F.I.S.H by Fish & Co.

I took a short break 2 weeks’ ago from preparing for my exams and headed there to check the new mall out and found that the human traffic at the mall was horrendous. The mall’s management even hired marshalls to be stationed at the escalators to ensure that human traffic is well-controlled.

Dinner was at the new concept restaurant by Fish & Co, F.I.S.H. The menu items included lobsters, spring chicken, pasta dishes like calleloni, steaks and of course, fish items such as cod fish with teriyaki sauce and fish & chips. Taste-wise, I would not say that it was anything special or memorable. The calleloni ordered by my companions was too soft and the sauce accompanying the dish was a little bland. The spring chicken came in a rather small serving, so if you are expecting anything like the spring chickens you see at coffee shops, you will be disappointed. The freezes offered at the Fish & Co. restaurants are also available at F.I.S.H.

Even though it was well after 9pm when we entered the restaurant, the staff were still enthusiastic in their service, albeit showing some signs of fatigue. We had servers coming to us with orders that weren’t ours several times and saw their confused faces. Twice, we had main dishes coming to us even though we had finished with our mains, the empty/half-eaten dishes still on the table. Some of them huddled together with the dishes still on their hands, trying to figure out where the dishes should go to.A staff failed to inform us that we could top-up $1 to get free flow of the drinks we ordered.

All these confusion and service lapses it is due to the restaurant being 2-days old and hence there were still some SOPs that were not in place or that the staff members had not been adequately trained. What made up for the service lapses was when the supervisor came to us, asking us if there was anything that could be improved on. For a new restaurant, it is good and essential to seek for customers’ feedback on both food and service in order to attain at least an acceptable standard in both areas as well as to leave a good impression on the customers.Of course, I am not saying that other businesses do not require feedback – in fact, quite the contrary. However, if new restaurants seek and work on customers’ feedback, they could possibly find out customers’ preferences, which sets the path for them to being successful.

Retailers’ focus: Sales or Customers

Daryl gives an insighful experience (here) about service staff who concentrate on making the sale vs those who concentrate on customers’ needs. This is another instance where sincere service works best on customers.

Chanel @ Isetan Scotts

This is a long overdue post but I didn’t want to pen it initialy as I wanted to make sure my 1st service experience was not just something lucky or that the beauty advisor was in a good mood.

I first met Rina from Chanel at Isetan Scotts when I was looking for some make-up items recommended by some net-friends on forums. I was pleasantly surprised with Rina’s service – not only was she very helpful in recommending products, she took time to understand my concerns and further took the initiative to recommend me some skincare products that she thought would suit me. All these recommendations did not come with hardselling and made my shopping experience very comfortable.

Given my sensitive skin, Rina decided to put on the recommended make-up for me and try out to see if I’ll develop any reactions to the products. Unlike other beauty advisors who attended to me in the past, Rina did a whole string of skincare regime to prep my skin before putting on the make-up. In addition, she got my number from me and called me several hours later to check on whether I’ve got any allergy reactions from the products.

This is a stark contrast to other service encounters I had in the past with cosmetics counters, where the beauty advisors either tell u their opinions on what suit best for you or simply dab some of the foundation on your hand for you to have a feel of what the color/texture is like.

Since then, I’ve visited Rina several times and even though not all the visits ended up with purchases, she has never once slipped in her service. She was always warm, friendly and helpful with her excellent product knowledge. Rina never forgot to follow-up with calls to check on how the products are working and whether I developed any allergic reactions to the products she recommended. Little gestures like this goes a long way as I could feel that she not only concerned about the possible deal she could make but also concerned about the possible reactions my skin could have with the products.

As a customer, I appreciate the efforts that a service staff makes to ensure that I am comfortable with the service / product. Most importantly, I trust them when their sincerity shows with little gestures and with this, they have built a rapport with a customer. I may not be a marketing guru, but as a customer, I do feel that this rapport translates to more sales and good word-of-mouth advertising. Look at me, I have shared my pleasant service experience with Rina with at least 5 people, whom I know have since visited the outlet she was stationed!

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True Fitness @ Suntec City – Part III

From the web and search engine hits this website got, I saw most of the searches were on True Fitness. So hello, fellow gym enthusiasts!

I have been rather slack with my fitness regime with the upcoming exams and the lazybug bite. However, when I made my trip down for my gym session last week, I was in for a shock.

Apart from the swinging hooks in the changing rooms (that were still left untouched/unchanged), one of the toilet cubicles in the female changing room had the toilet seat completely dislodged. Thinking that it was just loose, I tried to adjust the seat only to witness the toilet seat dropping on the floor. That is maintenance at the True Fitness Suntec City branch for you.

I hope other gym users could share your reviews on the gyms that you have used / currently members of.