I’m sure we’ve all experienced great customer service, and I’m even more certain we’ve all had terrible experiences that are usually all the more memorable. But how does it really affect your decision to return to somewhere?
Being honest, if we are to visit a restaurant or choose a hotel for our holiday, the service we received last time will undoubtedly be an overriding factor when we are deciding whether we choose to go there again or not.
Our local pub is the prime example. When we first moved to our house, we went looking for nice village pubs, with a log fire, good local beer and an all-round good ambience. We found one such pub and our first night in there was great. Food was lovely, service was amazing, and we planned to be back immediately.
On our next visit, the food went back to the kitchen as the fish was greasy and undercooked, but the service was good. They cooked a fresh dish, removed the item from the bill, were very apologetic, kept us updated on time and it didn’t ruin our day as we both left fed and happy overall.
We visited again for Sunday lunch. The place was packed at first, but quickly emptied. We waited ages to be served, the food was almost an hour, parts of it were cold when it arrived, and it just was more stress than fun. The food, by the way, was amazing. Although not all piping hot, everything was delicious.
The fact is though, we haven’t been back. The lack of customer care from the staff, poor communication and complete lack of awareness for the customers that were there (as opposed to the empty tables they were now clearing) just made for a pretty miserable afternoon. We went back after bad food; we haven’t been back after bad service.