Pizza Mansion @ Jalan Mesui, KL - Awesome pizza with questionable customer service (Pork free)

Lunch this time was from Pizza Mansion KL. I had good memories when I visited their first outlet at Happy Mansion, PJ prior to Covid 19 – Pizza Mansion @ Happy Mansion, Sec. 17, PJ – Ooooo Pizzaaa! Yumm (Pork Free) . So, naturally when I found out that they have opened a 2nd outlet in KL a little more than a year ago… I was excitedlah. I ‘ve been wanting to drop by to give them a try for a while now but eventually forgot about it … until now 😄. My friend recently ordered some pizzas and was going on about how good it was. So, okaylah, time for me to pay them a visit.

A quick look online suggest that I can order via Grab, FoodPanda, Beepit and a direct whatsapp message, I opted for the latter because I was going to self pickup the order.

I called Pizza Mansion rather than whatsapp because I was curious about the absent chicken pizza option. I wanted to double check wether it’s true or did I somehow missed a part of the Menu. Once I was told that it’s indeed true, I proceeded to ask them about their bestsellers. I then placed my order but was told to do so via whatsapp and that the pizza will take 20 minutes to be ready. Okay, sure, no problem.

Good thing was, I was already in my car. At that point in time, I was in Bangsar and it would take me about 15 minutes to reach the restaurant. It was just nice. By the time I reached Pizza Mansion, I would just have to wait another 5-10 minutes for my order to be ready. Immediately after the call ended, we sent a whatsapp to them. The whole reason for that was so that the payment will be out of the way and they can get started on making my pizza as soon as possible.

Yea, well … that did not happen.

*** Do excuse the spelling mistake in the image below.

As you can see, we waited 15 minutes for them to provide their bank account details. Which meant that, we reached the eatery by then. Since payment was made only after we arrived, we would have had to spend even more time waiting for the pizza. This was fine with us as we had no problem hanging around but we thought it could have been handled better. Usually, I would not mind the delay much. Sometimes, it happens, even more so if they are short staffed. However, this time, I needed things to move accordingly.

A courier was delivering a very important document to my house and I wanted to make sure I was there to receive it. Hence why I wanted to get the payment out of the way, so that I can then estimate the time I’d be back home and inform the courier accordingly. All this delay is preventing me from doing that.

So, we mentioned it to the Indian guy who attended to us, that they could have handled it better.. check their whatsapp regularly as it seems to be the only way a self pickup customer would place their order. Every other option was for delivery. He did not see it that way though. He kept insisting that is was not their fault. The increase in Grab orders was to be blamed. Ummm 😳😳 It went back and forth. Us telling him that they should check their whatsapp line regularly and him replying ” It’s not our fault, there was a lot of Grab food orders”.

This is how most other eateries would handle it – The right way to do it would be “Yes, we apologize for the delay. There was an increase in Grab orders resulting in us being overwhelmed .. hence the delay. Sorry”. That’s it, it took less than a minute.

This is the Indian guys version and it went exactly like this. 👇👇

Us: Make sure you guys check your whatsapp regularly.

Him: It is not our fault. We got many Grab orders.

Us: Okay but next time, do regularly check your whatsapp to prevent delays

Him: Yea but it is not our fault. We got alot of Grab orders.

Us: Yea okay but because thats how self pickup customers order, you should check your whatsapp frequently.

Him: No sir, it is not our fault. We have so many Grab orders.

And it goes on and on and as it progresses, voices get louder and louder. What should have taken a minute took way longer to settle.

We were not pointing fingers, we simply stated facts … that they should regularly check their whatsapp. This guy was defensive from the start. The more times he repeated it, the more it seemed like he was pulling a Gordon Ramsay on us.. “if you cant wait, f**k off!”

I always thought that feedback from customers were welcomed but I guess this Indian guy is an exception. If it was something negative, he ain’t hearing it.

It is a simple concept. One that I think the Indian guy did not understand. You are essentially a service provider, you provide food. Food that I want and am PAYING for. That is the only connection between Pizza Mansion and a customer. So, if the service provider has a problem delivering the service, then it is their responsibility to let their customers know and not use it as an excuse when they handle things wrong. In this case, you should have called and inform me of the overload of orders and delay. It would have been a different issue if I whatsapp from the start. I did not, I called first…. so, you had my number. On top of that, I even placed my order while on that call but you told me to do so on whatsapp instead. Did it not occur to you that I might have immediately send a whatsapp to you after the call? If there was soo many orders and they were overwhelmed, all they had to do was call and let us know. We can then decide what we wanted to do.

