I usually will not buy food vouchers despite being a foodie because i dread the idea of getting stuck with a voucher but not being able to utilise it because too many people have bought the voucher and everyone will try to use it during the stipulated timeline. i do also take location in mind. some locations like the bird park etc will be too inconvenient for me.
however, this deal caught my eye although its actually not cheap. Its $38. Most food deals on these coupon sites are usually around $15 to $20+.....
But when i read through the menu, i liked it almost immediately! the crabmeat in pink sauce.. that portobello mushroom with truffle oil!! SQUID INK!! BEEF TENDERLOIN!!
and the pictures displayed to entice the deal...
the photos above were extracted from voucherlicious itself and they were taken from Sparklette.net. the extracts of the reviews further got me sold on the deal. I shared the deal on fb to see if anyone is interested and Aaron responded after checking out the deal. We fixed a date to head down together today!
I WAS really LOOKING FORWARD to the portobello, the crabmeat pasta, the squid ink and the tenderloin!
located along keong saik street....
as i got there, aaron has already arrived and he looked at me in his semi sian face telling me.. " they are serving different from the web "
i was like.. how come? how can it be?
and there it was, staring in my face, the menu....
HUH? i didn't come here for parma ham! i do like parma ham but i can have parma ham anywhere! i can buy parma ham from supermarket! and you are replacing my crabmeat/squidink with sausage?! AND IN A BORING TOMATO SAUCE?!!
AND WHERE IS MY BEEF??? you are changing my beef to chicken BREAST and pork??
SERIOUSLY, WTF?!!
i requested for their ala carte menu to take a look. and you know, the portobello mushroom suggested on voucherlicious IS NO LONGER ON THE MENU. Den why did they even put it there to lure people to take on the voucher?
AND, the breaded pork and chicken breast on today's menu is also not included in their ala carte menu (i took pictures of every page of their ala carte menu because i was just too angry!!!! and i went home to slowly compare!!) - which makes me THINK and FEEL that they are substituting my beef to pork and chicken breast coz its cheaper!
we tried to reason with the lady server who is totally not sympathetic yet seems very well versed in such situations. I suppose we arent the only or the first to feel so upset hence she handled the situation in a ya-this-is-not-the-first-time-im-hearing-such-complains attitude.
she very calmly took our voucher and highlighted the fine print to us.. " Mdm, please check here.. Menu Special Changes Weekly."
I admit we are at fault for missing out the fine prints. but i do also feel that we are strongly misled. like that portobello, since its already not on your menu why do you still use it to lure people into THINKING that is part of the menu? And if your menu didnt have the boring sounding breaded pork and chicken breast, why do you suddenly have it for the menu, because its cheaper??
and honestly, i feel very upset because i feel very DISSATISFIED. The whole day i WAS LOOKING FORWARD to dinner tonight and already thinking about the items on the illustrated menu! You understand the anticipation of thinking you will get to enjoy certain food only to find out it has been replaced with loads of boring stuff? All the courses have been replaced. the starter, the pasta, the mains and the dessert!
I mean seriously, i think i won't be this angry if they offered the same exact menu YET the taste sucks. I will just blame it on my bad luck.. that im just sway that the food didnt taste good. but in this case, i only just feel cheated!
Also, even if they seriously wanted to do a change in items, you should at least MAINTAIN THE QUALITY. usually when restaurants want to replace things, they will replace it with something of a value ON PAR. But how can you replace crab meat or squid ink with pork sausage?! or beef with chicken breast or breaded pork!? we tried to reason this with the lady telling her.. " even if you want to change, you should at least have items of same quality .. how can you replace beef and crabmeat to sausage and chicken breast? "
and she said.. " yes mdm sometimes our quality will be different " so i asked her " so you are agreeing with me that the quality is different from that from the web menu? " and she said " no mdm, i am not saying that "
COME ON LA. YOU DON'T KAY KAY WITH ME!!
we asked to speak to a manager, she said she is the officer in charge and again very calmly, she said to us.. " mdm if you would like to complain please contact the voucher company directly " and she repeated this twice to push me over to the voucher company and even offered to give me the contact name and number of the voucher company.
her offer was we can come back another time maybe after cny where there may be a next menu change.
hello, why would i still want to make another trip down? its not like the most convenient location around either.
subsequently, she said to us .. " so mdm, you can choose to use the voucher or not ". BUY ALREADY PAY $38 DON'T USE DEN DO WHAT?
We made a call to the marketing manager of voucherlicious (luckily the lady gave us his mobile number because its already after office hours) and expressed our unhappiness about this deal.
the manager told us he is the marketing manager and the restaurant person should not be giving us number. Seriously, i don't think its most appropriate to disturb him with his family meal after office hours BUT in this situation,i'm sorry, i'm too angry to care!!
he asked me if i can negotiate with the restaurant directly - which obviously i tried and failed!
he asked me what is it that i think he can do to resolve the problem for us now. i told him either i leave now and they give me a full refund OR serve me exactly what is on the menu illustrated on the website. he said he can't decide and needs to check with management but he suggested i take pictures and send an email to them. I sure will!!!!
in the end, we LL had to continue with the meal. it was 9 plus and we were honestly hungry.
i believe many companies go into such marketing deals in bid to increase awareness for their business. But seriously, if you can't AFFORD to honour your deal, don't even offer a deal in the first place. I mean let's face it, most of us BUY a deal only coz we think its wu hua for us!
having said that, it should be apparent that i can easily afford dining here and paying full price for those items that i have been excitedly anticipating for. I do dine out often and italian restaurants are common for me. More expensive ones also eat before. But now you have just made me damn buay song!
you open restaurant, u want people to enjoy your food, have a happy meal. why would you stoop to this? i don't understand.
anyway, food arrived. (don't worry, i will still give my honest review)
prawns in butter and white wine sauce...
the prawn is pretty good. it is pretty tasty. aaron agreed.
parma ham and melon...
i like parma ham! you can't really go wrong with parma ham.
seafood in saffron sauce...
the seafood in saffron sauce was also pretty good.
breaded pork...
the breaded pork is really good. its thin but its really tender! the seasoning is nice and the breaded batter isnt too thick.
grilled chicken breast...
i simply don't like chicken breast. aaron found it ok.. not too dry so pretty ok.
dessert was tiramisu...
the tiramisu is not bad.
while i must say overall the food has been nice, i won't support a place which i feel has bad ethics. likewise, i probably will not be buying any food vouchers from voucherlicious because the fine prints seem to suggest and put me in a very bad position.
can you imagine if tonight they suka suka change their starter to haybe and ikan billis? and because of that fine print, i just have to LL accept??
having said that, to mr alex of voucherlicious, i do appreciate you took a bit of your time to handle my complain although you couldn't resolve it for me on the spot. But i don't think this is the way the business should be done. Once bitten, twice shy.
3 comments:
Looks like false advertising to me. I hope they offer some form of gesture to you. Thanks for sharing your experience. Retweeted this.
By the way, I located the deal on the site but couldn't find the small print "Menu Special Changes Weekly". Do you see it only after you have already bought the deal?
Looks like false advertising to me. I hope they offer some form of gesture to you. Thanks for sharing your experience. Retweeted this.
By the way, I located the deal on the site but couldn't find the small print "Menu Special Changes Weekly". Do you see it only after you have already bought the deal?
voucherlicious replied and offered a $10 credit to our account.
Honestly, both myself and my friend aaron did not notice the part about Menu Special Changes Weekly until the lady Rose pointed out to us.
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