I thought I would share with you a copy of the email that I have just sent to JD Wetherspoons, which is halfway between an email and a blog post. Once again I got to experience the frustration of advertised by not available beer.
On Saturday I once
again experienced one of the most aggravating “joys” of visiting
your establishments, advertising beer which is not actually
available.
Leaving pump clips
facing forward is an indication to any normal human being of drinking
age that a beer is available. Imagine my frustration when the only 3
guest beers (ordered consecutively) were all suddenly unavailable.
Asking the person working behind the bar to turn the pump clip around
resulted in the same message experienced in around 4 of your bars.
“We're not allowed to do that”.
Let me put it another
way. Someone within your company had the brilliant idea that the
presentation of the bar was more important than the customers
experience. They are happy to advertise beer which is no longer
available (or maybe never was); cause the repeated inevitable stress
on their staff after once again having to appease annoyed customers
(whom have yet again had their time wasted); as well the negative
advertisement for the breweries featured in this ruse.
I'm not sure how high
up the chain this ridiculous order comes from, however I have heard
the North West Area Manager being cited by multiple people and one
even claiming that it came from the top, though I presume they meant
Tim Martin and not some deity. Having experienced it in at least 4
local Wetherspoons I can assume that this is not due to local
managers, but someone managing at least at regional level.
What is even more
frustrating is that there are plenty of other options available.
Advertise the same beers (as actually available), promote your social
sites, advertise upcoming events or even advertise how to vote on
future beers. These are all preferable to having our time wasted or
listening to the inevitable frustration of other customers attempingt to
order the same beer.
This particular
experience was at your Dee Hotel (West Kirby) and similar problems
have happened in the John Laird, Brass Balance (Birkenhead) as well
as the Clairville (Liscard). Please note that I've experienced this
at least three separate occasions at the Dee Hotel, once during a
meet the brewery where I (and that brewer) had to listen to a further
10 people attempt to order the same beer, before I chose to vote with
my feet.
Please stop this
ridiculous practice. You are the only pub chain where I seem to
experience this issue. As an active promoter of pubs and beer
locally, I cannot in good faith recommend any of your establishments
while you are prepared to trick customers with what is effectively a
bait and switch. Of course, I am presuming that this email address is
monitored and not just for show.
As a result I will be boycotting promoting local JD Weatherspoons on my twitter account until I have assurances that this practice has ended.
** Update 4th March 2015 - A reply from JD Weatherspoons
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your web form and for taking the time to contact us.
I am sorry to hear of your disappointment following visits to a number of our pubs recently.
I can confirm that our staff are advised to keep
all pump clips displayed on their respective pumps at all times, even
in the circumstance of unavailability. However we do expect our staff
to politely advise our customers of any of our
ales that are unavailable at the time of your visit.
Please accept our apologies for any
disappointment or inconvenience this may cause to you. Your comments
have been noted, passed to our Operations Department and will be
included in any future reviews.
Thank you again for your interest in J D Wetherspoon.
Yours sincerely
