My sister worked a lot in fast food. Usually if the complaint is a messed up order it’s not paid much attention to. You get either coupons or put on a list of “give it to them free next time.”
If it’s a problem like cock roaches or something serious they tend to be hard on that, because it can close them and even for a few hours that costs money, which they don’t like to waste.
I used to go to a McDonalds in a Spanish speaking neighborhood. Just try to order (in English) anythig but a coke or diet coke and see the result…LOL
You didn’t know what you’d come up with. But I didn’t care about that. I knew it so I would take the Coke or just go to another place.
I figure as long as it’s quick and looks clean you’re half way home
The only time I ever complained was the last time I ate Dominos pizza…gosh, it’s been probably 10 years now. It wasn’t even a complaint, really, I just commented on their website to let them know that, while I had eater their pizza in the past because it was cheap, it just wasn’t worth it. I was willing to pay a little more for a higher quality pizza.
I got a call from the District Manager, asking what he could do to fix it. He practially begged me to take coupons, whereupon I re-iterated that I didn’t like their pizza. He went so far as to ask me to just take them, because it would look bad from up high if he wasn’t able to resolve the situation.
I don’t expect too much from minimum-wage teenagers in a fastfood joint, but at a Wendy’s once the service was so bad and the order was so badly screwed up I wrote (pre-Internet) to complaint. I got coupons and an abject letter of apology.
It’s called “lying,” and is strongly discouraged among ethical human beings.
About a year ago, I had a negative experience at a local Taco Bell. The first thing I noticed at the drive through was how long everything was taking because they are usually very fast. Then when we actually got up to the speaker, it was a guy on the speaker, which is unusual since this Taco Bell always has all women working there, which in and of itself was always strange, but whatever. The guy on the speaker was very flustered and when I gave my (very normal) order they had to repeat it to me three times before they got it right. When I finally got up to the Window to pay, the flustered guy gave me my food, and I could see there was also a huge line in the store. I asked what was going on, and he said their whole order system got screwed up somehow which was compounded by some kids who ordered some food and then just drove through and drove off without getting their food or paying, so it was confusing the orders.
Ordinarily I would be sympathetic to this. He repeated my order (correctly this time) once again and handed me my bag, which when I got home had completely different food in it, both in terms of quality (it was cold and gross) and amount (there was way less of it, and I was getting food for three people). So I did call and complain, resulting in several coupons coming my way. The next time I went to that Taco Bell, it was all women again, so I’m guessing the oddball guy was fired.
Customers don’t lie. The customer is always right. We must always bend over backwards, especially for the most obnoxious of customers because we need their sacred $2.50. If we don’t do everything we can to resolve the situation to the customer’s full satisfaction we risk having them go to the competitor. Also they might go on the internet and say bad stuff about us. With the way things go viral on the internet nowadays we might be out of business tomorrow because we accused that customer of lying which they would never do because they are always right. Now stop making the customers angry with your irrational accusations and get back to making minimum wage because we can replace you a lot more easily than we can replace that customer you just pissed off.
(In case you’re wondering this is paraphrased from actual things my manager at my last job said.)
The only time I’ve been bothered enough to complain about something was the time I ordered a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen. I was expecting a parfait with layers of ice cream and peanut butter. What I got was layers of ice cream and whole peanuts, salted peanuts, still in their skins (but no shells at least). That was all it was. It was gross and this is coming from someone who adores peanuts. I wrote to the company and complained. I said that the name didn’t adequately describe the product and that many people would never expect to get skin covered salty peanuts in their parfait so they wouldn’t make the connection. They sent me a pack of coupons good for something like 10 free sundaes, which was nice but unnecessary. I gave them to my boyfriend’s brother so he could take his kids out for a treat.
The next time I went to that Dairy Queen (a few weeks later), they had a picture of the sundae in all its skin covered salty glory.
It’s entirely possible I’m the only person who ever made that mistake but I was more impressed that they made sure the sign with the picture got put up than I was with the coupon book.
Back in the day my mother used to write letters of (legitimate) complaint to corporations. Then, one day a guy showed up at her front door with cases of Pepsi (one of the bottles in an eight-pack she bought was empty). She was so embarassed, I don’t think she ever wrote another letter.
mmm
My friend had an uncle who was very wealthy. Even tho, he purposely complained about the service EVERY place he went to try to get a discount or free meal.
