{"id":8472,"date":"2010-06-18T09:46:20","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T07:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=8472"},"modified":"2010-06-21T12:54:47","modified_gmt":"2010-06-21T10:54:47","slug":"grande-provence-sweet-and-lime-media-marketingmedia-mountain-sour-service-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/accommodation\/grande-provence-sweet-and-lime-media-marketingmedia-mountain-sour-service-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Grande Provence Sweet and Lime Media Marketing\/Media Mountain Sour Service Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Sweet Service Award <\/strong>goes to Donovan Dreyer, the new Food & Beverage Manager of Grand Provence in Franschhoek, who came over to introduce himself when a colleague and I popped in to see the latest exhibition\u00a0at the art gallery and had a cappuccino and a dessert each.\u00a0 We were served the most beautiful\u00a0desserts\u00a0I have ever seen, and they matched their visual\u00a0attractiveness with exquisite taste as well.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My colleague had an apple and mango tart with a tiny toffee apple on top, as well as the greenest scoop of apple ice cream on a chocolate biscuit base.\u00a0 My dessert was a mini chocolate-filled croissant-like\u00a0pastry, served with a thick vodka cream.\u00a0 Executive Chef Darren Roberts is a talent to be watched. Donovan refused to let us pay, and we left Grand Provence impressed with their friendliness and professionalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Sour Service Award <\/strong>goes to Lime Media Marketing\/Media Mountain, a company that has changed its name a number of times since calling in the past six months or so.\u00a0 In heavy recognisable (almost trademark) Manchester accents\u00a0the staff introduce themselves as a “Google certified company” and promise immediately to put one at number one position “on the first page of Google”.\u00a0 I was offered a special for the Plettenberg Bay accommodation page, at a discounted rate of R 1 300 per month, down from R 4 600.\u00a0\u00a0 When I asked where it would be located on the Google page –\u00a0as an ad on the right hand side, as an ad at the top, or as a normal Google listing, tele-sales caller Matthew could not reply, passing me on to Ben.\u00a0\u00a0 Normally Google ads are\u00a0charged on a\u00a0pay-per-click basis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is obvious that the company is a call centre, as one hears the buzz of numerous other callers (I heard the same salescall go out to an accommodation establishment in Hout Bay whilst speaking to Matthew).\u00a0\u00a0No written communication is sent,\u00a0the transaction being done electronically, so that one cannot see the paperwork at all, which makes one suspicious already.\u00a0 \u00a0A guest house colleague in Camps Bay, Sally from Atlantic Suites, has also experienced the pushy nature of the company, having been intimidated by them when she did not pay immediately on what the company had\u00a0felt had been a\u00a0done deal.<\/p>\n

The WhaleTales 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 info@whalecottage.com<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales <\/span><\/strong>newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com<\/span><\/a> website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sweet Service Award goes to Donovan Dreyer, the new Food & Beverage Manager of Grand Provence in Franschhoek, who came over to introduce himself when a colleague and I popped in to see the latest exhibition\u00a0at the art gallery and had a cappuccino and a dessert each.\u00a0 We were served the most beautiful\u00a0desserts\u00a0I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,124,248,21],"tags":[4763,32367,4645,4764,1153,32370,32378,3985,4759,2125,4760,32369,287,550,4661,4762,4761,4662,32390,5,32373,1771],"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