July 22^nd 2009. A letter to the general manager of the Bedford Hotel, Tavistock

 

Dear Sir,

 In order to contextualise the following story of my experience at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock I start by providing some brief background.

 I recently took early retirement from my job as Headteacher of a school for children with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. I have an M.A. in behaviour management and an Advanced Diploma in Counselling from Cambridge University. My mother is in her eighties and lived in Tavistock for over 20 years. She retired as a Probation Officer for Devon and now is a member of many groups and societies, some of which she started and runs, in the West Devon area. We cannot walk through the town centre without somebody stopping us for a chat. She is registered as blind and although her health is reasonable for a woman of her age, she is frail. I now live in Scotland and came, with my partner, to visit my mother in Tavistock on July 17th. 

 We decided to call in to the Bedford for a bar snack at 6.30pm. There was no indication as we walked through the foyer into the bar that there would be any problem. There were people at two other tables so we ordered drinks and our meals. Again, we were given no indication that there might be any sort of problem.

 Within about 20 minutes the lounge was flooded with people- including what appeared to be two hen parties- raucous young women obviously out to enjoy themselves. Fair enough. However, although it appeared they were there for an event (a Murder Mystery, I believe), they remained for some time waiting for drinks: the bar seemed too small to easily accommodate such a large number. The bar staff, to their credit, were working flat out; however we wondered why there was not a bar, even a temporary one, in the relevant function room.

 By now we had waited more than half an hour for our meals. We could see that the place was busy- but nobody thought to tell us we would have to wait. And wait we continued to do.

 A few minutes later a waiter- T*** was his name- brought meals to another table in the lounge area. It was a couple who had been there when we arrived. 

 Ten minutes later (it was now about 7.15pm) T*** came to clear those plates and I called him over and I asked him about our order. He told me he would investigate.

 He returned a short while later to say that they would be with us very shortly.

 When the plates arrived they were the incorrect orders and one was missing altogether. T*** was apologetic to the point of almost contrition and went back to the kitchen. 

 Upon his return he again apologised and explained that there had been a mix up in the kitchen; one of the meals intended for our table had been given to the other couple. He told us we would have to wait another 20 minutes while a fresh meal was cooked.

By now my mother was deeply distressed. We only see her once every year or two and she also has blood sugar problems. Consequently I was concerned for her well-being at this point.

 T*** was helpful and pleasant in his manner- he is a real credit to your staff. However, after bringing meals for myself and my partner he seemed to be called away to serve elsewhere.

 After 20 minutes we asked K*** at the bar- another delightful and helpful member of staff -if she would phone the kitchen to find out how much longer we would have to wait for my mother's meal. Rather than do this she left the now empty bar and went to ask directly, for which we were grateful.

 Over an hour after we ordered, T*** brought the final meal. Again he apologised. I reassured him but asked the name of his manager so I could speak with him. My primary reason was I wanted to praise both T*** and K***, but I also wanted him to know the distress caused to my mother.

 Five minutes later a young man arrived and started to speak to us. He had no name badge, neither did he introduce himself. I had to ask him who he was. He told me he was "D***" and the assistant manager. He was unaware of any problem and did not appear especially interested. I told him I wanted to speak to the manager, not him. He went away.

 Eventually another man arrived. Again no badge, no introduction. He stood next to the table and began to talk to us. I had to ask him who he was and he told me he was S**** R****, the Restaurant Manager.

 As by now there were more people in the lounge I asked him if he wanted to talk with me somewhere in private. He declined. I then asked him to draw up a chair and sit with us, rather than stand over the table.

 I had no chance to explain the situation- he just launched into what seemed to be a script or "prepared statement". Rather than offering an unreserved apology he presented a list of excuses. When I got the chance to talk he in no way engaged with what I was saying and actually appeared not to listen. Much of the time he failed to make eye contact, looking around the room at other customers rather than at me. Again I asked if he wanted to go elsewhere where there was some privacy. Again he declined.

 He offered 50% off the bill. I said to him, "You are not listening. You just don't get it, do you?" Several times I explained that all three of us, and my mother in particular, were upset by what had happened; at no time did we ask for money off or similar. All I wanted was a genuine recognition that there had been a "mess up" and we were distressed by this. Also I wanted to praise T*** and K***. However, his next move was to offer to clear the table immediately and give us free coffee. Again I said to him, "You just don't get it do you?"

 The bill was not the issue. The issue was the way we were treated. We wanted a person in authority to accept responsibility and apologise- and treat us in the way that T*** and K*** had- as human beings with feelings: somebody to show some courtesy and understanding.

 Mr. R****, and to some extent his assistant, turned a simple complaint about mixed up orders and tardiness into a major complaint about how we were treated.

