7 April 2008

Poor Customer Service and Bad Food @ Ayutthaya Thai Restaurant Belconnen.

| Brenton
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The following is a true account of events transpiring on Saturday night the 06/04/08 and continued the following Sunday night.

After ordering take-away food Friday night from Ayutthaya Thai Restaurant I returned home to serve up the $60 of food I purchased. I opened the bag and discovered 4 dishes in total and three of those incorrect. The containers were barely 1/4 full and looked like they had been sitting in the kitchen over night. I was bitterly disappointed as the food is not cheap and we regularly order takeaway.

I decided to call and let them know how disappointed I was with the food. I was a regular customer and how they had given us incorrect food, and the servings were a disgrace. “I asked them if they would give us the same meals at a later stage in compensation”. I was then told by the manager, “can you call back later I am pretty busy right now”. This even further made my experience a disappointment, after I said I would not call back later, he agreed to give us the same food again at a later stage and he would add notes to the system, to make sure it was not forgotten.

The following night (Sunday the 7/04/08), I called to let them know we would like to redeem our food. The staff member said he checked with the manager, and we could pick it up in half an hour. I could not go get there, but my girlfriend went to pick it up. When she arrived at the restaurant, the waiter advised her she would have to pay for all but one dish. I believed this to be a further insult, so I drove from Dunlop to the restaurant in Belconnen. The staff member on duty said, the manager was not there and he could not contact him, as the phones in the restaurant did not call out to mobiles.

After further pressure he gave me the number and I called the manager. I spoke at length with him of how much time of mine he had wasted and the disgusting lack of customer service. I was told quote “I will gladly give you two of the dishes for free, so I don’t have to see your face in my restaurant again”.

Is this the kind of service I paid for? Terrible food, disgusting, unprofessional behaviour followed by insults. This is a restaurant I enjoyed going too. After speaking to fellow colleagues at work, I am not the only person to receive non existent service and food not worth eating, this is a common occurrence apparently.

Buyer please be aware.

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Stories always have two sides I would be interested to know what the restaurant’s side of the story is. I have eaten there many times and found the service to be great and friendly. The owner lady is usually there and very, very friendly. Multiple thai friends have agree that this restaurant together with lemon grass in civic are probably the best joints to eat good Thai Food in Canberra. Personally I think that the place could do with a new look, but have never had a problem with service or food.

El,

Clearly it is a typo and should have read apology.

An obology was all that was required

Obology?

Does that equate to some kind of bizarre, yet regretful, woodwind instrument?

Tagline

We could not bring ourselves to eat it. Hence the reason I asked for it again. posted by Brenton – April 8, 2008

la mente torbida3:02 pm 08 Apr 08

Hey Brenton,

restaurants live or die by their regular customers. The Friday/Saturday night crowd may spend more, but they don’t average $60/pop on a regular basis. As a regular customer, you deserved better treatment…his loss.

Regardless of whether it is a $50 meal or a $500 meal….it’s about value for money…vote with your feet and find another local.

I agree, SpecialG – Perhaps you should actually read the topic text. However Snahons is right, once bitten, twice shy –

Special G,

Once again we have someone who missed the point. Not only was it the wrong food, but it was disgusting and you would not feed it to a dog. When we let them know, we were treated like dogs.

We could not bring ourselves to eat it. Hence the reason I asked for it again.

Snahons_scv6_berlina2:27 pm 08 Apr 08

clearly a case of once bitten, twice shy… then again, there is plenty of other 2nd rate restaurants with which to take your custom to.

If you ate the food then bad luck. If you took the food back and asked for the food you had ordered then I might have some pity on you.

You obviously liked the food there before you got the wrong order otherwise you wouldn’t have kept going back.

Well I’m never going to that shitty restaurant, and I’m going to tell everyone I know not to go there either.

Thanks for the heads up brenton.

Perhaps the owner of the said resturant can afford to offend people with remarks such as “I will gladly give you two of the dishes for free, so I don’t have to see your face in my restaurant again”. Then again, with the price of his deplorable meals, perhaps he cant?

To all you who think $60 isn’t worth worrying about: you’d be quite happy to put up with this kind of service then, for anything?

You mean like your constructive post, and your unfounded personal opinion ?

How much time did you spend looking up those words in a dictionary and/or thesaurus ?

Graham, who would be considered a “big spender” as you put it? Someone sitting in the restaurant spending $500, come on, wake up to yourself, how many people on any given night would therefore be considered “big spenders” and does this really entitle them to better treatment and better quality food than someone spending $10? Even Macas would go out of their way to please a customer spending $10. Regardless of the ammount spent (as you are obviously not seeing the point), see definition below:

Hospitality:

1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.

Note the words FRIENDLY and GENEROUS.

LemaChet, you sound like the sort of moronic imbecile that cant stick to a topic –
Post something constructive or get out; no one cares for your unfounded personal opinion.

Brenton – you sound like the sort of whinging public servant that gives this city a bad name…..

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy12:58 pm 08 Apr 08

I find it amusing that people think spending 60 bucks on a takeaway isn’t much, yet whinge when interest rate rises result in them having to spend a similar amount each month or their mortgage.

Hey Graham,

Although I appreciate your opinion, $60 is alot of money. As I said previously, the result of this post is a combination of all of the events. If an apology had been offered, I would have let it go, but the treatement I received from the manager, when letting him know the food that was served was below standard so he would hopefuly remedy it for other customers, was a disgrace. Clearly he did not care about any of it, and now as a result others know what happened and as I said I am not the only person this has happened too.

