Hey look at that… We’re 5 days into 2011 and I’m already pissing off the pinkos, my neighbours and by the end of this post, the businesses in my area.
Sorry folks. I have not made my new years resolutions yet – they’ll be around soon, probably in a Thursday Thirteen, so until that time, I do not have to be nice.
I just want some goddam customer service!
Case in point, #1.
2 weeks ago we ordered a nut-free chocolate cake for my son’s birthday party from a local business even though a friend of our told us the cakes from this place were stale. Prior to ordering, my wife hopped on the phone, told the business about this and they guaranteed to us on the phone that our cake would be made Sunday morning for noon time pick up. So we placed the order.
At noon on the Sunday I went to the business and dropped my $45.00 for a nut-free, kosher “chocolate” cake. I peek inside the box but the cake has a film on it of Superman. The bakery had a lot of cakes on the go, so it smelled great in there and the cake felt quite heavy, so off I went.
Fast forward to the end of my sons party where my wife is riling up the kids;
“Do you want a cauliflower cake?” she yells,
“NOOOOOO!!!!” the kids screen back. “Do you want a squash cake?” she yells,
“NOOOOOO” replies the kids…
“Do you want a CHOCOLATE cake!” she screams,
“YEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” the kids reply.
So I open up the cake, take my sharp henkel knife and proceed to hack off pieces. Problem is, I cannot get through the cake… Man is it dense.
And man is it vanilla.
Needless to say, they forgot some ingredients in this cake. It was terrible. None of the kids or parents ate it.
Upset, we drove by the store and my wife took back the cake them. They gave us back our $45.00.
And that was it…
I was really expecting to hear back from this bakery with a sample of their chocolate cake. By only giving us back our money what they have done is make us feel better but they have done nothing for their reputation. It’s human nature to talk about bad customer service or to tell people when something bad happens. I cannot recommend this place, but I will share our story with them.
The only reason I’m not mentioning them by name in this blog is that they’re moving to a bigger location very close to our house and the thought is they have got a new baker, or 2 who can actually bake.
Case #2. Baskin Robbins on Eglinton. I took my son Stewie in there a couple weeks ago and I should have trusted my gut instinct and left right away. It was empty in there and the machines they hold the ice cream tubs in were so loud I had to yell over my son to have him hear me. The ice cream itself was very old. The top of each tub was stale and rubbery and tasted that way too. But what really frosted my ass was when I paid by debit and happened to look at my receipt to see a $0.25 charge for using their debit machine in the bill was under $10.00. I had cash in my pocket. The bill was $7.00.
So I came home, went online and proceeded to fill out the online survey (complete this survey and you could win $1000.00). It was then that I noticed the receipt said; “Baskin Robins” and not “Baskin Robbins” and the online store locator did not have this location on it.
I point out all my issues on the survey and sure enough not more than 5 hours later I had an email from Baskin Robbins corporate stating they were going to investigate the sound in the store, the condition of the ice cream and the practice of charging extra for debit and… the franchise owner will be reaching out to me to apologize and give me my money back.
Cool, eh?
I never heard from the franchise owner, and will never step foot in that store again!
Where was the follow up???
Last example occurred to my wife on Cyber Monday.
She wanted to buy some customized metal water bottles for our kids, but the coupon on the website would not go through in the shopping cart. She emailed the owners who after some debating finally agreed to allow her to use the coupon and with that coupon we bought 3 beautiful water bottles. My wife them updated her Facebook status to notify her friends of this deal and went to the companies facebook site to “like” them and thank them for honouring the coupon…
That’s better customer service, no?
Granted if I was sending the positive feedback that the Urban Mummy did, I would want at least a thank you back form the business.
Nonetheless…
I want customer service!!! Would it kill ya to say “thank you” every now and then instead of thinking it’s your right to have me spend my hard-earned money in your establishment.
The Urban Daddy® 
Rumour Miller – It’s not just me, then… It is getting worse. I suspected that the better off people get in society, the less they feel the need to please others (because they don’t need the money, or don’t need the job) so as a result, customer service fails.
Mindy – I was amazed that you knew which bakery was referring to without me posting it, but I know you spoke to the Urban Mummy, and that story about your cousin is horrible!!! I feel like editing my post and naming them. It’s not like we’re ever going to use them again unless we go to a few parties that have used them and we see a dramatic change in their product… But after your comment even that seems unlikely.
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My cousin used to work for that bakery. She’s an awesome baker and they treated her like absolute shit. Used to make her work 36 hours in a row without a break and wouldn’t hire someone to help fill all of their orders. She made some things from her own recipes and they claimed that it was theirs, etc etc. They did other things, too. She left and now has a great job at a very well known and reputable bakery downtown.
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Can I get a Hell ya! Customer Service has gone the way of snail mail. It’s almost non existent and if you find some you are lucky.
There is nothing I hate more than terrible customer service. Okay, maybe there is but I can’t think of one right now.
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