How did leave a customer starve with her family?

It was like around 10:50 PM in the night on 3rd Dec 2012, I get a call from the Manager of Heaven Sampoorana restaurant. He calls me to tell that a customer called them telling that they haven't received their food till now despite placing the order with goGrab.in. It was like OOPS!! First thing I did was quickly asked him back, "Can you get the food ready and delivery now?". He said "NO. All have left and we are closing the kitchen. We have few stuff left, but we cannot serve that to a customer.". I was like 'Oh My God.". 

I then logged-in to the system and checked to see if the order was placed. The order was showing as 'Payment Pending' and hence it did not reach the restaurant. I quickly logged-in to my PG console and saw that payment was successful. It was a technical issues where the PG response did not reach our servers. So, now the mistake is completely on goGrab.in. We do have a monitoring team that sits till 10:30 PM in the night, but on that particular day they too missed this. Since it was a rainy day and we had orders moving fast, they missed to 'Refresh' the console and confirm. All of us saw the order and since it was 'Payment Pending' we all though someone tried goGrab.in and left. 

I quickly called up the customer and apologized. She was completely frustrated, but she was very polite. She just said, please refund the money sir and kept the phone. This like make me feel very very bad. Had she shouted, it would have been better! I quickly checked with Sangeetha Velachery to see if we could get them food, but it was 11:05 PM and they were also closed! So, I just sent an apology email and initiated the refund and went to bed. It was actually a sleepless night.

Next day (04 Dec 2012):

I called up Haven Sampoorna manager and checked if he could make that delivery today and goGrab.in would bear the bill. He was Okay. I called the customer, but she would not pick-up. I tried it the whole day and also sent few SMS, but no response. The finally she picked-up in the evening and said, 'We don't want the food. Thank you.". But then we requested her to accept our apology and this food as a token of apology. She said she had prepared food for diner already. So, I requested her that we will do it tomorrow and she said YES.

The Day After (05 Dec 2012):
We planned it very perfect and also send a confirmation to the customer. We delivered the food around 7:30 PM in the evening, with a piece of Sweet by the restaurant and a 'Sorry' card from goGrab.in. That is when actually the customer spoke to the delivery guy and said that the whole family starved the whole night. We all felt very very bad.

07 Dec 2012: 
Surprise! We get an order from the same customer.

This was a new learning for us. We felt bad that we made a family starve despite paying for the food in advance. But honestly, this was our first customer, who taught us a lesson by not even uttering a single harsh or angry word. The two instances I spoke, she was very polite.



We are so humbled by your gesture madam! You understand goGrab.in is innovative and we will live up to your expectations.

Cheers!

18th Dec 2012 : Cook Dammit series!

Greek SALATA Theme: 

Take half a handful of finely chopped onion, a chopped garlic clove, 3 pinches chopped herbs, a dash each of olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar & yogurt. Mix in salt & pepper to taste. Use as salad dressing.

Courtesy: Ramki, Pizza Republic on ChennaiFoodGuide FB Page.

Sangeetha Veg (OMR) First Anniversary - 50% OFF | a FAQ

www.gograb.in

For us here at goGrab.in, it is going to be our 3rd Diwali this year! Yep, the first one was the 2nd Anniversary celebrations for Sangeetha Velachery, second one the Actual Diwali and this is going be our third one!

Based on the past experience we had with Sangeetha Velachery Anniversary and with also the need to spread the word about this 50% off we are having this FAQ for you. Hope it serves the purpose. If you have more questions, post them as comments, we will get it answered ASAP.

What is this all about?
Sangeetha Veg Restaurant, which is situated on OMR next to the Thoraipakkam signal is celebrating it's 1st Anniversary on Nov 20th, 2012 (Tuesday). They are sharing their happiness with a 50% OFF on Dine In & Take Away Orders Only. This would include Sweets & Savories too!

Is this 50% OFF applicable on www.gograb.in for Online ordering too?
YES YES YES

What would be advantage of www.gograb.in ?
You could easily avoid the waiting time in the crowd. Just walk-in to grab your food and walk-out!

Walk-in and walk-out with food. No Wait Time? Is it really possible? 
Yes. You are actually going to use www.gograb.in and place and order with Sangeetha OMR for Take Away. You would be doing this from your office or home using a computer, tablet or smart phone. And based on the take-away time indicated to you in the SMS, you are just to going to walk-in at that time and walk-out with your food. Of-course, there is a food preparation time, but that is your's now and we want you to just arrive at the specified time to grab the take-away!

Does this really work? Have someone really tried it?
Yes. We have been active from June 2012 and till date served more than 1000+ orders. There has been constant feedback from our customers and all of them have been incorporated. So, this works!

But have you really tried this on a day like this?
Yes, we did for the 2nd Anniversary for Sangeetha Velachery. And we miserably failed. We learnt a huge lesson on that day. Based on that day's experience, we did have closed room sessions with the Senior Management and Execution team of Sangeetha Velachery and OMR. We have made 200% arrangements on that to make sure that this time the power of goGrab is unleashed!

Okay, what should I do now?

1. If you plan to have your breakfast, lunch, dinner from Sangeetha OMR on that day for Dine-In, either be very early or plan a take away.
2. If you plan a take-away, do it online on www.gograb.in. Just walk-in to pick-up your food on the time indicated in the SMS. You can still have your favorite Sangeetha food, at 50% OFF with no need to wait!

Does this apply for Home Delivery?
NO. Home delivery is at the regular rates and NO 50% OFF.
Note: However, Home Delivery may remain closed or take additional time based on the crowd that day.

Can we reserve a table for our team for lunch in the afternoon?
NO. Table reservation would not be possible on that day. Sangeetha expects much larger turn-outs and hence they would not want to disappoint people by taking reservations.

At-least can I reserve a table for dinner for my family or friends?
Sorry, NO. Reasons same as above.

Is there is a possibility to know if the restaurant is crowded or not? So that I can decided for a Dine-in or Take Away?
Yes, keep tracking the crowed with photographs on either goGrab's FB page https://www.facebook.com/GoGrab.in OR on goGrab's Twitter handle http://twitter.com/mygograb.

Note: This article has been written by goGrab.in team with proper discussion with Sangeetha OMR Management. If you have more questions, please post them as comments, we will get them answered!

See you @ www.gograb.in

A Diwali Surprise

www.gograb.in

I was quiet busy today with a lot of stuff around, right from improving business, adding more restaurants and etc. My office cell phone suddenly rang and I saw Mr. Francis the manager of Sangeetha Veg Restaurant calling. Actually I could not pick up the phone as I was in mid of a very serious discussion. But I ended that with a logical closure and called back.

He sounded to be in a hurry and said, "Sir, there is an order from goGrab and the customer called us to tell that she did not order!". I told him "Okay, I will talk to the customer and get back.". Immediately I logged into the monitoring tool and pick up the customer number and called back. A female voice picked-up the phone and I introduced myself as "Ganesh from goGrab". Here is our conversation:

Customer: Sir, how can someone order for me, I have no one in Chennai and I also did not place the order.
Me: Okay Madam, but in goGrab anyone needs to pay. So someone would not play with money so can you please check with you family or friends around.
Customer: No way, there is no one who can order. I am sorry don't send anything.
Me: Madam, but the order is already paid.
Customer: That what I am asking, I got this card only yesterday and how could someone use it on your site today itself.

I start now understanding the problem a bit. So the customer had got a new Credit Card yesterday only and today **someone** has used that card on goGrab.in.

Me: Okay, apart from you who else knows about the card madam?
Customer: My husband.
Me: Can you check with him if he used it?
Customer: No, he is not here and there is no way he could have used it.
Me: Okay Madam, let me check the details and get back.
Customer: Ok.

I disconnect the call and quickly log into my logs to track the IP from which this order was placed. It showed me that the order was placed from Riyadh. So, I call back the customer again.

Me: Madam, Ganesh again from goGrab.
Customer : Tell me sir.
Me: I see that someone from Riyadh has placed this order.
Customer: Starts so blush and says, Oh that is my husband then. He is only there.
Me: Okay Madam, that is good then, can you please check with him and call back. In the meantime we will send the order to you.
Customer: Ok, what has he ordered?
Me: Jangiri, Badam Halwa and Bombay Mixture. May be he did wanted to send some sweets as surprise to your madam.
Customer: Ha ha, ok. Send it.

I disconnect the phone and called back Mr. Francis to confirm the order and quickly narrated him the story. He too was in smile and confirmed that he would send it immediate.

After 10 minutes the customer itself called me back to confirm that her husband only did it.

We were really moved to see that we are even a medium of love between a husband and wife living in distant lands and still be able to surprise his wife with a sweet!

Way to go goGrab! Keep it on!!

Ciao