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(79 posts)

RANT: CAFE REVO Unresponsive


  1. I am completely fed up with Café Revo. My husband and I ate there last Wednesday. We used a restaurant.com GC. On Saturday as I was updating our checking account I discover that they overcharged our account. It was only two dollars but after we had pretty dismal service from our waitress (and no we said nothing that night. We did get great attention from a waiter who was not even our waiter so we did speak to the manager about him, choosing to applaud the good instead of focusing on the bad, though based on what we said it should have been obvious that our service from our waitress was lacking).

    I call Café Revo Saturday. Speak to the manager who said he could do nothing but the owner could and would have her call me when she got in around 3pm. I left my Cell #. No return call. On Sunday morning I contact them via email, pointing out that I had called on Saturday and had not received the return call I was told to expect. No response.

    On Monday evening I call again (not sure who I spoke to, but whoever it was spoke to a female in the restaurant to ask about what to do). I told them the history and they kept trying to make excuses as to why we had not been contacted. No apology for the overcharge or lack of response at all. I only wanted to be contacted when they said they would. I reiterated that we were overcharged. They said the bookkeeper would have to talk to me and they would be in the morning. I said I needed a call by noon on Tuesday. Here it is Wednesday and no response to either of my two phone calls or to my email. I have now gone directly to the bank to dispute the charge. We will never go back there (there are far too many other places to eat. That actually care about their customers.) If Revo fights this overcharge with the bank we will also be reporting them to the BBB.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  2. WS: Multiple phone calls, this rant and a threatened BBB complaint over $2? Really?

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  3. villagegreen
    Member Profile

    villagegreen

    serenity now.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  4. Its not the money, its the lack of response and to be honest they never cared to ask how much it was.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  5. Well yeah, I can totally understand why you're disappointed that they've not been on top of responding. I hear you on that WS. But it just seems like, in terms of the value of your own time, you've already put more time into this than it is worth.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  6. Is it an *actual* charge yet? Restaurants commonly put through a pre-authorization of your bill + a designated average tip %. When the transaction moves from pending to an actual transaction (taking anywhere from 3-5 days, oftentimes) the amount will be corrected to what you actually signed for. Is it at all possible that this is the situation?

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  7. luckymom30
    Member Profile

    This is really sad to hear, we have always gotten first class customer service at Cafe Revo.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  8. Aim..
    a week later? not likely.

    cj.. just how much discrepancy between actual charges and billing do you think is acceptable...

    I am thinking accuracy is the bottom line here.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  9. oh, I mis-read and thought they'd been there on the weekend. However, if it's Wells Fargo, it's plausible. I've had things sit in pending status for a week or more.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  10. angelescrest
    Member Profile

    angelescrest

    Too much negative energy here. The question is what do you do with a small overcharge? I know it happens routinely--but how to recoup the funds?
    I have never had trouble if I use a kind voice, polite manner, etc.
    The tone in the rant seems scarily vindictive at this point.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  11. Not vindictive at all. We were very pleasant on Wednesday when we choose to compliment the good service we received from a person who was not our waiter instead of the poor service we received from our waitress. I was extremely pleasant on the phone Saturday. I know errors occur, that is one of the reasons we update our checkbook with copies of our reciepts and those the bank has posted. I have been doublecharged in the past and have never had an issue getting the business to correct the error. My email was short and simple, indicating that I had called on Saturday, that I was told we would receive a call on Saturday afternoon. I then asked that I be contacted on my cell. No anger there.

    Monday I was beginning to get frustrated. At this point I was being told we will contact you yet again. Its hard to believe when they have failed already multiple times. I did ask to be contacted by noon Tuesday based on them indicating that the bookkeeper would be there Tuesday morning. Its Wednesday afternoon. Still no response.

