The Consumer Complaints Blog

My wife and I took a little road trip over the weekend and stopped for lunch at Mo’s Steakhouse located at 7 Ogle Industrial Park Rd. Vevay, IN 47043 (812) 427-2444 .

They advertise a 10 oz. “Mo Burger seasoned with jalapenos and cilantro”. Doesn’t it sound delicious? We both ordered the “Mo Burger”, well done, which includes potato wedges. There were approximately 12 to 14 people (mostly a group of bikers, not the gang type, just a group of people that apparently enjoy the open road) in the restaurant when we arrived. The waitress came back to our table 30 minutes after ordering and apologized for the delay stating they were “busy” and offered us some “rolls”. Yeah, I’m waiting 30 minutes for a burger and I get offered bread. If a lunch crowd of 14 at 1:30 pm is busy, what do they do about a dinner service?

Anyway, our food arrived 45 minutes after ordering. The burger looked like a 10 oz burger, nothing special and 4, count them, 4 potato wedges. I cut the burger in half to find it cooked barely medium and the wife’s was a little more done with a distinctive streak of pink through the middle of the patty. This is NOT well done. We wanted to get back on the road so we decided to eat the burgers, mostly around the edges which were a little more done than the middle. When we were ready to leave, the waitress stopped by our table to see if we wanted anything else. We showed the waitress the red meat and told her the burgers were not well done and there was not even a hint of jalapenos or cilantro seasoning. The waitress then proceeded to inform us “they use other seasonings too and the juice from the jalapenos and cilantro dye the meat and it just looks that way. Believe me, it’s well done.” I asked her where she got such nonsense and she told us her boss, Mo, told her that. Being a cook myself for many years, I felt it my duty to school this young lady about honesty and common sense. Too bad Mo wasn’t there for the class.

When we left, the hostess / cashier was at the register talking to what appeared to be a cook about the delays in service. I handed her my check and my credit card. She processed the transaction, handed me the receipt and a pen, I signed it and handed it back to her, and she handed me my receipt all while totally ignoring me and talking to the cook. Not a “How are you?”, “Was everything ok?”, I heard your dining experience at Mo’s Steakhouse was a disaster, I will deduct a little off the bill”. Nope, nothing but dishonesty, rudeness, and arrogance.

Ps. Hey Mo, ever heard of a thermometer? I suggest you start using them. It’s 160 degrees or above for “well done”.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I’m Bill from Ottawa. I stumbled across your site while googling for “customer complaints”, and have spent the last hour or two entertaining myself with the stories and comments… well now, “entertain” doesn’t seem right, but you know what I mean. I can tell you though, Ottawa just as bad as Toronto when it comes to customer service. I have so many stories, I’m amazed anything gets accomplished at all in this world.

Now I’m a very easy-going guy, the counterweight to my bone-deep cynicism. I take most things in stride, including money, but there is one thing for which I spare very little patience, and that is stupidity. As a computer programmer and technician, retail and customer service environments have been central elements in my career, so I guess I’m a harsher critic of the jaw-droppingly moronic strangers who disappoint me every day. I’m going to relate to you my latest story, possibly the cheapest so far, regarding $2.50 worth of food. It is a cheap, but iconic anecdote of the chronic incompetence that pervades today’s youth. I’ve posted it to my own blog, but feel free to reproduce on yours if you so choose, and I will gladly link it.

McStupid is as McStupid does

This evening, I stopped at McDonalds after work (I know, junk food is bad – whatever!). Now I have a habit of placing large take-out orders, with “large” being around $40, and almost every time the McLackeys make fun of my large order, as they seem to think it is different than serving four people separately for the same items. Apparently they just can’t deal with numbers greater than two. Anyway I placed my order, and the guys dutifully prepared my food with impressive skill and speed, when another employee, who presented himself as “Steven”, ran in from the back to “help with the rush”, a rush of me! He was randomly putting things in bags and waving them over the counter, hoping someone would claim each bag. He had not been present when the orders were placed, so he had no clue who wanted what. I pointed to my receipt and repeated the list of items, and finally he packed my order, though I had to correct him several times as he was too hurried to pay attention.

