Rant about Punch Pub's in Leicester

sparky1982

Sorry for the rant but i'm mad at the way we were treated at these pubs!

As a family we stayed in Leicester for the weekend. Whilst there we went out to a pub for family meals.

The first pub - Gynsills - served us a meal that had gone cold. I went up to complain about this to the chap behind the food counter and I was told that he was too busy to help me but he would get someone to come and help us ASAP. Sadly though no-one came and we left our meal. We did mention to someone on the way out but they were less than interested.

The second pub we went to was the Hobby Horse. The first problem we encountered was that they had run out of 2 meals that we had ordered. The waitress who came and told us, demanded that we choose something else quickly. She seemed bored and uninterested thus rushing us to order something so she could go back and do what ever it was we were keeping her from.
When the meals did arrive they looked rank. We tried them and found that not only were they all cold but vegetables were raw!

Another waitress came over to ask if everything was ok - to which we told her about the meals. She only went and got us some fresh vege's, which were.....RAW!

After eating what little we could of the meals we complained again to the waitress, this time asking for our money back. She went off to get her manager.

15 long minutes later she came back and told us that we could only have a free desert and that the manager wasn't available. I told her that it wasn't good enough and I wanted a full refund but she wasn't budging. I asked her for the phone number and address for the head office so I could complain to them.
This simple task seemed to take her an age (10 minutes in total!!!)

Whilst this halfwit was getting us the information a duty manager came over to speak with us, suprisingly. I again had to inform her of my concerns but she said the same as the halfwitted waitress.

Being here seemed to inconvience the staff as if customers were a burden on them. I think they have their priorities wrong somehow as when I worked in catering the customers came first.

I have since contacted trading standards and environmental health for Leicester as well as writing a letter of complaint to the head office.

Lets see what happens.

Again sorry about the rant I felt people should be warned about eating at these places.

Gothicfairy

I live in Leicester and although I have never been to the two you have stated I have been to Heathley park and that was maybe the worse pub ever. The food was nasty ( it was so bad I took a photo of the salad with my phone as it was black and slimey rather then green) and we were left for 45min without anyone coming and clearing the table or asking if we were ok etc
The staff were standing around gossiping rather then dealing with customers and they really could not have cared less when we said we were not happy.
We complained to head office and was given a £10 voucher which we had to use at one of their pubs.

sparky1982

I have had a letter back regarding this complaint from Punch Pubs and thought i'd put it in.

I sent a letter complaining about the above and asked for my money back, nothing else.

The letter back was from someone who obviously didn't read my letter (or can't read!) They made an offer for £17.95 in a cheque, for an 'overcharge' even though I didn't mention anything about this in my letter. To make it worse they didn't even put the cheque in with the letter!! (I have since had it, although it was 5 days later!)
A £10 voucher was also included as goodwill.

Furthermore they only took into account of 1 the pubs that I complained about not the 2 that I wrote about.

I decided to write back and mention about their inability to read and I also sent back the £10 voucher that they sent as a goodwill.

Personally I will never, ever go into one of their pubs again and I will let all of my friends know about how bad they are. My advice is DON'T EVEN BOTHER WITH THEM. POOR FOOD, DREADFUL SERVICE, AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE. ENTER AT YOUR PERIL!!

Mrs_Ryan

I know the Hobby Horse well - in fact I was in there tonight :rotfl: Wasnt eating though, we drink in there fairly often as OH's Dad lives nearby. I have to say not surprised. OH's mate once ordered a rack of ribs in there and they were basically raw when they came :eek: Beware of not only the food - when me and OH first started going out we went in there a couple of times for a drink and both times I was sick after drinking wine I had bought in there (only one glass both times I might add!!!) so not surprised really - the place is a bit notorious!

GemJar_2

You're legally allowed to walk out without paying for a meal if you're not happy with it, and you've stated you're not happy with it.. all you have to do is leave your contact details and your name. Police can't do diddily squat. Never put this into practice but I think i might have done in your case!

sparky1982

GemJar - I would have gladly done so had we not had to pay upfront for the meals
Thank you for the advice though! I will remember this for any future problems:j

mynameisdave

The halfwit waitress is probably on crap money working for managers that dont respect them (hence the can't be arsed to face customers themself) and a company that understaffs the premises. I'm not surprised they seemed uninterested and slow to deal with your requests.

With regards to the offer letter not having the cheque in - well I guess they were waiting to see if that offer was satisfactory to you, before sending it out.

I'm guessing these places are like the standard fayre menu type places? Microwaved burgers and steak sauces pre bagged ready to be boiled instead of cooked properly?

Foods not appealing at the best of times so I'd try and flog the poucher of ebay