The Brook Point Cook — Restaurant in Melbourne

Had a casual lunch 10/12/2022 and had one of my worst customer service experiences at their POS.

1. Used the QR code at the table for an online order and an error occurred at payment. The debit had been taken from my account but there was no order confirmation. An attendant confirmed the kitchen hadn't received the order and that the debit had occurred from my account, but referred on to Tammy (manager?). Advised that the payment could not be cancelled or refunded, that I would need to wait to see if it bounced back, otherwise contact my bank. The debit cleared several business days later, again Tammy couldn't help when called for help, and I have ended up registering a lengthy transaction dispute with my bank which involves a stat dec/witness and a 60 day processing period with an uncertain outcome.

2. Tammy advised to proceed with a second order and payment. Having brought up the same items at EFTPOS, the cost was higher and Tammy advised that some items were higher because the online menu via the QR code had not been updated from an update the day prior. Was asked to proceed with the higher payment.

3. The restaurant's EFTPOS was not accepting pre-paid salary packaging debit cards (e.g. Maxxia, SmartSalary) and they had experienced the same issue with previous customers without remedying the problem despite being a clearly eligible business.

EDIT (reply):

1. My bank is dealing with the transaction as a dispute. A customer should expect this to be resolved at the time of ordering rather than going through this delayed, protracted, and complicated process.

2. The salad type was different. As clarified prior to ordering again, there was a same item (side of chips) that had a higher cost from the menu and you have asked to proceed with the higher cost transaction.

3. Pre-paid salary packaging debit cards (e.g. Maxxia, SmartSalary) are very common forms of payments, for example by many healthcare workers, and any restaurant and meal provider should allow payments. This is a failure from a hospitality business, and worse yet it is a known problem that has refused to be fixed.

I've taken the time to provide this review and have read many of the others here and your defensive replies - it's clear this is a business with a very poor customer service record, particularly in more recent years with a change of staffing and culture. One customer not returning is hardly a concern, but service providers live-and-die by their...

“It’s 8:30PM YOU GOTTA MOVE ALONG”

Line imprinted in our minds as said by the manager of this place. We made a booking online for this place today in the afternoon for 6:30PM- only reason was their menu looked good and also they had a play area for the kids to enjoy. Our entire experience was shattered because of the bad attitude of the manager- he was rude, unwelcoming and arrogant from the start. Neither their website says it’s a 2 hour booking slot nor we were told over the phone when we made the changes to our booking to an earlier time. There are so many wrongs to this place that if I start writing we will have few pages to go through and that to just for those 2 hours we spent there. I guess they don’t worry about their reviews as there is no response to the ones posted earlier underlying the same issue. We placed our order for the entrees at 6:50PM and we were approached by a lady saying we have to place the order for the mains straight away as our time runs out at 8pm. It was shocking for us as we dint know we had a slot booking or time limit- we were expecting to place an order by 7:30PM as we are aware the kitchen shuts at 8pm. My partner had a chat with the manager who was ridiculously rude- I don’t think he belongs in hospitality as there was nothing hospitable about his way of talking to us. Also he said the kitchen was really busy and it’s taking 45 mins for the food to be served. There were 4 tables occupied when we started and 2 left when we finished, so based on that it dint look like they were busy at all. We placed our order at 7:15PM and the food was at our table by 7:35PM so pretty much the story of being busy was made up. Though the service was efficient and food was good but the rotten attitude spoiled our night.

We finished our mains and then we were approached by him at 8:27PM precisely and he stated “You Gotta Move Along”- I guess during such times business should be appreciate patrons coming in and spending the money due to the last 1.5 years of harsh lock downs however I guess some businesses don’t want any business. Never stepping back into this place and would be passing on this to our other friends. This is for anyone checking out this place online- please do go through the google reviews as I’m sure this restaurant is not very much worried about...

What a shame it makes me feel how the new owner have ruined the best restaurant pub in Point Cook. Forget about the famous weekends parties. You will simply be alone, and that's in case the sport bar is open. And the staff... You can find good staff but also incredible bad staff. Today, I ordered a coffee and while the waitress was preparing my coffee I tried to order another one. I was standing up waiting for the waitress to finish or to look at me to order the new one when suddenly one of the managers comes and says the bar is closed, but he attended two people who came after me. I got to ask the waitress for another coffee but she told me that her manager had told that the bar is closed. So, after the manager finished to attend the other people, I told that the situation was not fair because I was already being attended and was ahead of the persons he had attended, so the manager understood and asked the waitress to make another coffee after finishing the one she was making for me. I forgive this. The problem was the coffee that the waitress made and the rude way she served it to our table. She intentionally made the worst coffee I ever seen, a cappuccino without any foam, boiling and with an aspect that I am not going to try to describe... I don't know what there was in my cofee. I said intentionally because we had already ordered 5 coffees and there was any problem with them. I got up and handed it back directly to the waitress who made no move to apologize. I can't understand how a restaurant like this, with the number of customers it had and has lost, doesn't care about taking care of the few that still come. So, it pains me to say it after all this time, because I loved the Brook, but I don't think...