Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Bar and Restaurant Questions and Discussions => Topic started by: Cheryl on March 04, 2016, 08:06:20 AM
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While the tourist industry is at a low ebb due to Syrian conflict. you would think that the restaurants would be going all out to make sure those of us that do come to Turkey keep coming back to their restaurant. Rather than try and make a quick killing by ripping off the clients they do get.
CAFE SOUL. charged me 8 lire for a tonic water a couple of weeks ago. so I made a mental note not to have tonic there again. and not to go there if I didn't need to.
Yesterday I thought I would join the quiz in the afternoon. not wanting to get ripped off again I asked for a pineapple juice.
Later I had what was advertised as Cheese and Tomato omelette for 10 tl. The menu read served with chips.
The waiter said do you want chips. so I said yes.
When the food arrived there were 4 chips on the plate. and he bought an extra dish of chips. I thought well I walked into that one so didn't say anything. but then the chips were hard so I told them and they asked do you want us to recook them. I said yes and they took them away. after I finished my omelette the chips were returned. they were better but were still too large to cook properly. I left 1/2 of them
When the bill arrived I had been charged 9 lire extra for the chips and 8 lire for the pineapple juice. I WILL DEFINATELY NEVER AGAIN EAT AT CAFE SOUL. OR DRINK AT CAFE SOUL. >:( :( :-[ On sunday I can have a full roast with a drink and a desert at the pines restaurant. all cooked to perfection for 20 tl They appreciate their customers and want them to return.
I come here for 3 months of the year every year. CAFE SOUL want to think about that one before they start loading the bill. Catch me once shame on you. catch me twice shame on me. the best advertising is done with the fee,t and bums on seats. do you ever see the NILL BAR empty. no. they also know how to keep their customers.
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I would be careful generally and check things prior to ordering and check bills - in fact more this year than ever. Sadly there are those who see dwindling numbers and calculate the way to get by is to make more from fewer.
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Later I had what was advertised as Cheese and Tomato omelette for 10 tl. The menu read served with chips.
The waiter said do you want chips. so I said yes.
When the food arrived there were 4 chips on the plate. and he bought an extra dish of chips. I thought well I walked into that one so didn't say anything.
The first question that comes to my mind is why didn't you say something at the time? It was blatant (and pretty sneaky) upselling as the dish you ordered already came with chips. You'd have been well within your rights to query it and say no to the additional portion.
It's not just in Turkey this kinda sh1t goes on; everywhere tourists and expats gather, some bars and restaurants see this as an excuse to print money, i.e. rip folks of by pressurised upselling and hidden extras. Its very rare now that we'll order anything when we go somewhere new without seeing the menu/price list - and on more than one occasion we've got up and went elsewhere when it was either not forthcoming or the fare was overpriced.
Sadly there are those who see dwindling numbers and calculate the way to get by is to make more from fewer.
Ah.. now that is a definite Turkish trait. I want x number of lira in the bank at the end of the season. Fewer tourists? Ok, I'll increase prices so that I still have x number of lira at the end of the season. Turkonomics is the polite expression for it - blind stupidity is the less polite way to describe it.
You can always tell the bars/restaurants that don't practise Turkonomics, they're there and open every year with generally the same staff and owner/manager. I've seen it over the years with bars in Istanbul as well - same principle applies, the good ones are all still there, the ones who practised Turkonomics end up closing and someone else opens them up, often pulling the same stunts regarding prices and then he close - the cycle repeats itself ad infinitum.
I think I've got my cynical hat on this morning :)
JF
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Thanks for the warning i was wary of this place last season and will still avoid on return in April.
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It will be very interesting this year to see the bar/restaurants attitude towards the customers especially if the numbers are well down.as scunner said you should always be on your guard but this year be very careful.
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My hope would be that the attitude would be exactly the same be the customer be a regular or a first timer :)
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It occurred to me that ripping off first timers might be difficult this year as there aren't going to be many...
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I think it might be the year to check EVERY menu before you order.
It always amuses me the way some so called businessmen and women try to make a fast buck.
Dwindling crowds - just make more games Category A, Mr Cellino. Go on - even 18th v bottom of the league for £42 is acceptable to our loyal supporters.
Not selling enough beer and pies? Then add a free pie and pint to the ticket price boss. £5 should cover it.
