So, now it's out of the box as reported earlier. I feel special. Though I know there is no reason. This is something I preach to students and at events. The amazing power of Internet. While I talk about it, I couldn't even dream of what has happened in past 48 hours.
Cory at Boing Boing blogged it and Finnish Digitoday and Taloussanomat are following. Helsingin Sanomat and other big news papers called me. My blog is getting 2000 visitor per HOUR! The case is being discussed on several forums and blogs. Somehow Lehtovaara's strategy doesn't seem to be the winning one...
Karu selli just wrote a Ravintola Lehtovaara fiction.
There has been some questions, if this is just another Internet hoax. While the letter sounds outrageous, I can assure it is not a product of imagination. I had some doubts of publishing the letter i received. But I got some new information that has led me to publish it. Download uhkauskirjeLehtovaara.pdf
If you are blogging this story. Please let me know. Use track back or throw a link to the comments.
There is another request. I am on the road and don't have time to translate the letters to our international readers. I would appreciate if some could help me with that. I will post the letters here as soon as they are done.
Update: I love the comments of the story. Both the supporting and the critisising. Most of the comments on blogs are positive but I do appreciate people who care to pause for a second and look at the big picture. Then there are people who are claiming that I have: "chronic little wiener complex" :) and that I am snob.
The letter I sent was not written to be published. It is a bit clumsy and maybe snobbish at some points, but I did't want to change it before posting it.
So there is some interesting GoogleBomb case law to come! This will be exiting.
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The Rise (or Fall) of E-Consumer - Part I :)
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Good luck!
Posted by: Karol | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 08:25
Discussing it here...
http://www.finlandforthought.net/index.php?p=727
Posted by: Phil | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 12:35
Pyynnöstäsi. Yksi pieni otus repi tästä jutusta huomattavasti potkua iltaan ja levittää ilosanomaa eteenpäin harvaan verkkoonsa.
Posted by: Sari | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 13:34
Ravintola-alan ammattilaisena en luonnollisestikaan voi olla puimatta asiaa blogissani.
Hävytöntä.
Posted by: Turisti | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 14:05
Hienoa. Taas yksi mainio syy olla nimeämättä lastaan Herkoksi. Snobismillakin on rajansa, toivottavasti.
No valitus ei koskaan lopu.
Posted by: hienoa | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 17:39
Iltalehti: http://www.iltalehti.fi/2005/06/28/200506273218941_uu.shtml .
Posted by: nonesuch | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 22:18
Kiintoisaa, että Lehtovaara laskuttaa huonosta palvelusta 80 000 euroa. En uskalla edes ajatella mitä he olisivat laskuttaneet hyvästä palvelusta. Vastedes kannattaa harrastaa räkälätyyppisiä keskikaljabaareja. Niissä tunnetaan vielä käsitteet hyvä palvelu ja anteeksipyyntö.
Harri
Posted by: Harri Dahlström | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 22:25
Hyvä että joku viitsii valittaa. Kyseinen ravintola ei näemmä pysty eikä halua vaativia asiakkaita. Parempi olisi Lehtovaaran vaihtaa nimensä Kebab Lehtovaaraksi. Kyllä ravintola-alalla sitten riittää kaikenlaisia amatöörejä.
Posted by: Tero | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 23:17
I think it's great that you demand good service from a restaurant.
The lawsuit will blow up in their face. How much more bad publicity they want?
Posted by: John | Monday, 27 June 2005 at 23:26
Hyvä kun joku vielä jaksaa taistella tuulimyllyjä vastaan :).
Posted by: Joy | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 00:45
Unfortunately, even though I am all for freedom of expression, your TIMING OF SERVICE WITH A WATCH gives me the impression that you were a snobby customer who was seeking every detail to complain. I met yesterday a guy like this, he started shouting drunk that he's academic and I'm a piece of shit with no education. Until he found out that I am more academic that he is. I'm sorry but I can't stand pretentious snobs!
