Let me start by saying that I have ordered from Stay Inn for as long as they have been open and have always loved the food. I'm therefore assuming that at some point in the last couple of years the place has changed hands.
Anyway, I made an order for collection over the phone last night. The initial call was painfully awkward - I asked for vegetarian pad thai, an order which I had to repeat numerous times before the young chap on the counter went through to the kitchen to check whether this was possible (it's advertised on their menu), to which I overheard the answer was 'yes'... he then returned to the phone and confirmed that it was all okay.
I then walked 20 minuted to pick up my order and a further 20 mins home. When I arrived home, I opened the container and started dishing the contents onto a plate - not only did they not even closely resemble a traditional pad thai (somewhat understandable, not being a thai takeaway), it was absolutely chock full of various meats and prawns.
I called them back and explained that there seemed to have been some sort of mistake as I had ordered a vegetarian meal. What ensued was the most farcical debacle I've ever encountered from anyone in a 'customer service' role...
To cut a very long story short, I spent at least 5 mins on the phone with the young chap on the counter while he rudely argued that somehow I was at fault for the mistake (and then that the kitchen had messed up). He asked me what I wanted them to do about it, so I suggested that they might consider replacing my food. I was told that they wouldn't do this initially because 'I'm the only one here who speaks English and I can't tell them to do that', when I queried how he managed to communicate with the kitchen to pass on orders he said, and I quote, "I just repeat words until they understand." However, after yet another trip to the kitchen to ask (which I could yet again overhear) turned into them agreeing to do so. I explained that it would take me a 40min round trip to come pick it up so could they please deliver it to me, to which I was told that I would have to pay the delivery charge to the driver. I obviously disputed this, as it was their mistake, and another argument ensued before they agreed to deliver it to me (I later discovered that the delivery charge was a mere £1, which they weren't willing to absorb by way of an apology). I then received a call from the young chap on the counter curtly asking me if I had eaten any of the food, to which I responded that I had dished it on to a plate, he then told me that I needed to hand over the food they had initially given me to the delivery driver, which I reluctantly agreed to do before they hung up. I thought about it for a second, before calling back and explaining that I would like to cancel the replacement food as I was concerned about their hygiene standards given that they were asking me to return food that had already been dished up. This really did not go down well and after being told that they would not refund me the phone was handed over to another man who definitely spoke very good English and proceeded to shout at me for a good few minutes. He told me that they definitely never made mistakes, the mistake had been all mine, I had 100% ordered meat and that they didn't like to make a loss so that they wouldn't refund me and wanted the food back, to which I tried to explain that this had been their mistake and not mine, but I was shouted over every time I uttered a sound. The hell ended when he shouted that I was wasting their time and to waste another takeaways time instead, before slamming the phone down on me!
So, meaty slop in hand, I made the 40 minute round trip on foot back to the shop. I popped the full container down on the counter calmly explaining that I was returning the food, as requested. The young chap took it into the kitchen, where I watched the chef open and inspect it thoroughly (there was no way you could miss the meat and seafood). The chef then came out to the counter and in broken English began yet another verbal assault. After another few minutes of this the young chap eventually gave me my money back, on the understanding that I am now barred (to which I explained that I would definitely never be placing another order with them anyway)!
Throughout the whole ordeal I never once raised my voice, but was treated with such disdain and aggression.
I never, ever write reviews, but I honestly felt that people needed to know about this so that they can avoid not only the terrible food, but the absolutely appalling service.
I would give ZERO starts if possible! read more
