The best places near Hawthorn, VIC, Australia for service?

"Great. Ray and Dave run a great ship – fun and friendly regular haunt." - Chris Mander

"Great. The staff are great with kids and they have a toy corner. The toilets suck a bit but the coffe is good." - Kerrie Cruickshank

"Great. Hi John
I’m one of the sales people at going going gone and I’d just like to inform people of the full story. Firstly, I’d like to say to everyone that our store policy is on display on the front counter of our shop. The policy clearly states the following, “Going Going Gone will not issue a refund simply because a product is unsuitable. Please consider your purchase carefully and ask any of our staff for advice as to how suitable the product will be for your requirement.”

Dougal, the staff member who served John does not recall him asking him any questions in regards to how suitable this umbrella is for his purpose. As far as he, and the video surveillance can recall John came into the shop, looked at the umbrellas, Dougal approached him, asked if he required some assistance, John informed Dougal that he had to call his partner which he then proceeded to do. John then told Dougal he would like to purchase the umbrella, and he happily served John.

John, I’d like to make it clear to you that it is not our responsibility to find out exactly what every customer is intending to do with the products they buy from our store. It is the customer’s responsibility to ask these questions and to do their research.

John then sent us the following email:
Hi,

Just a note to let you know that I have begun writing about my
experience with you online.

You can find my first posting at www.docoloco.com.

I think it is absolutely unacceptable for a specialty store like yours
to sell goods and not provide a refund when the product is clearly not
fit for purpose. I had not even taken the umbrella I bought from you
out of the car! You don’t have a product that IS fit for purpose. If
you’d had something suitable I’d have ordered it on the spot. No
refund! are you kidding me?

If you reconsider your position let me know. Otherwise I’ll just keep
that word of mouth rolling. I’m a very chatty fella.

Regards,
Johnny Cussen.

Hopefully in the future John you will be more aware of your responsibilities as a consumer. And in answer to your email, we are not going to reconsider your position. No one forced you to buy an umbrella from our store, so if we didn’t have a product to suit your application, why did you buy something?

Kind regards,
Steve

update 12/11/07
Just letting everyone know that John’s wife came in to the shop today. She came into the shop and began to browse around. A staff member approached her (not knowing she was John’s parnter) and she requested some help with the umbrellas. This time however, unlike John, she asked the appropriate questions and the staff member that helped her suggested that the umbrella would be inappropriate for her purpose. She then let the staff member known who she was and asked to speak with the owner. She argued the following points:

• That it was Going Going Gone’s responsibility to ask every customer what they intend to do with products they purchase from our store.
• We should some how control people from impulse buying
• The money they had spent on the umbrella was money they didn’t have
• Our store policy was not clealy displayed. ( There are two on the counter, at least 5 copies displayed in various places around the store and a copy on our website http://www.goinggoinggone.com.au )

The owner had to tell John’s wife at least 5 times to control the tone and volume of her voice. She was verbally aggressive, and had trouble particapating in a reasonable discussion. The matter was resolved with a $49 handling fee being charged and the remaining $750 being refunded to his partner’s card. John, in the past when people have bought products that have been not suitable for their use they have been refunded the full amount. It was particularly hard to do this in your situation after the way both you and your parnter went about dealing with the situation.

Kind regards,
Going Going Gone staff" - Steve de Visser

"Awful. ORIGINAL COMMENTS: I just bought an $800 garden umbrella from this mob and realised as I was driving home that it wouldn’t fit with my table. I made a U-turn and went back. The salesman refused to provide a refund and would only give me a store credit. These guys care little about their customers. BUYER BEWARE!!!!

UPDATE: Today my wife went in and after a bit of an argument Going Going Gone agreed to refund $750 of the $799 we paid. Firstly, thank you Going Going Gone. I genuinely appreciate the (partial) refund. The thing is that while Going Going Gone may well have been acting within the law, that’s not really the point. They showed a poor attitude to a (repeat) customer and I was very unhappy. I’m glad Docoloco gave me an opportunity to have my say and I’m also glad Going Going Gone came to Docoloco to have their say. It was a real Cluetrain Manifesto moment – www.cluetrain.com. The world is changing and businesses are learning that sometimes doing the right thing is good business practice in a world where consumers are able to share their experiences with a few keystrokes. Some businesses are just learning a little slower than others. My rating still stands. My experience was a bad one. Now … back to some positive recommendations. They’re more fun." - Johnny Cussen

"Poor" - Joanna Fulton

"Fair. I’ve found myself here a bit recently and generally find the service fair – on the whole with a smile. Good for pram wielding parents." - Chris Mander

"Awful. No-one here is friendly and a service ethic is clearly not encouraged by management, who are probably the worst offenders. The staff don’t acknowledge you, they gossip amongst themselves and with visiting friends, and don’t make eye contact when they eventually have to deal with you. Table service is practically non-existent. I had to clear my own table last time i went. I also had to get up to order an extra coffee cos no-one came near us after the initial order. The only reason I go here is because it is open earlier than anything else in Westgarth and has plenty of space to cater for friends with babies/prams." - Emily Freeman

"Awful" - Rohan Smith

"Awful" - Jed Bowtell

"Awful. These guys are idiots. The wine selection is good and pricey but unless you have a phd in philosophy at Melbourne University and wank on about it, go anywhere else on gertrude st" - Andrew Apostola