{"id":47177,"date":"2013-08-30T00:47:29","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T22:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=47177"},"modified":"2013-08-31T15:03:33","modified_gmt":"2013-08-31T13:03:33","slug":"pick-n-pay-sweet-and-ou-meul-bakkery-sour-service-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/pick-n-pay-sweet-and-ou-meul-bakkery-sour-service-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Pick ‘n Pay Sweet and Ou Meul Bakkery Sour Service Awards!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pick_n_Pay-logo-19A17F34E4-seeklogo.com_\"<\/a>The Sweet Service Award<\/strong> goes to Pick ‘n Pay for its super Gift Card service, which offers a 2,5% discount for purchases of Gift Cards to the value of R20000, a service most Pick ‘n Pay clients do not know about. \u00a0It does not replace the Smart Shopper card, which will be swiped for grocery purchases too. \u00a0Intended as a corporate product for companies to use in rewarding their staff, it can also be bought by anyone else spending large sums of money at the retailer, as we do to pay our municipal accounts and guest house groceries, monies we would have to spend anyway but had paid by cheque via Easy Pay in the past. \u00a0The process is simple: one requests an invoice from Pick ‘n Pay’s head office, pays the R20000 into their bank account, and then four cards are loaded with R5000 each, and the R500 discount is paid into a fifth gift card. \u00a0One can then shop at any Pick ‘n Pay and pay one’s utility bills as well. \u00a0Pick ‘n Pay loads one’s next payment onto the same cards again, but none may carry a value greater than R5000 each. \u00a0A better discount rate is offered for a R50000 Gift Card purchase.<\/p>\n

\"Ou<\/a>The Sour Service Awar<\/strong>d<\/strong> goes to Ou Meul Bakkery in Long Street<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, Cape Town, for its declining standard of service. About 3 weeks ago I bought some bakery items, and added a coffee and sandwich after the bill had been rung up. \u00a0The so-called manager, who doubles up as the barista, was unable to add the two extra items to the bill nor to create an extra bill, so that I could pay for everything together. I said I would return when they fixed the bill for me. \u00a0Feedback on Twitter did not generate a response. \u00a0I returned a week later to pay the bill, and was delighted that the barista was not present. A new manager Richard was apologetic and took down my details, not being able to assist me either. \u00a0I asked for some bakery items for my staff, and paid cash for these. \u00a0When I got to my car, one of the items was incorrect and two had been left out, so I had to go back into the shop again. \u00a0I picked up that most of the original (and nice) staff have left, and Tweeted to this effect. I received an immediate reply from @GoGo, saying that they had enjoyed breakfast there earlier in the day, and that they ‘love the staff’<\/em>‘ there. \u00a0I recognised the company name as an affiliate of Ou Meul Bakkery, and asked why the Tweeter did not declare that he is a co-owner of the bakery. \u00a0 He then turned nasty, now using his personal Twitter account @PieterBloem, asking (erroneously) why I go there ‘twice a week<\/em>‘ \u00a0if I complained about the service. I pop in there once a month at most, \u00a0and have never met Mr Bloem since they opened a year ago (he runs\u00a0Col’Cacchio in Cavendish Square), and have only seen his partner Antonie Basson at Oude Bank Bakkery twice in the past year!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards<\/strong>\u00a0are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.\u00a0 Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at\u00a0whalecot@iafrica.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the\u00a0WhaleTales\u00a0<\/strong>newsletters on the\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sweet Service Award goes to Pick ‘n Pay for its super Gift Card service, which offers a 2,5% discount for purchases of Gift Cards to the value of R20000, a service most Pick ‘n Pay clients do not know about. \u00a0It does not replace the Smart Shopper card, which will be swiped for grocery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,25,20,248,21],"tags":[16843,32366,723,32378,2436,9903,20599,1899,20602,16841,957,20603,20600,1587,20601,32373,1771],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t