be labelled 'cheap' as you ran out of stock, and proceeded to make people have what they didn't want. Your problem, you should have offered the discount, end of.

a) I agree b) if I ask you personally, how unhappy you will get if one wine is not available our of 60 wines? Try Cellar, Cin Cin or the Agency!! See they will give you discount like that...

I wont drink wine ever again

It's till not the point though is it. You can go round and round. I just would have handled it differently, that's all. You have to think of the bigger picture sometimes. And not all people are cheap, they just know what they like, that's all.

Chocoholic wrote:It's till not the point though is it. You can go round and round. I just would have handled it differently, that's all. You have to think of the bigger picture sometimes. And not all people are cheap, they just know what they like, that's all.

Right. No argue on that!

You know what you like, if I give you something you don't like with discount you will start liking it!

Not necessarily the case at all. It's purely supply and demand. You had a demand, you couldn't supply that demand, so how do you fix it? Either you don't bother or you do something about it. Simple as.

There are several factors that make a business sucessful and there should be limits to what a business is willing to take from customers - being taken advantage of and being scammed should not factor into 'supply and demand'

Customer service should be the top priority no one is disputing this; but other things are important too - like attracting quality customers and weeding out whiney, abusive cheapskates by not catering to their every demands. Exclusive businesses should draw the line somewhere if they truly want to be exclusive. In the end, annoying customers might end up making a business lose money by not paying full price or not paying, wasting time and by affecting employees - employee satisfaction and well-being are also important factors to a successful business; because it's easy to find employees but not to easy to find good and loyal ones. I would think that having top quality staff who treat customers right but will not stand for abuse is just about fine. A successful restaurant that does draws the line somewhere will still make money.

Great point Freza.

There's also de-marketing. Not every customer is of value to a business, and it's best if the whiny ass.hats don't come back rather than continually turn up and makes pains of themselves.

Birds of a feather DO flock together... or misery loves company, either one. It doesn't matter to many business if they don't get down and grovel to the customers who cost them money, it's a good strategy anyway.

It would have been a nice touch for the restaurant off it's own bat to offer the alternative at a discounted price... this would have been a nice surprise, but not to cave in to the demands of a difficult customer.

freza wrote:There are several factors that make a business sucessful and there should be limits to what a business is willing to take from customers - being taken advantage of and being scammed should not factor into 'supply and demand'

Customer service should be the top priority no one is disputing this; but other things are important too - like attracting quality customers and weeding out whiney, abusive cheapskates by not catering to their every demands. Exclusive businesses should draw the line somewhere if they truly want to be exclusive. In the end, annoying customers might end up making a business lose money by not paying full price or not paying, wasting time and by affecting employees - employee satisfaction and well-being are also important factors to a successful business; because it's easy to find employees but not to easy to find good and loyal ones. I would think that having top quality staff who treat customers right but will not stand for abuse is just about fine. A successful restaurant that does draws the line somewhere will still make money.

Well said. I bet Gordon Ramsey wouldn't take snot from his compatriot customers.

freza wrote:There are several factors that make a business sucessful and there should be limits to what a business is willing to take from customers - being taken advantage of and being scammed should not factor into 'supply and demand'

Customer service should be the top priority no one is disputing this; but other things are important too - like attracting quality customers and weeding out whiney, abusive cheapskates by not catering to their every demands. Exclusive businesses should draw the line somewhere if they truly want to be exclusive. In the end, annoying customers might end up making a business lose money by not paying full price or not paying, wasting time and by affecting employees - employee satisfaction and well-being are also important factors to a successful business; because it's easy to find employees but not to easy to find good and loyal ones. I would think that having top quality staff who treat customers right but will not stand for abuse is just about fine. A successful restaurant that does draws the line somewhere will still make money.

Good point. Also, the bad customer making a scene in the restaurant will make other customers think we have problem with our food or service!

^ian^ wrote:Great point Freza.

There's also de-marketing. Not every customer is of value to a business, and it's best if the whiny a#s.hats don't come back rather than continually turn up and makes pains of themselves.

Birds of a feather DO flock together... or misery loves company, either one. It doesn't matter to many business if they don't get down and grovel to the customers who cost them money, it's a good strategy anyway.

It would have been a nice touch for the restaurant off it's own bat to offer the alternative at a discounted price... this would have been a nice surprise, but not to cave in to the demands of a difficult customer.

Agree!! Glad someone got my point!

I agree with the arguments in favour of the customers.

You should have quit being such a tight arse and offered them the bottle at a discounted rate at least... if you were not willing to be haggled down to the price they were expecting.

You should take whinging more positively because thats the only way your service will be good if not impeccable.

Besides whats the big deal about a Chilean wine... next time you're on you're frequent jet-setting global visits, stop by at Sainsbury's and pick up a carton at 5 quid a bottle... the store manager may even offer you a discount of 2 for 1