Poor Experiences At The Trailside Cafe

I have just had my second bad experience at the Trailside Cafe. I have not posted any comments prior to this one. I will say that it was with the same employee who is very rude and obviously is not concerned about return business. This person shouldn't be dealing with the public.

This past Friday evening my family went to Rocheport for a bike ride on the trail. We got there around 6:15. My wife is in the market for a new bike and I like the bike shop there so we stopped in to ask about new bikes and rent one for a test ride. The employee in question would not rent us a bike because there was not a full hour left in the day even though we said we would pay for the full hour. He also would not show us the new bikes. He was very rude about it and we felt somehow we were imposing on him by wanting to spend our money there. We were the only ones in the shop.

We had planned a nice evening of riding on the trial with our three kids and then having something to eat at Trailside.

My first bad experience with Trailside was on an extremely hot evening when I stopped in after my ride. My blood sugar got very low and I really needed a candy bar. As I walked up the board walk from the parking lot a man came out carrying a bucket. I said Hello. No responce but he was busy. As he walked back by and into the cafe I said, "Excuse me" and he turned and very rudely yelled, "WE'RE CLOSED!" and slammed the door.

I have had many, many good experiences at The Trailside Cafe and Bike Shop. They used to serve an excellent blackberry cobbler. This was years ago when the original couple owned it. They were always very nice and went our of their way to make people feel at ease.
I will probably still go to Trailside but not if I see this employee. The bike shop and employees there are very nice, knowledgeable and friendly.

Note that the shop closes at 7 though the website has the hours until 8. Which really means the bike rental closes at 6, which would helpful information to have posted on the website.

I am struck by the poor customer service we recieved. We are supposed to be in a bad economy with businesses shutting down all over the country. I wonder if what has happened to a lot of businesses is that people have gotten tighter with their money and are no longer willing to spend it anywhere that the service is poor. We are regulars to the Katy Trail but this employee didn't know where we were from or if we had any other experience at the Trailside Cafe. If it had been a first time experience...I would never return.

If you are open mined enough to return to the business after a couple of bad experiences, why would you never go back had the bad experience been a first time experience?

I would think after a bad first experience, you would also give a business the benefit of the doubt.

Daily Katy Trail User and Wife

Why don't you just stop going there - it sounds like it would be mutually beneficial.

Trek - You are apparently bound to dispute any negative comments.I would ask you to read the comments, location and how often we use the trail. My husband has been to Trailside MULTIPLE times and had the bad experience that he described. Did you read his last paragraph
"I have had many, many good experiences at The Trailside Cafe and Bike Shop. They used to serve an excellent blackberry cobbler. This was years ago when the original couple owned it. They were always very nice and went our of their way to make people feel at ease.
I will probably still go to Trailside but not if I see this employee. The bike shop and employees there are very nice, knowledgeable and friendly." How is that not a positive comment? We are describing an employee that was RUDE. Plain and simple. We are intelligent enough to not judge a business by one employee...but since it was the same person both times, felt the OWNERS should know. If I owned the business, I would want to know how my customers were being treated. So if your not the employee we are talking about, I don't see the relevance of your comment.

From Gary near Tebbetts MO:
Daily Katy Trail User and Wife

Why don't you just stop going there - it sounds like it would be mutually beneficial.

To Gary:
I believe our posts clearly stated that we have been customers on MULTIPLE occassions...my husband had one bad experience...then we had another last Friday. Both with the same employee. Felt if the Owners read the feedback we would want to know as owners. We are locals..supporters of the Katy Trail and our comment about a "first experience" was based on the many people that may stop there for the first time and if they experienced what we have on 2 of MULTIPLE occassions by the same employee - they would not return. Not sure why you felt giving us advise to not go there anymore would be "mutually beneficial". Our comments were honest feedback...just feel OWNERS should know how customers feel. Maybe we will see you on the Katy Trail or participating in the MS150 since you are passionate enough to comment on feedback that was honest, with no alternative motive, we then assume you are also out there giving back to the community...