    No matter the industry, I would never expect to deal with a customer issue by ignoring it, no matter how small.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  12. angelcrest,

    if a company responds to your inquiry.. as it appears has always happened for you... they pretty much avoid all of that negative energy.

    i am not sure how many times you would call and leave a message without becoming frustrated.. but in my humble opinion three contacts without a single response for an overcharge merits a complaint.

    even if the overchanrge is only for $2.

    Your assumption that the OP is somehow at fault for the cafe not responding..
    and subsequent characterization of their frustration as vindictive...
    is in itself somewhat vindictive..

    scarily vindictive

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  13. angelescrest
    Member Profile

    angelescrest

    Well, I always think of extenuating circumstances, and in a perfect world the overcharge would have been attended to immediately. The condemnation of the restaurant (and I've not eaten there) seemed harsh to me, particularly knowing the history of the owners (sorry). I am sure the OP is frustrated, and I'm sure that the rant has now gotten the attention of the correct people.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  14. As pointed out already, I think the issue here really is about both accuracy and attention.
    As a consumer I totally get it. I balance">balance">balance">balance">balance my checkbook to the penny and even $2 can be an annoyance. And, especially if I were unhappy with my guest experience, I want my $2! And it is also about the time, as someone pointed out, now the OP has spent way more time on this than $2.
    Here's the hard part for me. As a business owner and restaurant industry veteran, I also get the delay in response. It may sound like an excuse, but if it is up to this owner to personally respond, it could possibly fall somewhere on a very long list. PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS AS CUSTOMERS ARE NOT IMPORTANT!! That's NOT what I'm implying. First of all, in a large scale restaurant such as this, it may very well have been Monday that this message even reached her. I don't even know this management team but I do know that in these times whether business is good or bad, they are working VERY HARD. Again, I'm not trying to make excuses AT ALL, but just putting it out there that when you are working in this industry, long days and nights, possibly dealing with equipment failure, vendor issues, constant labor issues, and isn't she also a mom? time is a little different. I just hope that people would understand that sometimes a week is like 48 hours, honestly, it may be bad practice and it's actually good to point it out to them, but be forgiving to this local restaurant in these economic times - it can be resolved. And besides, if you do file a chargeback with the bank it will cost the restaurant up to $30 just to have the merchant services deal with it so...they will have to absorb that cost as well as losing a great customer!

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  15. Hello everybody! I couldn't resist. For how long ( months, years...) any business can be given a break in customer satisfaction or poor quality production based on the " PITY FACTOR". I do know that one of the owners of Cafe Revo did pass away in september. Thank you.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  16. Jiggers
    Member Profile

    Jiggers

    I'm just wondering how they are still open and continuing with the owner passing away last year. It sounds like they are on their way out of business. I can't comment on them since I haven't eaten there. It wouldn't surprise me if they close down by year's end.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  17. Jiggers
    Thank you for not naming me a Troll. LOL!!!

    Meanwhile my timeframe pityfactor question still stands... any answers???

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  18. baba..

    somehow this place got a pass from day one.. i am not sure why... so it may never go away.

    it seems you either love the place or weren't impressed enough to go back.

    i went back twice.. once on their dime.. and a second on my own... and am done... unless someone who loves the place insists on meeting there...

    its not as though the food is terrible... it just doesn't measure up enough for me to want to go back.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  19. Job
    Thank you for reply, I've noticed you are a very respected poSter on WS, but my question still stands: For how long will you support ANY business just out of pity? Thank you!

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  20. I think that your question is sort of out of line, Baba. I don't support any business out of pity, and I doubt that others do, also. Either you like it or not. There are some things I like about it, some things I don't. But pity? Seriously? Yes, Sean died last year. Are you suggesting that Sofia can't run a business without him? I don't get the question...seems kind of rude considering. But then, that's just my opinion. If you don't like the place, just don't go. Period.

    Would you ask the same question of people who go to Phoenecia? If not, why not? Or any other business that has lost someone in the last year or two, or ever for that matter?

