I tried to tell the teenager working serveral times I wanted a volcano burrito, but I got a volcano taco. This time it pissed me off enough that I actually left feedback to Taco Bell. So what do they actually do with that information? Does the person that was working there get chewed out, or even fired if there’s enough complaints? Do they just trash them figuring it’s good enough just to let a customer vent? Does the manager get in trouble? I remember my family would actually fill out those “how was the service” cards back in the day.
I called taco bells customer complaint line once, they mailed me a couple coupons for some free stuff.
(I got one of their large orders of nachos that was advertising “over a pound” I plunked it on my postal scale and it said 6.8 ounces.
Whenever taco bell screws up my order to the point that I am seriously irked, I call and ask to speak with the manager. Usually they’re very helpful (I’m sure they would rather take care of the problem before it gets to the point where you go online and complain about the store.) I called after two times they messed up my chicken burritos and the manager said the next time I came in I’d get that meal (made correctly) on the house. I mean it’s not a lot, but that’s all I really wanted done.
I used to fill out the service survey cards at Burger Chef and other places when I was a teenager. Sometimes they’d send me coupons for free food. I never really complained, though.
Constructive comments can help a business improve itself by identifying oversights.
To answer your question as to what happens …
Your comment can get logged as a positive or a negative.
If too many negative comments show up at one particular location it can identify a problem at that location that needs further attention.
While at the drive thru of Taco Bell, behind the cashier, they have a digital clock that times the transaction.
The fast food franchise is looking at their employees’ performance.
Wendy’s makes a very big deal about the transaction times at the drive thru.
Short answer, yes, very much so. In addition to the somewhat ridiculous amount of customer service paranoia going on, it’s always to a company’s advantage to have a reason not to give out raises, bonuses, etc. Putting complaints on the record helps this out as well as giving an employee a sense that they are lucky to still have a job (which believe it or not will keep them from looking elsewhere for work, even if there is a morale “hit” for operating this way).
I learned this stuff in the few years I worked HR at a company in that industry. It’s pretty standard stuff, really.
So you’re the reason they don’t carry the Mucho Grande Nachos anymore!
From my POV, it’s fast food. If I’m unhappy enough to complain, I cross the chain off the list of places I’ll spend my money. That said, I’m fairly tolerant so it takes a major screw up to piss me off.
Constructive criticism? Not my job, sorry.
I’ll never get over Mucho Grande.
I used to work at the corporate office of a fast-food franchisee in the late 90s, as the Customer Service Representative/Manager.
I didn’t actually get to “manage” anything. We had a 1-800 service take most of our comment calls, and they would fax us a summary on each issue. Then I would write a letter to the customer, apologize, offer free food, and send a copy of the comment to the store and their District Manager.
It was rather demoralizing, between the customers who wanted specific employees fired, and the Store and District Managers that were convinced these negative comments couldn’t possibly be “for my store”.
On one memorable occasion, the customer **mailed **their unsatisfactory meal to me, still in the bag it came in. I can only think they wanted to prove how bad it was. However, after being in the mail a couple days, how am I supposed to tell?
Note to you all who might think it’s clever to do this: It’s not. It’s disgusting, and no one (certainly not me) gets paid enough to get your rancid food in the mail. Don’t go this far.
Add to it the fact I had no real authority, outside of being able to send free food coupons (and even that got questioned sometimes) and it’s kind of a joke. They tell me I will think it’s funny eventually. I haven’t yet. 
They pay a lot of attention to complaints. They also know that there isn’t a heck of a lot they can actually do about them. They work at improving standards, at improving training, at improving morale.
But…their budgets are constrained. They have to keep up standards…without increasing prices. Paradox!
A vaguely amusing anecdote: I sent a complaint to the corporate hq of a particular chain, and got a very nice phone call back from someone there. An actual phone call, where they listened, politely, while I pretty much just repeated what I’d said in the letter. But they did go to the effort of showing me that they were listening.
Then, about five minutes later, the guy called back again…abjectly embarrassed and apologizing for having called me…at 7:00 in the morning, California time! He hadn’t thought to take in to account the difference in time zones!
You never know whether your complaint will be noticed. But if it is it will probably be taken seriously. If a particular person has been the subject of more than one complaint they may lose their job. As mentioned above, if the complaint makes it way up the line, it may be taken very seriously, though often someone will just go through the steps of apologizing and sending you a coupon. If you have a legitimate complaint, be sure to sound rational. Restaurants get a lot of stupid complaints that may be handled politely, but will be ignored.
I special order almost everything fast food. No cheese, different bun, etc. If I leave the drive thru and the order is wrong or missing, I always call. They either send coupons or ‘put me in the book’ for a replacement. Sandwich may have been the only thing wrong, but I always mention how the fries wound up being cold or some other problem so I wind up with a whole new meal instead of just the sandwich. It does pay to complain.
Did you drop a note in the suggestion box at that particular store, or did you go to some website or phone number for Taco Bell as a whole? If it was at the particular store, then it depends entirely on what the manager chooses to do about it. Though managers who stay in business tend to take customer complaints seriously.
I don’t know if it counts as fast food, but when I was dissatisfied with my meal at Qdoba I went to their web site and complained via their feedback form there. The next day a representative from the company called me at home, discussed in detail with me my grievance, and mailed me coupons for a couple of free meals.
Wow, just wow… And you’re proud of that.
I thought the same exact thing.
Why not? Companies choose to reward this kind of behavior so as long as they choose to reward it customers will continue to do it.
How do you get a deal from your cable or internet provider once your promo period expires? Phone up and threaten to cancel. The angrier you sound, the better a deal you’ll get. Good customers get nothing.
The government offices around here will stop serving you immediately and will have you removed by security or the police if you yell and scream. If fast food joints would start doing the same thing people would be a little more civil in their complaints. Until then, give people a reason to act out and a reward for doing so and they will certainly take advantage of it.
Unless it’s particularly egregrious, individual employees won’t be punished. I worked for Pizza Hut for years and what they used the feedback for was to look at whether certain stores were doing poorly. Some stores have a culture of service, others have a culture of well, something else. The feedback helps identify which stores are functioning correctly and which ones have problems.
Managers actually got bonuses based on something called “loyalty”. This was measured by randomly calling delivery customers and asking if they intended to order again. So we did have systems in place to ensure that customers were treated well, although mistakes happen and employees will get frustrated.
I remember back in the 80’s, a McDonald’s employee did something to incur my mother’s disfavor. (I don’t remember what.) I had a book with the corporate address of McDonald’s, and Mom was thrilled to be able to write and complain. She received a form letter and some coupons, and felt much better.