December 19 2007
Gourmet Food Store Strikes Out Again
posted by Ana Samways at 1:56 pmIf you thought the rude reply from a local catering business — which has gone global over the last few days — was a one-off, think again. It looks like Margaret McHugh from the Gourmet Food Store could benefit from an intensive Kiwi Host course, or at least a holiday…
In September this year Lai Tong from Trust Investments Management Limited emailed Margaret from the Gourmet Food Store after an unsatisfactory breakfast she organised for the company. It read:
“Hello Margaret, Thank you for catering the breakfast for us on Thursday 6 September 2007. We ordered this breakfast from you based on the very good quality and presentation of the first breakfast and lunch you supplied.
Unfortunately, we were disappointed with both the quality and presentation of the breakfast supplied, and we wish to comment as follows:
• Baps filled – We received filled Muffins instead. These were too big and unattractive with minimal filling.
• Filled Pockets – Supplied as requested but were not fresh and the fillings were messy; some pockets had strips of bacon which consisted of fat and rind.
• The Savory and Sweet Mini Muffins were a little tough.
• The Muesli slices were very nice.
• The Fresh Fruit platter which was ordered later, was also disappointing, for example the ends of the orange were included which consisted mainly of the white plinth.
We would appreciate if, in future our request cannot be met, you contact us to discuss alternatives/options.”
The following day Margaret responded thus:
“I am sorry you were not happy with your clients breakfast, I am rather confused to say the least that you waited 4 1/2 days to inform me you were disappointed in the consumed breakfast food, it is rather unbelievable. If I was so unhappy I would have been on the telephone immediately and had the food replace forthwith. Of which I would have been more than pleased to do after having seen it again for myself.
Re fruit platter what is white Plinth. The only Plinth I know of is a square slab at the base of a column or pedestal. If you wish to discuss this further I am on the numbers below please don’t send an email it is so time consuming and impersonal . Regards Margaret”
Lai Tong replied with restraint:
“Thanks for your reply. The breakfast on Thursday 6 September commenced 7.30, the food was delivered at 7.20. Many of our guests had already arrived. Could you have provided a replacement breakfast in 10 minutes?
The 4 ½ days to inform you of our disappointment included a 2-day weekend. All in all we are surprised with the unprofessional response to our complaint.”
And I know you are all thinking “don’t do it Margaret!” but no, it would seem Margaret can’t help herself, and replies with this:
“I guess because I am the boss I can speak truthfully and not be afraid for my job, Does your boss know you are wasting their time emailing petty nonsense. In my 30 yrs as a successfully trained professional caterer I have never had to respond to such nonsense.
Please don’t use Gourmet Food Store again we are not used to part timers who have to much time on their hands, have no understanding, good manners and common sense in dealing with a complaint there and then. You never gave us an opportunity to amend what you said was wrong, we or course were never given the food to make an assessment of our own just some nicely typed out letter fully or criticism with no proof, not good enough !!!!!! The food could have been tampered with for all we know.
May I suggest in closing you spend a little more time in finding the word your were looking for in English relating to the orange so I can ask my supplier to remove it before he sends them to me in future.
Kind Wish, Margaret.”
RIP Gourmet Food Store.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
“The food could have been tampered with for all we know.”
That’s priceless.
Farewell Margaret, I’ll miss the laughs …
December 19th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
So, I hope this proves to those who have been defending this woman that she is insane, rude, obnoxious….I cannot believe she had the nerve to correct this womans’ english; her own grasp on common grammar and spelling is atrocious.
They say young people have no manners? I think older (especially women) people think that they deserve the world handed to them on a pedestal…or rather, plinth? Mega lolzz…
December 19th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Ahahahaha!
December 19th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
hahahahah
December 19th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
What puzzles me is that there is no excuse for going off on a rant via email. It’s not as if McHugh was being hassled on the telephone and snapped under stress. If a customer is being foolish or picky, it is simplicity itself to walk away from the computer, yell about what morons they are, perhaps kick a few chairs, then once you’re calm you go back to the computer and write a polite email.
Someone called “Jay” on yesterday’s post mentioned McHugh describing his society as a bunch of superannuated fatties with “tickets on themselves”. If s/he could provide the entire email, much lulz would result.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
What a crazy woman. She needs a lesson in manners and self-control. Or at least a lesson where Jake Heke is the teacher.
What an ass..