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  21. Thank you JanS, you are a very respected WS poster as well. I'm not suggesting anything...And calling me rude is just kind of rude considering...Kidding aside

    There is nothing personal about Cafe Revo in my question at all. All I want to know, for how long this phenomenom as pity factor can exist after something horrible happens to business. The reason I chose the Cafe REVO thread is that, it seems to me that, from septemer 09 the place is running on PITY.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  22. Jiggers: On what basis would you make a statement like that? It is a family that owns Café Revò and that family has continued the business after the death of Sean Goff. I was in there recently and the place was packed. So your opinions seem nothing but speculation.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  23. Christopher Boffoli,
    I love your work , but where can I find a note that you are a "family representative" to make this statement? Yes, you are a good man,( I suppose:) and your position is pity driven, but for how long, may I ask, ANY business can be driven by PITY???

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  24. Baba - Whats your point ?

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  25. This is clearly a troll. If not, some one has to say it: Baba, that is one of the most douche bag questions I have ever seen on this blog.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  26. MrJt
    Jugding by your avatar you will Never ger it...

    FULL tilt:- judging by the way you treated the newcommer I will definitely not go to get your business and advise my friends to do so also. Keep calling me a troll...It will help your business eventually...

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  27. full tilt..

    i find the question interesting... and the answer of course is.. not long.

    what i don't buy is the premise that Cafe Revo continues on pity...

    for some reason Cafe Revo has struck a cord in the West Seattle heart that i don't understand.

    I have never understood the draw of The Charleston Cafe either...

    but there you go... the heart is inexplicable..
    and the Cafe Revo has lodged itself in the West Seattle heart.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  28. Baba..

    not nice... retract those claws and go eat some ice cream... it's clear you haven't tasted Full Tilt ice cream yet.

    if you can resist full tilt's mexican chocolate... you either don't like choclate or you have more discipline than I.

    If you resist the temptation of the mexican chocolate, try the salted caramel.

    it will melt even the most resistant heart.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  29. There we go again... What does it have to do with my original question? I'M new to ws blog,call me troll or whatever, but, please answer my question..???

    PS: Job - no claws to be retracted at all... I CAME WITH PEACE!!!

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  30. Baba: One doesn't have to be a "family representative" to assert that the ownership of this business is broader than one person. It's just a fact. And I can't speak to your obsession with pity but it is presumptuous to insist that that is the basis of Café Revò's appeal.

    It is very simple for me. I eat there because I like some of the dishes. If you don't like the food don't go. But I think it is reprehensible for people to spend time and space in this forum speculating about the timeline for the failure of this business, and arrogantly asserting that this business only survives because Sean Goff died.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  31. Baba..

    i did....

    not long.

    if other tragedies affecting businesses in West Seattle since i have lived here are any indication... a matter of weeks..months if they are really liked.. but not years.

    something about this place speaks to West Seattle... i don't get it... but perhaps it was the labor of love put into it...

    You and I don't have to get it...

    i am fairly certain their continued success has less to do with pity and more to do with some unnamed attraction...

    if love weren't quixotic.. most of us would be single ;-)

    get some ice cream tomorrow.
    everything goes better with ice cream.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  32. Yeah Baba, if you are not trolling I apologize. I stick with the rest of my statement though.

    No place survives on pity. People like Revo for what it is.

    As for the lack of response from the owner, I feel your frustration.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  33. cjboffoli
    I've just noticed that you, out of all people ,get extremely defensive when it comes to this particular business, Pity - is the first reason that comes to my mind, everything else is pure speculation... But again, I'm using Cafe Revo just as an example.The question remains...

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  34. angelescrest
    Member Profile

    angelescrest

    Baba,
    I wish you would shut up and go away. Trying to push some thesis? You'll need some other examples, 'cuz you've said the same friggin' thing about a bazillion times. Mean-spirited and WEIRD.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  35. angelescrest
    Thank you for welcoming me to the board!

    I wouldn.t need to explain myself so many times if I just got my guestion answered. What is your take? besides welcoming me to the board?

