Letter From a Reader: Restaurant Discriminates Diners Using Group Coupons

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Dear Fashion Pulis,

First of all, I just want to say that I’m a big fan of your blind items and I can’t wait to read more items from you! Since I’ve read some of the letters from your readers, I too would want to share my experience to all the readers of Fashion Pulis.

I know that many of the readers know about the group coupons or the different promos sold online at a really low price. My sister and I would always check on the latest promos from different websites for my family to visit during weekends. Last Sunday, my family and I went to Galleria just so we can redeem the vouchers we bought online and eat in this dimsum place that has many other branches. We are aware that if we plan to use the vouchers, we should call their branch for reservation. We didn’t call because few weeks ago we went there as walk in and used the vouchers and it was okay for them.

When we went there last Sunday, there were only a few people eating there but still they did not entertain us. The waiter told us that we should reserve first before they entertain us. It was a weird thing to say since there were around 6 vacant tables and only few people were eating. To put an end on the argument, my sister got her landline phone and called them on the phone. She was already standing in front of the counter but no one was answering her calls. We were all annoyed that time because how can we reserve if we can't even contact their landline. After 3 attempts, she asked the waiter why we can’t contact their landline and that was the only time they checked if their landline was working or not. On the 4th attempt, finally the phone rang. The cashier answered the call and insisted that they won’t entertain us because we have no reservation. We got really irritated because we’re calling just so they won’t give us the reason that we didn’t make any reservation. To make things easier, my sister went in front of the cashier to talk to her. We were surprised because she was raising her voice and eyebrows while arguing with my mom and sister.

The cashier of this resyaurant told us that they don’t entertain walk-ins during ”store hours”. Out of frustration my sister told them “So kelan kami pupunta? Kapag sarado na kayo??” then the cashier told us that they can only entertain us from 2pm-5pm because of the reservations for that day. My sister asked how many reserved and what time. The cashier then told us that there was no reservation. My sister then argued that the cashier was a liar because of the reason she gave us. But to end the tension, we just told them that we’ll just go back around 2pm if that’s what they want.

When we went back to the restaurant at around 2pm, no one even entertained us. They were just looking at us for more than a minute. I got so annoyed so I went in front of the waiters just so they would feel conscious and entertain us, but still no one bothered to approach us and give us a place to sit. After standing in front of them for almost 2 minutes, I just went to as vacant table and called my dad and brother for us to eat. Even if we’re calling the attention of the waiters, no one was getting our order. Since the promo we purchased was just for dimsum, I just got food from their dimsum cart since I felt they have no plans of serving us. When they saw us eating their dimsum, that was the only time they approached us and asked us about our additional orders. After consuming the 8 dimsum orders, we wanted an additional order using another voucher. They told us we can’t use another voucher because we are only allowed to use 1 voucher per visit. But as stated in the terms and condition:

· One (1) voucher per person per visit
· For group use, a maximum of three (3) vouchers may be combined.

To make the long story short, this restaurant changed the terms and conditions that were already written in the voucher. They would also make customers feel unwelcome. They really have bad service. To add to that, my sister called the Glorietta branch of this restaurant last Monday to check if we can redeem the remaining vouchers we bought and they were very accommodating and accepts walk in any time of the day. She also called the Galleria branch just to check if they would accept our reservation, but they made another excuse that they do not accept customers who will use vouchers on weekdays. When my sister called the company where we bought the promo, they told her that they have received a lot of calls complaining about the bad services of restaurants similar to the one we visited.

I really hope that their branch would change the way they treat customers and stick to the terms and conditions that was given. We have no plans of going back there since we don’t want to experience the bad service they are giving their customers.

Yours Truly,
Adi