IHOP woes–and excellent follow-up

Update 2008-10-01: IHOP’s response was excellent. The Monday after I sent the complaint, I received this:

Dear atthecrux:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us concerning your experience at the IHOP in [city redacted]. While it is always disappointing to learn that we have not lived up to our guest’s expectations, it is invaluable to receive feedback so that we are able to continually improve our level of guest satisfaction.

We are sorry to learn of the service level you encountered at this franchised location. However, please be assured that the matter will be shared with the proper individuals to address your concerns.

I have forwarded your concerns to IHOP’s Franchise Business Consultant for the South region. They will contact the franchise owner regarding your recent dining experience in this restaurant. We are confident that the franchise owner or his representative will contact you shortly. It is our hope that you will once again allow us to earn your trust.

Thank you for keeping us informed.

Sincerely,

[name redacted]
Guest Services Representative
IHOP Restaurant Support Center

Today, I received a phone call from a lady at the company that manages IHOP. She apologized for the problems, invited the two of us back for a complimentary meal, said that my complaint’s been passed on to the local franchisee and they’re figuring out what went wrong (and mentioned that this location is recently under new management), and asked for feedback on the experience.

Separately, my girlfriend ate at the restaurant with a friend the next morning (possibly at the same time I was writing my complaint to HQ). A manager came by the table to ask how everything was, and she mentioned the previous night–asking whether people are supposed to seat themselves after a certain time, or what was up. He told her that no, we should have been seated. He was quite apologetic, and said he’d look into what was happening. He also mentioned that he’d been on the job for only three days.

IHOP messed up the evening we were there. Their follow-up, however, has been–thus far, at least–exemplary.

Original Post:
When a company messes up, they need a bit of a public scourging. As of last night, IHOP qualified. I did them the favor of actually sending a comment to HQ, rather than just complaining to others–but I’ll do the latter as well. If they respond well, I’ll try to post that also–responding well to failures is an important corporate skill.

Here’s the message I sent HQ (along with specific location information):

Last night, my girlfriend and I *almost* ate at IHOP. We walked in around 9:45, and noted a relatively-sparsely-filled restaurant: probably less then a third of the tables were occupied. We noted the “Please Wait To Be Seated” sign, and waited. After a bit, the couple ahead of us apparently decided to seat themselves. We waited a bit more, unsure of whether someone had simply failed to change the sign, but thought we’d comply with the request. Several waitstaff went by, apparently seeing us awkwardly standing there but not feeling any personal responsibility. One employee walked directly past us on his way out the door (for a break?), carefully ignoring us. Shortly afterward, my girlfriend and I decided to take IHOP’s message to heart, and enjoy a meal elsewhere.

I don’t know whether the problem here was due to corporate policies, to an error in changing the sign followed by apathetic (or policy-constrained staff), or what. I do know, however, that–based on this experience, and to a lesser degree on other experiences–service appears to be quite low on the priority list of this IHOP. Whether that’s from the top down or the bottom up, I don’t know–but it isn’t my problem, it’s IHOP’s to deal with. It has certainly affected my perception of IHOP.