There is an old saying in the hospitality industry that states the customer is always right. So whatever you think about the complaints they are making, the classic advice is to smile and resolve the issue quickly. One restaurant has decided to go against this ethos, however, as they fought back against a customer who left a seething review of the Indian restaurant on TripAdvisor.
Sai Surbhi in Fulwood, Preston, is considered the best eatery in the area for South Asian cuisine and often has a packed out dining room full of eager customers. It's also enjoyed glowing online reviews and has a star rating of four and a half out of five on TripAdvisor with praise for its delightful curries, according to Manchester Evening News.
However, a recent customer left the restaurant owners in shock after he titled the review 'I Would Rate 0 If I Could. Extremely long waiting times'.
The reviewer wrote: "Ordered only two curries and a bread that still wasn't ready after 1h 30min of waiting. When asked how long the the food would be, the same answer was given shouldn’t be too long now.
"I ended up getting a full refund which was challenging as I was told NO three times by the staff member and I that I can wait for my food. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, clearly the staff need training."
However, the management team fought back and claimed the customer had berated staff and threatened to make a bad review, despite his food only being ten to 15 minutes late.
The response said: "Your order had an allocated time of 9.30pm, you were kicking up a fuss at 9.40pm. Your refund was processed by 9.45pm.
"How you were waiting an '1hr 30min' for an order that was refunded within 1 hr since the time of the phone call made placing the order which you showed us, just shows again your nature."
The restaurant team then continued: "As it was a Saturday night all orders were all allocated 45mins-1hr. Minimum. Because we are that organised & we know how long our kitchen takes. We don't just knock out curries, we make each dish individually so it's not just a case of 'I only ordered 2 curries'.
"After I heard you berating my staff for having to wait, which she repeatedly apologised for, I stepped in and explained to you we had your order down for 9.30, it was now 9.40pm."
They explained the customer had ordered the lamb which takes longer to cook as they need to get it very tender and when the customer then demanded a discount from staff he had not realised it had already been applied by a member of the team.
The management team then claimed: "Following this information of no further discount you then threatened you'd be leaving us this bad review for being kept waiting, as if you should have been compensated? So we told you to go ahead with your review. Had you not done this, things would have been different.
"I then left to check on your order which was minutes from ready. Upon my return five minutes later you stated you wanted a refund. I said no, correct. As I told you then, I will tell you again. I don't like the way in which you spoke to me or the threats of bad feedback because you're order is ten-15mins late from it's allocated time.
"You then apologised and I instantly began actioning your refund. Whilst your refund was being actioned at 9.45pm your food arrived which we sent back to the kitchen."
The review finished by saying that members of staff enjoyed his food which had been sent back to the kitchen.
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