service

So! What's more annoying? The willingness of businesses to sell poor product, provide poor service or have poor concept of public image, or the publics willingness to put up with it.

Consider this:
A family (children parents and grandparents) turn up at a pub, having made a booking for Sunday lunch they are told that their table is not ready yet, but if they'd care to wait..... They order a round of drinks and sit at a table in the bar, twenty minutes later, no sign of being shown to a table, no order taken and no apology or further explanation offered. The family indicate they'll eat at the table in the bar. The children, both bored and hungry are becoming fractious. They examine the menu, if seems a little over complicated and overpriced but nevertheless make an order. While at the bar, grandad observes a 'character' come into the bar proffer an empty glass to the bar manager, the glass is refilled with lager and given back, no money changes hands, grandad observes the 'character' is scruffy, dirty, unkempt . On further observation he realises he's wearing chefs garb, a member of staff. Eventually, food arrives. It's really poor quality, the children's food is not only poor quality it's also totally inappropriate. The staff although apparently willing to try and help are clearly not communicating with each other. The bill is presented and paid, no tip is left. The whole experience is thoroughly disappointing for all the family.  The only satisfied party seems to be the 'character' who appears at the bar every 15 minutes or so to have his glass refilled with beer.

Ok, in its self this is no surprise. But this particular establishment seems popular. It gets positive reviews on Tripadvisor.  For the life of me, I just can't understand why.

When I went to pay the bill, the waitress asked if everything had been ok. I said "no" and started to tell her about the lack of table despite a booking the wait to have an order taken. I tailed off at that point, deciding my complaints were probably too numerous to list, and really, what good would it do.

So, what should we do when presented with poor product or poor service. I'll vote with my feet. I simply won't go back.

Having had a good whinge. Here's a cheery tale of washing machine parts. A couple of weeks ago our washing machine broke down. With a little big of Google based research I identified the problem. With further research I identified the part I needed and a company I thought might be able to supply it. I phoned them, I spoke to a young lady who was polite and proficient, she confirmed the identity of the part, confirmed the price and that it was in stock. She dealt with the purchase. 36 hours later the part was in my hands. After a bit of YouTube based research I fitted the part and the machine was back in operation. My thanks go to E-spares. Excellent service, thank you.

I will be going back to them.