I was driving through the Cleveland area for work on Wednesday, when I saw a Fatburger restaurant. I’d heard good things about the chain, so I decided to try it for a late lunch.
I went in and got a “Fat Deal” with the 1/3 lb. hamburger. They made the food and brought it to my table.
I started eating it, but BOY, was there a lot of black pepper on that thing! Good thing the manager came over (it wasn’t busy - this was 3 PM) and asked me “How is the hamburger?” I told him there was WAY too much black pepper on it.
His response: “Sorry about that!” Then - HE WALKED AWAY!
I was so dumbfounded, I just looked at the receipt, where I noted an 800 number and a request for comments. I ate the fries and left. I later called the 800 number and told them about the experience, and they were just as surprised as I had been.
Obviously, the manager’s neurons failed to grasp the idea that when a customer expresses a complaint about a meal, especially when he’s just started it, the proper response is usually NOT a version of “Too bad; so sad!”.
Does Fatburger normally kill their burgers with pepper?
That reminds me - I need to write a letter. Last Sunday, I went to pick up the wedding cake that was supposed to be ready at 11:30, only to be met with blank, confused stares. Someone did manage to find the order showing what I’d paid for and when I intended to pick it up. They promised to have it to the hall by 1:30. They showed up 1:45, and we had to delay the start of the wedding.
No offer of remuneration, just a tossed-off apology. Then when I went back to the bakery to return the cake stands and get my deposit back, the manager said “Well, I’m glad things worked out.” Um, yeah, thanks.
I have eaten at a Fatburger twice, once about 5 years ago then again 6 months ago. Both times I found the hamburger to be very average. The buns are the worst part, they appear to be the cheap kind you would buy at a grocery store, not a better quality bun that you would expect from “premium” burger place. Unless there is no place else to eat, I don’t see myself patronizing a Fatburger again.
Where is the Cleveland area one? Do you still have the receipt, and if so is the address on it? I’ve never been to one and am curious now. They don’t advertise, so I didn’t even know there was one around here.
That’s the worst kind of bad customer service – situations in which “I’ll take my business elsewhere” screws you more than it screws them.
Years ago I did a show in which we had seven performances split between two consecutive weekends. The Monday after the first show, I dropped off both of my tux shirts at the dry cleaner. They said they’d be ready on Friday. That Friday afternoon, I stopped in, and they said my shirts would be ready the next Monday. WTF?!?
Yeah, I was annoyed/amused by the service I got at the photocenter in my nearby Target this week, mostly because it took forever* to get an answer to the question “Can you make me reprints from this perfectly ordinary negative as part of your one hour service?”. But if the answer had been “no”, I could have taken my business elsewhere without harm. Might not have gotten my prints in time to show them off that evening, but that would have been my bad planning, not truly their fault.
*It took 3 people and a conversation over the walkie-talkie system, to find someone who could make the prints, and she was on break for the next fifteen minutes. Still, my negative was accepted, the information taken, I was promised that it would be done in an hour.
When I came back, the young lady started looking for the envelope as soon as she saw me walk up to the counter, but she’d misremembered my name, so it took longer than it should have to find the envelope. No big, but really, I’d have been happier if she’d confirmed my name rather than look through all the envelopes one by one for the one with the handwritten label.
I live 800 miles away from the bakery - it’s not like I’d be patronizing them again anyway. Or that I could spread my story about them, since I don’t know anyone who patronizes them - we picked that bakery because of its proximity to the wedding venue. Oh well, the kids are married and I’m back home with a good party story.
Well, I’ll have to try to duplicate the OP’s experience. Was it a cheeseburger? Pickle/no pickle? Onion? I’ve never been to Fatburger, so I’ll be a tabula rasa. Would I like fries with that? I don’t know!
Same here. I have no recollection of any peppery taste. It’s just a solid, clean fast-food burger that I’d put up in the ranks of places like In ‘n’ Out, Culvers, and Fuddruckers. However, I’ve only had them in the So. Cal area (which is just hamburger heaven for that style of burger.)
Fatburger doesn’t even compete with the worst fast-food chains for the tastiness of their burgers. Every major fast food burger chain I can think of has some kind of “premium” burger that tastes better than fatburgers do.
The chain is worse than mediocre. If they charged reasonable prices for their plain, average product, then I wouldn’t be so upset with them.
I don’t mean to excuse that terrible service one bit when I ask this, but, what pivotal role in the wedding does the cake play that would necessitate delaying it for lack of one?
