Chelz D.
Yelp
So let me set the scene. I'm feeling under the weather and think to myself, pho would be perfect! My first choice (pho by Vinh) is closed so I decide to try Pho 79. I place my order online - super easy, I'm feeling good. I ride with my finance to the spot - and he hops out to get the food.
He comes back to the car and says he needs a confirmation of the order, so I screen shot the order confirmation from my email and send it right away. He heads back to restaurant. 2 minutes later he's back outside--- with no food.
Why you ask? When he advised a female hostess, who we will call the guardian of the pho that he was picking up a to-go order. The zealous guardian stated that she needed the name for the order, which my fiancé verbally provided. The hostess then stated that she needed to physically see the name on the receipt -- which was a bit strange. Red flag #1
When he returned with the screenshot, which displayed the order number, phone number and time of the order the hostess proceeded to tell him the screenshot "wasn't nothing." He tried to give a phone number, describe the contents of the order -- yet all attempts were rejected by the guardian of the pho. When he asked if she could check the order by phone number or order number, she said yes but there were "too many orders." There were no other Togo order on the counter and only two tables in this quite large restaurant were occupied. Red flag #2.
I then have to get out of the car -- to show the full email where a gentleman behind the counter , scrolled down to confirm the contents of the order -- the same contents my finance attempted to provide to the guardian of the pho 10 minutes prior. After that he proceeded to hand me the SINGLE order sitting on the take out counter.
The gentleman was apologetic- but by that point the damage was done.
While there were many problems with this story, I would like to speak directly to the folks at pho 79 to explain why the customer service we experienced was so offensive that in inspired me to type this lengthy post, despite my present symptoms.
1. Respect - When a person makes the decision to patronize your business - they should be treated with respect. As the only black people I saw in the restaurant, I can't say for certain that race played a part but I have a hard time believing the dismissive tone, lack of helpfulness and "hurry up and buy" attitude would have been utilized in GCP's interactions with other ethnic groups.
2. Stop the cap and find solutions - rather than come up with every excuse in the world for why you were unable to confirm the single Togo order ready on the counter belonged to me - I encourage you all to find solutions. The phone did not ring the entire time I was in the restaurant and when I called the restaurant to find out why it was taking so long for my fiancé to come back with the food-- y'all did not even answer the phone.
3. Remember first impressions matter - we love pho, live local and this was our first time visiting your restaurant. It will also be our last because of one employees nasty disposition. When you hire employees who will interact with your customers regularly, remember this experience and do better.
4. If you are going to guard pho take out orders like they have 24k gold as the main ingredient- at least make sure there aren't any hairs in it. (Red flag #3)
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.