A pub owner has gone viral after calling out a customer on social media who tried to “blackmail” him with a bad review.
The Creagan Inn at Appin, near Oban in Argyll, was visited two nights in a row last week by a holiday maker known as “Tarn” and her family.
James Nisbet, owner of the business, shared an email exchange between himself and the unhappy customer, in which she tried to get a refund.
The thread was shown on The Creagan’s Facebook page, where Mr Nisbet said it was viewed more than 26,000 times in 24 hours. The post was shared 148 times, had more than 500 reactions and hundreds of comments.
Tarn emailed Mr Nisbet on Wednesday to complain about the “poor service” stating: “I’m hoping you could make a suggestion to put this right as this spoilt our last night on holiday in Appin.
“We didn’t say anything at the time as we seemed unimportant, and felt we wouldn’t get a satisfactory response and so decided to email yourself.”
The detailed complaint included claims of an extensive 30 minute wait for someone to take their order, being ignored by staff and not offered desserts.
But Mr Nisbet said that after he viewed the CCTV, he found the complaints to be completely exaggerated.
The messages from Tarn read: “We waited for over 30 minutes for someone to come to us to take our order (drinks and food together).
“Once our food had arrived, we never saw anyone again to check if we needed anything else or ask if everything was OK.”
Owner bites back
The owner told her: “I have reviewed our CCTV and can see that you were seated at 7.32pm and your order was taken at 7.44pm.
“While 12 minutes is longer than we would hope for, it is not ‘over 30 minutes’ as stated in your email.
“Your drinks were with you six minutes after ordering and food was served 13 minutes after ordering. Someone visits your table and is there for a full 20 seconds and specifically asks your daughter if everything is OK.
“I’m not sure why you didn’t notice a stranger talking to your daughter while you were sitting there, but you may have been distracted.”
‘Uncalled for’
Tarn replies that his response is “extremely rude and uncalled for” and states she will be copying it to review sites and social media.
A lengthy exchange continues with the customer threatening to take the inn to the Small Claims Court.
Mr Nisbet tells her: “It is blackmail. You want to receive a full refund in exchange for not leaving bad reviews. Please don’t try to dress it up as anything else.”
Speaking afterwards, he said: “There are a lot of people out there just being mean.
“Following lockdown, I don’t know what it is that people are looking for.
“It seems that whatever you do there is an element of the public that are going to complain about it.”
The P&J’s review
The Press and Journal decided to investigate and check the place out for ourselves.
We arrived for a booking at 5pm on Sunday as part of a table of three.
We were quickly accommodated when we asked for a space outside on the terrace as the sun had come out.
Once we were seated our reviewer, well versed on the nationwide staff shortages in the hospitality industry, was preparing to time the wait for food and drinks.
But a friendly young waiter had already presented us with menus and taken our drinks order before she could even look at her watch.
Service came with a smile and the food came quickly.
The thoughtful waiter even brought us out coasters to cover our drinks and keep the wasps away.
Our food was simple, tasty and faultless and on balance, the experience seemed a fair way removed to what was posted online.