When you go to a restaurant leave your watch at home and RELAX.
Posted by: Fennorama | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 01:11
Heh, Lehtovaaran valitsema taktiikka todellakin taitaa olla omaan nilkkaan osuva... Nyt itseasiassa selvisi mistä sadat/tuhannet hitit Kaivokadulla napsimaani kuvaan tulevat: täältä... Harmi ettei Flickr tarjoa minkäänlaista trackback -mahdollisuutta!
Posted by: e-z | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 01:33
Tuntui mukavalta lukea kirjoituksesi ja ajatella niiden saamaa julkisuutta.
Olin tyttöystäväni kanssa syömässä Lehtovaarassa ja ravintola on nyt pannassa. Palvelu oli kohtuullisen asiallista, mutta hidasta. Yllätys tuli vasta tiliotteita lukiessa, kun tililtä oli veloitettu kaksi kertaa laskun suuruinen summa.
Useamman valituskierroksen jälkeen saimme ylimääräiset rahat takaisin, mutta kunnollista anteeksipyyntöä saati minkäänlaista hyvitystä ei kuitenkaan koskaan kuulunut.
Posted by: Emppu | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 05:19
Itseäni laskutettiin monta vuotta sitten Pizza Hutissa kahteen kertaan, kun maksoin pankkikortilla. Selvitin asian pankin kanssa, ja sain rahat takaisin. Pizza Hut lähetti minulle pahoitteluna 50 markan lahjakortin. Näin se asia pitää hoitaa, että asiakas tulee toistekin takaisin.
Ja niinkutsuttu "hieno" ravintola ei edes pyydä anteeksi mokaansa? Ja rahoja pitää vaatia useamman kerran? Just joo. Ikinä en tule moisessa paikassa käymään.
Posted by: Oskari | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 08:04
Tuota ravintolan lähettämää uhkakirjettä lukiessa tulee sellainen tunne, ettei sen kirjoittajalla ole kaikki kotona (vaikka jättäisi aiheenkin huomioitta). Kirjeen kieli on sekavaa, sanajärjestykset ja lauserakenteet käsittämättömiä, ja koko kirje on täynnä kirjoitusvirheitä. Huh huh.
Posted by: SR | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 09:09
Fennorama: You weren't there. Stop internalizing this as if it was you working there. Yes, sometimes customers suck. Maybe CopyFraud sucks, who knows? This is not the issue.
I know that I've been subjected to some shitty service in the past, and eating out is not cheap. When I decide to go all out, it's usually a special occasion. I've worked in the service industry for years, and I know bad service when I see it. If I'm starting to feel ignored you can be sure I'll start timing the service, too. I'm demanding a damn footrub here. I'd just like a little attention and properly served food. A premium price demands premium service. End of story.
I haven't seen an English translation of the letter in question, but if the waiter really did not accept a table returning a bottle of wine he should be fired. Something like 10% of all vintages are guaranteed to go bad in the bottle for various reasons.
The fact at the heart of the matter is that free societies must allow a reasonable amount of public opinion, regardless of whether that opinion is good, bad or indifferent.
Frivolous lawsuits like this need to be examine in the court of public opinion and the restaurant management should be beaten like a dog with their own stick. The were stupid enough to let this spiral oput of their control.
Regardless of whether or not this blogger is right or wrong, the restaurant has made a dog's breakfast of this, and they deserve what they get. Stupidity has it's price.
Any floor manager or maitre'd worth their tuxedo should recognize a bad situation (and even a bad customer) when they see one. They should have headed this one off early and bitched about him all they wanted afterwards.
Posted by: clvrmnky | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 09:51
Having worked for years in comission paid sales, I fully understand that even a good salesperson have days when you just underperform and can't deliver service up to your standard, and it's more likely to occur during an extremely stressful season such as Christmas like in this case.
