I stopped by Dunkin Donuts for coffee on my way home from a shop this afternoon. When I pulled up to the window to get my coffee and donut, the woman was busy chatting on her cell phone and ignored me. She finally,literally threw the donut bag at me. I waited a minute longer and reminded her that I had also ordered coffee. She huffed off to pour the coffee and handed it out the window without even looking at me.

I sure wish I had been MSing HER right then!

Then...I've also received some very good customer service at stores and restaurants and wished I were MSing them to give them a good report.

I've been in the same situation, either great or awful customer service. I don't like wasting time or money and if I get irked enough due to awful service, I go home to my computer and type a letter to the owner or corporate. I name names, give times, conditions. . . Oh yeah, we know the points to make!

A response, or lack thereof, is very telling.

I did that with a Wendy's location about a month ago. Sent a strong objective observations to the Tell Wendy's link. Requested I be contacted also. Stopped by there recently and nothing has changed. Have not been contacted either.

Ditto with Pizza Hut. They were supposed to 'get back with you' in 24 hours . . . weeks have gone by.

Terrible on all levels. Bad economy should bring out the best, has it?

I got overcharged twice, at the same drive thru, on a Happy Hour med Coke. I called the 800 number and told them about it. The manager called me three days later. He did try to sugar coat it but agreed it should not have happened. About two weeks later I got a coupon for a free meal which I did not expect. I do not know if the price was corrected or not since I do not live in that town any more so I have not been back during Happy Hour.

Mert Wrote:
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> Terrible on all levels. Bad economy should bring
> out the best, has it?

It seems to me that there has been a trickle down effect in restaurants. I have noticed on a number of restaurant shops that folks I would have expected to see at upscale casual or fine dining are in the more casual dining restaurants. The mere fact that places like Subway and McDonalds are turning in good numbers in their quarterly financial reports would tend to indicate that folks are downsizing their dining. So I suspect that places like Pizza Hut and the real fast food joints are not feeling the need to reach out to customers except in terms of offering them well advertised cheaper prices.

On the other hand, when doing casual dining shops I am finding the places relatively empty with the folks there overdressed when compared with the guests of a couple of years ago. If anything goes wrong with a meal, the manager is there in a heartbeat comping stuff. A month or so ago I did one where they were out of the entree I initially ordered--the manager wanted to supply complimentary desserts and when we declined with thanks, took 20% off the bill. A few weeks ago our appetizer and entrees arrived at the table at the same time with the entrees actually on the table first. I expressed dismay that all the hot food had arrived simultaneously. The manager comped the appetizer and hovered around our table with table checks, drink refills, clearing empty plates, etc. for the rest of our meal. We did not see our server again until she presented the check and thanked us for coming in.

Other than the over-dressing thing, which rarely happens here-you can go to Ruth's Chris or the like in shorts and a collared shirt-I agree with you, Flash. I know that is what we've been doing personally. Cheeseburger in a casual restaurant in place of steak, etc. And yes, I agree that this is the reason that the FF places are not hurting right now. People still want to treat themselves, it's just the treat price they are willing to spend went way down.

Flash.. are ya sure they hadn't just figured out you were the Mystery Shopper?
(kidding, of course)

I must admit that I wonder sometimes. I take comfort in noting that they are treating the other customers in the same way and I figure that if they were concerned about my status they would probably be bending over backwards to get every detail right. Considering that there were some small goofs and omissions even after the 'incident', I figure we are good. Further, if they are giving me great service they are going to get a good report. They will have no reason to complain to the MSP that they discovered the shopper On the other hand, if they are big on the goof ups, they may complain that they spotted the shopper but the chances are good they won't be around next visit anyway. I have lasted on these shops through many a manager and turn over of staff. And of course a part of the report is always whether there was a problem with food or service and how it was handled.

I was meeting a friend this afternoon, casual restaurant, for a late lunch. We were ironing out details for a food drive. She ran late, so I sat there with my folder reading through stuff and making notes. At least, I tried. I was heavily courted by the server and then the manager, and could not have wanted for anything. You know, I didn't even know this restaurant was shopped, but I'm now sure they must be.

Now all you need to do is figure out who shops them . . .

Yes, I have. In fact, since I started mystery shopping there are so many more things I notice now when going to a restaurant, store, or any business. Many times I tell my husband, if I were mystery shopping this place or that place they might get marked down for not giving good customer service.

What's fun is when your husband comes in and says "I wish you would mystery shop "so&so" their customer service is terrible"

My guy would never say that, he is much too forgiving. When we do a shop together he usually asks as we are leaving, "What do you think?" If I have negatives his reaction is, "Yeah, they must have been having a bad day." It is why he would probably not be a good shopper because he would not report just what he observed but attempt to sugar coat it. And yes, one wants to point out the positives as well as the negatives, but you can't eliminate the negatives observed just because you figure they were having a bad day.

Mert Wrote:
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> Terrible on all levels. Bad economy should bring
> out the best, has it?

You would think it would, but sometimes I feel that a restaurant has gotten rid of their high priced help and kept the cheaper, less customer service orientated individuals. But as some have said, I have have both good and bad when I have visited establishments that I wasn't shopping at the time!

While I agree with you Flash, I also have atendency to give someone the benefit of the doubt, if everything else is ok.

As a matter of fact, I recently had a question on a particular point on one of my shops. It was a very "nit-picky" set of instructions, so, not wanting to get burned, I found an excuse to get somewhere private and called the scheduler.

I told her what the guidelines said, quoted what the employee had said and asked her to make the call. "Did he, or did he not follow the guideline?" It was clear that he had not only followed, but exceeded, the "spirit of the law" but was a little shaky on the "Letter of the law".

She was stumped as well. We finally decided that we would base the yes/no answer on the attitude he showed for the rest of the time. If he had a good attitude, he would get a "Yes" on that one. If not, he would get a "No" and his specific words would be quoted.

I am usually cut/dried black/white on most things, but any time the question itself leaves grey areas, I have a tendency to give the benefit of the doubt to the employee, provided he/she seems to deserve such consideration.

Flash Wrote:
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And yes, one wants to point out
> the positives as well as the negatives, but you
> can't eliminate the negatives observed just
> because you figure they were having a bad day.

I thoroughly understand that. Black and white are easy, the grays do require a judgment call. Often questionnaires don't really allow anything but black and white and there I will definitely take my gray area to the positive. But last evening, for example, it was 5 minutes from order before initial beverages were brought--which felt too long even though no guideline was given for what the correct timing was. When the beverages were brought, the server apologized because as she arrived at the table she realized she had brought the wrong beverages. It was another minute or two before she returned with the correct ones. The remainder of the meal went well for service.

We get to the overall evaluation of service. Was it a 10? No, because of the initial beverage timing and screw up. Was it a 5? No, it was a lot better than that. I gave an 8 although there was no room for comment beyond 100 characters or so. My comments were positive because the beverage screwup had been mentioned earlier in the report. Boom, into my email is a request for clarification for giving only an 8 if they did table checks and thanked nicely.

I generally don't involve schedulers in my decision process of how to score a shop. Mostly there is some opportunity to comment and if some editor decides that 5 minute beverage service is not excessive in a market where the standard is 2 min or decides that since the server caught her own error there is no problem, they can and will change it. But the question was stated as an opinion about whether or not the beverage delivery was prompt and accurate and my reaction is no to both.