Bad Experience @ Flinders Station Kuching

I've had an unpleasant experience at Flinders Station Kuching today (04 Jan). What happened was that a couple of days ago, I had purchased a voucher from a website called Supermain. In fact, it is still selling at this moment when I am typing this up. You can see the voucher below which I had captured from the website :

The voucher (as of 04 Jan)

RM26.00 for 2 soups or ice-cream, and a 10-inch pizza. 

Today after church, D and I went over for lunch. The shop was totally empty, void of customers. We climbed to the first floor to sit by the window so that we could look at the view outside. Not long after that, another couple came to join us upstairs ..... but from the moment we were there till we left at about 2.30 p.m., no one else was eating at this shop. 

That was not what was unpleasant. It was the poor contingency plan the shop had that annoyed me so. The staff was ill-prepared to deal with this. 

When I produced my voucher upon being seated, the lady waitress told me that there was no pizza because the oven had "broken down". Duh. So why were they still selling the voucher online now when they had no pizzas to deliver?? 

So how? I asked.

Cannot use, came her reply.

Fine. Refund me my money. 

Cannot, she replied. 

That was when I got mad. What an irresponsible answer!! Here I had spent money to buy a voucher for a meal at YOUR restaurant and you CANNOT offer me any pizzas nor any refund nor any reasonable solution? Am I supposed to walk out because YOU cannot fulfill YOUR end of the deal?

I raised my voice immediately. Who's in charge? I asked. Do I need to call a lawyer? I asked only half-jokingly. 

You see, I had met all the criteria stated in the voucher .... 

• Redemption can be made on 5th November 2014 – 5th January 2015
• No reservation is required but customers (4persons & above) must call for reservation
• Limit 1 voucher per person
• Valid on Monday – Sunday (11:00 am – 11:00pm), excluding Public Holidays & Public Holiday Eve
• Valid for dine-in only

It was the vendor who could not fulfill .... so how now? Was a lawyer needed to help to settle this?

The poor lady disappeared for a while ...... and then came back and told me I could replace my pizza with one burger meal. 

That angered me too. D and I could have shared the 10-inch pizza which were meant for two, and we would not have to pay extra for food. Now since we only got one burger, it meant that we had to purchase another one. Urgh. 

However mad I was at the shop, I was left with no choice. I could not go back another time to redeem my voucher because the due date was the next day (05 Jan). And I could not get my money back. And so, it was 2 mushroom soups for us (RM8.90 each), 1 burger called Beef Works (RM20.90) and D purchased a cheese burger (RM14.80). 

We waited for a long time for our food .... at least 15 minutes. D commented that there weren't many customers and yet it took so long. But D liked the selection of music they played in the shop ... the oldies! 

 Mushroom soup and garlic bread 

Beef Works and Cheeseburger in the distant 

I think the shop could have handled this in a more professional manner (unless they could not care less about their reputation, of course). I bought a deal for a pizza. If the vendor cannot deliver the pizza, then the deal is already by itself invalid. What they can do is :

1) Offer an alternative date for me to redeem the my deal. The last day to redeem is 05 Jan. But if the oven isn't fixed by then, perhaps they can suggest that I redeem in the following week, even after the redemption date? 

2) They can refund me my RM26.00 and I will be happily eating my lunch elsewhere. 

So .... I wasn't in the mood to enjoy the meal after the whole incident, so I could have been eating sawdust for all I know. What a terrible experience. I've sinced feedbacked Supermain ... let's wait for their reply. 

I still think a portable oven could have and would have solved all the problems. How dumb. Again, no contingency plan. I do not think I will be visiting nor recommending this restaurant to anyone.