This has happened elsewhere before. A sudden increase in orders and the whole process gets messed up. Usually, leading to delays. However, the eatery would acknowledge their error and let us say our part, apologize and promise do better in the future. That is how it usually goes.

This Indian guy though, it was almost as though we were stuck in a battle of “Who has the biggest EGO”. It was exhausting. The way he kept repeating the same sentence sounded as though its a good enough reason and should be accepted. He was basically indirectly demanding that we be emphathetic and understanding towards him and his predicament.

Sorry to burst your bubble, bro but it isnt just the F&B sector that was impacted when Covid hit. Several other sectors/industries were hit equally as bad, okay? The difference is that the F&B sector got a wide coverage about their difficulties especially on social media, so people are generally more emphathetic and understanding towards this sector. The other sectors though, mostly suffer in silence. You dont see them making the news or appearing much on social media, do you? So, consider yourself lucky. Just because most of us are generally more emphathetic does not give you the right to demand such sentiments. You feel me?

You guys are popular for your pizzas. People like the food you offer. So, I am pretty sure that this aint the first time you have lots of orders. You should be use to it by now, right? What other reasons could the be? Short-staffed?? Sure, totally understandable. We get it. Just say so and move on. You, insisting it isnt your fault despite us NOT pointing fingers is wrong. It is not our fault that you are defensive from the get go. Do you know how many times a restaurant we visited has use ‘we have too many orders’ as an excuse?? None, except you. Most other cafes and restaurants has a customer base that reduced tremendously once Covid hit. So, for the guy to use it as an excuse the way he did – is embarassing.

I myself lost half my income. Do I get to tell you that and then demand you give me 50% off my order? Just like you expect me to be emphathetic towards your plight, shouldnt you be emphathetic towards mine? In reality, it does not work that way though, right? We all still have to pay in full. On top of that, I opted for self pick. No delivery to think about, you dont even need to leave your premises. Heck, you dont even have to pay 30% to Grab for using their platform when it comes to self pickup customers. The customers themselves waste their time, fuel and money to come collect their order themselves and still have to pay for the food in full, no discounts. We dont complain, we pay but then, getting ‘rewarded’ on top of that with a case of bad customer service by an egoistical asshole is not what we deservelah.

All you had to do was fullfil our order. Easy right? Any delay or failure in doing so, is not my problem. Wether or not I choose to be understanding and emphathetic, is my choice and not something you can demand. You saying ‘it is not our fault, lots of Grab orders’ on repeat is not good enough. We were understanding, which was why we said “next time, make sure you check your whatsapp regularly”. That asshole however, rather than apologizing and moving the fuck on, kept insisting that it was not their fault. What kind of bullshit is this huh? Till the end, he never apologized. He was a spoilt brat who threw his tantrum and then went back inside the eatery never to be seen again. It was the manager who apologized eventually.

You know what the worst part is? If you want to turn around, point at me and say that I do not understand what it takes to run a business. I agree, I do not know and so, I can only guess and speculate. I neither have the knowledge, skills or money to run anything related to F&B. So, yea I agree. My friend though, the one who did most of the talking – he owned and managed a cafe, it ran sucessfully for years, then ran at a lost for months after Covid hit and had to eventually make the painful decision of closing down for good. On top of that, the premise owner, who initially agreed to cut down the rent to a certain percentage, decided to go back on their word and insisted that he pay the whole thing in full. So, I may not know anything about running a business but he sure as hell does. He knows the joy of running it as well as the pain of loosing it. For you to use “it is not our fault, lots of orders from Grab” as an excuse is a disgrace. Watch your words, bro. Your lack of maturity is showing. One day it might get you in trouble. Grow up.

There were many things you could have done. It was your duty to reach out and inform us if you are overwhelmed. You should not have forgotten about whatsapp as it is the ONLY way for self pickup customers to order. There was soo many ways you could have handled it.

You could have stopped taking more orders. You should have put a pause on it and work on fulfilling the orders you owe. Once that was completed, you can unpause and continue accepting orders.
You could have called or whatsapped us to let us know of the situation and that there would be a delay. We can then decide wether we were still interested to proceed or to head elsewhere for lunch. After all, it was you who freely provided the information that our pizza will take 20 mins to be ready when we called. We did not ask for that information.
You could have focused solely on Grab , other online platforms and stopped self pickup temporarily. As long as it remains as a method to order, a screw up is your fault. Especially so, when we did everything right on our end.
The fact that we called and placed our order before you told us to send a whatsapp message instead should have indicated that there would be atleast a 50% chance that we would have immediately messaged Pizza Mansion after the call.. right ?? So, you should have stuck around?? …especially since we knew exactly which pizza we wanted.
You should have just taken our order when we called rather than us having to send a whatsapp message to you. If you did, then all you had to do was whatsapp us the payment details (you would have had to reach out to us first) and we can go on from there. As a result, all this bullshit about not seeing our whatsapp message and the delay in providing the payment details and etc would not have happened.

