Friday 8 September 2006

just exercising my consumer rights...

Customer Service Manager
Sushi Kin Sdn. Bhd.

Wisma Texchem
Lot 808 & 809
Jalan Subang 5
Taman Perindustrian Subang

47610 Subang Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

8 September 2006


Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to bring to your attention an incident which took place at your KLCC outlet between 6.30pm-7.30pm yesterday. As it was the last day of your Sushi Bonanza, my friends and I had wanted to make the most of our privilege cards.

8 of us had decided to go for the sushi galore yesterday. 2 friends and I arrived first, so we queued up at the line forming outside the outlet while waiting for our other friends. When our turn came, we told the waiter that there would be 8 of us, maybe more, and we would need 2 tables. He said okay, wrote down “8 pax” on the bill and proceeded to lead us to an empty table. He said we can sit down at one table first while he prepares another one for us as soon as a table becomes available.

However, this waiter became very busy after that, working at another part of the shop and probably forgot about us. By this time, there were already 5 of us squeezed into one table, so we decided to tell another waitress about our table requirements. But upon hearing this, she told us that someone would need to queue up again outside for another table. We were already eating halfway, and found her answer utterly ridiculous. We told her about the promise her colleague made to us, that he would prepare another table for us, but she still insisted that one of us go outside to queue up. And apparently, she has consulted the outlet manager and this seemed to be the manager’s directions. At this time, the manager was standing outside manning the growing queue. We told the waitress that we would like to see the manager, but after waiting for some time, the manager has yet to come, even though he kept looking at our direction. So I made eye contact with him and motioned him over. When he finally came, we told him about our predicament, pointing out that we specifically told the waiter that there would be 8 of us, showing the bill as proof. Had the waiter told us that each table would need to queue up separately, I would have asked my 2 friends to go in to the 1st table first while I continue to line up for the 2nd table. The next available table would have been ours anyway. But the outlet manager kept insisting that one of us go line up outside again, saying there are a lot of people waiting outside and it’s unfair to them. Then he went away without any conclusion or offering any solution. By this time, all of my friends had arrived and were crowding around our one table. When a table near us got available and the waitress (the same waitress who told us to line up again) was clearing away the dishes, some of my friends went to stand next to the table. But she said we can’t have that table and motioned to the customers at the front of the queue to come in.


That was when we realized that they planned to just ignore us and let us stand around without giving us a 2nd table! What kind of service is that? We tried to reason with the waitress again, but all she said was “Kamu kena beratur” and walked away with a dark stormy face.

After awhile, another table became available. So 4 of my friends who had been standing all these while went over to sit there even before the waitress managed to clear away all the dishes. After that, we noticed that service to our table has stopped completely. Teas were not refilled and plates were not cleared, and we had to request for tea refill a few times. Luckily there was a trainee waitress who was still very professional and did her job wonderfully.

The Japanese are well-known for their superior customer service and courteous manners. Shouldn’t these traits be reflected in an outlet that sells Japanese food? Just saying ‘irashaimase’ and ‘arigatou gazaimasu’ is meaningless if the speaker says it with a sour face.


Yours sincerely,


--------------
(stargal)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

huh, damn it lar what kinda service so !@#$%^&* hehe.. anyway good practice tho, stargal! thats our right! so go for it!

stargal said...

YW, yeah, we have to let those ppl know that they can't suka-suka push us around. it's time the service providers in m'sia learn what is world-class services!