My review is based solely on my interaction with a manager at Queen cafe.
(Know that the pic showing "sold out" is after the time to pick up our order and only to show there's no instructions on their site about them being pre order only)
TL;DR: We placed a large office online order last night for today pickup. On arrival, we were told the order was only available for Super Bowl Sunday (two weeks away), despite the system allowing us to select Friday pickup with no instructions. The issue was handled defensively, with quick blame, little care and no accountability. Basically ended with a "tough luck better next time" tone. Proceed as you wish.
For those who want details:A colleague had been bringing wings from Queen Café to our office on Fridays for a few weeks, and they quickly became an office favorite. It reached a point where team members were coming into the office specifically to enjoy them, even on days they would normally work from home.
On January 22nd, we placed a large online order (150 wings) through their Toast system for Friday, January 23rd pickup. Just before arriving to collect the order at the scheduled time, my coworker received a call asking to confirm whether the order was for the Super Bowl on February 8th. At that point, we were already en route and the receipt clearly showed the order was placed for January 23rd.
We were told that the wing style selected was only available for Super Bowl Sunday and that only 40 wings were left for purchase that day. This was confusing, because the system allowed us to select that option for Friday pickup with no direction or restriction. Along with this they are normally closed on Sundays as shown in the pictures.
When we arrived, we waited patiently to speak with a manager--not expecting extra wings to magically appear, but hoping to understand what went wrong and how to avoid this in the future. Sadly, the interaction was immediately defensive with a very direct blaming tone. We were told the order had "just appeared" at that time in their system and that the wrong option had been selected, with no room for discussion. There wasn't even an attempt to review the receipt that showed when the order was placed and pick up time.
I kindly asked why the option was available for Friday pickup if it was only intended for Super Bowl Sunday. The only response was for us to either receive a full refund or purchasing the remaining 40 wings at full price. We chose to take the 40 wings.
I asked whether there was anything that could be done to acknowledge the inconvenience, as this appeared to be a system or process issue rather than user error. The response we got was very rude, dismissive and reactive, rather than understanding or solution-oriented.
Before leaving, I asked how we should place large Friday orders in the future to prevent this from happening again. We were told to order the same way as before and that the day didn't matter--despite being told moments earlier that the system didn't register the order until noon next day for our pickup time. This left us with little faith that the issue wouldn't repeat itself or if there was concern about if it did.
Overall, the interaction felt more accusatory and defensive than customer caring. I understand mistakes happen, but it's how they are handled matters. We were hoping to continue making these large Friday orders a regular tradition with Queen Cafe, but based on this experience, we'll be looking at other options.
Advice to customers: If there's an issue with your order, be prepared for challenging cooperation & little consideration from management.
Advice to management: Review how ordering options are presented to your customers, take accountability when it's on you/your systems, don't blame your customers, and approach them with some level of empathy to listen for a solution. read more