Attention to detail and ensuring that the customer is always right are the key to outstanding customer service as well as a happy customer.  Process control and operation are also important when dealing with a variety of order types.

BACKGROUND

The customer arrived at the sandwich shop to pick up her order.  She was in a hurry, had phoned in the order and needed to get to her next meeting.  The store was busy, however, not overwhelmed.  Staff looked and could not find the whole order— she ordered some sandwiches along with 3 loaves of bread.

One staffer told her that she had her complete order.  No, she had the loaves of bread, however, did not have the sandwiches!  The staffer began to “argue” with her, indicating that she had been given everything.  Well, no, she did not have the sandwiches.  A review of the checkout area indicated that her order was gone– however, she did not have it.  Where did it go?

The order was mistakenly picked up by the Uber Eats driver.  Now, he had a wrong order also– so now, we have 2 wrong orders.  10 minutes later, back comes the Uber Eats driver, sheepishly admitting  that  he picked up the wrong order!  He brings back the ladies order.  However, since the food had left the premises, a whole new order had to be made.

What was supposed to be a 4 min pick up turned in to a 25 minute wait.  Was the customer frustrated?  Yes, she was– and she had good reason to be!  In the end, she got her full, complete order.  The shift manager apologized for the mistake and offered her a cookie.  A cookie– all of the inconvenience was worth 2 loaves of bread!

OUR ADVICE

In this instance, attention to detail and proper order marking were not accomplished.  The sandwich staffer failed to ensure that the Uber Eats driver had the correct order.  The Uber Eats driver failed to check the order to ensure that he did not make a false run, have to come back and then go again to make the delivery, wasting time in the process.

Clearly marked and delineated stations for take out orders, with the order contents clearly displayed on the package are keys to ensuring that mistakes like this do not occur.  A clearly defined process will preclude errors.  In this case, we suspect that the sandwich shop has made this error more than once.  Don’t allow that to happen to you.