How to transform negative customer service into a positive one

Last night I went out with my friend who I haven’t seen since lockdown. We went to a restaurant to take advantage of the Government’s eat out to help out scheme. A young waiter came over and told us that we had to wait for 30 minutes before ordering our food due to the kitchen backlog. We agreed even though we weren’t entirely happy about the situation. Twenty minutes later at 8:20pm, the waiter returned and took our food order. 

We were busy chatting away, sipping cocktails and lost track of time. It was 10pm when I

looked at my watch again and our food hadn’t arrived.  We flagged this up to a different member of staff, she returned a few minutes later to say that our food order was never processed. She apologised and accepted full responsibility for their error. She told us that the kitchen was shut, however, they would be happy to re-open the kitchen and cook our dinner, our meal would be free of charge, but, we had to wait another 30 minutes before it would be ready.  We were very hungry at this stage, so we agreed to wait. The chef also came over to apologise and told us that she would make our meal and re-iterated that it would be free of charge.

Before we left the restaurant, I asked for the bill to pay for our drinks. The restaurant made the decision not to charge us anything at all. Due to their customer service, they managed to redeem my negative experience and I will return to that restaurant again.  

Lessons to be learnt. When it comes to providing a service, the service level can only as good as your employees. Mistakes do happen and when they do, don’t be afraid to accept responsibility, offer compensation and exceed expectations.  You may transform a negative experience into a positive one.