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Lousy Service at the Barfly in Paris

Link: tompeters! leadership training development project management.

"Take it or leave it" is not an attitude that will bring customers back to your business.

Tom Peter's story about UPS / FedEx highlights the importance of customer service, a concept which still hasn't caught on in most restaurants and bars in Paris!

Case in point: The Barfly -- the swanky restaurant/bar on Av. George V -- lost some customers last night. Here's the story:

The place was pretty crowded and my friends and I were standing close to the bar and had been there for an hour. We had ordered a beer each and had waited a long time to get served. Granted, the place was crowded and it was no big deal. When another friend arrived, we ordered a glass of wine and waited (and then waited, and then waited some more) before being served ... and when it arrived the wine was hot! We pointed this out to the barman, who said he couldn't do anything about it since the wine glass had just been washed. In other words,"take it or leave it"!

Not about to spoil the mood, I paid and kindly pointed out we had waited 20 minutes to be served. He said nothing as he took the money: 20 Euros for an 8 Euro glass of wine. We chatted as we waited for the wine to cool a bit ... but after 10 minutes we pointed out to the barman we still hadn't received our change. His reply?

"You waited 20 minutes for your wine and now you'll wait 20 minutes for your change!"

'scuse me???

Needless to say, we returned the wine, got our 20 Euros back and walked out of the place, after complaining to the manager ... who shrugged and did nothing about it.

Adieu, Barfly! The place had been degrading over the last couple of years anyway, so the poor service was not much of a surprise.

Among others, Joi Ito also got lousy service in Paris.

December 17, 2004 in Food and Drink, Miscellaneous Stuff, Travel | Permalink