A restaurant boss has taken to using CCTV to challenge customers who complain in reviews – and has even used it to count the number of prawns. In an interview with The Times, Jackie Wan, the owner and head chef of The Forum Chinese restaurant in Great Shelford, said that unfair criticism had stung him into action.
When a customer leaves a one star review in TripAdvisor, Google or Facebook he has been going back to what he described as ‘clarify’ problems which were raised. He explained that in one case a customer had said they only had four prawns in their stir fry, Wan began a week-long investigation, examining video of the diners.
After contacting the CCTV company and being sent the high-definition version of the footage, he replied to the reviewer: “[The] sizzling king prawn and rice was served at 18:53:25. Below is the exact time for you both actually put the prawns in your mouth: 18:54:34 yourself, 18:54:39 yourself, 18:54:39 your partner, 18:55:49 your partner, 18:57:11 your partner, 19:01:33 yourself, 19:02:27 yourself.
“From my limited calculating skills, I got seven pieces, which is the standard number of prawns for our main courses. Have you forgotten the three pieces your partner had?”
Mr Wan has run the restaurant for 11 years said that the reviewer had also said the food was ‘tasteless’ and claimed footage showed them ‘licking fingers’ having enjoyed it. He replied: “Our waitress tried to approach to check satisfaction at 19:06:03, however the signs she picked up show how much you both enjoyed the meal eg licking fingers, scooping the last drop of sauce off the plate, picking up the garlic flakes off the table. The bowl, the plates were shining clean, I could almost see my reflecting image. Still not enjoying huh?”
Wan, 46, who was born in Hong Kong, trained there and came to the UK as a teenager, working in kitchens at luxury Hyatt hotels in London. He said that CCTV footage was used only if a complaint did not match his or his staff’s recollection of events, or if a problem was raised days or weeks after the customer had visited.
Wan said: “If there are issues on our side or whatever happens is our mistake then of course we try and make up for it … I’m more than happy to offer free bills. But there are some customers that it doesn’t matter what you do, you cannot please them. Those are the things I really can’t stand because we’ve done nothing wrong. I will not kneel down for anyone. I will stand up and fight when the fault is not on our side.”
The Forum is overall rated 4.5 stars out of 5 on Tripadviso r. Other customers who raised issues including one who complained about the restaurant charging for chilli oil, he wrote: “Try asking for peppercorn sauce when ordering a steak in any steak house and see what happens.”
After a couple took their toddler to the restaurant and were told to leave, Wan offered to “forward the CCTV footage” showing other diners applauding as soon as the family left. “Your little one is obviously sick, with runny nose, flu … Do yourself a favour, don’t take her out,” he wrote.
He acknowledged that his combative approach was risky: “Yes I will lose on some business, but then at the same time, I protect my name. I’m proud of what we do and I’m proud of the product and service that we deliver so I stand up for myself, my staff.”