I am helping others so they do not fall into the same trap.

So I pose this question, how much do you have to spend to entitle you to hospitable, enjoyable service??

Clearly you are out of touch with the real world, and your childish comments regarding little whingers demonstrates, you would be employee of the month if you worked there. Maybe you should apply for a job there!

Don’t listen to the whingers Brenton – thanks for the warning it is always good to know which places to avoid (and which places to go to). By raising this you have not only warned us away from this shoddy establishment – but prompted others to share some tips for where to get a good Thai feed. Good stuff.

Remember, Pottsy, lives in the best house in Griffith and wipes his arse with $100 bills.

It is not one bad meal, that is the whole point. Spending sixty dollars on food on regular occurences at the same place, and being treated the way I was, is in no way what you expect from that type of establishment. An obology was all that was required, instead all I received from them was a disgusting example of what a restuarant should not be like.

I mean if this had happened at Macca’s then you would simply not care.

I have been in hospitality before (as a waiter) and there is no way in hell I would treat people like the manager did, after all customers are the life blood of the business. This is a prime example, if he had done the right thing in the beggining, would I now be warning people away telling my story on the net?. He had said that on return the food would be free, yet when we did return we were treaded like dogs and verbaly abused us.

I paid for a product that was in now way what i received.

If you received this kind of behaviour from a mechanic or any other business would you return or want others too?

Just Google’d it. It’s called Thai Chiang Rai and it’s better tasting, cheaper and the staff have always been cool.

There’s an awesome Thai place just up the road hidden behind Blockbuster. I can highly recommend as I’ve been to both this place and Ayutthaya and I will never go back to Ayutthaya again.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:14 am 08 Apr 08

VY’s RulesForLife(TM) # 345: Always check food at the premises before taking away. This goes for restuarants, Maccas, pizza shops, basically anywhere where someone else selects and/or prepares your food and then hands it to you. It takes 10 seconds, and saves hassles later. With asian food takeaway you can often see the food through the clear containers and clear(ish) plastic bag anyway. At least do a count to check you have the right number of containers and they look to contain approximately the right food.

Seriously, I do this whenever I get takeaway, which is not that often. I don’t care if it takes an extra 10 seconds, because I don’t trust the human turnips that seem to work in hospitality these days.

I’ve also had bland experiences at the restraunt, but haven’t either been back, and haven’t been to an alternative Thai restauraunt to do a decent comparison yet.

Up your way, there’s a few hidden Thai choices though, you’ve just got to find them. Look in Kippax for a not too bad small establishment in between Moby Dicks and Pizza Hut, and there’s another decent Thai place in between the Pot Belly and Goodberry’s/Rubee’s in Belconnen.

Monkey Magic, although predominantly Chinese fare also does some very Thai inspired Chinese dishes as well.

Never had a problem with the place.

You probably got the doggie bag from one of the tables by mistake. They would have been cheering when they opened theirs.

Brenton – Asian businesses simply do not refund or correct their mistakes. Your only recourse is to not go back. It’s been explained to me as a saving face thing. If you have a bad experience in an Asian restaurant it’s always just too bad. Mind you, I’ve struck the same attitude at Panggea.

Been there tons of times and it’s always been great. Best mussaman in canberra.

Buyer please be aware.

Thanks for the post. I will.

I’ve had ok food from there too – ages ago though.

I think sometimes you end up somewhere on the chef’s night off, and instead of closing, they get their brother in or whatever, and the food is just not up to scratch.

One bad meal is enough though, to not go back somewhere.

Went there one night last year. While the service wasn’t as good as some of the better Thai eateries around the food wasn’t that bad. Also has a nice outlook if you get a window seat.

Where’s Gordon Ramsay when you need him?

At last – someone consulted management before ranting on RA – I hope this will now turn their heads in your direction to provide a result in your favour…

Go get em tiger – RA all the way 🙂

My wife and I “dined” here once just after we moved to Canberra (7 years ago).

We are baffled as to why this place is still open. The only logical explanation we could come up with is that there are people out there who *like* to dine on tasteless grey lumps of meat and soggy vegatables.

i think, duke, you know the answer to that – as did joe pesci’s character in the first ‘lethal weapon’ film, sitting in the back seat as they drove away from a takeout joint…

“never go to the drivethru. they f*ck you at the drivethru…”

sometimes, like when you have driven ten or fifteen minutes away, have guests/commitments and need to eat what you’ve bought, returning isn’t an option. calling them was the logical next choice and this is what he got.

frankly, it was the 1/4 full tubs of fare that riled me most in this story – if a restaurant is good, then most dishes will be good to eat, so a wrong item is sometimes only superficially a bad thing – but little food is always bad bad wrong…

Brenton – why didn’t you take the food straight back? Why would you accept THREE wrong dishes after shelling out $60???

Brenton, phone them up and tell them they have a bad review on RiotAct.. Be sure to disable CND on your fone.

Few businesses here seem to respond well to feedback, and if the customer is not happy then they’re seen as a problem.

Mike Crowther4:27 pm 07 Apr 08

I think your mistake was agreeing to accept a credit after the bloke had insulted you with the ‘C’mon, c’mon there’s people waiting in here..’ line. Any business can make a mistake, but if they don’t offer to rectify it immediately (‘Sorry sir, I’ll send one of the hands out to your home with the correct order…), then they have no intention of doing so later. They obviously don’t need your future business and you do not matter.

Write them off then tell the world. There is no shortage of take-away businesses that will be happy to step into their shoes.

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