I went to Taco Bell and ordered three hard-shell Supreme tacos with beans and no beef, and one seven-layer crunch wrap. I get home and unwrap my meal and it is totally substandard. The Supreme tacos are supposed to be filled to the brim with sour cream, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese and lettuce, thick and hefty; this is how they usually are. But my three tacos were thin and flat as a pancake. There was NO sour cream in them at all. There was maybe HALF the amount of beans there is normally in there, and maybe 1/3 the amount of cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Basically, all three of the tacos were like weak-dick, deformed, undeveloped embryo versions of what a real taco (from Taco Bell, not a “real” taco) is supposed to be like. Furthermore the 7-layer crunchwrap is similarly sub-standard; while usually bulging with guacamole, cheese and filling, the crunchwrap I ate was flat, had hardly any filling in it, and as with the tacos, seemed to be composed of about half the normal material that is supposed to go into this item. William of Orange would be rolling in his grave if he could witness this.
I ate all the tacos anyway, because I was hungry. Now I’m still hungry and debating what to do. I am very angry at Taco Bell for giving me such substandard food. But I feel that if I return to the Taco Bell and tell them about this, they’ll deliberately tamper with my food to spite me. Maybe this is totally irrational but I just feel like these poor workers, in a shitty job, would resent what they would see as the yuppie asshole who wants to give them a hard time. And if they’re pissed at me, then I risk having my food messed with every time I go there. On the other hand I feel like it’s my right as a customer to speak up. Should I call the Taco Bell headquarters? (I doubt I could even get through to a human being on the other end.) Should I go back to the Taco Bel during the day and ask to speak with the manager? I feel like they probably shorted my tacos to try to cut costs - if anything, it’s probably a policy that was the manager’s idea. What would you do in this situation?
Write a letter, email or call. The 800 “please call us” number is right (usually) on the drive through window. Years ago I did this once for a bad Taco Bell meal. I’m (trust me) not that picky an eater but it was horrendous. You will get coupons.
My guess would be that there was a new person making the tacos. . .they’re new every few weeks, right? So they weren’t very experienced with how much they were supposed to put in it.
But here’s the part. You already ate the evidence. If you had stopped right there and told them that there wasn’t enough in there, they might have re-done it right in front of you. I’ve had them do that before. I’ve also had a pizza guy re-do a whole pizza because he didn’t have enough stuff on it. I watched him do it, with the manager standing over his shoulder, so he couldn’t do any weird stuff to it. And if I get the same guy the next time I go to that place, I’ll watch him carefully again. But I don’t think that happened in this place.
But now your options are a little limited because you can’t prove that’s what happened. So yeah, in this case, best to call the regional manager. If you have the phone number, great. If not, call the branch, ask for the manager and then the ask for their manager. I’ve done that before too. The regional manager told me that the pizza place I was complaining about had the lowest rank of any of their franchises. So basically, I stopped going there. Not much they could do about it. And one of their low ratings was in cleanliness.
Next time, avoid Taco Bell. Seriously. Unless you have a Taco Bell craving, there’s bound to be some other option to get your taco fix. Taco Bell tends to have a high rate of employee turnover, and the food is not that good in the first place. Even getting a nuked burrito at a convenience store is usually a more satisfying option.
Suddenly, being dumped just doesn’t seem like a bad day. I mean shit, I could of wound up with “weak dick” tacos from taco bell; even worst I could of ate them.
You should have called right away and told them you did not get what you ordered. Tell them you’ll give them another chance to make it right, and ask what is the best way to make sure that happens. Keep a in your voice but be firm about it.
Of course you can’t return it, you took it to go because you had someplace to go! Ball in their court, you’ve eaten what have you got to lose?
They are not going to do anything at the branch you went to, because you ate it anyway. So it couldn’t have been that bad, right?
Go to their website or find an address to write to, for their customer service people. Make a complaint and you’ll end up with some vouchers, probably. It worked for a friend of mine but the company was Burger King, not Taco Bell, but the email was complaining about screaming kids in the restaurant. It was a complete joke email, just to see what happened, so if you send a legitimate complaint I’m sure you’ll get something out of it.
I agree that you should call the main company, but make sure they allow you to remain anonymous (especially if you’re concerned with retaliation). Several years ago, I called the 800 number to complain about something–don’t remember what, now–and gave them all my contact info, thinking I was probably going to get some coupons. Next thing I know, I’m getting a phone call from the LOCAL MANAGER. He said all the right things–come in, let us know how we can serve you better–but his tone of voice did not seem all that conciliatory and there was NO WAY I was walking in there to ID myself as the complaining customer. I was terribly unhappy that my anonymity was not preserved and have not called again, even when I felt I had reason.
(That TB went through managers like water goes through a sieve–they finally got a really good one and it was going well, till he was killed in a car accident. After that, things went downhill and they finally went out of business.)
I went off on Burger King a few weeks ago, for totally fucking up my order. I gave them the receipt number and asked them to send me the money for the item they omitted. They said SURE! I’m pretty certain they muttered “sucker!” under their collectively sucky voices, because the check never came.
I concur with calling the 800 number. Some places are very helpful with their 800 number (both Red Robin and Outback have sent me $50 vouchers after I called, even though the issues weren’t that bad (Red Robin had poor disabled access at one of their restaurants; an Outback employee refused to stop sweeping under out table after we asked if he could wait until we were done)). Then again, you may wind up like the previous poster’s experience with Burger King, or my experience with Fatburger.
There are ways to complain without being a dick about it. Tell 'em how they usually do such a good job, and disappointed you were, because you were so looking forward to eating the tacos, but then they weren’t up to the usual high standards.
in your voice but be firm about it.