Even here in Thailand ( which I said in another thread how honest they are) the tuk tuk drivers try it on with foreigners. Only last night we walked out of a large market to a bank of tuk tuks and were quoted 200bts (£4) to get home. We walked a few hundred yards around the corner and away from the frenzy of tourists and the cost was £1.60.
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Good to know that you didn't get tuked up. ;)
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Ha ha - no ladyboys for moi ;)
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Hi there
Cafe Soul has asked me to give their response to the complaints made on this thread.
1. Regarding the drinks prices.
Small soft drinks are 5TL each.
A large soft drink (equal to two small and in a pint glass) is 8TL. So by buying the large one the customer is saving 2 lira.
These prices are still the same as last summer.
2. Chips wise - it would seem there had simply been a communication problem - chips did come with the meal so when the waiter asked did you want chips he assumed you wanted an extra portion.
3. The staff are always there to give the customers the best service and an enjoyable experience - if there are any complaints or queries they would appreciate it if these matters are raised at the time so they can be resolved there and then rather than posted on a forum when they had no way of knowing that a customer had been unhappy.
Thanks
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Cafe Soul has asked me to give their response to the complaints made on this thread.
They could always have joined and did it themselves personally, second hand responses have a bit less credibility. I'm sure someone could have helped with any translation required.
JF
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2. Chips wise - it would seem there had simply been a communication problem - chips did come with the meal so when the waiter asked did you want chips he assumed you wanted an extra portion.
Assumed she wanted an extra portion? She didn't ask for the chips!!
Total nonsense that...
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Only been in Cafe Soul once.
They tried to leg me over never given them the time of day since. I know some have raved about the place, not me though.
Call me a cynic if you must but Ali's first post is defending them. All I have to say is 'ROUND OBJECTS'
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You can tell the management of Cafe Soul that after this was posted in Facebook it would appear that there have been lots of "misunderstandings" in extra portions and pricing... The sooner these places realise that The Brits talk to each other the better... A few cons will cost them dearly this season when tourists are thin on the ground.
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Yes indeed - Madmart for example. How much did he feel he was ripped off for - I'd wager a tiny amount when compared to all the liras he might have spent there throughout the years to come, had they not taken a quick opportunity to take a few quid too many at the first visit. It's not all about Cafe Soul either - there are similar stories at a number of Calis establishments.
£5 today or £500 eventually - wrong decision so many times...
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There are at least 2 sides to every story and I was putting across the version told to me by cafe soul. Which side of the story you wish to take on board is up to you, but being rude or sarcastic in a reply does not make a point more valid.
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I don't see any replies that are rude or sarcastic?
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Later I had what was advertised as Cheese and Tomato omelette for 10 tl. The menu read served with chips.
The waiter said do you want chips. so I said yes.
Just because I am home and on my laptop now so it's easier to quote.
I can't see how they can possibly put that down to a communications breakdown. If I order a whisky and coke and the waiter asks me if I want coke with it, I would obviously ay yes. I would however not expect him to serve me a whisky & coke, and a coke.
No misunderstanding.
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but being rude or sarcastic in a reply does not make a point more valid.
Nobody's been rude or sarcastic yet.
But you're on the right site. We're highly recommended for it when people defend establishments attempting to rip-off customers. ;)
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Especially when they didn't have a single thought, tip or experience in Calis to share in the first 13 years of the forum...
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I'm getting a feeling of deja vu here.
- CBF member posts about a bad experience in establishment X
- Establishment X hears about it from
pet loyal customers. - Establishment X and loyal customers spend the next few hours slagging off CBF.
- Establishment X gets loyal customer A to respond, giving Establishment X's side of the story, showing how unreasonable the CBF member is.
- Loyal customer A gets torn to shreds.
- Loyal customer A does the "don't shoot the messenger" defence.
The only thing missing on this occasion is the influx of loyal customers new members whose first post is to spring to the defence of Establishment X
What the silly sausages don't realise is that a quick "sorry, our bad" would have made the whole thing disappear. Instead, this will no doubt roll on for a few more pages and the topic will stay at the top of the page, inviting everyone to see how a CBF member (maybe not just one!) got turned over by a greedy bar looking to make an extra few lira.
JF
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Yes, or send us the loyal customer with something that ends with "they are sorry the customer didn't have a good experience, and they have asked me to say that the next pizza and chips is on them".
But carry on passing on how it was all the customer's fault, that's fine on here too - free speech lives on. Unlike good PR.
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Soul food gives you the blues, and the prices are way out, man. 8) 8)