Why people don't stay at B&B's Part II

[gillumhouse]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

OK, they gave her a new web site, online reservations, got her into using an accounting system, a T A boost, and made over a room. These (except for the accounting) are all geared to increasing her business. How the heck is this going to help her time problem. More business means more laundry, more cooking, more cleaning, more guest interaction. None of which shows how to gain time - she is STILL by herself. I did not hear one word of HIRE someone to do the yard work or the cleaning. No one suggested she hire some help to get some time.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

Did you read some of her RESPONSES to her T A reviews?? The woman is a nut! Or, at the very least, she's unpredictable

 

[Joey Camb]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

Was this the person who came to the forum a while back looking for struggling B&B's? I think it is.
Arrgghh a hamster in a cage and she doesn't have online reservations!!!
.

I don't know....
I was cringing every time they asked her questions! And, she always had no clue... She has on line reservations now. The photos really make the place look so much better. I still think she is insane to run a 7 room B & B by herself.
I wish they had asked her if she paid herself a salary...my bet...NADA!
.

and I love the approach to paying taxes - "I guessed" !!!!!

 

[gillumhouse]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

Was this the person who came to the forum a while back looking for struggling B&B's? I think it is.
Arrgghh a hamster in a cage and she doesn't have online reservations!!!
.

I don't know....
I was cringing every time they asked her questions! And, she always had no clue... She has on line reservations now. The photos really make the place look so much better. I still think she is insane to run a 7 room B & B by herself.
I wish they had asked her if she paid herself a salary...my bet...NADA!
.

and I love the approach to paying taxes - "I guessed" !!!!!
.

Is she really that stupid or was that scripted for effect? They start out saying she ran it for 7 years before buying the B & B. Ah, how was it doing during those 7 years? What changed when she bought it other than she could do it her way with no other input?

 

[JBloggs]

There are plenty of inns like this one. Most innkeepers do most everything themselves, and then it is a snowball effect and overwhelming and you can't stop to take stock.
But I agree they went from her doing it all and being overwhelmed to redecorating a room (to give her more business) and better images and website (to give her more business) so it was 6 of some half dozen of the other. I think they needed a part 2. She had a lovely place, and I felt for her!
Having online reservations is obv a time saver, for everyone, not just her.

 

[EmptyNest]

There are plenty of inns like this one. Most innkeepers do most everything themselves, and then it is a snowball effect and overwhelming and you can't stop to take stock.
But I agree they went from her doing it all and being overwhelmed to redecorating a room (to give her more business) and better images and website (to give her more business) so it was 6 of some half dozen of the other. I think they needed a part 2. She had a lovely place, and I felt for her!
Having online reservations is obv a time saver, for everyone, not just her..

It is kind of weird if she ran the place for 7 years and still seemed like she didn't have a clue what she was doing. It couldn't have been scripted, she was way too naive. I left a comment and I still think she is nuts for running a place that large by herself. No wonder things were just kind of let go. How much can one person do? I am surprised she hasn't burned out.

 

[Madeleine]

There are plenty of inns like this one. Most innkeepers do most everything themselves, and then it is a snowball effect and overwhelming and you can't stop to take stock.
But I agree they went from her doing it all and being overwhelmed to redecorating a room (to give her more business) and better images and website (to give her more business) so it was 6 of some half dozen of the other. I think they needed a part 2. She had a lovely place, and I felt for her!
Having online reservations is obv a time saver, for everyone, not just her..

It is kind of weird if she ran the place for 7 years and still seemed like she didn't have a clue what she was doing. It couldn't have been scripted, she was way too naive. I left a comment and I still think she is nuts for running a place that large by herself. No wonder things were just kind of let go. How much can one person do? I am surprised she hasn't burned out.
.

There is no way I could do 7 rooms by myself. I can barely do it with DH and a PT cleaner.
There are people who can do unbelievable things, tho. But I need too much 'down time' to do this on my own.

 

[JBloggs]

There are plenty of inns like this one. Most innkeepers do most everything themselves, and then it is a snowball effect and overwhelming and you can't stop to take stock.
But I agree they went from her doing it all and being overwhelmed to redecorating a room (to give her more business) and better images and website (to give her more business) so it was 6 of some half dozen of the other. I think they needed a part 2. She had a lovely place, and I felt for her!
Having online reservations is obv a time saver, for everyone, not just her..

It is kind of weird if she ran the place for 7 years and still seemed like she didn't have a clue what she was doing. It couldn't have been scripted, she was way too naive. I left a comment and I still think she is nuts for running a place that large by herself. No wonder things were just kind of let go. How much can one person do? I am surprised she hasn't burned out.
.

