Dublin kebab shop detail ‘disheartening’ blackmail attempt

Fiona Frawley

Today in bizarre stories from the world of customer service:

Anyone who works in the service industry knows the leverage online reviews have. I remember as part of my cafe jobs over the years having to take extra time to fawn over the serial Yelp reviewers, making sure they were kept happy at all times for fear of online persecution.

Reyna on Dame Street know the feeling too. They took to Instagram yesterday to share the story of a recent “blackmail” attempt involving an online review.

According to the popular Turkish spot, a big order came into them recently via Deliveroo, which they split into two clearly labelled bags. The delivery was sent off and all was well, until Reyna got a call from the customer to say they’d only gotten half their order. They apologised and offered to refund the customer or make and send out the second half of the order again – but the story doesn’t end here.

The customer said he wanted all the missing items – along with three more kebabs thrown in for free. The customer said said that if they threw in the free food, he’d leave a good review “and if not, well…..”. (He didn’t finish his sentence but the Reyna team guessed it’d be a bad review instead).

Knowing how important Google reviews are to a business, Reyna went along with the request. As they said on Instagram, “4.4 stars and 4.6 stars is worlds apart in this line of work”.

Images via Instagram/Reyna Dublin

In the end, the customer came through with his positive review, writing:

We ordered for the first time from this restaurant. First of all let me say that their kebabs are absolutely amazing. We ordered a mix kebab, a lamb kebab and a chicken kebab. Three in total. There was a mix up in our order and we only got delivered half of our order and were missing a few items. However, the gentleman who answered the phone was more than happy to help us out and give us a contact number for Deliveroo whose customer service was just as helpful as Reyna’s. They made the thing right and they even sent us extra THREE kebabs with the missing items within an hour. I will definitely order again from the restaurant and enjoy their tasty kebabs as well as their accommodating manner. Thank you guys. Best kebabs in Dublin!

He failed to mention the part where he held the positive review ransom, pending the handing over of the free kebabs but sure look, what’s a bit of blackmail between friends.

No doubt anyone who’s ever worked in the service industry will relate to this tale.

Header image via Instagram/reynadublin