Willows Restaurant damages vehicle, does not pay
Posted 12 July 2006, 21:47 in Business Comments
One defining factor that separates a good company from a bad one is customer service. The good companies tend to be people oriented and goes beyond the call of duty to satisfy their customers. They understand the value of the customer, knowing that they would not be in business without them. The bad companies, well obviously, does everything opposite of the good ones. In this article, I write about a company soo bad that it’s worth mentioning on this blog.
A few weeks ago, we decided to go to an upscale restaurant to celebrate my father’s birthday. We had a brunch buffet at the Willows Restaurant (in Hawaii) since it was suggested by a family member. Their offerings in hindsight was mediocre at best: no one went back for seconds (crab legs were salty), they charged extra for soft drink refills (wouldn’t a $35 meal cover that?), and they imposed a 15% service fee even though our waiter — Ginger W – did not service us at all.
As it was an occasion worth celebrating, we tried to make the best out of the situation. At the end of the meal, we took a few pictures on the premise of the Willows Restaurant so that we could have a photo memory of the occasion. The smiles on our faces quickly turned into a frown when we got home and found that our vehicle was scratched by their valet attendant.
I immediately called the restaurant and was transferred to “Kim” who was the supervisor at the time. She advised me to head back to the restaurant so that she could take a few Polaroid photos of the incident. Kim informed me that I would receive a call from Garret Kamei, the owner of the restaurant.
I did not hear from Garret, so I decided to call him. I called him several times only to be transferred to his voice mail. I began to worry. What to do? Finally, I received a call from Garrett and said that he had food poisoning and could not return any of my calls. I told him what had happened and the events leading up to the incident. Skepticism quickly pounded my ear drums as if the customer is never right. A few more days of unreturned phone calls when hope was given and my case was reported to their insurance company.
Tammy Chun from First Insurance called and I again explained the events leading up to the incident. She said that I did everything right by immediately calling and reporting the incident and taking pictures. The insurance company would fix my vehicle as soon as she have their people inspect my vehicle. I brought my car to the Basic Auto Collision Repair Center, where the Ho‘s, the owner of company inspected the damage. They brought out what looked like a 2MP Sony Mavica and took several pictures of my car’s bumper. They also took pictures of things unrelated to the damage, such as the driver’s seat and steering wheel. The Ho’s asked what had happened and they too looked at me with skepticism.
A few days later, I received a call from Tammy with the bad news. She mentioned that her team of “experts” measured the height of the sidewalk, which did not match up with the height of my bumper. Perhaps they measured the height of a truck and not a car? That coupled with what the valet driver had said and what the Ho’s saw, she denied my case.
In an official letter from Tammy Chun she writes (pdf), “We spoke to Brent Takara, the valet driver whom delivered your vehicle to you … and he does not recall going over the curbing in which you observed.” It does not surprise me that someone whose MySpace profile is entitled “Mr. Ass” would suddenly forget that he damaged someone’s car. And from what I hear from friends and reports on the internet, valet drivers are notorious for damaging vehicles and not informing their owners. With that said, I do not believe Takara told the truth when Chun interviewed him.
Lesson learned: (1) never valet. The Willows Restaurant provides no means of self-parking, no stalls where a customer can park his or her own vehicle. They do this to rip off customers both inside and outside of the restaurant. (2) If you receive bad service from a waiter, do yourself a favor and cross out what they wrote in the tip section of your credit card receipt and put what you feel they deserve. On any credit card authorization receipt, it is in the customer’s discretion what he decides to tip, not the waiter.
Aside from the Willows Restaurant having bad food, bad waiter and bad valet drivers, I must say that their form of Hawaiian entertainment was good. However, their customer service is close to non-existent. They do not listen to their customers and believes the customer is never right — in my case anyway.
Related reading: Web gives customer last word | Valet honor: Reveal dent, or play silent bystander?
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