There is no way I could do 7 rooms by myself. I can barely do it with DH and a PT cleaner.
There are people who can do unbelievable things, tho. But I need too much 'down time' to do this on my own.
.

There is no way I could do 7 rooms by myself. I can barely do it with DH and a PT cleaner.
There are people who can do unbelievable things, tho. But I need too much 'down time' to do this on my own.

I don't believe for a second she was CLEANING the rooms and the rest, that would be impossible. Again, there was not enough info, and we know what it is really like so we can read between the cracks! haha

 

[Samster]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

I agree, JB, I think one of the top items is the personal service that folks are looking for when they book a B&B. A connection that is so lacking with much of our interactions as guests/customers.
In another thread, I mentioned my local coffee shop. I live in a 200K+ city, but that downtown business that I usually walk to remembers me and greets me by name because I live near them and support them, which I think they know is important! And they greet me with a SMILE! I am not there every day either. Imagine that. Brand new bakery around the corner from them which has the most awesome croissants (and that I am trying to encourage neighbors to support and also sharing their photos on FB) has yet to greet me with a smile when I walk in there. Big downfall with local businesses here is that they don't know Marketing 101 - greet your customers, smile, and thank them for coming in. dur.

 

[Samster]

Why people don't stay at B&B's? Company politics, at least that is the reason for the guy this week. This guy will be in the area til Thanksgiving. He does not like the hotel (H brand) that he is in right now and contacted me, then came by to see the place. He called his company to set a reservation starting this Saturday.
The company travel agent asked me question after question... Why? Because I am not a chain, that is why. They wanted to find a reason to say no. In my eyes they did not get one - my nightly rate was $5 less and our taxes are 8%less and a real breakfast instead of stale continental. She told me she had to get approval from the boss and would call me back. She never did.
But the guy did. He said they would not approve. HE was the one that said it was company politics. But as he rattled I got a little more. His company uses a well known travel agency, while the agent did not ask for a commission, I bet she gets one from the H brand and I bet the company gets a kick back of some sort for so many stays.
The ironic part to this is that this guy is here to work with the S mall Bu sin ess Adm in.!!!
BTW, he DID book to stay here for 2 nights as his wife is coming in to see him, said he would pay it himself..

The large campus for my dh's company (one of our top 3 employers) is within 10 blocks of our house. They strictly book through "chain" hotels. They can't think outside of the box! So, they drove to & from the downtown complex and missed out on exploring the real downtown.
Thank goodness our local university gave us a shot - they turned out to be a huge chunk of our revenue stream, people that stayed here for job interviews liked our downtown setting & many settled in our neighborhood, and I got to meet some of our most interesting guests.

 

[Samster]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

How do I get a job on that team?? hahahaha...

 

[Samster]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

Obviously overwhelmed innkeeper (we have all been there), but interesting that she didn't know how to get help and was resistant and a bit defensive to the help of the team.

 

[Anon Inn]

Check this out on FB!.

This lead me to many different things and I finally found this. Take a look
.

Thanks for posting this link. Nice to see the improvement team made a genuine effort to help. Hope the owner will be able to hire out some tasks and keep on top of the marketing. Well worth the 13 minutes to view!

 

[Madeleine]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.

 

[Highlands John]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
.

Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.

 

[Joey Camb]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
.

Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.
.

what drives me mad - saw a bb on 3 in a bed so went to have a look at their trip adviser as seemed really nice - guest had written long review about inadaquacies ie there wasn't a bin (trash can) in the bathroom etc all minor things but felt she couldn't tell the owner as she was so nice - yup well done you've put it all over the internet i'm sure she is super impressed.

 

[Copperhead]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
.

Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.
.

Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.

Sometimes it is hard to hear but you are correct, better they address the problem head on than afterwards in TA or social media when they have stewed on it even more and the issue has mushroomed.
I am guilty to have put dh through the same as you at restaurants

, but I do try to contain myself with the wait staff unless it is uneatable. I choose to pick my battles carefully. If it is not really going to affect me in the long run, I usually let it go (after complaining to DH that is). Life it too short!

 

[Arks]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
.

They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened.

They know it's overcharging people and they want it to keep doing that. We had 2 grocery stores here notorious for that. It was fun to purposefully note the marked price and call them on it at the checkout. It happened on almost every item in the store.
Being a small town, word got around and people quit shopping there. Both stores went out of business after about a year. Served them right!
Counting state, county, and city sales taxes, our local rate is 8.25%. I know one store in town that has their cash registers set to charge 10.25% sales tax. People pay no attention and just pay it. The store pockets 2% profit on every sale. I don't shop there anymore, and tell everybody who will listen about it!