December 19th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Whilst I am not in any way defending Margaret’s choice of language in either of the emails, the point she makes is still valid. We have become a society of emailers – a less confrontational way of dealing with complaints than picking up the phone and talking to the person involved, and this seems to be the crux of her issue. In an industry such as catering, time is of the essence and perhaps she may have been able to rectify the situations had a phone call been made rather than an email sent belatedly?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Am reading this from accross the world. Yes, Ms McHugh, the world will soon know that you have no right to be running a service business. I am appalled at your responses to these clients. Don’t you know the Golden Rule of Business? Clearly you are rich enough a possibly arrogant enough not to want your business to be successful. Please never come to me for consultancy services when I return downunder. You better believe I will never utilize your business for my clients or myself.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Lynda, email is much an intrinsic method of communication as is blogging and commenting on blogs.
This is 2007.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
What an absolute cow this woman is! She doesn’t have much time left to bang on about being a business owner!!
December 19th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Firstly, according to Joanna Hunkin in the Herald, McHugh is just as much a fire-breathing cow via phone as via email.
Secondly, if McHugh doesn’t want to deal with emails, why does she put her email address on the front page of her hideous website? Take that off, and she’d never be bothered with clients via email again. Actually. I doubt she will ever be bothered with any clients of any kind at all again.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
You have no record of what’s been said in a telephone call, which can lead to misunderstandings. It is always better to have things spelled out in an email, which can be referred back to should there be any problems later. Emails are much better when it comes to business dealings, then everybody has a record of what’s been agreed or whatever.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Emailed her – could not resist. Who does she think she is, the queen? Silly old chook deserves everything she gets (and doesn’t get) from here. Her website sums up her understanding of business and communication – she does not have a fucking clue.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
The first point is: according to Joanna Hunkin in the Herald, McHugh is as much a fire-breathing cow on the phone as via email, so we can’t blame email.
Secondly: if she hates email and can’t be bothered communicating by it, why does she put her email address on the front page of her hideous website? Remove that, and she’ll never be bothered with clients who prefer email to phone again (actually, I doubt she’ll ever be bothered with any clients again).
December 19th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Ouch! Here I am bragging my head off about we Kiwi entrepreneurs and our devotion to Customer Service! There are so many rude peeps here in the US of and now I read about this woman. Time to retire Margie, old chum!!!
December 19th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Maybe she can use her mastery of the English language to start a new business – she might have to!
Lord only knows she can’t use her maths skills, as she thinks 2+2+1.50+2.50 = $9!! (from the first email to Hayley)
December 19th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Why on earth would you want to pick up the phone and talk to someone who had sent such an unprofessional and horrible email? I’d definitely stick to emails and avoid the harrassment over the phone, where there would be no proof of her attitude! The woman obviously has a problem with customers – she should get out of the service industry.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Heres a quote From MM “The food could have been tampered with for all we know.”
Heres something Lai Tong was complaining about “Baps filled – We received filled Muffins instead.”
Like someone is going to run to the shops and buy muffins and replace the baps with them .
Bad food, bad manners and bad website.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
this woman is mad!! honestly, it never fails to amaze the way some people behave after nothing more than some constructive feedback! i sincerely hope her business plunders, and that she takes note of this. God help us if she has kids, the poor souls would never stand a chance with this kind of upbringing! Margaret- get a life, or more importantly, some prozac!
December 19th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
whoa!!! hands up whos goign to use her service again!???? oah look ……NO HANDS!!!!
no wonder she doesnt want to write emails, they can be used as emails as evidence on how rude she is!!! bye bye catering business!!!! and now shes going to have a huge influx of emails from complete strangers!!! hahah karmas a real bitch sometimes huh!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NOT SO HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
December 19th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
clearly Margaret has a lot of time on her hands
December 19th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
and does she not check the food before it’s delivered?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Goes to show that contrary to what we would prefer to represent, middle New Zealand remains an ignorant and casually racist place, where despite the initial niceties the undercurrent of intolerance prevails, and often erupts. Sad, embarrassing and not a society I want my kids mixing in.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:03 am
Maybe somebody will give Marge a job flipping burgers at a greasy spoon. As I doubt anybody will use her ’services’ again. Shocking!
December 20th, 2007 at 6:10 am
One thing that comes across in both emails is her strong aversion to email.
Perhaps she was convinced of the need to have a website and to be contactable by email, but sees it as more a novelty than a serious method of communication, and so if someone tries having a business discussion via email it seems as ridiculous to her as if they were trying to communicate via throwing messages on paper darts.
Also, the “what is white plinth” business is just vile. As a catering professional, she’d know that the white stuff in an orange is pith and she’d know that Lai Tong just spelt the word wrong. Pretending to be all confused about it – and going on about it – has really sinister undertones.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:17 am
And ‘Kind Wish’ at the end, mocking someone speaking English as a second language. The professionalism!
December 20th, 2007 at 8:30 am
“Chris says:
December 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
What a crazy woman. She needs a lesson in manners and self-control. Or at least a lesson where Jake Heke is the teacher.
What an ass..”
I think this is all the lesson she’ll ever need. Now that this story has been on the national news…the power of email!
