BIRDHOUSE - WORST customer care I have EVER experienced ! Post Reply

[Discodolly]

Hello fellow NappyVallyNetters,

I rarely post on her but I have experienced the most most outrageous customer care from the Birdhouse cafe on St Johns Hill. I'm still in disbelief.

Bear with me - its a long one -

Scenario:
So I regularly visited the birdhouse cafe as lovely coffee/food and quiet ( so you'd think they would want to keep customers ) either just before I collect my 3yr daughter or after I drop her at nursery school.

So I would imagine I have spent at least £100 in there since the beginning of Term. Visting 2 to 3 times a week.

Yesterday I collected my daughter and 3 year olds being as they are .. as we got to the top of the road - near the cafe - she announced she needed a wee and was desperate.

I thought - no worries " quick we will just nip in my fav cafe and you can go and then maybe we will stay for a treat "

I went into the cafe and just happened to say " oo do you mind if she quickly nips to the toilet"

For the sake of clarity - I will be DD and the cafe BH:

The member of Staff I asked turned and said bluntly
BH: " No you have to be a customer"

DD: " But I am a customer , I come here regularly .. pls can she just go to the toilet shes desperate"

BH: " Well you will have to buy something then "

DD: " Are you serious ?"

BH: " Yes you have to buy something the toilet is only for customers now " again - NO sorry our any notion of understanding..

DD: " Are you telling me my 3 year old cannot use the toilet .. really ??.. I think your attitude is disgusting, I am shocked .. I am a customer.... er"

By the time I had to leave as my daughter HAD to go. I left saying

DD: " I want to speak to the manager"

BH: " Hes not here, he will be in the morning"

DD: " I am totally disgusted by your attitude and I will be back to complain"

BH : " you do that "

The staff was rude, blunt and totally got my back up - I was so so so angry on behalf of my daughter.

I had to take her out to wee on the street ( which is ok as Im not uptight about those things ) and would have just done that in the first place.

SO I went back this morning and spoke to the manager. I AM ASTOUNDED this place has ANY customers still- really-

me DD: " Hi , Im sure you have heard about an incident that happened yesterday regarding my daughter needing to use the toilet quickly - and the response I got and gave "

BH Manger : Bluntly " Its not a public toilet and yes I heard about it "

DD : shocked " um seriously you treat your cutomers like this ? Also this lady was quite rude in her mannner .. instead of saying " im really sorry my manager has told us strictly we cant allow non-current customers to use the toilet "

BH Manager : " well apparently YOU were rude and aggressive "

DD: " Yes I said the attitude was disgusting as I was furious , and your member of staffs manner was so abrasive "

BH Manager : " well its your word against hers "

DD: " I cant believe it, well you have definitely lost a customer "

Where upon the Manager just shrugged..


I am SO shocked. I have never in my life experienced such appalling attitudes towards customers or children.

If they had a sign up stating toilets for customers only OR if I kept going in after school and letting my daughter use the toilet and not buying anything OR if I had never been/use the cafe. Or if it was for me.. not a 3 year old.
I might ( might ) feel differently.

I am also very sad as I loved going there and was planning to take my mum there today to show how fab I thought it was.

Safe to say I shall never be returning and will be voicing my experience to fellow mums of sw11 and staff at the local schools.

I am posting on here for many reasons :

1. To let all mums/dads/nannys/carers know how UNchild friendly they obviously are.
2. How UNcustomer friendly they are.
3. Am I going mad ? Was I wrong to think I could nip in for my daughter to use the toilet??
4. Has anyone else experienced this there ??

http://www.birdhou.se/
ST JOHNS HILL - small - grey with yellow typeface logo.

Comments / Replys Please .. !!

A shell shocked netter

[snowpea]

Don't know that cafe but as a regular customer they should know you well and be more helpful. I would be extremely p off and not go back.

I have been in that situation and most people are very kind with dd.

Hopefully you find a better cafe. And as for the rude staff..

[BFW]

My son needed the loo last weekend on Northcote Road... I was in front of BuonaSera - popped in to ask if he could use the loo. And I very rarely go there so they don't know me from Adam. It was busy as it was Saturday and the LOVELY manager told me where the loo was and on the way out even gave my son a sweet !! We went there for lunch the next day ... and we will definitely go back. Simple thing but makes you want to give them your custom !

Very small minded of Birdhouse. As for the manager the next day - he should know that "the customer is ALWAYS right" !!

[supermummy]

In this kind of area, that's pretty short sighted behaviour by them! I have definitely dragged my daughter into shops/cafes begging to use their loo. Would serve them right if she had peed all over their floor (though not nice for her).

[Discodolly]

I know .. right ! so short sighted and pretencious.

