The Sweet Service Award goes to Spar in Regent Road Sea Point, for a surprise gift of a bunch of flowers for a grocery purchase of over R 1 000. As it was the customer’s birthday on that day, the gift was doubly welcome.
The Sour Service Award goes to LimelightDesign, suppliers of chandeliers with Swarovski crystals, with branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg and George. Third-generation co-owner, with his mother, and designer Patrick Miller was quick to make a sale of a chandelier, and led the customer to believe that it would be hung on the same day. He came to have a look later that afternoon, but without the chandelier, stating that it could only be hung by an electrician five days later. A time was agreed. On the appointed day Mr Miller called to change the appointment to the following day, due to the electricians running late on another project for the company. When the customer was unhappy about the appointment change, especially as it had to be hung prior to a party on the following day, the electricians did arrive on the appointed day. However, Peter, the LimelightDesign installations person, was an hour late. He made himself very much at home during his time in the home, and called for the customer from one end of the house to the other, without having met the customer or asking the staff to help locate the owner. When the upset customer asked for the mobile number of Patrick, and dialled it, it rang through to Peter’s phone! The upset grew when the team left, without volunteering the information that the electricians had damaged the ceiling during the installation process. No attempt was made to rectify the situation immediately. The hole was fixed a day later, but the person doing this work left very dirty marks on the chandelier structure, despite the chandelier serving as a centrepiece for two parties. Mr MIller was not contactable during the installation process, and told the customer that he was far too busy to come to the site, as he was in customer meetings all the time. However, when it came to delivering the invoice, and chasing payment, Mr Miller had all the time in the world to do so personally. Surprisingly, the LimelightDesign branch on Buitengracht Street in Cape Town closed down during the week between the purchase and installation of the chandelier, and the company will only operate in Johannesburg, according to the notice on the shop.
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.
The Sweet Service Award goes to Webtickets, an on-line ticket booking agency. A duplicate booking made for one of the shows of the Franschhoek Literary Festival was quickly and efficiently cancelled, and payment was refunded within 5 minutes of making the call, and explaining the error to the Webtickets representative. An e-mail was also immediately sent to the customer, confirming the refund. 
The Sour Service Award goes to Patrick Miller of Limelight, a Sour Service Award recipient on 26 December, for writing to WhaleTales, and giving it “permission” to continue featuring the Sour Award awarded to Limelight, subject to a set of conditions. He has also promised to send the demand to his lawyer! It reinforces the arrogant attitude of this young joint owner of Limelight, which made him eligible for the Sour Award in the first place!