As I said, there are many ways to handle the issue but instead you insist on repeating that it is not your fault and put the blame on Grab orders. There was zero sense of responsibility. It felt like you guys are focused on all the delivery platforms only. Self pickup is secondary and not important. Man, I’ve never seen my friend get as angry as he did. He screamed at that guy. I too was getting frustrated because until this was settled, I could not inform the courier about the delivery time for my documents.

The funny thing was that we never once blamed the guy or Pizza Mansion. All we did was tell them to handle their whatsapp dealing better but that guy was defensive from the get go. It was like a tape recorder on repeat “It’s not our fault”. In no time, it got into a full blown verbal fight.

My anxiety spiked up like crazy, I was stressed up. It looked like my friend was going to loose his mind. What could have been a simple exchange became something angry.

Eventually the manager came over to handle the issue and it was smooth sailing for there. He listened to our side, he explained his side, he apologized for whatever that happened and we moved on from there. Payment was made within 5 minutes. However, I noticed that the manager did not ask us what happened. He was not present when the conversation took place between the indian guy and us. The manager and the rest of the crew was inside the eatery whereas we were outside the eatery. So, I am pretty certain he was not aware of what took place besides the little info he got from the Indian guy when he headed back into the eatery after he was done with his tantrum. Obviously – he does not know the truth He did not ask for our version or explaination, he simply explained that they had overload of orders, leading to delay and then followed up with an apology. Yea… sounds similar, right? He basically repeated exactly what the Indian guy said, the only difference is that the manager gave us a nicer, more respectable version… and that made a difference. Everything was settled quickly. But…. if there is one thing I know about spoilt brats, after a fight – they would most probably run back to their crew, narrate their version of the story which often results in details being changed or removed just so that it shows them of as doing nothing wrong and the other party (me) being a 100% at fault and we cant have that sort of nonsense, can we?? Hell no. After all, I am tired of dealing with incompetent dimwits. There seem to be a rise in that once Covid hit. Almost as if now it should be accepted that purchasing food may or may not include bad customer service …. and we customers still have to pay the full price $$$… no discounts?? When is bad customer service okay and acceptable?? Am I the only one seeing how ironic this is??

To all the cafes and restaurants whom despite going through bad times, yet still are able to maintain good customer service – kuddos to you guys … you have no idea how much it means to some of us. Alot of times people are soo stuck in their own heads and problems that they forget, others are going through shit too. Sometimes, a restaurant worker is the only friendly face another person sees daily during MCO. You have no idea what they are going through at home, so – be humble and kind.

Well, atleast despite the abysmal experience we experienced here, food was good. Yup, if there is one thing these guys are consistent in, it would be their pizzas. It was delicious.

No pictures of the interior as customers were not allowed in.

Smokey Robinson, RM 38

Oooo, this was gooooood. It was an 11 inch pizza with 8 slices. The pizza crust was light, airy and fluffy – me liked alot. It felt like I was eating a lighter version of a Naan bread. 😁 Each slice had a piece of salmon in it. Not small bits but a pretty large portion. The salmon with onion rings, sour cream, basil, mozzarella and some rocket leaves made this an awesome pizza. Yummmmmm 😍

The pizza came with a side of chilli flakes, cheese, chilli oil and mint oil. Mint oil was fascinating. This was my first time ever tasting it. I liked it. You can immediately tell that it was mint, it was the oil form that was a surprise.😍

Would I go back to Pizza Mansion though? No. Paying 38 bucks and getting a shitty customer service like this?? One that I will remember for quite a while. Paying RM 38 and getting an egoistical and self righteous prick attending to us?? Blaming Grab food orders for the delay. That one takes the cake. Sooo many good restaurant around here that are having the worst time ever since the pandemic hit and these guys, they dont even know how lucky they are to get overload of orders. Rather than own up to it, instead choosing to use it as an excuse simply is not right. You will not be missed. I have a feeling from the indian guys’ broken English and lack of customer service training – that perhaps he is a kitchen staff rather than dealing directly with customer in the front of the restaurant. Yea, that explains his appaling attitude. Anyways, I can find other establishments with equally as good pizzas. I’d rather go elsewhere than be subjected to the same shit I experienced here. So, Bye bye Pizza Mansion. You will not be missed.