Old Orleans

[vin_petrol]

In this post, gothgrr mentioned the awful Old Orleans, a capitalist establishment that always raises a smile on my face ... when I walk past it and *never* go in.


Old Orleans occupy a special place in my life. They were the very first capitalist entity to Officially Give Me Poor Customer Service, and to go on Vin's list of Companies Who Will NEVER Get Another Penny Of My Money As Long As I Live If I Can Possibly Avoid It.

Youngsters on my friends list will not be aware that back in the 1970s customer service in Britain was uniformly dreadful. Shop assistants were always grumpy, and they were routinely rude to you. Lots of companies didn't really want your money, and saw customers as some petty annoyance they had to grudgingly deal with. Mrs Thatcher and the Conservatives changed all that in the very early 80s. I often joke that before 1982 we didn't have customer service or nice food in Britain, and I don't think I'm far wrong.

In 1989 I visited America, to see a University friend who was doing his second year at UC Davis in California (with which the University of York swapped a few students each year). Whilst there I witnessed even better customer service, and he raved on about how good it was, and how no crap company should *ever* get any money off you. I was convinced, and decided on my return from America to take no more shit from companies that Did Not Treat Me Properly.

[As an aside, I suspect that being in California did give me a false impression of this vaunted American customer service. Since then I've visited New York and seen customer service that wouldn't have been out of place in 70s Britain. In fact, the grumpiest, surliest sales assistant I think I've *ever* encountered in my life was at a 7-11 in Chicago. So grumpy was she it was almost worth queuing up again, purely for the life experience.]

So when I returned from America and was invited to a birthday night out at the then newly opened Old Orleans in York I was quite happy to go along. However, I was highly unimpressed by their customer service. I can't remember all the specifics, but it was simple things like:

1) I often order glasses of iced water to go with my meal. I ordered them several times. They arrived zero times.
2) Their was some mistake with the order that lead to one meal appearing on the bill but not arriving. They were adamant we would have to pay for it, and a large argument ensued. Hint: never say to a table with Computer Science undergrads on it "it's on the computer so it must have been ordered."
3) One meal turned up cold.

At the time, I remember wondering if they were really busy or something. I went to go to the toilet towards the end of the meal, and wandered through a huge room full of empty tables at the back of the restaurant. Tumble weed blew past me in the wind. They had about three tables to service.

Y'see, not huge stuff, just little niggly stuff you don't *have* to accept from a capitalist entity. After the meal, Trash swore never to go back there. A few weeks later someone different organised another meal there. Trash was fixed in her "I'm never going there again" ideal. I swayed (it was a good friend) and went, and had an experience as equally dreadful as the first time. I really, really swore never to go back again. Apart from the odd "let's meet at Old Orleans to start the night drinking" instruction I've been unable to avoid, I've never been back.

Another company annoyed me at about the same time with clueless customer service. Warner Brothers opened their multiplex on Clifton Moor in 1989, in competition to the Odeon in York. Here's my experience at WB:

<walk up to Ticket Office>
Me: could I have two tickets for this film please?
WB: certainly!
Me: can we pay for those separately?
WB: certainly!
Me: oh dear, one of these SU cards is from last year. Is that a problem?
WB: of course not, it's near the start of term and that sort of thing happens.

Nice and easy, eh?

I like to clean my glasses before I see a film, and in those days I would wash them in soap and hot water in the toilets and clean them with toilet paper. No problem at WB.

Now let's see how the Odeon compared in the summer of 1989:

<walk up to Ticket Office>
Me: could I have two tickets for this film please?
O: g'tut'shop fu yur tickets arm on mee brek
(wander through to shop as ticket office is, er, not selling tickets)
Me: can we pay for those separately?
O: no
Me: oh dear, one of these SU cards is from last year. Is that a problem?
O: yes, you can't use it
Me: but term's only just started!
O: well, we don't accept 'em

Not so nice, eh? Put me off completely.

