Please also see Part I and Part II
Well, readers, you know about the trouble that my family and I had at a Denny’s restaurant in South Carolina one Saturday night when the staff did not wait on us. You also know that I have been anxiously awaiting some sort of response after I reported the incident to customer service. Here is the conclusion to my story.
On Friday April 7, almost two weeks after the incident had occurred and less than one week after my phone call, I received a letter in the mail. The letter stated a simple, profuse apology for what had happened and that they will continue to investigate the situation. Needless to say, I was a little miffed. A letter — that’s all they were sending? No phone call? No coupons for free food? THIS was their attempt to correct the situation?! Well, I was determined to make sure that they would hear from me again!
The following Monday afternoon (April 10), I received a phone call from Debra ***** (last name withheld). She is the Operations Support and Customer Service Manager, apparently. I immediately felt better about receiving that letter in the mail. Debra asked me to explain what happened that night in the restaurant, so I did. Once again I received another flood of apologies and actually a genuine-sounding reaction of disbelief. She said that she was being sent to the restaurant to investigate the situation and to hopefully fix it.
Debra then asked me what I would like her to do in order to fix the situation for my family and me. She clearly stated that she knew what she had to do for the staff at the restaurant (chuckle), but she wanted to know how she could right this wrong for us. Honestly, even though I wanted to ask for free food, all I could bring myself to say was, “Well…uh…I’m really not sure at this point.” She said that she did not want us to have a “bad taste” for Denny’s forever, so she then offered to send me coupons for some free meals. I thanked her profusely and told her that I appreciated the call. She then thanked me for reporting the situation.
A few days later, I received those coupons in the mail (FIVE to be exact), along with a letter on a notecard and Debra’s business card. This is what the letter said — the handwritten parts are in parentheses:
(Ms. Egan,)
Thank you for taking the time to give us feedback about
your recent visit to one of our restaurants. We are
committed to providing the best food and service to all
of our guests.
When you revisit one of our restaurants, we would
appreciate you calling us back at 1-866-***-**** to let
us know how we did. We know you have a choice when
dining out and appreciate that you’ve chosen Denny’s.
(We sincerely hope to see you again soon! Debra ***** –
Customer Service Manager)
So, as you can tell, our story finishes with a happy ending. I think we’ll eat out tonight!
For more information on how to deal with situations like this, please read “When You are an Unsatisfied Customer.”
