Magdalena´s Party restaurant

[Gringoboy]

If someone comes into my shop, I attend to them straight away.
If I were to ask them to 'hang on for 2 mins', they'd be out of the door and talking to my competition.
I quote them a price and that what they pay,punto!
It's called 'doing good business', and number one rule is the customer is always (usually) right.
David was correct in all that he said.

 

[sesamosinsal]

It's called 'doing good business', and number one rule is the customer is always (usually) right.

Well, let's just say that this isn't the typical attitude when it comes to doing business in Argentina. I'm not saying someone shouldn't be frustrated or angry. But geesh, if I came onto this forum, moaned and groaned about every business that I've encounted with poor customer service, and swore to never return, my choices for eating out -- and even grocery stores -- would be quite limited. I would be eating at Maria Felix every day, and even people on Guia Oleo say they suck.

A restaurant with bad customer service and a completely unapologetic attitude? It's the rule. (I know there are exceptions..and yay, tell us about those, whydoncha?) Welcome to Argentina. You'll save yourself some unnecessary beats per minute and hair loss if you know the rule.

 

[irina]

A restaurant with bad customer service and a completely unapologetic attitude? It's the rule. ... You'll save yourself some unnecessary beats per minute and hair loss if you know the rule.

It's sad because nothing will ever change here because we are all accepting "the rule"

 

[sesamosinsal]

I take the position that it is of EXTREME importance to bitch about bad service.
I see it as my duty to my fellow human to make them aware of such traps.
I do it too for the people that are providing bad service. If they are not made AWARE of what they are doing , they will never know its wrong. They may CHOOSE or not to change their ways , but at least you did your duty of informing them .
There are WAY too many entrepeneurs in BA that think that its ok to open some bar or restaurant giving zero thought to sanitary conditions , customer service , etc. They trend to the "let me go ahead and open a place and cash in on the stupid people, and then Ill make a convinient for me excuse when anyone complains".
To the OP , good for you , and I thank you for making this info known.
To bradlyhale , yes , you are correct that things are the way they are here, but that doesnt make it acceptable.

There are "way too many" bad business folks, indeed, which makes it one exhaustive effort to name all of the bad ones. As I said, bad customer service is the rule here.

With that said, I hope the OP invites the folks who own this restaurant to comment here on the thread. I would love to see what they have to say. Perhaps the staff was distracted and forgot about him and his friend, which is pretty bad. However, if he went up the manager, and got all "outraged", I can imagine their response was quite tepid. Bad customer service is, well, bad, but exhibiting rage isn't much better.

 

[Fabe]

What they have to say ? Are you kidding me ? They most likely forgot about those customers they screwed 2 seconds after they said " Quien carajo se creen que son estos yankis forros"
More power to you if you have the intestinal fortitude to put up with that crap . I for one would pay with wooden niclkles if I got bad service so as to illustrate that bad service doesnt equal good money

 

[Davidglen77]

There are "way too many" bad business folks, indeed, which makes it one exhaustive effort to name all of the bad ones. As I said, bad customer service is the rule here.

With that said, I hope the OP invites the folks who own this restaurant to comment here on the thread. I would love to see what they have to say. Perhaps the staff was distracted and forgot about him and his friend, which is pretty bad. However, if he went up the manager, and got all "outraged", I can imagine their response was quite tepid. Bad customer service is, well, bad, but exhibiting rage isn't much better.

Here we go again with blaming the "victim" and these responses such as Bradlyhale's are exactly why it's so difficult to change things.
When I said outraged, I mean I was outraged, however I in no way attacked verbally, physically or even raised my voice at anybody there. I simply stated what happened in a clear and concise way.......period. Of course once again Bradlyhale is acting like "it's not such a big deal", well to me and my partner it was, waiting to eat for 40 minutes, without as much as a hello and then to get a menu price switch done on us. Sorry if you want to accept this GO AHEAD I don't and I thank the reasonable people on this board for not accepting it either. I owned a business here in Buenos Aires and while it was extremely difficult to run because of all the burocratic garbage I had a very loyal customer base that very much appreciated GOOD, FRIENDLY and RESPECTABLE service and business practices from me and my employees. I won't settle for less. I don't say people have to bend over backwards, I don't expect that, however I demand honesty, and common courtesy and if I don't get it when I am paying for goods and services I WILL NOT be a customer and I will let others know what the place is like.

 

[scarface]

It's sad because nothing will ever change here because we are all accepting "the rule"

I think this article speaks to this kind of complacency.
http://www.argentinepost.com/2011/06/photo-post-genius-civic-poop-gesture.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ImaginingTaos+%28Imagining+Taos%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

"Argentina has many exceptionally wonderful attributes. And, like all places, it also has some downsides. For me, one of the very worst of these is cynicism.
Cynicism corrodes the culture and prevents people from standing up to corruption, injustice, abuse of power and even smaller civic transgressions.
When people become accustomed to injustice, they too often lose all hope that they can combat it.
When confronted with the evils of life, too often people begin to feign offense but then quickly retreat and do nothing, saying, “Son todos corruptos. Es un país de mierda. Somos así.”
This kind of fatalistic thinking is pervasive. It’s also depressing, counterproductive and entirely unnecessary."

 

[sesamosinsal]

Bradlyhale is acting like "it's not such a big deal", well to me and my partner it was, waiting to eat for 40 minutes, without as much as a hello and then to get a menu price switch done on us. Sorry if you want to accept this GO AHEAD I don't and I thank the reasonable people on this board for not accepting it either. I owned a business here in Buenos Aires and while it was extremely difficult to run because of all the burocratic garbage I had a very loyal customer base that very much appreciated GOOD, FRIENDLY and RESPECTABLE service and business practices from me and my employees. I won't settle for less. I don't say people have to bend over backwards, I don't expect that, however I demand honesty, and common courtesy and if I don't get it when I am paying for goods and services I WILL NOT be a customer and I will let others know what the place is like.

Here's a tip: If they don't come to you within 5 minutes of you sitting down, walk out. It's what I do. I'm not saying what they did was cool, and I understand your desire for good customer service. Believe me, I do. However, you'll probably live a lot longer if you avoid getting all outrageous because of something that's really quite insignificant. There are many restaurants out there that do provide good customer service, Maria Felix Mexican Restaurant being my favorite -- and no, I don't know the owner or work there either.

 

[sesamosinsal]

FWIW, their entry on Guia Oleo -- which David has already commented on -- is pretty positive. They even responded to an unsatisfied customer in an attempt to rectify a Facebook coupon that wasn't honored.