BURGER KING...THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

So yesterday I posted about my trip to Burger King and the terrible representation of what they call food there. I'm sorry but this truly is NOT brain surgery or rocket science. If it were then we'd still be doing lobotomies and would never have made it to the moon.

With all that went on you would have thought I had learned my lesson. In actuality I did. But today my wife woke up hungry for a Whopper. You see being Wednesday it was Whopper Wednesday and she had a craving. Since she worked a 12 hour shift last night, had been up 24 hours including those 12 and had only had 5 hours of sleep I knew what to do. Make sure she got her Whopper! Who says you can't learn something after 33 years of marriage?

I went and placed my order. I got her Whopper with cheese, no pickle, extra ketchup. I also ordered 2 hamburgers for my dogs (yes it's human food they shouldn't have but occasionally I treat my babies). Lastly In ordered a BK Big Fish for myself with cheese and ketchup only. The screen showed my order correctly. My receipt shows my order correctly. Did it arrive correct? Do I really need to ask?

Instead of just cheese and ketchup, two of the simplest things to put on a sandwich, they got it half right. The cheese part. But rather than ketchup I got tartar sauce, mayonnaise and lettuce. To make my sandwich took them more time with the additions they put on the thing. Not only that but it wasn't cost effective since the squirts of mayo and tartar sauce could have been saved for someone who wanted them. As far as the lettuce goes I'm thinking there is a method to their madness. Keep in mind yesterday my wife's whopper tasted like a lettuce sandwich with meat garnish. I'm thinking someone higher up at Burger King has invested in a lettuce farm. The more lettuce they use the more they have to buy. Whoever he/she is they must be making a killing.

After posting my complaint to Burger King yesterday they were kind enough to reply. Here is the email I got back from them:

" Dear Mark Turner,

Thank you for taking the time to contact BURGER KING® restaurants. As a
valued guest, your comments and observations are very important to us.

We strive to exceed expectations for all of our Guests and your feedback
is valuable in helping us to continuously work towards providing the best
possible Guest experience.

As your patronage is important to us we hope that you will continue to
dine with us, we are sending you a WHOPPER® coupon that may be used at any
of our participating restaurants. Please allow 2 to 3 weeks to receive
your coupon by mail.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention and rest assured
that your comments have been forwarded to the appropriate management team
so that they may be aware of your concerns. We value your opinion and look
forward to serving you again in the near future.

Kind regards,

BURGER KING® Restaurants Guest Relations"


I'm so glad when places do this. You tell them your food was crappy so they send you a coupon for more food. It's a nice way of saying yeah you lost your money on the lousy meal you had but we're not giving you the money back...it's cheaper and easier to send you coupons for a sandwich that won't be near as expensive for us to give you.

I've already received a response from today's visit. Yes I did send them another complaint. Today's response was similar but didn't include free food coupons which I honestly didn't want.

"Dear Mark Turner,

Thank you for taking the time to contact BURGER KING® restaurants. As a
valued guest, your comments and observations are very important to us.

Your feedback is valuable in helping us to continuously work towards
providing the best possible guest experience.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention and rest assured
that your comments have been forwarded to the appropriate management team
so that they may be aware of your concerns. We value your opinion and look
forward to serving you again in the near future.
Kind Regards,

BURGER KING® restaurants Guest Relations"

Honestly my goal is not to get the person who runs the place in trouble. I've been a manager before and you end up getting the brunt of all complaints from the top to the bottom. Yes, the person who screwed up the sandwich should be told he screwed it up. Yes, they should work to improve the problems that I've encountered. But I've always felt that things like this start at the top and work their way down. You can't hold someone accountable if you don't give them the tools that they need (like more than 2-3 people running the place at any given moment).

And if my complaint is sent on to the local store why would I want to go back? If that kid who screwed up my last order got his butt reamed and he suddenly sees my order coming through because of the coupon or my credit card being used, what are the odds that a big ole ball of something nasty isn't going to end up on that sandwich?

I think I'll reply to the email I received. Lord know that fill in the blank complaint at their web site doesn't offer a place to make a suggestion. How about keep your coupons and reimburse me what it cost me to eat nearly inedible food? While I think that's fair my guess is I'll end up with two coupons for a Whopper instead.