 

[Generic]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

.

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
.

Around here, the law says that if it scans wrong, it's free (or $10 off, max.) We went all summer long once year eating free bags of salad. Every time it rang wrong, they had to give it to us for free. If they corrected one type, they didn't bother with another. So we would take it to the scanner, scan which ones were wrong and take more free salad. It took them WEEKS to finally get them all at the right price, but it saved us a lot of money.
It's law here, but it's a volontary code of conduct by major retailers in the rest of the country. Here's the basic rules... http://www.retailcouncil.org/advocacy/national/issues/cp/scanner_accuracy02_eng.asp
It certainly encourages them to fix the scanned prices... free is a great price and encourages us to find the items that scan wrong

 

[Highlands John]

Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.
I would actually ENJOY shopping there and spending hundreds a pop if they smiled, said thank you, or acknowledged me. Never. They don't.
Now I took daughter to a local Mexican restaurant where a former server from the one on our corner (which is now closed) now works, he walked over and greeted us and shook our hands, he is from Dominican Republic. He was not even our server. He came back by to see how everything was (and he was not our server). Well done!

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Service is what sets us a part. That is what sets one inn apart from the next. Over the top service? No.
Case in point, I go to the same grocery store to get my produce and the grocery manager is there every time, and ne'er once has said hello, or how are you, or drum roll please...smiled. You can walk through the whole store and have NONE of the employees who work with the public - smile at you. At the check-out yesterday "you saved $15 dollars" as she hands me the recpt and out I go. Nothing more.

OK, story from to day to show not everyone got the 'customer service is king' memo...DH spends approx $50/DAY in this one grocery store. He does not bulk shop. He shops everyday. They see him every day. Yesterday he bought grapes marked at $1.49/lb that rang up at $1.99/lb. He mentioned it to them and they fixed it. ONLY his receipt. They did not fix the computer that rang it up wrong.
Today he bought another couple of pounds of grapes. Same thing happened. He mentioned it to the cashier and then said the same thing happened yesterday. She turned to him and said, 'What are you complaining about? It got fixed didn't it?' He said, 'No, it didn't get fixed because it happened again today.'
When he told me I said he should have gone right to the mgr, showed them the past 5 days' of receipts (he piles them up in his pocket) and said, 'I spend this every day. I can just as easily go to the other store if you don't need my business.' But he won't.
And that right there is why he won't be treated with respect next time he gets that same cashier. SHE has put HIM in his place. End of story.
Annoys me to no end.
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Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.
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Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.

Sometimes it is hard to hear but you are correct, better they address the problem head on than afterwards in TA or social media when they have stewed on it even more and the issue has mushroomed.
I am guilty to have put dh through the same as you at restaurants

, but I do try to contain myself with the wait staff unless it is uneatable. I choose to pick my battles carefully. If it is not really going to affect me in the long run, I usually let it go (after complaining to DH that is). Life it too short!
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Not complaining is such a British thing, and it annoys me. It annoys me from a customer view because I want problems fixed and it annoys me from a business perspective because if there's something wrong I'd rather people told us so we do something about it. I'd also prefer they spoke to us rather than go home and put it on ta or fb.
dh says I'm always complaining, but he will complain to me through an entire meal in a restaurant and as soon as the waiter comes over at the end as asks if everything was ok he'll say "Yes, fine thanks". It does my head in. We did go through a phase when he would say to me "There's no letter of complaint in the local paper from you this week", they did print a few from me.
I get really irate when departed guests have written stupid petty grievancies on our feedback forms in the rooms, but it does give them a chance to communicate what they would like changed if they don't want to say it face-to-face.

Sometimes it is hard to hear but you are correct, better they address the problem head on than afterwards in TA or social media when they have stewed on it even more and the issue has mushroomed.
I am guilty to have put dh through the same as you at restaurants

, but I do try to contain myself with the wait staff unless it is uneatable. I choose to pick my battles carefully. If it is not really going to affect me in the long run, I usually let it go (after complaining to DH that is). Life it too short!

We once had dinner in a restuarant and for dessert I ordered the creme Brulee. I took one mouthful and it was horrible, the chef had put salt instead of sugar on the top for the crust, in fact any idiot should have been able to see that the topping hadn't melted to a caramel crust like it should. I pointed this out to the waitress and she was apologetic and the manager also apologised to me, so that's fine. However a lady on the next table had eaten the whole thing and when I complained said "I thought it tasted odd but I didn't like to say anything", Now that is dedication to the cause of keeping the peace.