Hi again,

Wow - the time is flying by.  But we're up to 1200 ratings now so slowly but surely we are getting up to a level where WOMOW is becoming useful.  Actually, we heard from member Beth in Wantirna "We used womow on the weekend to find a new restaurant to try in Ballarat and we were not disappointed. Just as previous reviews claimed DaUday offers a massive menu covering italian, indian and thai and the service was fantastic. With a nice venue, reasonable prices and good food (loved the mango ice cream for dessert) I'm sure we'll go back."  (Click here to see this business.)  It's really great to hear that WOMOW is starting to work.  And Thank You to all the Ballarat members that have ensured we've got a great coverage of businesses up there.

What is good service anyway?
Not long ago, Paul and I spent a weekend down at Jan Juc with some friends.  After a walk along the beach with our dogs, we stopped in a small cafe for some lunch.    When the waiter brought out our food, he managed to spill coffee all over the table and even down Paul's leg and into his shoe.  He really managed to get coffee everywhere!  But while this was annoying, the waiter was very apologetic and did his best to clean up straight away.  He even took Paul's shoe and set it to dry near the fire and then came back very quickly with fresh coffees.  This experience got me thinking about what good service really means.

Often our perception of service is really not much about what happens to us, but more about the attitude in which it happens.  Especially when a mistake happens, this provides a great opportunity for businesses to recover by overcompensating for the error.  In this case the waiter successfully recovered from the incident and none of us thought too much more about it.  But had he gone a step further (maybe given us the coffees on the house or offered some free desserts ...mmm), we'd probably be more enthusiastic about returning there soon and telling more people about our experience.  Don't get me wrong, it was a good lunch - I can just see an opportunity that the waiter missed to make it really special.

Could word-of-mouth have saved some heart-ache?
Interestingly, a Wedding Photography and Video business that had started to recieve some negative reviews on WOMOW has now gone out of business (and no, I'm sure it's nothing to do with WOMOW!).  What is a shame though is that some couples had to pay 100% upfront and have received nothing back for this.  Perhaps even more disappointed are the people who relied on them for their only photographs and/or video for their wedding - not only do they now have thousands down the drain, but they may end up with no photos or videos of their special day. 

If these people had been able to see the feedback written on WOMOW about this business (and particularly the trend that this was taking), then maybe they could have avoided this situation (or at least acted more cautiously and not put down 100% deposit).  Hopefully in the future we'll be able to help people avoid these kinds of situations.

A Selection of this week's ratings...
Rating for Victorian Vinyl Concepts (a flooring company in Wantirna) by Nel
"Gordon is amazing! He rings if he's going to be late, he's creative yet practical, treats women equally, works effciently, cleans up at the end of the job, was flexible with payment and he looks for your dog if he escapes!"
(I like this one because it gives us lots of information about the service and it made me smile!)

Rating for Misty's Diner (an American diner in Prahran)
"I just moved to Australia, from the US and boy walking into Misty's Diner was like walking into a diner in the US. ...we stocked up on the American Candies and Dr Pepper!!!! Oh and her ThickShakes are even better then back home, Oreo Cookies and White Chocolate is MY all time Favorite!!"
(Sounds like a great time had by all!  Actually this restaurant has recently received lots of rave reviews.  Might be worth checking out myself.)

Rating for Write Your Life Stories (in Hawthorn) by Stevebrook
"When I turned 73 last year I thought the time had come to collect my memoirs into a small book or booklet.  I didn’t feel I could manage to do this myself so I engaged Gloria, a writer who had been recommended to me by word of mouth. I was surprised how easy the whole experience turned out to be, and quite a lot of fun as well. We sat and chatted away like old friends while she recorded the story of my family life.   I asked her to have it bound for me, nothing too expensive, and she gave me a choice of covers to choose from.
My wife is so proud of the final booklet and shows it off to everyone. I felt I got good value for money."
(A really different type of business that I never knew existed.)

Well, that's all for now.  Hope you're having a great week.
Fiona