Remember that grey steak at the Beefeater??

Remember I complained about the insipid, grey looking fillet steak I had last time we went to our local Beefeater Restaurant way back in February?

Well, I e-mailed them about it, and I'd forgotten all about it, just put it down to the fact that their customer service is non-existent and that we wouldn't be going there again, ever!

However, look what just arrived in my in-box this afternoon

QUOTE:"Thank you for contacting us about your meal at the White Hart- Godstone Beefeater in February. Please accept my apologies for the delay in this reply.

It is always our intention to meet and exceed our guests’ expectations, both with the quality of our food and the service we offer. I am sincerely sorry that we have failed to do so on this particular occasion

I have been working with the Kitchen Manager closely to try and decrease the wait for food due to our new menu it’s proving it’s going to take some more training. We have already put new procedures in place and are looking to implement some others to help improve the quality and speed of our food.

We have recognised that there is an issue with our former supplier for our steaks causing upset to many customers. Therefore we have listened to our customers comments and have changed our steak supplier all round and have gone for a better steak quality, which we are hoping will rectify the issue resulting in the better quality of steaks.

However, whilst I understand that you and your confidence in us may have been shaken I would very much appreciate the opportunity to redeem ourselves.

As a gesture of goodwill, please find below a £40 voucher to be used in any Beefeater Grill. Please present your voucher code to a team member before making payment.

I do hope that I might restore your faith in our restaurant and show that not only do we serve up great food, but also great memories.

Thank you again for contacting me although I do apologise that it was necessary for you to do so, I hope that I have managed to address the issues you have raised and apologise again for the problems you encountered here at the White Hart.

Yours faithfully " unquote

Hmmm, so a nice little £40 voucher, so we'll be going out for a meal there over the week-end and I'll try their fish and chips and to make up the big difference in price, I will consume copious amounts of wine at their expense

See, everything comes to those who wait....... It's quite comforting to know that this time, I wasn't the only one to have complained about their c*ap steaks then! Afterall, you expect a sizzling, juicy steak at one of these steakhouses don'tcha, not an insipid one that looked like it had been boiled and marked across with a hot poker £40 hey, they've gone a bit overboard with that, but of course, I don't mind at all

OH, on reading this back, I've just noticed it says "Godstone" there, and yet we went to the "Guestling" one. Oh never mind, I'm sure I can spend the voucher anywhere I want!!!

Happy days
Good for you ...enjoy

A well balanced letter gives them valuable feedback and they'd be mad not to compensate.

£40 though well done and enjoy it!!

Yippee Helena! Result! Shame the wrong branch got the blame (if they did) lol!

Well done Helena, have a lovely meal, and maybe Dave can have a steak, to try them out, whilst you go the safe route

Wow that is an excellent result and £40 is a great apology .... much more than the steak cost
I've never complained about food I'm not happy with, I clearly should have done

Actually I have complained to my OH if he's cooked and served up something inedible, but he didn't give me any monetary compensation ..... just an earful which isn't quite the same is it

You'll really enjoy your meal this coming weekend because it'll be FREE

can you imagine the length of the e-mail Helena sent initially? I'd say that was good

Nice one
We went to our local Beefeater on Saturday, 3 had steaks which apparently were the best they have ever tasted and I had salmon which was absolutely delicious.
So better luck next time H.

Now THAT is good customer service.

Well done Helena and good for you for complaining.

Last time I complained about a meal we were offered a replacement meal in a hotel belonging to the same group and it was so embarrassing because the waiters wouldn't leave us alone and came to check if everything was ok every two minutes