Magna in Rotherham - don't eat the food!

matthewking26

We've just emailed the following to Magna. Do you think we'll get a reply? Am I being unduly annoyed?
Isn't so sad when one thing spoils a great day out? Magna was great fun! And the tesco clubcard deals thingy meant it wasn't expensive either.

Dear Sirs,

My partner and I visited Magna on 24th August 2008. We really enjoyed our time there but wanted to bring one thing to your attention.
We visited the caf! at around 12.30. We ordered roast dinners. We requested one without meat as my partner is vegetarian and there was no vegetarian option. The person we asked didn’t answer us, but turned to her colleagues to ask if this was possible. There followed a conference of three staff members for a minute or two. One of the employees then went to speak to the duty manager. We were still not being spoken to, or even looked at.

The manager told her employee, rather than us, that we could have the dinner without meat but at the full price.
We paid and sat down, only to find our food was cold. I returned to the counter to complain. The staff member didn’t speak to me but simply took a temperature probe and stuck it into the middle of the roast.
The manager then came over, didn’t speak to me but told her employee to take the temperature “not there, out of sight of the others”. At no point did the manager speak to me.
The employee went out of sight for a few minutes, then returned to tell her manager the meat temperature “was 70”. The manager said “it’s fine, it’s 70” to the other employees. At no point was anything other than the meat temperature checked, nor was I spoken to.
I asked for a refund. The staff member walked to the till. The manager told her “what are you doing? You don’t give refunds without asking me”.
The manager then finally decided to speak to me to ask “How long did you have it?” I replied “two minutes.” She then stared at me for about a minute without speaking or blinking before finally entering the till, then handing me my refund and turning to continue disciplining her employee for not asking permission to complete a refund.
This treatment at the hands of the duty manager of the caf! marred our visit. There was no apology to us. She was aggressive towards me, accusing me of lying about the food temperature. She was verbally aggressive towards her staff, who were all clearly terrified of her.
I would like to suggest a course in customer service for this particular person. Perhaps point out that from time to time she should speak to the customers in a polite manner as I did to her, despite the provocation to do otherwise.
This was such a shame for us as other than this, we had a wonderful visit. I work in a college and my partner in a primary school. We were visiting to see if the venue would be suitable for group visits. We have advised our departments that Magna is well worth a visit but have specifically stated all groups should take their own food to eat in the picnic area to avoid the possibility of being treated the way we were in the cafe.
we would appreciate a response about this issue, explaining the reasons why we were treated this way.

Yours faithfully

Sssssss

sounds like you have cause to complain, but you know the best time would have been there and then. So what if the manager didn't soeak to you, you could have said to her, what you can't talk, or you bit dim that it takes you minuter before you reply, you could also have made a point that you did not like the way she spoke to her staff. She sounds like a bully and had you confronted her she may have learnt a good lesson and you'd have left feeling heaps better.

matthewking26

True, point well made and I did kick myself for not saying anything at the time, but my other half doesn't like making a fuss so took all my persuading for her to allow me to ask for a refund (she doesn't like making a scene). I got my money back which was what I was after but just wanted them to be aware of the issue rather than mutter and grumble to myself.

bottleredhead

Your letter is spot on, to the point and you have kept your emotions in check; I would have tended to waffle on getting more and more angry!

The Manageress sounds a right nasty piece of work, lets hope they sort her out.

Good luck!

Optimist

No vegetarian option !

Rotherham must be like Texas if your not a meat eater they don't want to know..

sandra_nz

I think you're right to have sent the letter rather than confront the person - she was clearly not going to take any notice of what you said. She obviously doesn't have a customer service ethic and is therefore in the wrong job.

It's a well written email and I hope you get a positive response from the business owners.

hollydays

You are probably going to get less nicities in a cafe than in a restauant,in general,but there is no excuse for her bad attitude.

Plasticman

We had a great time at Magna too. No problem with the service in the cafe, but the food was rubbish. I think that it was the 'fuel restaurant'.

matthewking26

Thanks for your replies. It was the fuel restaurant we were in. I've had a very quick response to my email (is it just me or is there a slight hint of the sopranos in the "I will deal with the matter personally" part!?!)
Good of them to take notice, and it has made us think they do value feedback:

Dear Mr King

I am absolutely appalled to hear of your experience of our caf! here at Magna. I can only apologise and express my deep regret that you were treated in this manner. I appreciate you taking the time to inform us of this incident and bring this to my attention. I can assure you that I will deal with this matter personally and ensure this does not happen again.

I hope that you will come back and visit Magna with your school group, we offer a fantastic package for school visitors and I am happy to put you into contact with my Education Director who can help you plan your visit to ensure you get the most out of the experience. Let me know if you need anything, we are here to help.

Please accept my apologies again for the incident in the caf!, rest assured I will deal with it personally.

Best regards
[FONT=&quot]xxxx[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Operations Director[/FONT]

Honeydog

If your partner is a Primary school teacher you can often get into places that are vaguely educational for free with just a letterhead from the school.

tomstickland

I think the letter was good. It's important to give honest feedback like this.