 I spent years training staff- including LEA officers, teachers, secretarial staff, support staff and caretakers- in how to deal with conflict situations- including managing angry people. I have done this in the UK, in the Irish Republic and the USA. I suggest Mr. R**** needs such training. And I wasn't even being particularly difficult or angry. His "people skills" with me were appalling. However, T*** and K*** were both excellent and I hope you feel able to pass on my gratitude and congratulations to them.

 In summary, to be helpful to you, I make the following observations:

Consider the logistics of providing a temporary bar in a function room- especially on a Friday evening if crowds are likely;

If "management" are to meet the public they should wear badges. I see no reason why they should not, anyway- serving staff do, why shouldn't they?

Provide training to staff in a hierarchy of skills- from basic courtesy (eg introducing yourself) via conflict resolution to managing angry people.

 Finally, I think you should know I have, as a hobby, my own website. I have not updated it for months. Although it is a hobby it is still "live" and gets thousands of hits a year. For some pages it is always in the top 3 of a Google search; for most pages it is on the front page of a Google search. You will see that I have a diverse selection of pages with relevant "experiences". I shall be adding this email as a page. However, I shall not do so for a week, thus allowing you plenty of time to respond- should you so wish. Then I will publish your response in full alongside unless you ask me not to- as I have done elsewhere on my site.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

xxx

 His reply  July 30th

 Dear Mr XXXX

 Further to my earlier e-mail I have now, as promised, had the opportunity of discussing the contents of your e-mail with S****.

 The Hotel was indeed very busy upon the occasion of your visit. However that's not an unusual situation at The Bedford and, albeit working flat out, not one to which the bar staff are unaccustomed. Also the fact that the Hotel was busy wasn't actually a significant factor in the problems you experienced with food service.

 In fact this arose from a very simple but annoying error in that two orders for lounge meals were transposed - the meals which you mention T**** delivering to another table in the bar were in fact your order. Unfortunately these guests happily accepted those meals. I am unable to offer any explanation as to why you were not appraised of the problem as soon as it became apparent and why it was not resolved with greater efficiency. This is very much to be regretted.

 Turning to the other major issue raised in your e-mail I am disappointed that you felt any member of staff had acted in anything other than an appropriate manner in dealing with your concerns. I have had the pleasure of working with S**** for almost 6 years during which time he has shown himself to be unfailingly courteous, diligent and above all wholly committed to delivering excellent customer service. He was consequently both concerned and very disappointed that his actions should have been viewed as being so inappropriate.

 Whilst your e-mail makes clear that at no stage were your motives of a financial nature it remains the case that you did not enjoy your visit to The Bedford and I would not wish that to be your abiding memory of the Hotel. Therefore, when you next have occasion to visit Tavistock, I would like to extend an invitation for you to return to the Hotel as my guests and to enjoy either complimentary luncheon or dinner. If you would care to make the booking with me direct I will oversee arrangements personally.

 May I make clear that the above offer is in no way influenced or conditional upon what actions you choose to take in connection with making your concerns public. Our primary goal is to ensure that everyone who passes through our doors enjoys their visit to the full - when that doesn't happen, and thankfully such occasions are infrequent, we want to do what we can to put matters right which in most cases will involve the offer of a return visit where we can hopefully demonstrate our usual high standards.

 Yours sincerely,

 

M****H****

 My immediate response:

 Dear Mr. H****,

Thank you for your considered and careful email.

I appreciate your offer- as you are aware I live more than 600 miles away so am unlikely to take it up. 

I am disappointed that you do not indicate that you will pass on my appreciation to T**** and K****.

 I am surprised that the delivery of two meals to another table should be confused with the delivery of three meals to ours.  However, I have no wish to labour that point.

 You also fail to properly address the details in my previous email; however, short of a face to face discussion, with Simon present, it would appear to me that we have reached an impasse.

 To be fair to your hotel, when I prepare the page on myexperienceof.net I shall include links to other sites where other members of the public have reviewed the Bedford.   

 

Yours sincerely,

 

xxxx

 His response to my response:

 Dear Mr xxxx,

 Thanks for the e-mail.

 For the sake of completeness, and also to put your mind at ease, I can confirm that T**** & K**** were both made aware of your kind comments. I think they were even more appreciated by them in the light of the overall disappointment of your visit to The Bedford.

 When making the offer of complimentary refreshments I did take notice of the fact that you were not local but I had hoped that, subject to your mother enjoying continued good health, you would be visiting the area again and it was therefore an offer made in the genuine anticipation that you would be able to take advantage of it at some time in the future.

 Yours sincerely

 M**** H****

 

Click below for a link to reviews of this hotel on another site:

Trip advisor reviews