Bobby’s Burger Palace – Customer Service Excellence

When my better voice and I went to Vegas in January, we saw a restaurant that was opening soon called Bobby’s Burger Palace. It wasn’t open yet but I thought it was pretty cool that I was opening a burger joint. (Yes, I am one of those dorks that says that when anything has my name on it) I knew I was coming back for a wedding in April so I put it on my list of things to do. I looked it up when we got home and only then found out that it was a Bobby Flay burger place. I HAD to make sure I went. So I did.

On Easter Sunday I went to Bobby Flay’s Bobby’s Burger Palace. I had the Bobby Blue Burger, because I am a fan of moldy cheeses. It was an awesome burger! Juicy, flavorful and the sauces that were available … pretty damn good. There was a steak type sauce called “burger sauce” and chipotle ketchup and a jalapeño sauce. All quite yummy. I also had a side of onion rings. BIG slices, beer battered and cooked perfectly so they weren’t mushy, but the onions didn’t pull out on the first bite. The sauces went quite well with the rings too.

Because I am that dorky type, I had to get a t-shirt. They have the name of the place on the front with “Las Vegas” underneath so you know where you ate, in case you couldn’t remember. I had to settle for a large as they were out of XL. (I like my shirts baggy and loose fitting) I ate my meal and went back to my hotel, put the bag with the shirt in it into my suitcase and didn’t think about it until I got home.

Once I got home, I was showing Mrs. Voices and thought “geez, their larges are really small”. I looked a little closer and it was a child’s large. D’OH! Well, at least Tori had a shirt to grow into.

I still really wanted a shirt so I went to their webpage to see if I could order one my size. It was my fault for not looking so I wasn’t going to cause a stink about it. To my dismay, they don’t sell shirts or hats on their site. I was sad. So, I emailed the customer service address.

I told them what happened, asked if they could send me a shirt and asked how much it would cost. I was totally willing to pay for it. They wrote back saying that they would send me a shirt, no charge, and apologized for the inconvenience. WOOHOO! It is very good to see that someone as big as Bobby Flay (or his management team or whoever actually runs his restaurants) doesn’t just say “too bad so sad”. They totally could. Even though he will probably never know anything about this incident, and like I said, it is probably some company that actually runs the restaurants, it still gives me a reason to like Bobby Flay a little more. I admit I am a little overloaded on him on TV, but I still like his food.

The moral of the story, I get a shirt. I had an awesome burger, and Bobby Flay is pretty cool. Go to Bobby Flay establishments. I love awesome customer service experiences! When the shirt comes, I will take a picture of me and Tori and post it here. Just in case anyone from Booby’s Burger Palace is monitoring their tags, yes, feel free to use it in publicity! I am such a shill.

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I Love Verizon

Over the years, I have had a number of cell phone carriers. Some are no longer with us, some have merged with bigger ones, and some have changed their names, or all of the above. We have been with Verizon for quite a few years now and I have never really had a complaint about our phones, phone service or the customer service that we have received. Something happened this weekend that solidified my loyalty to Verizon.

Image via CrunchBase

We ordered iPhones on the day they were available for pre-order. We got to keep our unlimited data plan since we were grandfathered in. Last Friday our phones arrived. When I opened the box, they each had a summary of our plan banded around them. We are on a family plan so it had which plan each phone was on. As I looked at mine, it said that I had a corporate email and data plan for $44.99 and NOT the regular unlimited plan for $29.99. I was curious as to why.

Saturday we went over to a Verizon store to ask. It seems that I had been paying the extra $15 a month for the past 2 ½ years. YIKES! That did not make me happy. I asked the clerk if I could get changed back to the regular plan and that I really didn’t want to be credited. I didn’t want to be THAT person. After all, it was my fault for paying the extra amount for so long. Granted they signed me up for the wrong thing, but I never checked the bill. I just kept paying month after month after month. The clerk told me that the plan had been changed and we wouldn’t pay the extra in the future. YAY!

Monday, we got a letter in the mail from Verizon. It said that we were on a Corporate email and data plan and that the regular one would be cheaper and to call them. This was curious. If the request Saturday generated this then that was a fast letter. If not, then they noticed it before I did and were trying to rectify it. Cool.

Jackie called yesterday (everything is under her name as the main account holder) and spoke to someone to verify the changes were made. The person she spoke to, knew exactly why she was calling and made sure everything was ok. Jackie never asked for any kind of refund. I never did. The rep on the phone, without asking, offered us one. Dating all the way back to when we started the plan! That was Feb. of 2009! Close to $500! WOOHOO! Now THAT is some GREAT customer service.

I don’t know if there were a lot of people that have called about that, or if people have really raised hell or what. I don’t really care. Whatever the reason, we received outstanding customer service. I am a very happy person because of this and will probably stay with Verizon now for life.