If he went to a steak house, he would claim it was too rare, or too well done. His fast food was always cold, or incorrect. The barber never cut his hair properly. The cab drive always took too long and made him late.
Eventually the nephew was too embarrassed to go out with him in public. He said the old man had a ton of coupons and free product. Even though he was rich, I guess it was a personality thing.
At Pizza Hut we tracked such customers. Eventually they got a call from district management saying, “You never really seem satisfied with our service. MAybe we’re just not the pizza place for you.” And then they got blacklisted.
If the company is able to track such customers, this would be a great policy. I know a few people who try to game the system, they want discounts or freebies or coupons or SOMETHING. On the other hand, if I complain, it’s because I’m unhappy about something, it’s not because I want a freebie.
Back when I was a starving grad student, I filled out the comment cards at the local Wendy’s a few times, and got invited to be their ‘mystery shopper’: the future Mrs. Firefly and I would eat there, send in a report and the receipt, and I’d get reimbursed for our meals. It was a nice gig for awhile, and we didn’t have to stick to the cheaper things on the menu, but after awhile filling out the reports got tedious, so we stopped doing it.
I have no idea whether this was something the chain did widely, or whether it was just something the local franchise did, or whether it’s still done now (nearly a quarter-century later).
I was with Pizza Hut for 10 years and in all that time we only did that to one customer. Some customers are hard to please, but true scammers are rare, or at least know better than to pull the same stunt with the same company a dozen times.
THen there’s weird complaints, like the guy who cut his mouth biting into the box topper, that little white plastic thing that used to go into the middle of a pizza to keep the cheese from sticking to the top of the box. They design better boxes now, probably because there are actually people dumb enough to try to eat the white plastic thing.
At about 1 a.m. after work, I ordered a burger and drink at an A&W in Calgary. I was behind a car full of teens (people, not burgers), who, evidently, were friends with the idjit girl taking the orders.
Through the speaker I heard laughter from the car in front and giggling from the A&W idjit. Between giggles she asked what I wanted. I gave my order and she told me to fuck off. This, evidently, was a riot, for gales of laughter came through the speaker.
I backed out and the next morning wrote an email to the A&W offices in two countries, signing it with my name, address and phone number.
The next day I received a reply saying the nitwit taking the orders had been fired.
I had no proof she was, but seeing as I used my real name so they could contact me any number of ways, I think it probable.
Sounds reasonable. If it’s a definite violation of policy, rather than just someone being tired and cranky and underpaid, that can cost an employee their job.
Also, that behavior cost them a sale, maybe more than one sale.
A few months ago, I had a gripe with my local Wendy’s about how they were making people move away from the window to wait for their food even when there wasn’t anyone behind them, purely so they could make their drive-thru times look better. It happened so often (and particularly annoyed me because I’d then have to get out of my car and go track someone down inside if something was wrong or missing from my order) that I eventually looked up the chain’s national Public Relations person’s email address and fired off a long email explaining my frustration and why I thought what they were doing was a bad idea.
The next day, I got a call from the regional manager for that franchisee (which apparently owns a large number of restaurants in the area). We had a long and very friendly chat over the phone, he sent me some coupons for four free value meals, and told me to report back to him personally if it ever happened again. It’s been about nine months, and I have yet to have that problem at their drive-thru since.
It depends on who owns the place and how much they care. If you complain to the company that owns the brand, they may have no way to actually do anything to fix the problem if it’s a franchise location. They can pass it on to the owner (who is the person who actually employs the manager), but there are absentee franchisees out there, and sometimes family issues too (like if the manager is the owner’s child).
It also depends on how the store compares to other stores. Every store has complaints, but some get more than others. I’m sure we’ve all been to a fast food place that just never seems to have their act together. Usually the management gets replaced in those situations once upper management becomes aware of the extent of the problem. that used to be my role, I used to get assigned to turn around failing stores. But I got my share of complaints too, I just never got in trouble because i got fewer than other managers.
It’s been my experience that, to quote Leo Getz from Lethal Weapon 2, “They FUCK you at the drive-thru. They know you’re gonna be five miles away before you realize you got fucked, and you’re not gonna come back.”
That’s why I’m careful to check the order before getting too far away. (But a lot of times I eat in-- free refills. No moving vehicle.)