Friday, February 09, 2007

I.O.U. Sunday's


TGI Fridays
Southampton Road
Park Gate
Fareham
Hampshire

To Whom It May Concern

This is my first ever letter of complaint to you regarding the poor service at your restaurant. Thinking about it, i could probably write one for every visit I've made to a TGI Friday's 'restaurant', but yours got the short straw. (Wonder why I keep coming back then? - read on......).
I would like to outline a tale of poor customer service dished out by your staff at a visit to your Park Gate facility, Hampshire on Sun. 4th Feb. 2007.
I hadn't planned to visit your restaurant on this date, it was pure luck that I was nearby, passing through; unluckily for you (& them), I had my two young children with me. (Incidentally, parents with young children who are fortunate enough to eat out now & again have not much choice in 'Themed/Kids restaurants - TGI's, McDonalds, or a 'Hungry Horse' type place - I am happy to class TGI's as leader of this poor grouping).
I wished I had chosen McDonalds on this instance as they actually manage 9 times out of 10 to get both parents & kids served at the same time.
( - perhaps you could contact them to send some managers on work experience there?)
Question. Why would you send out a kids meal (Veggie Burger, Chips & Beans) out 25 mins before all other orders on the same bill? (On complaining, the 'Duty' manager suggested that we probably ordered this as a starter!) - Yes, that's right, my 5 year old daughter loves burger, chips & beans as a 'Starter'. I guess the fact that on our 'order' was missing her usual main course of rump steak, onion rings, extra fries + side dish of pasta followed by Knicker Bocker Glory might have misled your staff somewhat.
Worse still, people that came in much later than us were fortunate enough to be able to place an order, get served & finish their meal before ours finally turned up. I guess I must thank my lucky stars that the food was at least "Hot".
Some other things to moan about whilst I'm at it:-
  • Why is it not possible to combine kids meals with Kids cutlery? A steak knife for kids to eat pasta with is great entertainment for everyone i'm sure.
  • Balloons. Please don't tease young kids with balloons. It must be TGI's policy to have balloons, balloons in fact lot's of balloons. Everywhere. Young Children love balloons. Balloons are harmless. So if they ask for one, please assume that means 'NOW'. The manager (man "in charge") suggested that most kids who ask for balloons are quite happy to wait until leaving the restaurant.Really?
  • It was great to be able to complain to someone at the restaurant about our problems encountered. However, it would have been nicer still to have complained to someone who cared. In your defence, the complimentary 'Balloon Sculpturer' who came round just as we were leaving was a nice touch, & the balloon monkey & balloon flower are still inflated as I write. Please tell the "Sculpturer'to stick to balloon sculpturing though as his card tricks & jokes were appalling.
Sorry to nag. I love America. I love your food. Generally the service is OK. It's great that you provide a little drawing pack to keep my children occupied. God damn it, even the balloons add a little atmosphere. It's just that on this occasion it just didn't happen.

I sent you some feedback via the "www.tgifridays.co.uk/Contact-Us-About-A-Visit" web page, but have heard nothing.

Therefore I am resorting to sending the information you require via letter as I cannot seem to contact you any other way. Can I suggest that TGI's follow the rest of the free-thinking world and allow two-way communication via the medium of e-mail? I assure you it is much more effective than a link that doesn’t work.

Hopefully a voucher will be in the post very shortly for my family and I which takes in to consideration how much of a disappointment this visit was (including making me miss Dragon's Den whilst writing this letter. Although I can keep up through the www.bbc.co.uk website, it just isn’t the same, is it?).

Yours Sincerely

Paul Brewer

P.S. You may want my 'Check' number for the meal on said date to prove i am real. Obviously there was more than one Paul Brewer & Co. eating at table 85/1 on 12:45hrs - 14:14hrs with 3 family members on Sunday 4th February so if you weren’t able to look it up for yourselves, here you go:
3699

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