Pret - Good afternoon, Pret A Manger.
Mktg - Hi, I've just got a question about. I've been sent a voucher from a friend...
Pret - [cuts in] Is it a buy one get one free?
Mktg - Yes, but I've just been told that they don't actually work.
Pret - That's a hoax. I'm not quite sure who started the voucher chain, but that has nothing to do with us.
Mktg - Oh right, so I can't -
Pret - [cuts in] - use it. That has nothing to do with us.
Mktg - Oh right. I think a few of my friends have these. When did it start?
Pret - It started about a week ago, and it spread about London very quickly.
Mktg - I was told it would cover food and coffee.
Pret - It's a hoax.
Mktg - Are there any real ones, then?
Pret - Sorry?
Mktg - Are there any real vouchers?
Pret - That's why, we never do vouchers.
Mktg - Has it been causing chaos in stores?
Pret - Not really, no. The staff inside the shops have been handling it quite well.
Mktg - Ok. It's very bizarre. Is there anything on there which shows that it might not be real?
Pret - The people who created it just copied a logo from our website to make the voucher. It's not very well done, to be honest.
Mktg - Why would they do that?
Pret - I'm not sure, but there are an awful lot of hoax vouchers going around London for various different companies.
Mktg - OK, right. Have there been many complaints to Pret, or have people just called to say they don't work?
Pret - Not as such, no. It has nothing to do with us, so there's no complaint to us [sighs].
Mktg - OK, that's fair enough. Just on a separate thing, what Christmas promotions to you have in-store at the moment?
Pret - What do you mean? As I said, we don't do promotions.
Mktg - What I meant was, what Christmas activity do you have going on at the moment?
Pret - Items? We have a Christmas sandwich, which is turkey, stuffing and so on; we do a vegetarian special as well. We do mince pies and a Crimble Crumble, which is very Christmassy.
Mktg - And they're out in-store at the moment?
Pret - Yes they are
Mktg - OK, thanks for your time.
Pret - Thanks, bye.
Verdict - The call handler seemed frustrated by the questions I was asking her and although she knew the details of the voucher hoax she came across as being fed up with explaining them. An obvious sigh demonstrated this. She was able to give me details of Christmas food with in the store, but her tone on occasions was slightly off-putting.
Score 4/10