This rant is not really about Pret A Manger in Market Harborough, a business I actually LOVE and a store I am in at least once a week if not twice sometimes three times.
Certainly often enough for the staff to recognise me and make jokes about how I always order the same thing.
So I love the souper tomato soup, even in the summer I buy it £4.95 and was pretty gutted when the Pret A Manger in Leicester closed down, I've even got Nottingham 10 High Street, Nottingham, GB NG1 2ET, on my radar, I like the business, I like the ethos and I completely respect what founder Julian Metcalfe did back in the 1980's to help the homeless and ex offenders back into work. When i got a new job at a school close to Market Harborough, this shop became my go to at lunch time, taking orders for other members of staff too.
Prets now a francise model with individual owners running every store but i have to say the warm vibes and exceptional customer service have continued to permeate and have kept me coming back...... a lot.
Until on my last but one visit I waited for about 20 minutes for the three soups I always buy, my choice, they'd had a rush on. When it was handed to me it felt cold. The member of staff I know who'd done the honours of preparing it for us assured me it was piping inside, she said it just went into a cold container. Oh, OK I said, paid and went on my way.
When we all opened the soup, in the car parked 10 minutes away, it was freezing, undrinkable. I could have returned it, but there wasn't time. I was on a tight lunch break. I just made a mental note to mention it next time I was in.
Fast forward to my next visit, when I did mention the cold soup to the member of staff serving, someone I didn't recognise, which also could be relevant. Maybe she thought I was just some shmuck trying to get a free soup.
She didn't seem remotely interested in my cold soup story, she said she'd mention it to the kitchen and proceded to charge me the £30 plus quid I always spend.
It was probably because I am so used to such exceptional customer service in this particular shop I was shocked. I told her I thought she'd at least have comped one soup, after I'd paid for everything.
She said if I'd expected it to be sorted I should have brought it back, which I guess is fair enough.
The problem for me is expectation. Pret A manger had set the bar so high, they made me feel so valued as a customer, remembering me, joking with me, being seemingly really happy to see me and grateful for my support, when I felt comfortable to share my disappointment with them, I got well nothing, almost a slap in the face which actually didn't stop me enjoying my hot soup that day but left me pondering was all the fluff actually real.
I of course will return to Pret A manger, I've been a loyal fan for over 20 years and I am sure if the original hardworking girl I know had served me the response would have been completely different. Lunch at Pret doesn't end because of two cold soups. I just wanted to vent my frustration a little bit as to how my legitmate issue wasn't really addressed and how that made me feel, especially because I do spend a lot in there and it's my number one choice for lunch on the go.
Brilliant customer service has to be consistent to be BRILLIANT. It has been so good, I guess that's why I was shocked by this. Maybe business isn't as good as it once was. I certainly won't be mentioning anything again should things not come up to there usually exceptionally high standards.