The Sweet Service Award goes to Nedbank, and is nominated by Suzaan Groenewald of Batavia Boutique Hotel in Stellenbosch: “On Friday, the 16th September at around 9 am I called the Nedbank Merchant center to enquire about getting a separate pinpad for my credit card machine. The call was answered immediately – I could not believe my luck that I was not put on hold at all! The lady on the other side was very friendly and helpful and got the order for the pinpad placed very quickly. I was very happy to hear that it is supplied at no extra charge! At 11 am the technician was at my hotel to install the pinpad! It was a wonderfully unexpected surprise to see him standing at the door within 2 hours of me calling! That is what I call great service”!
The Sour Service Award goes to Coco’s in Hermanus, and is also nominated by Suzaan Groenewald as follows: “Last Sunday, the 18th of September, me and my 2 sisters drove through to Hermanus to go see the whales. Well, apart from not seeing any whales, we had a very bad experience at Coco’s – formerly Cubana. We all ordered cocktails – from the very cryptic menu. On the cocktail menu there is no indication at any of the drinks of what alcohol is actually put in the cocktail. One is left to wonder what will come to the table. They can literally throw anything into the glass. The first round was ok. But then we ordered our food, ate and decided to order another cocktail for dessert. I order something called a Yama Mojo. The description said it was a “cranberry and strawberry fantasy”. It was no fantasy. It tasted awfully strong of Tequila and nothing else. I could not drink it, and did not want it. I called our waitress. She was not very helpful, left the drink sitting in front of me and called the manager. In walks a lady with a very bad replica of the South African flag sprayed onto the one side of her hair – the manager. She was very defensive from the get go, and after I asked her to take the drink away because it tasted disgusting and that was not going to drink it, she told me that there was no tequila in it, I was mistaking the taste of ‘Vino Blanco’ and ‘Mojo Jojo’ for Tequila. She took the drink, turned around and walked away without any sign of an apology, not asking if I would like anything else in its place, and when the bill came it was still on there. I looked for the manager to ask to take it off the bill, but she was nowhere to be found. This was truly a SOUR experience and I will never go back to this restaurant”.
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.