Once I got home, I realized I was missing two small burgers. It was nothing big, and frankly I wasn’t about to walk all the way back just for a couple of burgers, but a credit or even just an apology would have been courteous. I called the restaurant, and wound up talking to buddy Steven. I explained the discrepancy, and he immediately got defensive, stating he was absolutely certain he had bagged my order without error, and that it was I who was mistaken. I casually restated my case, that I had eight burgers where there should have been ten, and this time he accused me of trying to cheat them out of two free burgers. I still don’t understand why he would accuse me of trying to defraud them out of $2.50 worth of food on a $42 total, but I guess not everyone is blessed with the gift of common sense. I was starting to lose my patience with this sad little peon, so I hung up and my wife called back a few minutes later. She is a far better diplomat than myself, and yet was barely able to get the employee’s name and his manager’s after much arguing, and he wouldn’t even tell us said manager’s schedule so we will be calling blindly until we can get a hold of him.

It goes without saying that the poor manager will get an earful about the many ways in which his underling has disappointed us, but I have to wonder why and how someone in a customer-facing job can be allowed to fail so miserably. He could have said “I’m sorry for the mistake, would you like your burgers ?”, an offer I would have politely declined and that would have been the end of it. Instead, he winds up with a formal complaint on his record, and the manager will be sending us gift certificates, which I will gladly accept and make a point to use when Steven is on-duty. Part of me wishes he would learn from the experience and grow as a person, but the cynic in me knows better. I can only hope Steven will find another job that is a better match to his abilities, or lack thereof. In the mean time, I will make a point to refuse service from him, when I next indulge in my favorite artery-clogging snacks.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

In stark contrast to the Highland Farms meat incident a little while back, I found a couple of sites today that were fun and useful. The first is a spoof on the Matrix and has won some awards: The Meatrix. It’s just a quick look into the meat industry and the shitty way in which the large farming corporations are growing our meat and mistreating the animals in the process. No I’m not an animal activists. I fully endorse eating meat but I don’t believe that any creature should be immobilized in pens and made to stand in its own shit just so we can save a buck or two.

Is cheapness just as bad as corporate profits? If we keep sending the message that cheaper is better, won’t the big companies always try to cut costs at the expense of everything else? Maybe we should be saying that better is better.

From that site I came across this one: Eat Well Guide. The really cool thing about that site is that you can enter your postal code (or zip code) and find stores, farms, and restaurants in your area that offer naturally raised and organic foods. I’m in Toronto, Ontario and it seemed to work well for me. At least for the stores. It’s not perfect but what a great find for anyone that’s looking at eating healthier. It’s too bad the media continues to brainwash people into thinking that eating healthy means eating low fat food. Why do all the fat people always eat low fat and diet foods? If they actually worked, shouldn’t they be loosing weight?

Anyway that’s a whole other blog post. If you’re one of the people that has figured out that eating healthy means non poluted and naturally raised food, you can check out the Eat Well Guide. Use it to find a store in your area that offers an alternative to the same old shit from our supermarkets inferiormarkets today.

I’ve decided to start publishing positive experience in order to showcase incidents where companies “get it”. The goal being to reward those that do it right and to show those that don’t, that there is a right way and a wrong way to provide customer service. Maybe something will actually sink into their thick skulls.

Following is an exchange with Dominion. (A supermarket chain run by A&P. That’s for those not in Toronto or Canada.) Upon waiting in line for an insufferable amount of time for the 4th week in a row, I asked the cashier why there weren’t more people working in the evenings. The poor woman’s hands were flying as she was scanning food through. This was not the fault of the employees for once. She explained to me that I’d have to complain to the head office because there was nothing that she could personally do about it. I could find the number on my receipt.

Note for employers: This is an example of a good employee. She dealt with my question, gave no attitude and gave me a viable option. Dominion also got it right by including a customer service number at the bottom of their receipt. I didn’t use this and chose to write to them from their site instead.

This was submitted to them from the Dominion website.

Please add more cashiers at night at the 24hr DOminon located at Wilson and Keele. I go there about 4 times a week, and it’s always understaffed. ALthough most of the cashiers are efficient, there are usually only 2-3 working at night, and the lineups are terrible. It sometimes takes up to 30 minutes to be served! thank you

This was their first response.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write to us concerning your shopping experience at our Dominion store at 1090 Wilson Ave.

