Meal Sensations...of the Wattie's Variety

From Johanna over at one girl's thoughts on life

We've all seen the ads on TV.

I of course jumped on my laptop and downloaded the voucher - I love a good voucher.

I put it in my handbag ready for use next time I went to the supermarket.

The opportunity presented itself sooner than expected. I found myself browsing the aisles of Pak N Save Petone and gleefully selected my 'Meal Sensation' from the frozen food section. I spent a good 5 minutes deciding the flavour I was going to go with. 

Once at the check out I presented my voucher with a wicked grin only to have my smile downgraded to a confused somewhat annoyed grimace when the girl pertly advised that they (Pak N Save) do not accept printed vouchers. I somewhat impatiently pointed out that the voucher stated:

This is an internet based

coupon. Black and white

copies are acceptable. Any

questions in relation to this

offer please phone 0800 653

050. The coupon is issued by

Heinz Wattie’s Limited. This

coupon is non-assignable

and will be redeemed only on

the product stated

specifically on this coupon.

The coupon is limited to: one

coupon per product per

customer. Coupon expires on

07 November 2010

Lets just say I was pretty peeved and felt a bit ripped off...AND embarrassed because I had waited and held up a queue for a good 15minutes while check-out lady confirmed with manager whether my voucher could be used. Which was a rather rude NO.

I packed my groceries into my car and headed home. Once back in my little house I logged onto the Wattie's Website and sent them a lovely little note just explaining my experience and that they might want to set the record straight at ol'Pak Petone.

Less than 10 minutes later my cell rings and a LOVELY representative from Wattie's is asking me what happened and she is terribly sorry I had a bad experience. She said she was putting vouchers in the mail PRONTO to make up for my trouble. 

Phone call ends... Johanna is one happy lady and very impressed at the prompt phone call and delightful woman on the other end of the line.

The next day...another phone call from Wattie's...another apology and 'we just wanted to advise you that we have contacted Pak N Save Petone and set the record straight so all other voucher redeemers wont have an issue there.'

45 minutes ago...Phone call from Wattie's yet again. "Johanna we are so sorry that you  missed out on trying our new Meal Sensations. Will you be home at 5pm today? uh....maybe....why? Because our manager Craig is going to nip over to your house to hand deliver some samples to you along with a few other freebies just because we want you to know how valued you are as a customer."

Five minutes ago I was delivered: 

 

And all of this because I wrote in to let them know about the miscommunication between Wattie's and Pak'nSave. 

Bless you Wattie's - I will forever sing your customer-service praises.

A Bad Day at Baobab Cafe (Wellington)

STORY BY CAITLIN FROM THEBABYBUMP

A dear friend of mine sent me an email the other day ranting and raving over the treatment Jessica, a buddy of hers got when lunching in Baobab Cafe a week or so ago. Having read it and growing understandably more grizzly with each sentence, I got in touch with Jessica to get the full story and here it is, straight from the horses (I use the word horse figuratively, of course) mouth:

I went into Baobab last Friday morning with my 7 month old daughter Ava to meet two friends from my Mothers Network Group and their daughters aged 4.5 months and 8 months. We grabbed a table and moved our buggies out of the way so they weren't blocking any of the other tables or the aisles. The owner immediately came up and said that as the cafe was small our buggies were rather a pain and could we move them outside. All three of us were using them at the time so clearly we couldn't and moved them well out of the way instead.

My daughter Ava started having a little cry so I picked her up, gave her a cuddle and put her dummy in. She cried for about 2 minutes and the owner came over again and the resulting conversation went something like this (not word for word of course, but you get the gist) ....

Owner: You're really going to have to leave. Your baby has been crying for ages and people are leaving because of you. Everyone is staring at you. If your baby is crying you need to take her out of the cafe. You can take her for a walk and come back if you want but you can't stay here, you're annoying the other patrons.

Me: We'll leave, but we won't be coming back... ever!

Owner: I have a baby too you know, but you can't just let them cry in a cafe. It's very irresponsible and it's causing the other people to leave. You need to take the baby away now.

Me: OK that's fine, you can stop now. You've said more than enough and we're leaving.

Owner: Irresponsible blah blah blah, annoying other patrons blah blah blah.

And so we left. On the way out I apologised to the two tables next to us for disturbing them and both said they hadn't been disturbed in the slightest! I was really upset and was in tears by the time we got outside, it was sad because I used to go there all the time and know the staff well who are all really lovely - they always said hello to Ava and she always had a smile for them! Good food, good coffee, good staff. Shame about the owner....

Needless to say, I most definitely won't be blessing them with my patronage. I understand the buggy thing, or would if they were blocking the way of passing waiters. I also understand the crying thing, but not when bubs has been crying for all of two minutes and it's not bothering the other patrons. 

Does this mean that when the woman at the table next to me is shrieking with laughter to the point my ears are bleeding I can complain and you'll ask her to leave? Or when the straggly haired hippies sitting outside puffing away on their fags are blowing their smoke through the doors and windows right into my face I can have a whinge and you'll ask them to get out? I think you'll find the answer is no.


Even if I asked, they wouldn't be shown the door. So why then, when no one even complains about an innocent crying baby is this Mama asked to leave? Unfair, I say, and unjust.


The worst thing is, Jessica (offended mother) left a wee note of displeasure on Baobab's Facebook page which was promptly deleted. Ashamed, much?


EDITOR'S NOTE: Miss Cait did a follow-up story on Baobab HERE in response to the feedback about this initial story. Good on you Miss Cait. And can we please use/leave a NAME when we give our opinion in future, rather than being ANONYMOUS. Thanks!


Baobab Cafe
152 Riddiford Street,
Newtown, Wellington
Website

A Tabou Cafe in Kingsland

One night me and the hubby went to the premier of a short film, produced by one of his friends. As it was a short film, we decided to go for coffee afterwards, even though it was Wednesday night.

I mean, how often do we get to go out? Not as much as we'd like to, I can tell you!

So anyways, we trotted off to Kingsland, which used to be a rundown quirky little strip of shops and cafes. Now that the Rugby World Cup is coming in 2011, the place has decided to spruce itself up and turn trendy. Great.

So we manage to find a carpark (amazingly), right outside a very hip and happening Bar populated with lots of beautiful people (I quickly spotted some TV stars in the crowd). Not for me thanks!