From Gary near Tebbetts MO:
Daily Katy Trail User and Wife

Why don't you just stop going there - it sounds like it would be mutually beneficial.

To Gary:
I believe our posts clearly stated that we have been customers on MULTIPLE occassions...my husband had one bad experience...then we had another last Friday. Both with the same employee. Felt if the Owners read the feedback we would want to know as owners. We are locals..supporters of the Katy Trail and our comment about a "first experience" was based on the many people that may stop there for the first time and if they experienced what we have on 2 of MULTIPLE occassions by the same employee - they would not return. Not sure why you felt giving us advise to not go there anymore would be "mutually beneficial". Our comments were honest feedback...just feel OWNERS should know how customers feel. Maybe we will see you on the Katy Trail or participating in the MS150 since you are passionate enough to comment on feedback that was honest, with no alternative motive, we then assume you are also out there giving back to the community...

Okay....nix my first question. It's too hot out for that one.

Here's a new one though beings you feel so strong about the experiences encountered with said employee. Did you tell the owner of the business?

We posted a comment assuming the owners read the feedback. Would have done so on the business' website but is is under construction. I believe our feedback is clear and no further replies to your comments will be placed.

Knowing their website was under construction, and it has been for some time now, I don't know that I'd assume that they are big web users. Without airing your complaints with Larry, all that has happened is that the users here know that someone has a beef with a mystery employee. Probably nothing has been done to solve the problem.

Trek,

Get a job other than disputing constructive critism about which you have no first hand knowledge.

I have an idea...what don't you tell your buddy Larry. I'm sure he knows who was working Friday evening. For all I know it was Larry.

I've no plans to be in Rocheport anytime soon....you all are local and could probably better handle it yourselves.

If you are in the market for a Raleigh bike go to the Hartsburg Cycle Depot in Jefferson City and let Pam and Mark Allchorn fit you for a bike, They are NEVER HATEFUL OR SURELY and they KNOW BIKES! They are across from West elementary School.

I dunno about all that. Most business owners understand that an unhappy customer is much more likely to complain to their own friends and neighbors than to take their complaint to the owner. So a business owner who really wants to be successful will do all they can to solicit and seek out any complaints. A business owner who really wants to be successful will keep an eye on their employees and seek out feedback on them, because every action an employee takes, is done as a representative of that business owner.

If you are treated rudely at a business, especially if it happens twice like in this case, then you have every right to warn others to avoid that business. And you really have no obligation to seek out the owner. It would be nice to do, but most peoples’ lives are far too busy to take on the responsibility of being some business owners’ eyes and ears.

If Larry can’t run his business well by hiring non-abusive employees, then it’s his own self-inflicted problem. That sounds harsh, but running a business puts you out there in a harsh world. Mistreated customers really have no obligation to track him down and let him know.

It's not difficult to seek out an owner or manager on the spot when you receive poor product or service. I'm more inclined to tell the owner/manager at the time of my dissappointment than to try to tell the world behind their back later on. Doing so after the fact requires much greater effort for me. Otherwise, I just figure someone had a bad day and if it wasn't a big enough deal for me to speak up at the time, then I should just give them the benefit of the doubt and move on.

Larry might have bigger problems than an abusive employee. http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/aug/13/suspected-burglars-kick-in-door-at-deputys-house/

I guess things are just done differently here in Oklahoma. If a business stops renting at 6 then we assume that this is when they stop renting. If a store is closed I wouldn't dream of asking them to reopen for me. If you live in the town then why wait until 6:15 to go look at bikes? Wouldn't you want time to really look over the bikes, it doesn't seem that 45 minutes would be enough time for that. The towns small enough that you surely knew the closing times ahead of time. I wouldn't wish bad customer service on anyone but I also wouldn't wish bad customers on any clerk. I know that most stores have rules about reopening once they've closed for the day, even if it's just to sell a candy bar. I have worked in retail and customer service for 20+years and once the store is closed it's closed.