First, I would like to commend the Chef for making our order in less than 5 minutes after a misunderstanding. This negative review is more for his staff's communication skills.
We ordered through Google orders at around 7:25 and initially the estimate said a 35 minute wait so we sat outside the outdoor dining tables to wait for the order. As we were sitting around, I checked the order again through Google and the wait time changed to 55 minutes with a new pickup time of 8:16. My wife then went up to one of the staff members to confirm if the wait was actually that long. The staff member said yes. My wife then told them she would like to cancel the order and they told her she needed to cancel the order through postmates. My wife left and mentioned to me that we needed to cancel the order through postmates. I was a little confused as we ordered through Google orders. Come to find out that Google orders is powered by Postmates, however there was no way to cancel the order through the Google order site and it prompted me to call Postmates which I proceeded to do. Once I got online with Postmates, the automated system mentioned that it would be a 15-20 minute wait for someone to address the call. At that point we decided not to cancel the order and just wait.
At around 8:10pm I get up from our table and walk to the front of the store to let them know that I was there to pick up my order. And this is where the fun ensues. I let the male staff member know that I was here to pick up an order and provided my wife's name. He goes back to the cashier area and returns and tells me that your wife told us to cancel the order. I then reply that they told my wife specifically that they COULD NOT cancel the order and that we had to go through Postmates. I let him know that we decided not to cancel the order and the order still existed. Now a female staff member comes out. She lets me know that they did not prepare the dishes because it was cancelled. I let her know that my wife was informed that they COULD NOT cancel the order unless it was done through postmates. She then tells me that it will take another 20 minutes. At this point, I start to raise my voice. I ask her why since the order still existed in the system. She says again that we cancelled the order. I tell her again that YOU GUYS told my wife that you COULD NOT cancel the order unless it was done through postmates. She then tells me, "I'm sorry you couldn't figure out how to cancel the order when everyone else can." At this point I take a deep breath to calm myself, and tell her, "I was prompted to call and when I did the wait was at least 15 minutes long on the phone so we decided NOT to cancel. I then say, my order is still existing and I should not have to wait. At this point, the chef comes out and says, "It's okay, I'll make your order now." I then say, "Great, Thank you."
So, just as a suggestion. Don't tell customers that you can't cancel the order and then turn around and cancel the order. Or at least communicate clearly that, "We will cancel the order, but you will need to get the refund through Postmates." I probably would have not written about this ugly experience had it not for the female staff member's comment that "I don't know why you couldn't figure it out, when everyone else can." Clearly she meant that as a personal attack as she could not synthesize the logic behind telling a customer "We cannot cancel your order and you need to do it through Postmate" meant exactly that. If you don't communicate exactly what you mean misunderstanding like this will continue to occur. read more