WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Award | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Sweet Service Award goes to Ria’s Pools in Franschhoek, who came to our rescue late afternoon on 31 December, when the pool at Whale Cottage Franschhoek had a technical problem, which prevented the pool vacuum cleaner from moving. All pool companies servicing Franschhoek, even from Stellenbosch and Paarl, were called, and only Ria’s Pools’ Morne called back. Morne came back the following day, on a public holiday, to check that all was in order, as well as two days later. He has won his company a new client for his outstanding service.

The Sour Service Award goes to Tafelberg Furnishers in Green Point, where the branch manager Sterna took no interest in hearing a complaint about the lack of feedback by the salesman about the time of delivery of a washing machine to our Whale Cottage Franschhoek. Sterna just put me through to the Warehouse, making it my problem to sort it out with them, instead of listening to my complaint about her colleague.

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.

The Sweet Service Award goes to the Camps Bay branch of Vida e Caffe, which has a team of happy and friendly staff, who efficiently take the customers’ orders, and even help carry the ordered drinks outside if one needs help. The music level is moderate, allowing one to receive calls, unlike at some other Vida e Caffe branches.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Cape Town Stadium branch of McDonald’s, which must be one of the worst managed branches in the world. One would have thought that the outlet would have had the best staff in the country allocated for the duration of the World Cup, given its proximity to the Stadium, to be able to serve customers efficiently. Up to 1 000 World Cup volunteers, police staff and media covering the World Cup, as well as soccer fans on match days, come into the outlet to buy food there. The opposite is true – every day there are queues, not all till points are manned, they run out of food (chicken in particular), and appear highly irritated when World Cup volunteers hand in their daily voucher of R 60 and want to order to obtain full value for it. McDonald’s does not supply change for the voucher, and does not allow one to use it for two meals a day. The service is slow, inefficient and rude, probably because they have a captive audience. No management is visible.