Sunday, August 24, 2008

Good Customer Service... or Bad in the case of Quiznos

I had an experience at Quiznos tonight that just infuriated me. So much so that I decided to write about it just to vent my frustrations.

We have a local Quiznos within walking distance of my house. My wife decided that she wanted Chinese for dinner but she went to Quiznos to pick up food for me.

I ordered a Salad and a Cup of Chili. Did I need the Chili? Probably not but I wanted it just the same :)

When my wife got home I went through the bags and pulled out my salad and then went for the Chili only to find out it wasn't Chili, instead, it was Broccoli and Cheddar Cheese Soup.

First off, I don't even like Broccoli Soup, my wife doesn't like it either and she certainly would not have ordered it for me.

Considering that I have had positive experiences at this Quiznos before and it is just down the street, I opted to eat my Salad since that was my main meal and then I drove down to Quiznos to get my Chili.

I walked into the store and before I even opened my mouth, the woman behind the counter just shouted out "your wife ordered the broccoli soup". I was totally taken aback by this because I hadn't even said a word yet and the lady was already getting belligerent with me.

I tried to explain to the cashier, who happened to be the manager and owner, that my wife would not have ordered me Broccoli Soup as she not only knows that I don't like it but she doesn't as well. The cashier just shook her head and told me in no uncertain words that my wife ordered the Broccoli Soup.

She then went on to tell me that my kids were going crazy and that my 2 year old took a cookie that we didn't pay for and he started eating it. This was outrageous. Now she is trying to make my family out to be monsters.

I calmly and politely told the cashier that it may be possible, however unlikely that my wife asked for Chili but with the kids acting up maybe she (the cashier) might have repeated back "Broccoli Soup" and my wife might have said "yes" but in either case I not only wanted Chili but I even wrote it down on a piece of paper for my wife.

The cashier then went on to tell me that my wife didn't show her the order I wrote down and that it was my wife's mistake. Again, trying to remain calm I again told her that my wife knows better than to order me Broccoli Soup.

The cashier then filled up a cup with Chili then turned to me and said "take the Broccoli Soup, otherwise it will go to waste". I thanked her but reminded her that neither my wife nor myself liked Broccoli Soup so either way it would go to waste. This infuriated her.

She then went on to tell me that she was losing money on me. That now she was not only out of a cup of Chili but she would have to throw away a cup of Broccoli Soup as well.

First off, I paid for the Broccoli Soup which was $2.69. Yes, she is out of one cup of "soup" but in the big scheme of things, what is better, being down $2.69 because you made a customer happy by providing them with Good Customer Service ensuring that not only they will come back but so will the other customers in the store, or is it better to be down $2.69 and have a Customer go online to fill out a very negative Customer Experience Survey, write a scathing blog article and then never come back and have the other customers awaiting their order to see this and think to themselves "I'm never coming back here again"?

By the way, I saw the Cookie that my son supposedly ate while in the store. It was still wrapped up and "whole" when I left to go back to the store. In fact, when I got back home and mentioned that to my wife, her story is that my son was asking for a cookie and when she said "no" he began crying so the cashier not only gave him a cookie but she also took a paper towel and wiped my son's tears away saying "don't cry". My wife told me the cashier seemed so nice. By the way, while the cashier did "give" the cookie to my son, we most definitely did pay for it... we paid $1.29 for that cookie which is highway robbery in and of itself.

Am I blowing this out of proportion? Maybe but this is something all store owners, and employees need to learn. Good Customer Service is the key to a successful business.

This particular Quiznos is run like a "Mom and Pop" store by an immigrant family. You can tell that all the money they have been able to scrape up was put into opening this store and this is their life. If this venture fails they are ruined.

That is just my take of things from each time I have visited this location.

With that in mind though, you would think that they would go out of their way to make their Customers happy.

Well, they didn't make this customer very happy and I will not be visiting this Quiznos again.

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