I recently purchased take-out from Merienda by Pan De Manila. What started out as a big mistake turned into an incredible customer service experience that has now made me a, dare I say, a loyal customer.
It all started one night when I was heading home from work. I was craving Sopas so I decided to pass by Merienda by Pan De Manila that was near my office to order sopas for take-out. I decided to also get their Ginataang Gulay, or vegetables cooked in coconut milk. Once my order was ready, the waiters hand me two bags. The sopas was placed in an open bag but they also handed me a bag that was sealed with tape. I didn't bother removing the tape but I assumed it contained the ginataang gulay. Imagine my absolute dismay when I got home and opened that sealed bag only to see a pack of pan de sal!
It was upsetting on multiple levels. First, I really wanted to have some vegetables for dinner that night and now I didn't have any. Second, my ginataang gulay cost a lot more than the pack of pan de sal. Third, since I was already home, I was too far away from Merienda by Pan De Manila to go back and have my incorrect order replaced. Fourth, the soonest I could go back there would be a week later. (Technically, I could return sooner, but the time I would spend going there and back plus the cost of gas would be worth more than the cost of the food I ordered). I tried looking up their contact number online but I couldn't find it. I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to get a replacement or a refund.
I had the opportunity to return to that same place a week later and I was in two minds as to whether I should still complain about the wrong order. After all, a lot of time had passed since the mistake and they could argue that I should have checked my order to confirm that what I got was right.
I decided to just share my experience so I can tell them to be more careful in the future; I wasn't expecting anything at all. I spoke to the woman behind the cashier (who was there the previous week as well) and I told her about the wrong order. Before I could even go into detail of my concern, she immediately acknowledged their mistake, saying that she remembers the situation from the week before, and she told me they would replace my order. She sounded genuinely apologetic. She even told me that they stuck a piece of paper on the door of the restaurant with their contact number on it in case I returned on the night in question; that way I could call them if the store had already closed.
I honestly didn't expect that response or even that they would remember me and replace my order so I was very pleasantly surprised. I decided to order a pack of cheese sticks and tablea ice cream as kind of a 'thank you' (in the form of additional revenue for them) for their positive response. As I was paying for my order, the woman told me that they would just charge me for the ice cream and they would give me the cheese sticks for free. Wow! But as if that wasn't enough, when my vegetables finally arrived, they gave me a complimentary cup of iced tea as well. They also continued to apologize for the error in the previous week.
I've never experienced this kind of response in a local establishment in the past so I was really pleased with how they managed the situation. I remember taking customer service training many, many years ago and the trainer talked to us about how you can actually turn a bad customer experience into a good one. I guess this is a clear example of that. I now consider myself to be a loyal customer of Merienda by Pan de Manila and since that experience, I try to eat there or buy take-out whenever I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment