Feedback on Tung Lok

I met up with some of my friends over the weekend for lunch at East Coast Park’s Tung Lok Seafood. While the food was pretty alright at a reasonable price I believe, the air condition was not working. Imagine the stuffiness and the heat emitting from the units which were blowing warm air out. The host of the lunch meeting decided to file a feedback. Take a look at it prior to my comment below:

From:zzz <zzz@yahoo.com>
To: xxx <xxx@tunglok.com>
Cc: Sent: Sun, 12 September, 2010 23:42:44
Subject: Re: Tung Lok Loyalty Points Deduction

Hi Xinyi,

Thank you for your reply.

*deleted paragraph*

On a separate issue, I would like to relate my poor dining experience at your East Coast branch today and will let you direct this to the relevant department. I arrived at 1145hrs on 12 Sept (Sun) and found the restaurant to be very warm. I asked Nelson, one of your senior staff to turn the temperature down and was told the aircon was spoilt that morning. As i was with my guest, i decided to dine at the restaurant rather than moved to another tung lok branch for the a la cate buffet. In any case, Noble House was fully booked for that day and OC branch was too far.   I have to say that it was my mistake as it was uncomfortable warm throughout most part of our meals. Nelson tried his best to accommodate our constant request to top up our ice bucket but the reality was the restaurant was grossly under staff to cope with the lunch crowd. Orders were either missed or it took a while to get the attention of the waiters. It was not exactly the fault of any individual staff but down to lack of staffing and perhaps lack of an efficient system to note down orders.

I would have expected Tung Lok to have engaged a technician to repair the aircon on an urgent basis notwithstanding that this could have been the responsibility of the landlord. Clearly, the restaurant was not prepared for such a breakdown as portable fans (except for 1) for non existent. Overall, all 5 of us left the restaurant totally unimpressed with the overall dining experience; it was certainly a total let down for a premier brand like Tung Lok. 

If there was one lesson I learn, it was to walk out of any restaurant if the aircon is not functioning, even if I was hosting lunch for my guest.

kind regards

xxx

Here comes the appalling part of it all. The reply. The English is attrocious, it offers no remediative actions intended and basically the tone of it all was ‘too bad, you came at the wrong day’. I expect them to describe how they will improve their processes so that it will hopefully not happen again. I saw none. End of the day, the question in my head is, what if I go there and it breaks down again? I wouldn’t be so unlucky you say? Well, lightning can strike in the same location twice, how do I know for sure it won’t happen on my next trip, especially if I am bringing first time guests for a meal? While they took responsiblity, as a publically traded company on the stock exchange and name as big as Tung Luk, I expect a properly written reply at the very least. The grammar, is absolutely atrocious. I can detect that the writer has tried his best,  but it isn’t good enough. Surely, they have someone who is capable of dealing with feedback?

Let this be a point for all, that if don’t think you can write a proper response, please find someone who can. A poorly written email/letter/response just reflects poorly on the individual, AND the organization he is representing. Period.

From: “xxx@tunglok.com” <xxx@tunglok.com>
To:xxx
Cc: xxx
Sent: Tue, 14 September, 2010 22:22:56
Subject: Dining Feedback on 12th September 2010

Dear xxx,

Thank you for taking the time to communicate with us via email. This is with reference to your visit at Tung Lok Seafood at East Coast on 12^th September 2010. The purpose of this is to convey to you my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you and your guests may have experienced with respect to the breakdown of our air-condition at our restaurant.

xxx, Tung Lok Restaurants have permanent maintenance service and consistently checking and maintaining the entire units of air-conditioning system.  I regret for the accidently breakdown of our air-condition. I fully understand yours sentiments after reading your words. It was never our intention and our objective to bring neither you nor anyone an unpleasant dining experience. I understand that the crowd, the heat and the humidity bring uncomfortable to you on that day.
 

Regarding to your feedback for the lack of staff and missed up orders are also noted. Our company aims to consistently deliver a professional service to the customers. I’ll seriously look in these matters. I Thank you for bringing my attention and I sincerely hope that you will have no further cause for any complaint in relation to our service.

I once again thank you for your value feedback and am grateful for. I apologize for the annoyance / inconvenience that may have cause to you. 
 

In the future, if you wish to visit Tung Lok Seafood – East Coast , please feel free to call me directly at 9758 1028. I look forward to your continuous support and enjoyment at our Tung Lok Restaurant.

Yours in service,

xxx xxx
Assistant Vice President
Mobile: xxx
Email: xxx@tunglok.com   tlseafoodgallery@tunglok.com     Web: http://www.tunglok.com/

Tung Lok Seafood @ East Coast 
Tel: 6246 0555   Fax: 6246 0550
Office Address: 1000 East Coast Parkway, Blk B 2nd Floor, Marine Cove Singapore  449876
Email: