Tag Archives: EasyPay

Vineyard Hotel Sweet and Pick’nPay Express Sour Service Awards

August 13, 2010

The Sweet Service Award goes to Rick Taylor, Group Marketing and Sales Exewcutive of the Vineyard Hotel, who came to the rescue when an ordered lamb burger had not been brought to the table at the hotel’s The Square restaurant after half an hour, the waiter coming back to say that the kitchen had run out of seeded rolls, and needed to bake more, requiring another 15 minutes. I was not happy that the Restaurant Manager nor the F&B Manager understood how poor the service in the restaurant was, and therefore asked to speak to Rick, a friend of many moons ago, in our advertising industry past in Johannesburg. With his charm and chattiness, Rick made me forget my frustration, I stayed far longer than planned, and I left with a positive attitude towards the hotel.

The Sour Service Award goes to Pick â€˜n Pay Express in De Waterkant, the second Sour Award it has received for exactly the same reason â€“ the problems in taking EasyPay payments. I had brought a cheque, and wanted to pay the balance with my credit card. It took half an hour to put through the 20 payments I was making, due to the slow Pick â€˜n Pay EasyPay system. The real challenge came when it took the manager Trevor another half an hour to try and put through the cheque payment â€“ first he had to call for special permission to accept my cheque, and once he had received this, he did not know how to deal with a cheque payment on the till. Trevor called the Pick â€˜n Pay helpline, and they confirmed to me that the total amount can be paid by two payment methods. I noticed that the Manager was not answering the questions the screen was asking, i.e. the branch number and the account number, questions to which the manager kept entering the amount to be paid, and therefore was getting an “input error” message each time, at least 20 times! It took an hour to make the payments. For a 24-hour outlet, one would expect a more competent manager to be on duty when the owners have gone home.

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.

Doppio Zero Sweet and Pick ‘n Pay Express Sour Service Awards

February 5, 2010

The Sweet Service Award goes to Colin Haupt from Doppio Zero in Green Point, who prevented his restaurant from getting a Sour Award. The customer popped in last Sunday evening after a movie, at 10 pm. Three waiters stood at the door, and immediately greeted the customer with the news that the kitchen was closed due to a stock take. A drink or coffee could be served, they said. The customer saw a pizza, and asked if that could be served. Yes, they said, that is not part of the “kitchen”, they said! The customer asked the Manager how it could be possible for staff not to encourage a customer to order a pizza, given that is what they are in business for. Linda, a Manager who had not dealt with the customer, asked what had happened, when she was on her way to leave the restaurant. When the customer explained it to her, she told the customer to rather go home! The Manager Jason refused to provide the details of the franchisee or the Johannesburg head office, giving the customer his name and restaurant number instead! In fact he asked the customer to come back to the restaurant to complain the following day, when the franchisee would be present. He did not take the customer’s details. The following day the customer called Colin, the franchisee, and he was most gracious and direct in apologising for his staff incorrectly closing the kitchen – it may only be done on his instruction. The chef had decided to override the boss, it would appear, once he had gone home. Colin has invited the customer to return.

The Sour Service Award goes to the new Pick ‘n Pay Express on Somerset Road in Green Point, where it took more than half an hour to pay 6 accounts via Pick ‘n Pay’s Easy Pay system. Only one cashier knew how to take the payment. Clive, the manager, initially tried to assist, but seemed to be out of his depth. He just walked off, and went to the back of the store, leaving his staff to try and sort out the problem. Alan, the trainee manager, seemed knowledgeable, but had never done a third-party payment. The customer had to call the franchisee Paul, for help, as the time taken was unacceptably long and the cashier could not make the sixth payment go through. Paul arrived, chewing gum, and was agitated that he was expected to come from his home to assist the customer in making the payment!

Balducci Sweet and Telkom Sour Service Awards

January 22, 2010

The Sweet Service Award goes to Ian Halfon and his team at Balducci restaurant in the V&A Waterfront for so generously hosting the members of the Camps Bay Accommodation Association to a dinner on 14 December. Not only did they pull out all the stops to introduce the guest house owners to a wide variety of dishes on the extensive Balducci Italian-style menu, but they also presented each guest house with a most beautiful gift box, consisting of a bottle of the Balducci house wine, a packet of biscotti, and a menu for the guest house.

The Sour Service Award goes to Telkom, for not arriving for an appointment, made two months ago, to install a telephone line in an apartment in Stellenbosch on Monday a week ago, as the technician had gone to the wrong block of flats. Even though he had the contact details of the estate agent waiting to open for him, he did not bother to call when he arrived at the incorrect address. It has taken another 10 days for him to come to the correct address, and he has now discovered a broken cable between the block and the distribution board, which has to be repaired before the line installation can be completed.