Father speaks out after frustrating pickle situation on BC Ferries sailing

A Metro Vancouver father is speaking out after a frustrating incident on a recent BC Ferries sailing left his young son disappointed by his meal and the on-board service.

Greg Fraser and his family were sailing between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay earlier this week when they ordered dinner.

His 12-year-old son ordered a Legendary burger from the Coastal Cafe onboard, but that’s when the pickle of a situation started.

In a Facebook post that has garnered hundreds of comments and hundreds of thousands of views, Fraser explained that his son asked for “no tomatoes and a pickle.” But what he received was “apparently made by chaos itself.”

“Yes! Tomatoes. No! Pickles.”

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“He is a very big fan of pickles on legendary burgers,” Fraser told Daily Hive. “Not so much pickles in general. But when we are planning a trip on the ferry, the legendary burger with pickles is what he is talking about a couple of days in advance.

“That’s the core memory my kids are forming on the boat, as we travel to visit family.”

As the local business owner outlined in his viral Facebook post, his son went back to the kitchen and explained that his burger was missing the pickle. The kitchen staff apologized, handed the 12-year-old a plate of pickles, and said, “We’re very sorry. Hopefully, this makes up for it.”

However, the young passenger was stopped by the BC Ferries cashier, who said that he was not able to go back to his table without paying for the pickles.

“My son explains they were given to him because the order was wrong, and he never got the pickle that should have come with his burger,” wrote Fraser in his social media post. “Cashier: ‘Nobody gets free pickles.'”

“So my 12-year-old was charged $2.19 for the apology pickles that were only needed because they forgot the pickle in the first place, and added tomatoes he specifically asked them not to. Just an absolutely elite customer service performance by [the] BC Ferries cashier.”

Fraser shared that he was astounded and came over to intervene because he thought there had to be a misunderstanding.

“I appreciated the kitchen staff’s initiative, but I could not believe how the cashier was handling the matter,” said the Maple Ridge resident.

“[My son] was extremely disappointed. What I didn’t mention in my post was the terrible coincidence that when we took the boat over at the beginning of the long weekend, the kitchen forgot his pickle on that burger as well. That was a crushing disappointment for him, and due to timing, we couldn’t stand in line to ask for another one.”

Fraser spent a few moments coaching his son to “be prepared that they may forget your pickle again,” role-playing him going back and talking to the kitchen.

“When it happened again, on this second trip, he was terribly upset, but rather than getting overly emotional, he was prepared and determined to go get a pickle for his burger. I was proud of him for marching right back there and speaking up to the grill counter.”

Fraser attempted to reach out to BC Ferries by email about the incident, but initially only received an automated response telling him that the email address was shut down and that he had to mail a letter to the company’s offices in Victoria.

“I think everyone can relate to the frustration I felt from that response. BC Ferries is in the customer service business. This means they have an obligation to create clear channels to communicate with passengers, not hide. I believe this incident is a small part of a very big foundational problem at BC Ferries, being out of touch with those who rely on their services.”

Daily Hive reached out to BC Ferries, which said that they are sorry to hear about this incident and appreciated the customer taking the time to share their feedback.

“We agree that a White Spot burger isn’t complete without the pickle,” said the BC Ferries representative.

“We’ve already been in touch with the customer directly to make this right for them and have also followed up with our catering team to continue to ensure our customer service standards are being consistently applied.”

Fraser added that he had some correspondence with a customer relations manager at BC Ferries, who asked him for his mailing address. so they can “make it right.”

“I greatly appreciated the offer and outreach, so I did share my info with her, but they did not indicate what they had in mind,” he added. “Honestly, it sounded like a genuine email, and I’m mostly glad that they took the time to acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for the error.

“I do want to clarify that I am a regular passenger on BC Ferries and I have had a lot of great interactions with staff over the years. It’s very important to me that I commend the grill/kitchen on doing their best to right the situation when my son spoke with them.”