Complaint Against a Certain Fast Food Restaurant

I sent a complaint letter against a certain fast food restaurant via e-mail last week, and I wish I had done it before. 

My email sent to Jollibee Customer Service

I was pissed off due to the insensitivity of the cashier who unfortunately served me at that time. For details, you may read my entries here.

Customer Service response to my email.

Sad to say,
the fast food that I have loved since childhood turned into this way. I used to enjoy eating in any of its branches with my family and friends. I even spent my first salary eating at one of the branches of my beloved food chain (when I was seventeen years old and ironically, I was working at McDonald’s then).  However, I am sure that not all branches of this restaurant have the same service, and not all of them receive the same feedbacks.  Thus, it is still wrong to have hasty generalization.

What are some problems that most customers encounter while eating out? I’ve read a lot of forums in the cyber world and here are some of the customer complaints:

1.       Unaccommodating crews.

I remembered the first rule that Jollibee and Mc Donald’s, the two companies where I worked during my teenage years. Our trainers and managers taught us that smile is a powerful tool. It is like a magnet which attracts people. It creates first impression, so they kept reminding us its importance and if we failed, we should expect being reprimanded because we did not follow the protocol.

Have you ever felt that you were not received warmly as a guest? There were times that nobody smiled at you, opened the door, greeted you “good day” or “have a nice day”, cleaned the table because you will be eating or assist you in carrying your tray because you are carrying your baby while holding your bag using your other hand. There were times when you really were starving but it seemed that the people who supposed to serve you were busy doing something else.

I experienced two horrible things while eating at a certain fast food restaurant along EDSA. First, the foods were not cooked properly. The chicken was not cooked well and it was still bloody inside. Second, the staffs did not care whether I almost bathe on my pineapple juice after it had accidentally spilled because a child accidentally bumped on our table. Although there were some which consider this situation as unintentional and they give replacements to the products which had unintentionally been spilled, I did not expect that they would also do the same thing. It was just a small establishment and there were only few customers since that was around nine or ten AM but the crew who cleaned my mess looked so pissed off. Oh I almost forgot to mention that I had seen him standing by the corner, doing nothing before the “spilling action” happened, but it took several minutes before he cleaned the mess. Needless to say, I promised not to eat there anymore, even though that was the food chain nearest to my place.  And I was very happy when that establishment had been closed (evil mode).

2.       The quality of food and service did not match the price.

There was another fast food chain along Cavite area where my then-boyfriend (now husband) ate once. After almost an hour of waiting, our orders had been served. The food was cold, and as expected, the taste was not good anymore. And the drinks---it was not the taste of my favorite Coca-cola anymore--- it was between expired Coke and cold coffee. We paid almost four hundred pesos for that food! When the crew had finally served it, there was no apology either.

One of my friends had waited for almost an hour only to notice that the customers on the other table who arrived later than them were already being served before them.

I would also like to mention my favorite CHICKEN, since it is commonly served for lunch. I don’t know what went wrong, but I’ve noticed that there are some food chains which offer small parts even for adults and the price is exactly the same as the large ones. Why don’t they offer smaller parts in a cheaper price, to be fair?

“Eh di mag-resto ka”. Thanks for the comment, baby. I’m hungry but I’m short of budget and I want to eat foods which are being served faster. Some people also wanted to eat more comfortably than to poise and follow the freaking table etiquette that’s why they opted to eat at fast food chains. Just because the price is cheaper doesn’t mean the taste and food quality should be compromised. Besides, a lot of people also encounter problems like these even in fancy restaurants.

Food safety should also be taken into consideration. We have heard some stories about people who complained and filed some cases after seeing a strand of hair, cigarette stubs and pests like cockroach and mice (eeeew!).

Jolli-float which was served without straw without informing the customer. Notice how messy it  is.

3.       Cleanliness matters.

Imagine that you are hosting a party at home and you invited a lot of friends. I am sure that the cleanliness of your house doesn’t matter anymore as long as you accommodate the needs of your friends. As long as they are satisfied with the food you prepared, that’s okay, they will not scrutinize every corner of your house anyway.

But that is not applicable to fast food stores. Although it is very difficult to maintain cleanliness at all times, especially during peak hours, customers would still observe whether the store is clean and presentable or not. Who would like to eat in a dirty environment? If you were the customer, would you be satisfied if you noticed that your utensils were not washed thoroughly? Would you be happy to drink your favorite cola in a greasy glass? Would you be comfortable to go to a stinky comfort room? How would you feel if you were sitting on a chair with food crumbs?

When I last went to that fast food store that I mentioned above, I was disappointed at how the crew had treated not only me, but also my co-workers. I found out that some of my co-workers also had a complaint against that fast food’s staffs, that’s why I sent an email to the Customer Service Department. I hope they apply the “Ten Commandments of Customer Relations”. They should also remember that we are now living in the era when almost everything can be reached using the Internet, and customers like me love to share our feedbacks to others.