The Sweet Service Award goes to Cellucity in the V&A Waterfront, which was nominated by Marilyn Levin: “I nominate Cellucity at the V and A Waterfront for an award. I had to replace my Blackberry and dealt with Herman Geldenhuys, the manager. Nothing was too much for him. He transferred all my data – cell numbers, messages, BBM, e-mail etc etc with a smile on his face. What a pleasure dealing with such a delightful man. All the sales people in the shop were just as friendly. Well done Cellucity”.
The Sour Service Award goes to Pick ‘n Pay in Canal Walk, and was nominated by a very angry Ashil Maharaj: ‘We have Rights and to have Rude Uncouth Managers violate our Rights we must stand up Together! Imagine Marwaan, the Store Manager, said I’m no longer Welcome in his Store(IS IT Because I’m INDIAN?)- All I did was stand up 4 my rights- he was so COLD! Gulwinaaz made harsh statements to me to which I had to defend myself! Need a reason as to why a Pick n Pay employee Squashed the barcode in front of me- is that good business practice? The next Day I was banned from the Store by Marwaan who wasn’t even present during the incident!So Guys if you want to be insulted and treated like c… then Please Visit the Canal Walk Store! You too might be banned or Not Welcome for Standing up for your Rights! The saying goes if you can’t handle the heat Get out of the Kitchen! Marwaan if your store can’t Handle the ScaMright policy Remove IT! We to have our consumer rights so if Pick n Pay doesn’t want our business, don’t value us! Then why support Canal Walk! I was shocked when the Pick n Pay employee squashed the barcode not to honour promises and Managers are Rude & Arrogant! Can’t believe in a democratic country when a Person defends himself when he’s being defamed He gets Banned! That’s what happened to me in Pick n Pay Canal Walk! Remember HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 21 March!’
POSTSCRIPT 3/4: Ashil has written to say that his matter has been resolved with Pick ‘n Pay: ‘Its Ashil! The matter with Pick n Pay has been Resolved amicably! I would like to retract all my Statements made against Pick n Pay and its employees as it was all just a huge misunderstanding!’
POSTSCRIPT 10/5: Despite Store Manager Marwaan telling me at the time that Pick ‘n Pay would respond to the Sour Award nomination, they have done so today for the first time, six weeks later, demanding that the post be removed. By posting the Postscript on 3 April we believe that we have been fair to both parties. This is what Pick ‘n Pay wrote: ‘ Good day Mr. (sic) von Ulmenstein. We have noted that the “Sour Award posted for Pick n Pay by Mr. Ashil Maharaj is still visible on your website. Mr. Maharaj sent you a mail on 3 April 2013 to retract his statement against Pick n Pay and its employees so we assume the entire post would be removed from your website. We would like to have this post removed completely please. The accusations made were false and even though there is a post stating that this matter has been resolved it still leaves a bad impression towards Pick n Pay. The allegations made by Mr Maharaj in his post were not true and unjustifiably defames Pick n Pay. The claims of racial attacks are not at all true and was simply a way for Mr. Maharaj to elevate his personal complaints, unrelated to Pick n Pay, to Mr Jonathan Ackerman. The blog also mentions our store manager, who has a place in the community and sheds very dim light with regards to racial claims that are not true. Pick n Pay has never and will never practice any form of discrimination and we take matters such as this very seriously. Pick n Pay in future would also appreciate the opportunity to respond to complaints before they are posted onto your site as there are often more sides to a story than just the version you initially receive. Please let us know once you have removed this post from your site and we look forward to working with you in the best interest of our customers and service delivery. Thank you in advance. Kind regards, Mary – Anne Hattingh, Pick n Pay, National customer service manager ‘.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.
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I’m surprised you published this virtually incomprehensible and badly written sour award.
In fairness to all our readers, I allowed it Paul.
The writer clearly was angry – he sent me pages, and I asked him to edit it down to 3 paragraphs. You will note the inverted commas, showing that it is his writing, not mine.
Chris
I think the issue seems to be that the price on the shelf did not match the scanned price on the till slip and then the alleged way that PnP managed the situation.
I do wonder whether both parties in this skirmish are both at fault and for the writer to resort to using the “c” word in the complaint is low.
Chris, how would you have dealt with a similar customer in one of your guesthouses?
Did Pick n Pay refuse to comment? I’m assuming you gave them an opportunity to give their side of the story because otherwise complaints like this would be very unfair.
We do not pass on the Sour Service Awards to the recipient company in advance Francoise, as you will have seen over the past three years.
Pick ‘n Pay’s feedback would have been welcome, as the Sour Service Award was Tweeted this morning, with their Twitter handle, but we have not heard from them.
Chris
The thing is, even within the scope of not giving the recipient advance notification, I believe this is unfair to the company because the complainant doesn’t make anything remotely resembling a valid case. I don’t see how Pick n Pay can possibly give any feedback on this.
There are, unfortunately, many examples of poor service that warrant a sour award in a more coherent manner with detailed reasons.
We have handled the Sour Service Award in the same way for the past three years Francoise. You read this blog regularly, and have never reacted to the way it has been handled. Why should it be different if the recipient is Pick ‘n Pay?
Why should I not feature a nomination that has not been written in perfect English? That would have been discriminatory!
I am sure that the Manager who interacted with this customer at Pick ‘n Pay Canal Walk will know what happened, in that the price on the shelf was not the same as the charged price, Pick ‘n Pay not honouring its policy. We have not heard from the retailer in the past two days.
Chris
Dear Heather
I do not understand the question and how it pertains to my guest houses.
If Pick ‘n Pay has a policy to give goods at the lower price if the scanned price and the price on the shelf differ, then they should honour that. We would do that, if we had a policy, but of course we are not a supermarket.
Chris
You misunderstand me, Chris. It’s not the quality of the writing I have a problem with, but the content.
And my point about PnP is not for them to receive different treatment but that there should be something of substance for them to respond to. Perhaps they don’t have a policy of responding at all, which is not very savvy these days, but if they do, they can’t be blamed for not wanting to address this rant.
Thanks for your further comment Francoise.
I have called Manwaar, the store manager of Pick ‘n Pay Canal Walk, and he has promised that his head office will call and respond. I have not yet heard from them.
Chris