Tag Archives: Pick ‘n Pay FRanschhoek

Melissa’s Sweet Service and Pick ‘n Pay Franschhoek Sour Service Awards!

The Sweet Service Award goes to Melissa’s Head Office, which showed its appreciation for ‘constructive criticism and feedback such as yours is seen as a very valuable tool in our endeavours to achieve and maintain the highest possible standards’. They acknowledged that the service problems experienced at their Kloof Street branch on the day that they opened their new branch in the Somerset Mall are ‘not of the standard that you should expect’, sending a voucher with an invitation to return for the ‘true Melissa’s experience‘.  While the letter probably is a standard customer response one, Esti Pienaar, Systems Manager, expressed genuine interest in the service deficiency when she called.

The Sour Service Award goes to Pick ‘n Pay Franschhoek, for getting the purchase of gift vouchers so badly wrong.  Wanting to save time due to the slow process in loading each voucher individually, we called ahead, and the manager Craig was willing to prepare the 20 gift cards for us.  Adding shopping to the voucher purchase,  the cashier got herself completely confused, despite the manager standing next to her, and despite confirming a number of times which amount had to be paid, she made an error about the amount due. Adding insult to injury was that none of the cards worked when our staff used them at other Pick ‘n Pay branches. This meant that the whole transaction had to be redone a week later. The worst part was the rudeness of the store manager Stuart Downie, in trying to blame the empty gift cards on ourselves, instead of apologising for the error made by his cashier and her 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 WhaleTalesnewsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Pick ‘n Pay Sweet Service and Fego Café Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to Pick ‘n Pay Franschhoek, which proactively assisted customers in checking their Smart Shopper card balances on arrival at the store, and organised a cash back (a welcome R270) against the purchases made, as well as triple points for the purchases made on a public holiday.  This was welcome proof that the Pick ‘n Pay Smart card does work, unlike that of Woolworths, which is swiped for every purchase, and gives one the benefit of some occasional minuscule price discounts, but they do not pay back a portion of one’s purchases, as do Clicks and Exclusive Books.

The Sour Service Award goes to Fego Café inside Exclusive Books at the V&A Waterfront, which refused to serve food at 20h00.  They told me that their kitchen closes an hour before the book shop closes at 21h00. The staff and rude manageress Vusi said that they need an hour to clean the tiny kitchen.  I asked for the manager’s number, and Vusi wrote it on a torn scrap of paper.  The Exclusive Books staff have no control nor say over Fego Café they said, as it is a leased space, despite the poor reflection on their brand. To add insult to injury, I received a bill for a sandwich, which was not ordered nor served!  The staff also changed into their ‘civvies’ in full view of their customers behind the coffee machine, despite having a changing room.

POSTSCRIPT 2/7: Joe de Vries, owner of Fego, has just called, very defensive and aggressive, and questioning why we are wanting to ‘destroy’ his brand, saying that he does not have a lot of money, and also does not have a manager called ‘Vusi’ working for him.  He has threatened legal action, and says he is at his coffee shop all day, and then put down the phone!  I called the branch (a different number from which he called) and his manager Vuyo clarified that Mr de Vries is normally there from 8h30 – 14h00 or 15h00.  Mr de Vries became very irate when I told him that I have never seen him in his establishment, and this explains it, as I usually go to Exclusive Books in the late afternoons or evenings.  He blamed Exclusive Books for forcing him to close the service an hour before their shop closes.  He is a very poor listener, as I explained to him that over the Festive Season Exclusive Books closed at 22h00, and Fego still closed at 20h00, two hours before closing time!

POSTSCRIPT 2/7: Mr de Vries had added insult to injury by writing a comment on our blog, disparaging and defamatory in its attack on myself and Whale Cottage, which we have deleted.  This is a rather immature way to deal with a service complaint!

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.

Food labelling now more honest and detailed!

The new Department of Health food labelling regulations, Regulations Relating to Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs, No R146 of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act of 1972, which came into effect two weeks ago, are a welcome benefit for consumers, in that labelling will now be far more honest with regard to product content and its health benefits.

Claims such as ‘fat-free’, ‘low-fat’, ‘100% fruit juice’, ‘0% cholesterol’, ‘wholesome’, ‘balanced nutrition’, ‘nutritious’, and ‘healthy’ are now illegal. The percentage of major ingredients in a product must be specified. A berry juice, called that and depicted with berry illustrations on the packs, must prominently display the berry as well as the apple juice content, the latter being the basis of most fruit juices. Even more importantly, any ingredient making up less than 2% of the content by weight may not be emphasised, reports the Cape Times.  Any implied health benefits of a product are illegal.  ‘High in fibre’, ‘low fat’, and ‘sugar free’ claims on packs must be supported by the mandatory nutritional table.

The regulations dictate that the name of the product must be a minimum 4 mm in size, may not contain a misleading photograph or illustration, must list the ingredients in descending order of weight, product claims must be supported by the nutritional table, allergens must be listed, the name and address of the manufacturer and/or distributor must be stated, the net content must be shown, the batch identification number must be displayed, a ‘use by’ date is mandatory, and instructions for use must be provided.  Claims relating to diabetes must be supported by low GI, lower fat, and/or lower sodium information.

Food retailers appear divided about the food labelling regulations, Pick ‘n Pay expressing its support of the legislation in that it would carry products with full information disclosure, while Shoprite is said by Business Report to be critical of the legislation, due to it being too complex, it being inconsistent, not being fully inclusive, and being ambiguous.  The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa is addressing the retailers’ concerns about the legislation.

Despite the implementation of the regulations having been known for two years, Pick ‘n Pay Franschhoek was out of stock of its Pick ‘n Pay-branded Greek yogurt yesterday, a manger saying that the supplier is fixing its packaging in accordance with the labelling legislation, and therefore the product will not be available for another two weeks or so.

The new food labelling regulations, which apply to dog and cat food too, are a welcome benefit for consumers, in that it will remove deception and confusion about products’ ingredients and their health benefits.  The regulations apply to advertising of foodstuffs too, preventing puffery and misleading claims in this regard too.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage