I recently went to a restaurant with my husband. We were pretty excited about going since it was a ‘free meal’ – on the house because of a mistake that the hotel made during the delivery of our wedding reception.

We booked the restaurant in advance and on arrival advised the Maitre D that we had booked in the name of Mr and Mrs Harris.

“You’re already here” he said. Not quite sure what to do, we grinned and advised that “No, we have just arrived”.

It took ten minutes for him to establish that there were two couples by the name of Harris in the restaurant. We were not offered a drink or a seat in that time, but were made to wonder if we had the right place, day or time.

Once seated, we received service worthy only of Basil Fawlty in his famous Fawlty Towers, but without the comedy!

If we had received such service BEFORE our wedding, we would have run a mile. Receiving it post-wedding means we were left wondering whether our guests had the great time that we thought they should have had – and of course, we tell anyone we know not to book there. And our social networks allow this complaint to go far further than our own set of friends.

Any interaction with a customer must be flawless. And when it isn’t, the customer will be forgiving if the recovery is exemplary. Only staff who understand this can ever hope to excel in customer service. And whilst there is definitely a ‘type’ who is good at customer service, they too need help when dealing with situations beyond the norm.##