SHABBY TREATMENT

Here is a copy of my letter to the owner, but despite given plenty of time to respond, they did not bother. VERY VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPLAINT Dear Sir/Madam, I write this letter in response to the poor customer service we received earlier today at your restaurant, Buffet Island, Erdington. Around 12:30, my wife, our children and I arrived for lunch. When we arrived for Lunch, I noticed that there has been a redesign of the buffet service layout. ( hot food being laid where previously desserts had been). Whilst waiting to be seated, I glanced over the buffet and noticed there was no tofu and black bean sauce ( my wife's favourite) which is one of the main reasons why we have, for years chosen Buffet Island over other Chinese buffet restaurants. I was quietly speaking to my wife that for some reason there was no black bean tofu dish and as our entire family are vegetarian our options were limited, so I was suggesting taking the kids to pizza hut instead. One of your staff approached and was going to give us a table, so I replied that we were just deciding on going to pizza hut instead as no there was no black bean tofu . However, in an effort on his part to keep our custom he suggested that we stay and he would ask the chef to prepare an extra dish which he said was no problem . My immediate thoughts were very positive and that he showed initiative and was trying to provide good customer service. As he was seating us he asked for our drinks order.So I ordered drinks, seated the kids including one in a high chair. We have been to buffet island that many times, my wife and I have a system, she settles the kids (6yrs,4,2 and a baby), whilst I get the kids food quickly so as to keep them quiet. As I mentioned we are all vegetarian, so the kids meals only consist of fried noodles, chips and ice cream.(so even though it is quite expensive to pay full kids price for such very basic foods, their taste palletes are not sophisticated yet for much else on offer). However, when I went to get their small portions of noodles, I could not find any. The manager was in the buffet area so I asked if there was any fried noodles ( as there has always been fried noodles every single time without exception in the past). She rather rudely pointed to the bean curd, saying “that's all' and stormed off. To recap, WE DID NOT ASK FOR SPECIAL FOOD TO BE PREPARED FOR US, THE STAFF OFFERED IT TO US TO STOP US GOING ELSEWHERE. As she walked past me again, I asked if it was possible to have just plain fried noodles without meat and she bluntly said that they don't make special meals. Obviously this meant there was virtually nothing for our kids to eat, so we packed up to leave. By this time our drinks order arrived. I went to the bar to say that we were leaving and that my drinks had arrived. I said that without the noodles our kids couldn't eat anything, to which she replied that the menu changes every day. Well I have been attending Buffet Island for 3 years and Fried Noodles has always been there! She gave me a very dirty look mumbled something and charged me for the drinks (which we had not touched). By this time my wife had gathered the kids and met me at the bar. After another dirty look from your manager, ( as if we were just inconvenient timewasters) we left. There are several points that come to mind with this situation. 1. We would have happily went elsewhere at the beginning, if your waiter had not offered us the possibility of the chef accommodating our vegetarian diets due to the change of menu. 2. Altering the menu to take away a simple sidedish food such as fried noodles seems a very strange decision. 3. To satisfy a loyal customer, is it too complex a task to simply not add the meat to a portion of fried noodles !!! 4. If I was the manager in a situation like this, I would have never charged for the drinks, after all it was buffet island who stopped us from leaving to go elsewhere. 5. We went to Wing Wah restaurant afterwards, who's chef has obviously managed to cook that ever so complex meal of fried noodles, so my kids were happy and it was actually significantly cheaper as well. 6. To put into financial perspective, we go to buffet island on both my wife and I's birthdays, wedding anniversary, fathers day, mother's day, my oldest child's birthday and many impromptu luncheons such as today. ( Basically because our parents live far away and we have no babysitters so the kids have to come) On top of this we have had two company Christmas dinner evenings there ( average 12 people at each event) and in February my wife was negotiating booking a room for 50 guests for a Baptismal luncheon on the 1st of March. ( In the end we chose a hotel to hold the Christening reception because it was far easier for guests who had traveled from far away to hold the function where they were staying). However, it shows that we are good customers who have loyally encouraged neighbours and friends towards your restaurant. I did a quick spreadsheet estimating how much I may have spent there in a typical 12 month period. Mothers Day £35 Fathers Day £35 Easter £35 Valentines Day £35 My birthday £35 Wife Birthday £35 Wedding Anniversary £35 Christmas Office Party £180 (12x£15pp) General Impromptu visits £140 (4x£35) Total £565 Even if I reduce this by two evenings it is still around £500 per annum and we have been visiting Buffet island for over 3 years, so that is £1,500 My wife is the Managing Director of an advertising agency and was very insulted and embarrassed by the dirty looks and very poor body language given by your manager. As I write this letter to you, she is on her own laptop, typing a letter to the Sutton Coldfield Observer, the food critic of the Evening mail, the president of the Vegetarian Society and numerous online Birmingham food review websites. Obviously, her friends at the school, church and neighbours will be interested to know about it to. .Having run our own companies for several years, I have learned that it costs 3 times as much to attract new customers as it does to retain current ones. Perhaps this is something you should mention at the next staff meeting. After the shabby and embarrassing treatment we received by your manager today, we shall not be returning to your restaurant again. However, before posting our letters and leaving the online reviews, we will graciously allow you seven days to respond, so that the letter will also contain your response or lack thereof. Yours Sincerely,

Tom Kane - 09/04/2008 | report this review