Golf4food
Male pirate last time I checked. Yep. Still male.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 8,175
First, the background:
My DW and I went out to eat after church Sunday afternoon with her parents, one set of her grandparents, an aunt & uncle and their kids, and two great aunts down from another state. Fourteen people total, so it was a sizable group, yes, but the restaurant (Sticky Fingers Rib Shack) was not really very busy plenty of empty tables, only about half-full at most. Weve been with a group almost the same size when it was much busier with no problems.
We arrived around 12:30pm and were told it would be a 15 minute wait. Thirty minutes later we were seated. Our drink orders were taken within minutes, but it took between 10-15 minutes for the drinks to actually be brought to the table. Two people ordered coffee and it had to be sent back (twice) because the coffee mugs were dirty (something on the side of the cups). Then we sat and waited and waited. In an effort to make up for the dirty coffee cups, the two coffee drinkers were offered a complimentary peach cobbler dessert, which they accepted. But for some reason and this is beyond me a food runner brought out the peach cobblers almost immediately and none of us had even received our lunch orders yet! He stood there with a cobbler in each hand while we all stared at him like he was the dumbest person on earth, and he looked like he was wondering why on earth we were all looking at him so funny. Poor kid. Not his fault, Im sure.
Our food orders were finally taken around 1:30pm our waitress was invisible between the time our drinks were brought out until then. Then 25 minutes later we finally received our meals at 1:55pm. One order was mixed up slightly wrong sides but this was corrected. We ate our meals, with the waitress showing up once or maybe twice to refill some of the drinks. Due to the extreme wait time, however, my DWs grandfather had to scarf down his food and leave because he had a meeting to get to at 2:30 (which we thought would be no problem when we arrived at 12:30 )
It then took quite some time to get our bills and we finally all made it to the parking lot and our cars about 2:45pm a full two-hours and fifteen minutes after we arrived at the not-very-busy restaurant. My family has been eating at Sticky Fingers for about ten years or so, ever since we discovered them while on vacation to Charleston, SC. They then built some in our local area and we dine there fairly regularly (once per month or two, sometimes more often). Weve never had such a poor experience at any of their locations (weve been to the one mentioned above numerous times) and so when my DW and I got home we went to their website and wrote them about our bad experience (nothing mean, just a letter to let them know so they could fix it as I was sure they would want to do).
Fast forward one day to Monday afternoon, the day after our meal. My wife and I are at home cooking dinner after work when there is a knock at the door. My wife looks through the peephole and says Theres a man at the door with flowers. So I crack the door open and the gentleman introduces himself as the senior partner from Sticky Fingers for the state of Florida and he came by to apologize for our bad experience and to make it up to us. He brought the flowers for my wife (a pretty bouquet of daisies and such) and said that his day began at 8am by receiving our email about the bad experience and that their company strives for making each experience wonderful and that when they make a mistake they make up for it, and since the restaurant didnt make up for it while we were there, he was stopping by to make up for it himself. Along with the bouquet he had an envelope containing gift certificates in sufficient denomination to feed our entire family again on the house, so to speak, and a printed copy of an email reply he had sent to us (but we had not yet checked that email account that evening.) We were quite stunned, to say the least. He also assured us that he was meeting with that store today and that the matter would be addressed and fixed, and to be sure to ask for him the next time we visit the restaurant (he is stationed out of there, even though he is a state level partner) and that he and his best server would make sure we received impeccable service.
Its like getting visited by the governor of your state because of a bad experience at the tax collectors office, and then being offered a tag renewal for a year for free.
After he left (he spoke to us for about five minutes before leaving so we could finish fixing dinner so the pork chops didnt burn!) all we could say was Holy crap! 
Any company willing to go out of their way like that to make up for a poor experience certainly has my respect. Thats what I call customer service.
My DW and I went out to eat after church Sunday afternoon with her parents, one set of her grandparents, an aunt & uncle and their kids, and two great aunts down from another state. Fourteen people total, so it was a sizable group, yes, but the restaurant (Sticky Fingers Rib Shack) was not really very busy plenty of empty tables, only about half-full at most. Weve been with a group almost the same size when it was much busier with no problems.
We arrived around 12:30pm and were told it would be a 15 minute wait. Thirty minutes later we were seated. Our drink orders were taken within minutes, but it took between 10-15 minutes for the drinks to actually be brought to the table. Two people ordered coffee and it had to be sent back (twice) because the coffee mugs were dirty (something on the side of the cups). Then we sat and waited and waited. In an effort to make up for the dirty coffee cups, the two coffee drinkers were offered a complimentary peach cobbler dessert, which they accepted. But for some reason and this is beyond me a food runner brought out the peach cobblers almost immediately and none of us had even received our lunch orders yet! He stood there with a cobbler in each hand while we all stared at him like he was the dumbest person on earth, and he looked like he was wondering why on earth we were all looking at him so funny. Poor kid. Not his fault, Im sure.
Our food orders were finally taken around 1:30pm our waitress was invisible between the time our drinks were brought out until then. Then 25 minutes later we finally received our meals at 1:55pm. One order was mixed up slightly wrong sides but this was corrected. We ate our meals, with the waitress showing up once or maybe twice to refill some of the drinks. Due to the extreme wait time, however, my DWs grandfather had to scarf down his food and leave because he had a meeting to get to at 2:30 (which we thought would be no problem when we arrived at 12:30 )
It then took quite some time to get our bills and we finally all made it to the parking lot and our cars about 2:45pm a full two-hours and fifteen minutes after we arrived at the not-very-busy restaurant. My family has been eating at Sticky Fingers for about ten years or so, ever since we discovered them while on vacation to Charleston, SC. They then built some in our local area and we dine there fairly regularly (once per month or two, sometimes more often). Weve never had such a poor experience at any of their locations (weve been to the one mentioned above numerous times) and so when my DW and I got home we went to their website and wrote them about our bad experience (nothing mean, just a letter to let them know so they could fix it as I was sure they would want to do).
Fast forward one day to Monday afternoon, the day after our meal. My wife and I are at home cooking dinner after work when there is a knock at the door. My wife looks through the peephole and says Theres a man at the door with flowers. So I crack the door open and the gentleman introduces himself as the senior partner from Sticky Fingers for the state of Florida and he came by to apologize for our bad experience and to make it up to us. He brought the flowers for my wife (a pretty bouquet of daisies and such) and said that his day began at 8am by receiving our email about the bad experience and that their company strives for making each experience wonderful and that when they make a mistake they make up for it, and since the restaurant didnt make up for it while we were there, he was stopping by to make up for it himself. Along with the bouquet he had an envelope containing gift certificates in sufficient denomination to feed our entire family again on the house, so to speak, and a printed copy of an email reply he had sent to us (but we had not yet checked that email account that evening.) We were quite stunned, to say the least. He also assured us that he was meeting with that store today and that the matter would be addressed and fixed, and to be sure to ask for him the next time we visit the restaurant (he is stationed out of there, even though he is a state level partner) and that he and his best server would make sure we received impeccable service.
Its like getting visited by the governor of your state because of a bad experience at the tax collectors office, and then being offered a tag renewal for a year for free.
After he left (he spoke to us for about five minutes before leaving so we could finish fixing dinner so the pork chops didnt burn!) all we could say was Holy crap! Any company willing to go out of their way like that to make up for a poor experience certainly has my respect. Thats what I call customer service.
I'll have to remember their name, in case we ever happen to be near one. 
and thousands of people will know how hard they try to please their customers! There is no better (or worse) advertisement than word of mouth. 