I was unable to clean my glasses in the toilets due to the complete lack of soap, hot water and toilet paper.

Perhaps the Odeon has got better since 1989. I wouldn't know - I've never been back.

I suppose I could explain to these companies where they're going wrong, but why should I? Capitalism has a certain "survival of the fittest" aspect to it, and I think it's up to the company itself to work out where it's going wrong.


So, I'm sure everyone here has a fantastic tale of awful customer service they can tell?

Comments

[jezebel-z.livejournal.com]

I've had similarly awful experiences at Old Orleans recently, so it looks like they haven't changed much.

[vin_petrol]

Maybe there's an advertising slogan there?

"Old Orleans - treating customers like shit since 1989!"

[jezebel-z.livejournal.com]

heheh.
It'd serve them right, too.
I mean, the other day I bought an iced margherita there and it tasted like cold semen. Utterly foul. And I had to argue with the waitress for 10 minutes before they replaced it - by which time I refused and got my money back instead.

[foxy76.livejournal.com]

I have also been unfortunate enough to experience Old Orleans customer service first hand. Even worse, it was on a work's Christmas do - so they actually *were* busy...and all the more incompetant.
I've also been to the one in Southampton and am pleased to report uniform levels of service in each of the branches. The only thing that tempted us in there then were the masses of cut price cocktail vouchers in the student pages. I'd never go there again.

Equally, the Odeon hasn't improved at all. Although, I can walk there, but not to WB!

[sara-lou.livejournal.com]

Old Orleans is truly appalling, but it has got worse since the early nineties. Or maybe my taste has got better and my standards higher. I celebrated my 21st in there with lots of cocktails, and I remember it being lots of fun. The last time I went in there, probably a year or so back with steer, they didn't even know how to make me a gin martini. I've only ever tried the food once, and once was enough.

[vin_petrol]

they didn't even know how to make me a gin martini

Something similar happened to me last year, though not at Old Orleans. It was at Trauberts in York, which now appears to have closed down completely (interesting...) They had a "cocktail menu", so I ordered a Vodka Martini. A few minutes later a troubled member of staff wandered over to ask me how to make it - was it equal measures of Vodka and Martini in a glass? Oh deary, deary me. I had a bottle of beer instead!

[sara-lou.livejournal.com]

Like the wine bar on Grape Lane, where the wine comes in "red" or "white" and out of a tap...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

There's a "wine" bar in the town where I grew up that (entirely reasonably in retrospect) once refused to serve me without ID. I was stunned - I was 18 and a few months at the time, and had been drinking in pubs for about a year. It hadn't occurred to me that there'd be a problem about getting served once I was genuinely of legal age. In my experience up to that point, the only people who needed ID to prove they were 18 weren't, in fact, 18. My teenage self was outraged and vowed never to buy anything there since - and I haven't.

A few years before that, a good friend of mine had some bad service or other from a branch of WH Smith's. ISTR it was something to do with refusing a refund on some films they'd developed badly, but the details are lost in the mists of time. Rather than simply avoid the place in retribution, we used to make a point of going there every Saturday but not buying anything, walking around a lot to wear out the carpet. I still don't like to buy things from there unless I have to.

[vin_petrol]

we used to make a point of going there every Saturday but not buying anything, walking around a lot to wear out the carpet

Oooh, I like the logic of that! A nice bit of direct action... You could tell people how awful the customer service was there too, and how they should go to that nice independent newsagents across the road instead :-)

[andyguest.livejournal.com]

Curious, me and the folks like Old Orleans, we've never had a problem there. The service is slow but that's fine cause I only ever go in there when I want a long lunch. Plus, the burgers are great.

[fritx.livejournal.com]

welcome to thee Labyrinth. Never go into any place with trolls at the door.

[jezebel-z.livejournal.com]

There's always the City Screen? Bang in the middle of town, and about the same price, IME.