Terrible: Swan Inn Chappel refused to serve food that was paid for. Refused to refund for it.
I have just come back from the Swan Inn Chappel, Colchester after experiencing the worst customer service, not to mention most humiliating treatment at a hospitality venue in my days.
On arrival, the pub was moderately busy, my wife and I had been hiking so we opted to sit outside. I spoke to the bartender (who later on told me that he was in charge of the pub) that we would like food outside. He informed us that the only way to order food outside was by using a QR code. I am very IT aware, so this wasn’t a problem, although later on I did see another outside customer go in and order, which I thought was a little strange.
I duly ordered £18 worth of bar snacks for our table, I received confirmation of order in the app and I also received confirmation of the purchase on my banking app.
After nearly an hour’s wait my wife decided to go in, we realised the pub was busy, but this was after all, a straightforward order. After ten minutes she came back out and said that the staff were refusing to believe her that we had an order waiting.
Thinking that this was a mere formality, I went in to show the proof of payment on my phone. I showed the ‘Manager’ my proof of payment and then he conducted what amounted to a forensic investigation on a laptop behind the bar. There were other customers at the bar and despite my showing the proof of payment the ‘Manager’ inferred at least once that I hadn’t paid. This was extremely embarrassing and humiliating for me.
Despite my having paid the ‘Manager’ maintained that the order wasn’t in the kitchen and it would need reordering. At no point was any form of apology offered for the inconvenience we had been put to. However, I agreed to reorder but then the ‘Manager’ said I would need to pay again! Having already upset me as a customer he had decided to double down his monumentally arrogant customer service.
My reply was that I wouldn’t pay again as I had already paid however a solution would be to manually refund me for my payment and then charge my card again. The ‘Manager’ point blank refused to do so as I would be refunded ‘anyway’. Of course, given that their order and payment system was clearly not robust I was not likely to trust it again.
I have worked in hospitality for over thirty years. Of course, the simplest and correct thing to do would have been to ask, without hesitation, for the kitchen to get out missed order underway. Mistakes happen, and they can happen with IT, however it is not the customer’s responsibility to fix a venue’s poor IT systems. I am talking of an ingredient cost of £4 for this order. The implication from the Manager was that I was trying to defraud the pub when in fact, to be honest, the pub by refusing to refund me was attempting to defraud me!
Nobody of any real responsibility (ie proprietors) was in the pub today (Sunday). I mentioned to the ‘Manager’ that we would unlikely to come back although we had had great experiences in the past. The ‘Manager’ in his tone and demeanour made it clear that he could not care less.
It was only a modest tab this time, we spent £200 in the pub a month ago, again probably trade the pub management thinks is inconsequential. Perhaps one needs to spend much more to get competent, friendly service at the Swan. Certainly, the high handed attitude towards customers reflects a culture that goodwill is unimportant at this pub.
Such a shame after supporting a local business that a good place has gone bad.