Even if - and this is a major IF - the customer was a difficult one, he should have ensured that they hadle the reclamation discreetly, without engaging in that "no, you can't possibly feel that way" contest.
It is the unbelievably inflexible and arrogant response that hurts their reputation most, not the subjective single person experience recorded in this blog.
Mind you, there's always that rather unlikely chance that the food or service don't need your exceptations. After reading the entepreneur's response, I don't dare to take the slightest risk of being in the situation where I would have to communicate my dissatisfaction to the management. I'll just go elsewhere.
What a PR disaster we have here!
Posted by: Ile | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 11:31
(Oops, adding something that slipped away from the previous one - goes right between the fist and second paragraph)
That being said, an excellent manager would have arranged so that another waiter would have taken care of the situation after noticing that it's not going well there.
Posted by: Ile | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 11:37
http://visionsharing.blogspot.com/2005/06/blogger-threatened-for-his-admonition.html
Posted by: Henrikki Mäkynen | Tuesday, 28 June 2005 at 16:59
Nostin kissan pöydälle opiskelijayhdistykseni foorumilla, jossa keskustellaan sananvapaudesta: http://foorumi.tkory.net/viewtopic.php?t=371#2183
Posted by: Lauri Anttila | Wednesday, 29 June 2005 at 00:25
Suomessa ei osata asiakaspalvelua, valitettavasti.
Esim. Englannissa Lehtovaara olisi ollut konkurssissa jo iät ajat. Pitkäaikaisen toiminnan kannalta ei ole väliä onko asiakas ollut snobi vai ei.
En ole käynyt Lehtovaarassa mutta paikka näyttää lähinnä vanhan kerrostaloon kyhätyltä autotallilta. Minulta menisi jo ruokahalu siitä.
Posted by: Mies Englannista | Wednesday, 29 June 2005 at 03:31
Q: Miksi tuota asianajotoimiston uhkauskirjettä ei ole allekirjoitettu?
Posted by: Ville | Wednesday, 29 June 2005 at 11:44
Asianajotoimisto ei ilmeisesti saanut kaveria kiinni muuta kuin sähköpostin välityksellä. Toi netissä oleva pdf on suoraan käännetty Herkon spostin liitetiedostona saamasta Word-dokumentista.
Posted by: Herkon Kaveri | Thursday, 30 June 2005 at 13:29
On se kumma kun ravintoloita on ollut jo vuosituhansia ja jokainen ei menestynyt ravintola on kaatunut joko palvelun heikkouteen, ruoan laatuun tai molempiin, eikä vieläkään opita.
Anteeksipyynnöllä ja sopivalla kompensaatiolla saa ihmeitä aikaan eikä tämmöistä ketjureaktiota pääse syntymään. Ilman internettiäkin on saatu ravintoloita kaatumaan, pelkästään kertomalla suullisesti kaverilta kaverille ja yhtäkkiä on parisataa potentiaalista asiakasta poissa (ravintolan) laskuista. Toisaalta taas pienellä eleellä saa pidettyä entiset ja houkuteltua uusia asiakkaita; yksi esimerkki: Varasimme pöydän ravintola Farougesta ja olimme paikalla pari minuuttia ennen sovittua aikaa ja ravintolan päällikkö/omistaja/vastaava pahoitteli, että joutuisimme hieman odottelemaan ja maistuisiko aito shampanja (ravintolan piikkiin tietty) odottelun lomassa. No tottakai! Kymmenen minuutin jälkeen pöytä järjestyi ja tämmöisen kohtelun jälkeen ruokakin maistui varmasti paremmalta kuin pitikään...
Posted by: Jaska | Saturday, 02 July 2005 at 05:51
Aiheestahan oli jo aika pitkälle kaikki sanomisen arvoinen sanottu, mutta osoitukseksi pienten blogien massavoimasta lisäsin kuitenkin sivulleni aihetta koskevan postin!
Posted by: Timo Nurmi | Wednesday, 06 July 2005 at 06:40