Terrible customer service and terrible manager to match

If I had the option of rating Chicken Licken 165 Dr Yusuf Dadoo St, Durban Central, 4001 place a -2 star rating I would. I am utterly disappointed at the level of customer service and rude attitudes not only their employees gave me but also the manager, Bongani Ndlovu after I had brought my matter forward to his attention.

After waiting almost 30 minutes for my order and seeing customers who had placed orders long after I had, sit down and eat really made me feel disheartened. I hate spending my hard earned money supporting an establishment that does not value me as a customer and the business I bring them.

Not only did the staff have a nasty attitude towards me when I politely asked them why didn’t they try and get my attention earlier to notify me that my order was ready but they had the nerve to blatantly tell me it’s my fault because I was busy on my phone and not paying attention while I was sitting right INFRONT OF THEM IN PLAIN SIGHT! The whole staff looked at me like I was some kind of street kid lost and they were trying to figure out what I was doing there speaking amongst themselves instead asking what my order number was and checking if it was ready or not. After we exchanged a few words and without a decent answer or a simple apology I then kindly asked if I could speak to their manager who told me “ngiyeza kuwena mfethu” like I was his friend and I’m bothering him meanwhile he was at the till the whole time eavesdropping and didn’t care to take charge of the situation even after hearing and seeing a visibly unhappy customer having a verbal disagreement with his staff. Like he was right there and seemed not to care about what was going on till I had to actually ask for him.

After explaining my overall bad customer service experience with the manager, Bongani, whom is the only one I bother asking their name for because he failed to “manage” the situation which is what he was hired for ironically. Instead of apologising on the behalf of the staff members and establishment that he represent, the guy shamelessly told me straight to my face as a customer who is spending their money at this store that “I am wrong”. How can a manager tell the customer they are wrong for not hearing their order number and waiting 30 minutes for their order. It’s shocking to say the least and I am utterly disappointed at the level of professionalism he displayed and his team.

All the manager was good for was to continuously shift the blame onto me and not once did he apologise for his staffs negligence and lack of service. I honestly don’t have faith in this guys credentials as a manager of such a big brand name restaurant and question how he was employed for this role if he couldn’t resolve such minor miscommunication. I forsee many problems for this company and future customers if this is the level of service provided. Couldn’t even bother to tell me how he would do his best to better the situation for the next customer to make sure such an incident never happens at the restaurant again. Zero initiative! Zero problem solving skills! Zero people skills. A tragedy if you ask me.

All I would’ve appreciated was a simple apology for the miscommunication and I would’ve gone about my day but I didn’t even get it! Only bad, unpleasant attitudes which left a bad taste in my mouth and regret for spending my hard earned money here. I’ve bought here once before and I was really happy with you, and would have recommended you to all my friends, but now I don’t think I will.

Hence the reason while I will be publishing this testimony on Google, all social media platforms I am active on. I will also be lodging an official complaint on the Chicken Licken website and send an email to ***

I hope at the very least this will help bring the matter to the owner or managements attention and the right steps are taken to further train the employees and their manager on customer service etiquettes, which they strongly lack.

Unfortunately, you will never receive my support ever again.