I recently signed up to receive offers from the Rose of Lancaster, a pub I've frequented for something like 30 years on and off. I did this after filling in one of their little customer review forms giving them a glowing assessment in which I said something to the effect 'decent food at reasonable prices served by great people.'
Then on Friday the offers began to come to my email address '20% off food and drink if you book online.' So I tried to book a table for two for Saturday and found there were no tables available.
Well, there you go. Popular pub with a restaurant in high demand. Can't be helped I thought.
So my wife and I go for a walk down the Rochdale Canal and end up at the Rose at about 4.30 on Saturday to find an empty restaurant. I'd gone to pick up the car and got in five minutes after my wife who had had a chat with some of the young but not so enthusiastic staff.
She had got us a table and a bottle of wine and asked one of the waiting staff about the offer of 20% off. The answer was that it had expired.
'But we only got an email yesterday, tried to book on line but your site wouldn't let us and now I'm sat in an empty restaurant so can you explain why there were no tables available?'
There was no explanation forthcoming but the manager had said we needed to book on line and bring a print off of the email.
I then arrived and after quite a wait while two young women waiters wandered about paying no attention to us or the people who now occupied the next table and another sat near the till doing very little, one came to us to take our order. This time I asked if we could see the manager to discuss this great offer of 20% off all food and drink. After all we were in a pub we liked, at a table in a nice little restaurant absolutely determined to spend our money.
The manager came and began to patiently talk down to me by informing me that we had to book online to get the discount. I was still holding out in my determination to spend money in this pub and in my faith that a manager might just want some of my hard earned cash enough to offer something of a compromise.
I was wrong. She insisted that not only did we have to book online, I had to print off the email.
I informed her that I had tried to book online but her site had not allowed it; that the email also said I could show her the offer on my phone, which I did and that the place was empty other than us and the people who were now occupying the next table.
She then informed me that I probably couldn't book online because they were very busy. She was oblivious to the evidence of the empty room that sort of contradicted her statement. And then she returned to her mantra that we had to book online to get 20% off.
So what could we do? I said that we would rather not spend any more money or time in the place so could we have our bill for the wine and we would go elsewhere to eat?
The bill came, I paid and sat for a while in a virtually empty restaurant while we finished the bottle of wine and watched the people at the next table get up to find someone to take their order for some drinks.
I don't think we will be going there again. read more