Bad business practices in Doha lately
Anyone else notice the drop in service in Doha lately? I'm sure it is because of the recession/economic crisis. Recent examples for me are, I go to a popular coffee-shop in City Center and order my usual "Lemon with Mint", and the waitress brings me a glass half full of drink and the other half foam, and even then the drink is full or large ice-cubes!
This is an old trick to replace the drink with ice to make it look like you are getting the same amount. I have been visiting this cafe for years and have never gotten large ice cubes like this. All for the amazing low price of QR 22! Of course I complained and she brought me the drink the way it used to be. (Best Lemon Mint is at Nandos, I think, and they do it right...)
Then, at Villagio, I order my favorite coffee drink, and I get it served to me in this little cup, like an "extra small" or something! In all the years I've been going to this place, I have gotten it in a large cup (QR 26 - expensive), and now I get about 1/3rd for the same price? I complained and they quickly rectified the situation, which leads me to believe that they know what they are doing.
Has anyone else seen things like this lately, or is it just me? All I am saying is, "buyer beware", and don't stand for it. Complain to the manager (it is HIS idea, anyway).
(Also, be warned of the new Caribou Coffee on Salwa Road, it is a nice place to hang out, but their "smoothies" are nothing but syrup, powder and sugar, no fruit in them! I complained to the manager and he agreed, but they are a franchise and can only sell what they are sent).
You Know Guys,
You are right about Paul's and all those overpriced restaurants smothered with silly service charges you're not getting..
However, Regarding Caribou Coffee, although the smoothies might not have (Fresh) fruit in them, they have fruit puree and are damn Refreshing.
They never said it is a healthy Drink By the way. and there is no Serrvice charge when you do actually ask for it.
how can there be a drop in service when it didn't exist in the first place?
is the Great Wall Chinese restaurant near Ramada..... uff, couldn't believe if its Chinese or Nepali restaurant. menu presented, went for a won ton soup in the menu - answer not available, so settled for else.... ok some main course, then requested Green Tea.... guess what... no green tea either!!!!! my humble question in lighter vein, is this Chinese restaurant??.. all the ppl are from Nepal, so they couldn't get that humour. i gave up.. the food came, its nothing but noodles dipped in OIL, also no wrong time,,, just in a minute after serving the soup... i humble had to request him to bring food after soup... when he bought later, it was cold.
terrible experience, never again to Great Wall... my usual choice for Chinese is the Beijing restaurant.
You can't teach experience...
You dont need to be very smart to realise customer service in DOha is a total crap. Financial crisis or not.
And being able to use an extra excuse to justify poor food with crappy service.... they are just rolling on it!
I dont take this. After trying to new lebanese restaurant at Ezdan and the waiter (philipino) brought us stale baguete roll (in a lebanese restaurant in Doha!!!!)... we just left.
To be honest, the menu is so extremelly large that it is hard to believe those meatball heads would be competent to prepare anything well.
ANyway, good service and good food, La Cigale and Four Seasons. But you have to pay for it... and a lot.
So the other day I went to eat at Landmark and saw Paul's was open, so I sat and ordered a "smoked turkey breast" sandwich for 34 QR. After waiting for what I thought to be a long time (20 min?), I was given a sandwich where I had to look inside to make sure there was anything in it! I thought Paul's was an expensive French style cafe, but inside the bread were two slices of the thinnest "pre-formed" meat you had ever seen. I didn't know they could cut meat that thin! I could actually see my fingers through it as I held it up.
Oh, also, one small piece of lettuce and a hint of mayonaise. When I closed the sandwich, you really couldn't see anything between the slices. *sigh* I am tired of always getting ripped off in Doha, I didn't even argue with them, even after they jacked the bill up another 10 QR for their "service fee".
(10 QR "Service" fee for waiting 20 minutes for a sandwich, then another 20 min waiting for them to bring me my bill? (They didn't bring it, by the way, I had to go pester the guy at the cashier for it, he wandered off to find the waiter, who didn't make a bill, so they came and asked what I had......for this I have to pay a service fee?))
They should be glad I'm not a Qatari, because I know they wouldn't have accepted it and probably raised an issue. Really, at expensive Paul's, I really expected real slice Turkey meat, not thin, preformed meat that looked like thin bologna.
So Paul's is another place I won't go anymore, I guess.
* Places I still go: Star of India, Asian Tradition, Shwarma place in the souk, Thai Massage Restaurant near Toys-R-Us, Noodle place outside Virgin records, and good old Lenotr'e, which has yet to let me down.
You can't teach experience...
If i'm payin a lot so better to go somewhere where you are treated with respect regardless of what you are wanting to buy as a service.For so long i'm not running for image ,the name of the place where i'm nipping my drinks.the important thing is what you pay and what you got.Agree with all of you,the service quality and the mantelity changed lot in Doha.So who gave this tolerance to them?This is the question.
