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Saturday, November 24, 2012

BURGER KING - Have it your way, (IF you get it).


This post is not a subject that I would usually cover or speak about on this blog, however since I have suspended work on all of my other blogs other than this one, I have no choice. I also have no choice because the Burger King consumer web site limits comments to 500 characters. The characters used in this sentence alone totals 315 characters, so as you can see, it’s not much space.

In looking at myself, I can claim with a great degree of confidence that I am not a perfect person. Yes I have in the past and will most likely make many mistakes but when I do, I try to learn from them and do what I can to prevent a recurrence.
Having said that, there comes a point when imperfection by making the same mistake over and over again becomes nothing less than incompetence. I can accept imperfection simply because the only perfect person who ever walked on the Earth was Jesus Christ, and you know what happened to Him. BUT, one thing I cannot accept repeated institutional incompetence.

My family would frequent a Taco Bell restaurant near us, but it seemed that on almost every trip through the drive thru, things would be missing from the order when opened up. Well, the day came when I got tired of the messed up orders from the establishment so I wrote a letter to the store manager expressing my disappointment with his restaurant. About a week later, I received a letter apologizing for the problem and was offered a coupon for $10 in “free food.” I returned those coupons and explained that my intention was not to receive “free food” but to receive the orders that were placed when placed and that I as a business owner myself merely wanted to alert him to the problem with the staff.
You know, after a little time, the problems at the drive thru there were fixed and have I NEVER had a missing item from my order since. Why am I telling you this? Because I wish to let you know that I am not seeking “FREE FOOD.”

Now on to Burger King. A company founded in Miami, Florida in 1954. I can remember buying hot dogs at my local Burger King in the early 1970’s but those were not very good because they were “steam cooked” instead of “flame broiled.”

The last time I visited a Burger King restaurant (location 1 omitted) was approximately 5 years ago. I had a very long, wet, cold and exhausting workday so on my drive home I called the family and suggested a Burger King pick up so I could eat as soon as I got home. I ordered the food which included a special for 2 fish sandwiches for $2. When I arrived home, I had everything except for the 2 fish sandwiches and honestly I went ballistic because that was the final straw for me that day. My wife called the franchise phone number and told them what had happened. The “office” told me to go back for the sandwiches. Fine, but driving halfway to work and back was very inconvenient!!!

My name and address was recorded and later that evening after making myself some dinner, I went back to the store, where the “manager” was ready for me. This was the same joker that expedited my order to begin with and decided that I didn’t deserve the 2 fish sandwiches that I paid for.

Look, I can expect errors from the kids that work there but not from the boss!
I told him who I was, and he asks me if I “wanted cheese with my order?” The reply was no, I wanted a refund because I already had dinner. I’m surprised that I kept my composure at the store.

A few days after this to add insult to injury, I get home made “coupons” in the mail from the franchise office apologizing for the problem and offered me 2 small French fries for my troubles. Were they serious? I had to make an unnecessary 30 minute round and was only offered 2 small fries for “my inconvenience?” It cost me more in gas alone! I promptly returned the coupons with a letter expressing my outrage over the incident. This was not the first time I did not get what I ordered and paid for at this store. Just as an aside, I have never been given a bag of food anywhere and had an extra something thrown into the bag.

After a few years without a visit to a Burger King, my family asked to stop at one because they missed the food. Honestly, I gave it a shot, but after I parked the car and got out of it, I couldn’t go inside. I handed my family money and waited for them in the car as they ordered their food. Then I drove to the Wendy’s down the road for my dinner. This is the extent of the sour taste that BK left in my mouth.

This evening I visited the Home Depot, and upon leaving the parking lot for home, I called the house and asked what the family wanted for dinner. They suggested Burger King. Long story short, I drive across the highway to the store (location 2 omitted). I park, walk in and see a young man who is sitting on some boxes behind the register playing with his cell phone. I’m the only customer at the counter and waited 4 minutes for him to finish his texting or whatever he was doing. I placed my order. Get my bag. Took it home and one of my sandwiches AGAIN is missing.

Please. I know I am out of line here but WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM WITH BURGER KING AND GETTING ORDERS RIGHT? I paid for the sandwich which is reflected on my receipt, but NO SANDWICH IN THE BAG. Don’t tell me that it’s my responsibility to check the order before I leave the store either. If you want me to do that, please send me something to present to the cashier that authorizes a $2 refund for my time in checking my order! It’s only right if I’m doing work on behalf of Burger King.

Regardless, this experience has done more damage than you think between a business and it’s customer, and goes far beyond a mere “irate customer.” I have decided that effective today there is no way that I will ever patronize a Burger King restaurant again. That’s it! I am done with BK and so is my family. I told them as much and they were instructed NEVER to ask me for BK again!

This is what you get when too many service errors pile up and is no way to run a business.

The link to this post was emailed to BK Corporate because their web site only allows complaints that are no longer than 500 characters.

BK CORPORATE…
You may wish to transmit copies of this letter to the entire chain (names and locations including mine omitted please) so that the entire structure can see what happens when people become lazy or distracted while DOING THEIR JOB!

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