I have forwarded your concerns along to the store Manager, Dan Wright, for his review and investigation with his staff. I have asked the Manager to follow up with you regarding your concern.

Mr Smith, you are a valued customer in our store and I sincerely hope you will give Dominion another chance to satisfy you.

Best Regards,

Lucie Gignac

Customer Care Specialist
A&P Canada Co., a subsidiary of METRO INC.
1-877-763-7374

Then the manager from the store actually wrote!

Good Afternoon Mr. Smith

First let me apologise for the experience you had at my location. I would also like to assure you that I have taken corrective actions in order to fix the line up situation with the addition of not only more cashiers, but the timing in which they are scheduled. With the summer months now upon us we are finding our business to be much greater than expected during the evening hours and are working diligently to rectify any line ups over 3 – 5 minutes in length. I find this to be an acceptable number, however I do not find 20 – 30 minutes al all acceptable and will do whatever it takes to make this right. If you find yourself in a line up that exceeds my time frame, outside of extenuating circumstances please feel free to contact myself at the phone number or e-mail address below so I can continue to create an enjoyable shopping experience for you at my location. Also if you are ever in my store during daytime hours or on Saturday evening, please have them page me so that we may talk more in person. I look forward to keeping you as my customer and will do what is necessary to make this right.

Thank You
Dan Wright
Store Manager
Dominion store #493
1090 wilson ave.
North York, ont.
M3K 1G6

Now if they actually improve the situation with the long lines in the evening, I have to say that they certainly understand what customer service is all about. It’s too bad that they use preservatives on their cuts of pork but that’s a post for another day.

Good work on your customer service Dominion.

Lessons learned.

1. Empower the customer and the employee by providing a method for customer feedback and complaints. Putting the number right on the receipt was excellent.
2. Respond to the customers’ complaints right away. The followup from the Manager excellent. Just responding with a generic message and no actual action or followthrough is disingenuous and will actually make the customer fell less like to trust your brand and give valuable feedback in the future.
3. It pays to complain if you don’t like something. I have watched several people leave Dominion and abandon their purchase because of the long lines in the evening. They didn’t complain. The situation didn’t get any better and the store lost business. Not a good proposition for anyone.

If you’re experiencing bad customer service at a larger retailer, pick up the phone or mouse and make your voice heard.

Hi Penciltrick,

I have a complaint I would like to submit for your post. This is concerning a christmas cake company in Texas (specifically Collin Street Bakery, Corsicana, Texas). I wanted to vent my frustration on their mishandling of my customer account.

Different members of my family have been ordering from them in the last 20 years or so. Somewhere along the line, someone apparently (I have no idea who) has a payment dispute with them. This has nothing really to do with me, or so I thought. However, when I decided to order from them (online) they delayed my order and did not even process it. It was not until I inquired about the delay that they told me about a payment that I still owe them. It was the first time I made a purchase with them so I could not have possibly owed them anything. After investigating with one of the customer service people, it was found to be a case of mistaken identity. This person in question apparently has the same last name and the same address, however the first name is different (obviously).

To add insult to the injury, I ended up paying extra postage for express to amend the delayed shipment.

So after that, everything seems fine for the last four years, until last week. I decided that since I have been ordering to give them out as gifts, I will order one for myself. Lo and behold, my order was again delayed and a letter from one of the management concerning a payment that I owe them. I thought maybe my Visa information was wrong, however, I have received my statements and Collin Street has charged my Visa already for the orders I have made. I also manage to go through all the orders in the past (yes I still have all my Visa statements with me, thank gods). Every payment was accounted for and paid in full.

I looked through my old emails (yes I have those too), and found out that it was the same mistake again like four years ago. They thought I was someone else. I have written them but so far no response. And to think that in the last four years, they have been charging my card without question….I think they have to learn to check their records a bit more carefully.

I can forgive the first time it happened and dismiss that as misunderstanding (I mean mistakes do happen). However, this is the second time it happened and all it tells me is that they are pretty sloppy to be mixing up my account with someone else’s. So far I have not recieved an appology. I have, however, filed a report with the Better Business Bureau. I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks for listening.

Lawrence

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.