On Friday, I received a complimentary voucher for an 8" gateau at Patisserie Valerie! Are you wondering why I got a voucher for a free cake? It wasn't for a good reason, here is what happened.
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a birthday cake from Patiserie Valerie's website for my cousin's birthday- I ordered the Macedonia Cake with Dark chocolate.
Macedonia Cake with Dark chocolate |
As you can see it is very mouth watering! Fruits looks fresh. Unfortunately, the pineapples on top of the cake had an unpleasant odour and had an off flavour. I however didn't take the cake back (I should of really), I just removed the pineapples and had the rest of the cake.
I called the shop where I picked it up from and spoke to the manager the following day. She was very apologetic about it and explained that they always use fresh fruits. She asked if I wanted to come to the shop and get a part refund. But then I think she realised she's not allowed to that or something so changed her mind and told me to fill in the complaint online form on their website. So I did. Guess what? I waited for a week and still didn't get any reply. So I e-mailed the head office directly and waited for another 3 days for a reply from the Brand Excellence Manager, Ms. J.D. (below is a copy of the e-mail)
Dear Ms. Li
Thank you for your email. I am sorry in the delay in replying to you.
All our cakes are freshly made with fresh ingredients. Clearly there could be no issues with off flavours.
Can you please confirm whether you have any photographs of the cake or that you returned any of the cake to the café?
Regards
2. I appreciate that they use fresh fruits but saying that 'clearly there could be no issues with off- flavours' is basically you're not accepting the responsibility at all. I mean did you bake the cake? I'm sure you recruit bakers. I mean accidents do happen, maybe one of your bakers left the pineapple out somewhere for a long time and forgot to put them back in fridge or something.
3. Why do you need a picture of the cake for?
I sent her the picture regardless and explained that I didn't return because we ate the whole cake as everything was fine except pinapples. Two days later she replied;
Dear Ms. Li
Thank you for the photograph.
We use fresh fruit on our cakes and of course there should be no question of any off-flavour. I can assure you your comments have been fed back to the Bakery.
In the circumstances, I will be happy to send you a complimentary voucher for another gateau, and if you can sned me your address I will forward that to you.
Regards
Still didn't get an apology but the content of this e-mail is a little better than the first though.
I replied to give my address and got the voucher within 2-3 days. The voucher was attached with a letter and at the end of the letter it said, 'Once again please accept my apologies about this....'
What apologies? I never got any apology. I assume that is just a standard complaint letter that they send out.
Anyways, at least I got some compensation in the end. The branch manager dealt with issue much better than her. At least she apologised than explained that they used fresh fruits and sounded apologetic. The bottom line is, the brand excellence manager didn't make me feel valued as a customer and it was as if she's saying I'm lying about the off flavours. You may be a very successful Patisserie and have branches all over central London and other parts of UK, but that doesn't mean customer service is not important any more within your company.
I bought a strawberry Gateau from their Marble Arch store for my father's birthday one year, and when I got home, all the strawberries on top were all mouldy and went off!!! I hate to think what it had inside! And I complained to the people about it, had a voucher for the same value but without any apology either. They are so pathetic
ReplyDeleteoh dear! You're case is even worse. it doesn't seem they use fresh ingredients like they claim to. I mean I'm sure they won't be shopping for fresh strawberries or other fruits everyday.I still have the voucher, I don't know when to use it because I can't exactly buy a free 8in cake for someone's birthday. Thats just not right.
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