December 20th, 2007 at 9:30 am
I love this. The idea that someone is tampering with catered food is comedy gold, like the Hamburglar, but with hors d’oeuvres…
December 20th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Damian, you mean like maybe a hors thief?… or worse, a d’oeuvresafile!
This stuff is killing me!
December 20th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hilarious stuff. Once again showing that fact is weirder than fiction. Also proving that multiple exclamation marks are the sign of a deranged mind…
December 20th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
What a crack pot
December 20th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Margaret was a Queenstown deputy mayor. Scary.
The Gourmet Food Store’s website runs a 5 year old version of Apache: how long before it gets defaced, me wonders?
Please, hackers — stop it from burning our retinas!
December 20th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Couldn’t help it, I emailed her. That website is hideous! I told her to redo her website and change her motto towards the bottom to say that you’ll receive good food and hostile emails! We’ll see if she responds. Since this made digg I wonder how many people will continue to email her.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Is anyone else who emailed her being spammed now? LOL! Well I can spam with the best of them!
December 20th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
When i emailed her she forwarded on the following email (LOL):
—– Original Message —–
From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 5:31 PM
Subject: Emails
Hi Margaret
Just wanted to congratulate you on your email and hope that this doesnt leave you feeling that everyone in the real estate industry is like that! I’m sure that poor young lady is just dying of embarrasment now that her lazy antics have been exposed to the nation!
Good for you and I’ve saved your website to my favourites as we often require catering at our office for various functions and your food looks great value.
Regards
December 21st, 2007 at 1:16 am
To reiterate what everyone else has said, I think her emails were extremely rude, stupid, and patronising. She likes a total defensive bee-atch.
BUT I do think the consequences are disproportionate to the conduct.
AND it makes me feel quite sick how so many people are really relishing her downfall. Sure, she is a cow but the way people are almost jumping for joy that her entire business is ruined is pretty awful. Who knows, she could be going through some terrible personal issues this year and (obviously) taking it out via email. Why are people (especially New Zealanders it would seem) so delighted by people’s downfall?
December 21st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Ahahahhaa!
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Well Cass you should know by now that we as NZ are the biggest sore losers alright and we just love to bring each other down whenever theres a chance. This women’s done a terrible thing and it will obviously bite her back big time.
December 24th, 2007 at 10:26 am
ok, so I just read the recent article on this woman in the Herald. I take back my comments. What a fcking BEE-ATCH.
December 31st, 2007 at 3:34 pm
You know she is quite right when she says she is the boss, but she is quite wrong about loosing her job, typical baby boomer.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
hahahah pretty sweet England aye, I love it when muppets try to criticise someone else’s use of the English language, then make an absolute balls-up of it.
“May I suggest in closing you spend a little more time in finding the word your were looking for in English relating to the orange so I can ask my supplier to remove it before he sends them to me in future.
Kind Wish, Margaret”
ill just go and look for it in English..
does she know what a comma looks like? magic.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:59 am
What an idiot!! the more people that see things like this, the better-business should stop overnight!
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I can’t believe she did this twice publically!! And I bet it has happened alot more that we don’t know about…I mean can she get any stupider! I have to disagree however on some comments made about Kiwis “enjoying” others failure this woman does NOT deserve your sympathy and if she wasn’t such a creton and didn’t speak to people like something on the bottom of her shoe then nobody here would be basking in the glory of her failure! She has brought this shame on herself and can blame nobody else but herself.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Based in Sydney, and having become aware of her original email last week I wrote to Margaret, and here is her response (with my email included):
From: Gourmet Food Store [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, 18 February 2008 3:04 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Have a look at the customer service from this lady: Read from the bottom upwards.
Thank you so much for keeping in I thought you had all left me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Home Page Gourmet Food Store website and I “quote”
PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT MANAGEMENTS DISCRETION AND WITH OUT NOTICE TO MEET RISING COSTS. end of “QUOTE “
I hope this settles your confusion, shame you don’t have enough work to do, although it is nice to know someone is out there looking after my best interest. English is still the first Language of Australia I believe ?????
—– Original Message —–
From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 11:45 AM
Subject: RE: Have a look at the customer service from this lady: Read from the bottom upwards.
Dear Margaret,
I note that your website does have different prices advertised than what you actually quoted to Hayley. You might want to change your website and actually advise clients of the difference when you quote them in future.
~
Oh, Margaret!
This woman has serious problems… Her business is ruined, simply because of her own stupidity and lack of good old fashioned hospitality – yet still she continues on with her defenseless behaviour.
Pity I’ll never sample her delightful menu.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I think that Margarets argument is well founded and I admire her courage in dealing honestly and directly with the matter instead of hiding behind niceties and so called ‘professionalism’.