I used to love going to Sketch restaurant in London. My son had his 21st birthday celebration there, we had been to a private party and for supper too. However, in September the restaurant was shown to be misleading and not interested at all in customer care - not what you would expect from a supposed top restaurant.
I am on Sketch's mailing list and in September got sent an offer for London Fashion Week. Sketch had partnered with Josh Wood, a hair stylist, to offer guests a dry-style blow dry and a file and polish together with a Sketch breakfast for £25. I thought this would be a great mother/daughter bonding session to have before Emily, my daughter, went back to University.
In hindsight I should have been wary right from the beginning, as when I phoned to book the receptionist knew nothing about it, despite the offer starting in 3 days time! My details were taken and I was to receive a confirmation email which 2 days later I had to chase up.
On the email poster, breakfast was descibed as 'Tea/coffee, juices, viennoiseries, fresh fruit salad and muesli." There was a picture of a lady having her hair blowdried and nails varnished with a tray beside her showing breakfast as described.
Emily and I turned up excited for our fun morning. We had our hair blow dried and nails done, which although was fun was a bit of a disaster. I made it clear that my hair is curly so shouldn't be blow dried straight but it was! After leaving and being in the rain for 1 minute it looked really naff! The varnish on our nails had chipped by the end of the day too but we enjoyed the experience.
My biggest problem was with the breakfast. We were allowed tea, coffee or juice (not tea or coffee and juice as described) and mini viennoiseries, fresh fruit salad or muesli ( not all 3 as described and shown in the photo.) My tea and mini viennoiseries were lovely as was Emily's juice and fruit salad but we felt misled.
Over the course of the next week I sent 2 emails to Sketch but both were ignored. I then posted on Twitter and received a response asking me to privately message my complaint. I was then told Management were looking into it and would respond - despite chasing it up a few times, it's now 3 months later and I'm still waiting for a reply!
I have come to the following conclusion. Sketch deliberately misled me with their marketing material and really couldn't care less about customer disatisfaction. All I was after was a response - a sorry would have been welcome but being ignored wasn't!
I wanted to warn others to beware of any Sketch offers. Check everything even though it appears clear. The experience has certainly put me off visiting Sketch again. Emily had thought about doing her 21st there but we have now thought again. Any restaurant that is not interested in its customers views isn't worth visiting to my mind.