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  36. For how long (months, years...) can a brand-new user demand to have their question answered, and be driven by entitlement, before being shunned as a troll? I wonder.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  37. moxilot
    Member Profile

    Hopey: FTW.

    Cjboffoli isn't getting defensive about the place because of pity. You clearly don't like the place, or you wouldn't be counting down the minutes to their demise. Just say so and end it there.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  38. Huindekmi
    Member Profile

    Baba,

    Your question has been answered many times. No one else believes that Cafe Revo is surviving on pity. Therefore, others have found your premise to be invalid and have stated so. And THAT is the answer to your question.

    Personally, I've never eaten at Cafe Revo. The reviews have been too mixed for me to gamble one of my rare nights out on them. If I'm jonesing for Italian, I'll go to La Rustica.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  39. Baba..

    the question has been answered..
    even though you don't seem to like the answer....

    LOL.. move on.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  40. johnnyblegs
    Member Profile

    johnnyblegs

    Wow! Quite a response over a $2 lack of customer service. So......how 'bout those Mariners? I think they're going to do well this season.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  41. Jiggers
    Member Profile

    Jiggers

    The chef of the formerly placed called Ovio(currently Table 35), died as they closed down not long after being around for quite awhile in the Junction. I know there are some other non-business issues why they closed, but I won't go into them in detail here since it doesn't concern me.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  42. johnnyblegs...

    there are things i can get excited about..
    good food.. consumer rights... human rights... music... a good read... ok.. any read:)

    but the Mariners?

    LOL.. you will have to hook another fish:)))

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  43. cjbaffoli: since $2 appears to be an insignificant sum to you, why don't you just hand over a $2 bill to WS? I guess it's all a matter of perspective. $2 to you; $2 million to Bill Gates. I'd bitch about it too. Until the cows came home.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  44. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Jiggers, you have NO idea how wacky Ovio got in the months after Eddie Montoya died (BTW baba, that was YEARS ago, and I still consider it a pity that the World lost a person who WOULD have become one of America's great chefs). Stories I heard from insiders were rather scandalous. It was a rather bumpy ride those last few months as everything spun out of control.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  45. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Johnnyblegs, 25 days 'til first pitch!!
    GO MARINERS!!!

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  46. I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!! Heehee

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  47. maude: I think I'd rather light my fireplace with that $2 bill than give it over to someone that would hold $2 in such high importance. You don't have to have Bill Gates' cash to recognize that there are a gazillion things more important than a couple of bucks. You win some and you lose some. If you want to bitch until the cows come home over $2 then knock yourself out. I can sympathize about the frustration of a business not answering a complaint in a timely manner. But personally, I can't see the sense in getting myself worked up over $2.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  48. cjboffoli..

    so it's ok if everyone you do business with just adds another $2 onto your charges and doesn't bother returning your calls when you try to bring their attention to it?

    do you really have that much money?
    most of us don't.

    beyond that.. when i sign a charge i expect to pay exactly what i signed for..
    and if they don't respond immediately when i call their attention to it i make a fuss ...
    and if it isn't fixed immediately..
    i report them.

    Overcharging on a credit or debit slip is theft...
    and theft is never acceptable

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  49. angelescrest
    Member Profile

    angelescrest

    Oh my! So now we're going to accuse them of theft. It's two dollars, and for whatever reason (and there are many possibilities, as suggested by DBurns above)the restaurant hasn't responded. Two dollars, and we're in court, we're skewering 'em on the blog, and now...theft?

    This is a community, and all that negative stuff can have some devastating results. I think of those restaurants (and local businesses) as brave souls in a tough economy: they're employing people! Hello! All those wanting to predict their demise might probably have their own issues (envy, anger, etc.) to work through. But, since this is public, you are not helping your community by bashing the pillars (yeah, dramatic) that uphold it.

    Posted 2 years ago #         
  50. Not to take away from the OP troubles at all, but every time I hear the words "Two Dollars", I think of this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_540iIAa4I&NR=1

    Posted 2 years ago #         

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