Standing by your customer never fails

There is a pub restaurant in Whangarei which we used to use frequently when we wanted a quick meal. One night we suggested to four friends of ours that we all meet at that pub prior to going to another function. Unfortunately we struck one of those nights when everything went wrong. The main courses took ages to arrive and when they did, we were running late. To top it off, the vegetables with three of the main courses were stone cold.

I complained and before too long a duty manager arrived to talk to me. I explained the position to him and told him that I knew that the food was excellent under normal circumstances but that I was very embarrassed having introduced our friends to the restaurant. He responded by apologising profusely and as we were short of time, offered some meal vouchers which we could collect the following day.

It was probably two weeks before we were able to collect the vouchers and we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had been given $100 worth of food vouchers to be used within a six months’ time limit. This is what I call ‘standing behind your product’. The restaurant botched up but they made it good with interest. We relayed the news to our friends and they were also delighted, so assuming that we have a great meal when we redeem the vouchers (and I have no need to think otherwise) then my friends will also be spreading the word about that particular establishment. In the service industry you only get one chance and in this case, they excelled.

I would love to name the restaurant but hesitate to do so because I would hate anybody to get the idea that they regularly serve up bad meals. However, if you want a good recommendation for a quick meal in Whangarei, give me a call and I will let you know where to go.