When business gets nasty
After a Durban reader complained about his new Hyundai, the easy option would have been to lash the corporate bully, but things are never quite as they seem
THE customer is always right. Until they’re wrong. It’s a mantra adopted by customer service departments – and especially evident in the hospitality industry – which is nicely encapsulated in this juicy tidbit from the north of England.
A top restaurant has been hailed for its response to a rude customer who described their food and surroundings as “cr*p.”
The restaurant Träkol’s brutal comeback at the customer was necessitated after he mailed them about everything that was wrong with the place – from the food to the “budget supermarket garbage” wine.
Yahoo Style reports that the managers took to Twitter to write “the customer is always right… unless they are very very rude and very very wrong” before sharing both the customer’s email and their response.
In his original email the customer described himself as “self-employed from a wealthy background and well educated (privately, obviously).”
“I have eaten in the best restaurants of Newcastle, Europe and the Caribbean,” he continued.
“I can honestly say I have never eaten such cr** food in cr** surroundings and payed (sic) at least four times what the food was worth.”
The restaurant – fawningly described by renowned restaurant critic Jay Raynor as “outrageously good” responded on Twitter: “Thank you for your mail – as a self-employed, wealthy, privately educated individual we would have thought you would have understood the difference between bread and bred,” the company started the thread.
“Whilst we are always welcoming of comments, critique and well-reasoned complaints in this case we must take umbrage to your mail which we feel is simply a personal attack,” they continued.
“However regardless of your barbed and rather insulting tone it is of course our duty to reply, so hold tight… “The chef is neither vegan nor ‘thick’ – a bit chunky maybe… but thick? No definitely not,” they wrote in response to the customer’s original slight.
“He is, as the whole team here at By The River are extremely passionate about what we serve here as a local, independent operator.
“Please let us know which supermarkets you source these wines at budget prices from (we imagine you are a Waitrose kind of guy?) and we will be straight down there with our bags for life to stock up.”
A brutal comeback to a rude, outof-order customer.
It’s not often that readers put journalists in this position, but, having gone down a rabbit hole of a story about a damaged new Creta that was bought through the Ethekweni Hyundai in June last year, it’s worth noting.
The reader, whose name I’d rather not mention, wrote that the day he collected the car he had shown the salesman the defective boot, and was told that he would take to his workshop the next day to adjust the rubbers. He was fine with that and agreed. When the salesman collected the car on the following morning, he complained that for a new car, the wheel alignment was off. The car was returned later that day, but nothing had been done about it: the boot and alignment were still off. It was backwards and forwards after that – after complaining to a manager, he asked to cancel the deal.
“I was ignored by Hyundai, I contacted the bank and they said that the monies were paid and that they could not reverse the payment,” he said.
“After a month of disappointing communications with Hyundai they agreed to replace the car. Long story short, they had called us in to see another three Cretas and the dealer principal said choose one. My reply to them was that these three cars are actually worse than the one I have already and he said yes, he agrees, these are bad. Let’s look at another colour which we did and they got me a white Creta which is less noticeable, but the problem is still there.”
He said his attorney had filed forms and submitted to the Motor Industry of South Africa and to date – eight months later – they had not replied.
“I had also contacted Hyundai iCare who is Hyundai South Africa and they just say they will look into the matter. I had the car assessed and the faults are as follows: Boot not aligned and also dropped about 3mm to 4mm from the roof’s height; the bonnet catch opens very harsh and is loud; the bonnet is about 3mm higher than the fender lining; both rear doors are about 2mm higher and very clearly visible; the roof rack gutter rubbers are loose; inside the bonnet there are parts with white chalk marking as is the parts were replaced.”
The reader said he felt robbed paying for a new car, but receiving a defective one.
I spoke to Deon Sonnekus, the spokesman for Hyundai South Africa, about the issue but he insisted the issues with the car were merely cosmetic.
I disagreed: whatever happened to this Creta and the other two – whether they were damaged in a crash or fallen off a truck and repaired, they shouldn’t have been palmed off as new. Demo, at best – especially since the other two were worse than the first.
Hyundai responded: “(The reader) is offered a settlement amount. If he chooses not to accept it, his other recourse is to approach the Motor Industry Ombudsman with his complaint against Hyundai Automotive SA.
“I want to reiterate that Hyundai Automotive SA has walked the extra mile to satisfy (the reader) as a customer. The replacement of the initial vehicle which he bought was done with a new vehicle – one that he chose from three Cretas that were on the showroom floor.
“Any variances in panel gaps in the Creta, which he apparently objected to, fell within the allowed parameters set by Hyundai Motor Company.”
Sonnekus then revealed the backstory: the reader had not only complained about the cosmetic issues, but had walked into the dealership, abused the dealer principal and staff verbally and threatened them with a baseball bat. Unacceptable.
So much for the corporate bully angle. The customer is right. Until they’re oh so very, very wrong.