Tag Archives: Groupon

Home Brands Sweet Service and Groupon/Cape Talk Sour Service Awards!

The Sweet Service Award goes to Home Brands in Montague Gardens, and is nominated by Sue Coetzee: “I purchased an Aquaflosser about 2 years ago, and lost the receipt, so when I had problems with the charger, I bought a new one through a discount voucher. It stopped working after a few months, and as I no longer had any proof of purchase I thought that was it. I took a chance, and took them into their Cape Town office when we were there, and was very pleasantly surprised to receive two new units in the post not long after (person dealt with was Yumna)! Well done to them, no questions asked“.

The Sour Service Award goes to Groupon with Cape Talk, and is also nominated by Sue: “I purchased two vouchers early December, one for a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 bluetooth keyboard and cover, and the other for a Salad bowl that keeps the items cold. Eventually i received the keyboard and cover, only to discover it was a generic, at the same price one can purchase off the shelf, it didn’t fit my Note, appeared to be second hand (the plastic wrapping had been opened), and the description on the outside box had been marked out with a koki pen.  I have had no reaction to firstly, finding out what has happened to the salad bowl, nor to my request for how to return the keyboard and get a refund. (What i did receive was a request to rate their service in relation to my request. Needless to say, i also did not receive any response to my answer!). Around the middle of January, I heard on radio 567 that John Maytham had interviewed a big shot in Groupon, who had promised to sort out all the outstanding queries, and if one wrote again to Groupon, and received no response, to forward the emails to his (John’s email address), and he would make sure they went directly to the guy he interviewed, It’s now nearly the end of January, and still no response! What now?”

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.

Woolworths Sweet Service and Neethlingshof Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to the Piazza Da Luz Woolworths branch on Regent Road in Sea Point, and its new manager Jacques.  He was very interested in feedback I presented telephonically about the unprofessional behaviour of an evening duty manager some time ago. Earlier this week he helped pack my few shopping items in my heavily used Woolworths shopping bag, which had lost one its handles on a previous shopping trip. Noticing the missing handle, Jacques offered me a free replacement Woolworths shopping bag in the colour of my choice!  Jacques told me that he welcomed feedback and invited me to contact him at any time.

The Sour Service Award goes to Neethlingshof in Stellenbosch, and was nominated by Daisy Knowles. We have edited her nomination, due to its length.  “My Godparents had bought a Groupon voucher for a supper special at the Lord Neethling Restaurant.  It was 2 for 1 on paella and seafood platters. I was expecting a fine dining experience. When we arrived we were ushered into a small dining room to the left and seated in the corner. We were, also unfortunately, next to a family table where there was a very vocal little girl.  Please don’t get me wrong, I love children, I just think if you’re at a restaurant and in close proximity to other diners, there needs to be a certain number of decibels the child doesn’t venture above.  The lady who served us seemed to be serving every single table, so the time she spent at each seemed hasty and I felt we were against the clock when she came over to us.  When our wine was served, I actually had to bite on my lip for not wanting to giggle.  She poured it from a height so that it shot into the glass at around 100km/h.  I learned a whole new meaning to aerating the wine.  One can’t fault the starters, they were lovely. The dishes were, however, served from her standing at one corner of the table and stretching over us.  The tartare sauce accompaniment was definitely from a bottle and the dish it was served in was chipped. At this point I noticed my Mum had left half her meal too and said it was making her feel odd and she didn’t want to eat anymore.  She and I then went to the bathroom where the ‘coating’ of the loo seats was chipped off in places, and the taps were loose in their settings. The soap was one of those electric-neon coloured liquids poured into a Radox pump-bottle and the (one) hand towel was limp to the touch and looked in need of a good wash. A creme brulee and the sugar coating bordered on burnt.  Our waitress didn’t seem to take well to this and almost snatched it from Steve’s hand before turning around – she said nothing.  He called after her, “please don’t bring us another one”.  She came back to the table and said politely that it had been removed from the bill.  When the bill was brought to us it was over R900 and we decided to write off the evening and could only laugh.  She came running to the table with the second bill saying she hadn’t deducted the voucher amount.  In true South African style, we over tipped, but sadly left with a very bitter taste in our mouths”.

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

Cape Times Sweet Service and Massimo’s Plumstead Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to the Cape Times, for its wonderful new service of creating a movie listing for all Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro cinemas in the Western Cape for the week ahead.  Previously these cinema chains ran (separate) daily ads in the entertainment pages of the two local Cape Town newspapers, but Ster Kinekor stopped advertising last year, and Nu Metro stopped its advertising last month, encouraging one to set up their website on one’s phone.  Not all avid movie-goers are so tech-savvy to do so, and therefore the Cape Times movie information listing is most welcome!

The Sour Service Award goes to Massimo’s in Plumstead, and is nominated by Massimo Orione, owner of Massimo’s Pizza Club in Hout Bay.  Massimo from Hout Bay wrote to complain that Massimo’s Plumstead ‘stole my name but also the logo from Pizza Express’, a UK pizza chain.  Matters came to a head when Massimo’s Plumstead ran a Groupon special, which damaged the image and reputation of Massimo’s Pizzaclub.

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.

Ubuntu Deal Sweet Service and Groupon Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to Nicole Martin from Ubuntu Deal Cape Town, and is nominated by Mary Gratjios:   ‘My Sweet Service  award goes to Nicole Martin from Ubuntudeals Cape Town who went out of her way to sort out a voucher when an email was lost in cyberspace . She was ever so friendly and obliging and although the deal had expired the previous week , she still managed to secure it for me ‘.

Ms Gratjios has contrasted this to her experience with a competitive group buying system.

The Sour Service Award goes to Groupon, and is also nominated by Mary Gratjios. Ubuntudeals’ attitude of  ‘Nothing is too much trouble’  was in stark contrast to that of  Groupon,  who get my Sour  Service award .  They took almost two weeks to reply to a query about a product  ( by which time the deal was long past ) . When the reply finally came , it was a curt  “Contact the supplier ” ( A marvellous  opportunity for service excellence was  missed when they did not even bother to provide me with the supplier’s details).  When I received an email asking me to rate their support service –  I was very honest !   This was a few weeks ago and they still have not bothered to respond to my criticism, which makes me wonder just  how serious they are!”

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.