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All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
I know it is old story here, but 17% service charge in Doha is scam for managers/owner to steal. I don't know any workers that get tip from service charge, but that is what the manager say the money is for if you ask him. SO many restaurant take service charge, I always ask worker if he gets tip from service charge, he laugh and say he's lucky to get basic pay! I am shamed the way we treat workers here. Sometimes I tell them I don't pay the service fee, and they get mad but don't say anything. I ask if money is for workers, and they say yes. I say good, but I give them money seperate from bill so manage can't steal.
I know Starbucks has tipbox, but they get in trouble in UAE because manager keeps all the money, nothing for workers, someone complain to Starbucks USA, theyget in trouble.
Also, yes, service in Doha sux, I also see same price, less food/less drink, manager always try to scam customer.
Will drink a coffee out but that is about it. I have found that the waiter/waitress does not understand your order especially if you ask for dressings etc to be on the side. Seen the same thing re the gloves, same pair of gloves for touching everything. Saw a girl one day with her gloves on in the rest room.
People sneezing and coughing and then not washing hands.
17% service charge when the food and service was average...sorry won't do it.
Lemons and mint are cheap over here so why cut back on a drink that costs nothing really?
Azz hole management. Cutting corners in all the wrong places.
I will hoist that up the flag pole and see who salutes it!!
This kills me..... on bill i find service charge of 17%!!!! hmmmm paying 17% for a service which i hardly got and for that unhygienic practice on the top.........can i help it.. NO, only solution is to pay and get the heck out of there :-)
I am with eaglemmanuel, when was the service ever good?
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What difference does it make to the dead whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or democracy?
-Gandhi
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Never mind the amount of food for the price. Think about the lack of hygiene in these places. Everyone coughs without covering their mouths and a recent article in the Gulf Times pointed out that the viruses hang in the air encased in microscopic water droplets from the cough for a very long time. I doubt you can order anything without disease from the cook or the server being in your drink or on your food.
Even Paul's has waiters coughing while serving. Amazing that customers do not leave. It appears that customers are bigger idiots than the management of these restaurants...
On another note, the best waiters from Paul's Villagio moved to Paul's in Landmark. But the girls at the till still touch food when you order out and you have to tell them to change their gloves. They seem to think that after handling money the gloves are still safe. As has been shown by studies in the states paper money has fecal matter in its fibers from the unclean... That's appetizing! Do you like s*it with your pie? That's how Paul's like to serve it!
Have a nice day!
Bad business practices in Doha - lately only? ROFL!
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Don't want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
On a daily basis I come across places that have no service at! A couple of weeks ago, I was with my mom at Paul's in Villagio. I made her go their and told her it was a fantasitic place to eat. Well, we had no service at all! I had to eventually get up and get my own menu and afterwards, waited 15 min, just for the bill.After I had given the waiter the payment, waited a further 15 min for my change! Had to go and fectch it and no, they were not that busy! There were maybe 8 tables of people. My mom made a comment and I was embarressed I had recommended it!
Whatever you vividly imagine, Ardently desire, Sincerely believe and Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass.
thanks, but feed my ignorance, do i really have a choice? paul rest. unlike tgif or applebees they serve ice tea bottomless.
expect nothing, do more, love lots, smile often, cry sometimes but continue living....
Miss saigon... excuse to serve in small glasses due to tall ones been broken is the lamest excuse I have heard in this time of recession.. really ridiculous to the core.. and if that be the case the price should also be adjusted.. but then that would be called being FAIR, the last thing to expect from these a***ho**s...
and I am sure they would never revert back to there standard (the tall glass) even after this recession gets over without increasing the prices...
One Life to Live...Live It To The Fullest
Cut back on service , cut back on quality, cut costs, lose customers . The managers that work with these corner shop mentalities and come up with these brilliant business strategies only do so because they have not the intelligence to come up with better business practices other than shortchanging the customers. What I call lieing and cheating passes as BEEZNEES here.
Really gets up my nose.
Then
a) take a large plastic beaker and asked to be served in that...
b) ask for two small glasses
c) ask for half price
I was at Ezdan towers pool cafe...
it said 17% service charge on the menu and on the bill it had 15% service charge on top
When we nicely pointed it out the women (banshee) behind the till got REALLY aggressive...
what ever i will take a sandwich next time :)
noticed it, paul restaurant in villagio, before they served their iced tea in a tall glass, and when we dined there last week it was now on a small glass full of ice,
and when i complained the lame excuse was all the previous tall glass were broken.
expect nothing, do more, love lots, smile often, cry sometimes but continue living....
You could as well forward your posting to the consumer protection department. Must be somewhere around doha
what to do about it? YOu can stop drinking if you want to. Everyone are out there to make a fast buck without principles