However my daughter did make me giggle as afterwards as I muttered .. grrr that woman was an idiot ( wrong wrong I know .. )

My daughter said " Why is that lady an IGLOO ? "

Ha ha ha , I LOVE their little wonderful minds !

[supergirl]

Well i personnally think you were wrong and because you are a regular customer you dealt with the situation in a very entitled manner.

I too am a regular of a coffee shop nearby where i live and although i expect to be able to nip in if one of my child needs the loo i also know that they have a customer only policy. So i always buy a croissant or a little smthg when that happens. Once i didnt have sny change (and they dont take the card under £5) so i was really apologetic about that and she said not to worry as she knows me. But i was sriously apologetic (even though i expected her to let me go).

There was nothing stopping you from saying (and thus is what i would said first and foremost): "we will be staying for treat but do you mind if she gies to the loo first as she cant wait?" . I an sure she would have said yes and if she had not you would have had a point. But you didnt. Instead you went in and expected to be bent over because "you re a regular". Regular or not, they are doing you a favour.

Having said that, businesses gain by being helpful. For what it s worth go to Camerini next time, they are very very helpful and nice snd i bet they would have let you use theirs. The Draft House on Northcote as well as James Pendleton were very nice to let my child go when she had sn emergency. Trotters said no (even though i am a regular snd must have spent thousands in the last 3years).

[Discodolly]

Hi Supergirl thank you , that was a fact I forgot to mention -

They also dont take cards and I didnt have any cash on me.. I did say this also and the woman just shrugged and repeated - its for customers only.

I was planning to go the cash point and get a treat from there afterwards.. but my daughter was desp and I didn't stay/have time to explain my full intentions as was so annoyed.

So I do stick by my first feelings that they are short sighted and simply do not welcome children and yes I am a regular customer and as its not a shop its a cafe with a public convenience people can use.

But I thank you for playing devils advocate - I like to see the other side from outside parties

[Jen66]

Sorry, but your post made me laugh - think it was the liberal use of 'disgusted.'

I think you massively over-reacted, sounds like you were rude and entitled and I applaud the manager for standing up to his staff.

Move on, not a big deal.

[runningmummy]

That is rubbish. Cafes are usually really helpful regular customer or not. I will make sure not go there!

[pearlywhite]

I think you are totally justified in your feelings as we are all entitled to them. Your child needed a wee, and yo needed to get her to the nearest toilet. In this area, I agree also that repeat custom is built on goodwill, therefore it's no hardship to let a child use the toilet once in a while.

However, I once worked for a chiropractic clinic (not in London) which was situated very close to the end of route for some buses. We would occasionally allow the bus drivers to use the loo as they were always quite polite - none of them were patients though. One day, a lady bus driver walked through the door, right past reception to use the loo. I didnt recgnise her as a patient and asked if I could help. She was rude, abrupt, and really rubbed me up the wrong way. She left the loo in a state (she had a rather messy problem it appears), and we were left to clean up. A horrible job at the best of times, but this person had been horrible and wasn't even a patient! From that point on we had a strict policy - unless they were patients they couldn't use the loo.

Not saying it's the right approach at all, and if you were a regular they should have recognised you. Just saying there may well be a rather bitter reason behind such a strict policy.

[Jen66]

Also, what did you hope to achieve by returning to the café? Did you want to get the girl fired.

[Discodolly]

yes yes I admit I used the word disgusted a lot @ Jen66.. was so flabbergasted I couldnt think of another word..

YES I may have over reacted but I am not one to retreat without a debate/discussion/heated word / reason behind the whys..

I would like to add this happened in a nanosecond... and is nothing as far a life goes..

was just interested in hearing peoples opinions .

[Discodolly]

Oh my goodness of course not! @jen66 I was actually hoping to explain the situation and as I tend to go more mornings than pm's was hoping to smooth things over as I really liked going there..

however as I said , from the managers response . This was not the case.. and I probably used the word disgusted again..

[Jen66]

You need to move to Tunbridge Wells Disco...a lot of disgusted people there

[dishevelled]

Discodolly I completely agree with your reaction. What a rude way to treat a repeat customer. Had the assistant politely explained she was sorry but it was against their policy and she hoped your daughter would make it to a nearby public loo it would be different (although still a bit uneccessary if you ask me). Supergirl, why shouldn't they do her a favour if she's a repeat customer and if they couldn't why not be nice about it? As a regular of gail's and paul's, I've often popped in when my 3yr old needs the loo even if I'm not buying anything and have never been greeted with anything but polite, obliging staff who understand and say of course, see you soon!
V shortsighted on their part, I will not be going there. Good for Buenasera - that is the attitude I would expect around here.
"silly igloo"!!