Sorry, we ran out of twister fries - McDonald's

Always liked McDonald's? Not if this happened to you.

On 23 January 2014 1210PM, my wife and I visited the Mcdonald's branch at Anson Road.

The place was fully packed with executives queuing to get their burgers and fries. After queuing for 10 mins, finally it's our turn to get our order. We were greeted by the service staff, Mdm Winnie (based on her nametag). Mdm Winnie did her due diligence by asking us if we wanted to top up a dollar for the twister fries. Being a fan of the fries, we topped up a dollar each for the fries. 

After paying up, we were asked to queue up on the right which we felt it's normal to queue for our food to arrive. That was when we noticed the service manager shouted across to the crews to stop offering twister fries as an option to the customers. Ok, so we thought, looking across the service counter, we saw there were still a few packets of twister fries left. 

Then, there was this Indian service crew who helped to serve the food to the customers. She picked up 2 packets of twister fries, burgers, drinks and placed it on the tray intended for the customer behind us. After seeing the food is ready, Winnie signalled to the customer behind us (who was shocked to see her food arrive so quickly) to collect her food. 



After which, we heard this Indian service crew asked Winnie what happen next, as there is no more twister fries for my wife and I. Upon hearing this, Winnie signalled to the service manager by the name of Gharnesh (not too sure of the spelling). Winnie explained to Gharnesh that my order was supposed to be the 1st order (before the lady who was queuing behind me and got her food 1st). Gharnesh didn’t bothered to hear her explanation and told my wife and I that since there is no more twister fries, he will refund me the difference and asked me to wait.

Shocked by his actions, my wife started to ask him nicely if this is the way to do things. We placed our orders 1st and wasn’t given our rightful share? Gharnesh continued saying they do not have any more twister fries left, hence there is nothing he could do except to refund us the difference. His actions didn't convinced me that he was sincere in wanting to settle this issue. So I asked him, we came 1st, you guys served the customers behind and now I have to bear the consequences for your staff's mistake? Is that the way to just brush us off? I don't think that is very nice of him to do that. After which, he reluctantly apologised for it and proceeded to offer us a refund of the differences since he can't offer an alternative. That was which i asked for his name, which he gladly mentioned to me. 

So when we paid for the food, we topped up $1 each, but to our surprises, the refund was only $0.80. So i asked Winnie to explain the rationale behind. When she can’t answer, she asked Gharnesh to help out again. Gharnesh didn't mouth a word, just keyed in something into the cashier and took out $0.75 to me instead. Surprised by his actions, I told him we are not eating now, please refund us back in full instead. Gharnesh obliged and offered the refund in full through Winnie. There was no sense of sincerity in his attitude and we certainly don’t feel the service recovery done by McDonald's.

Something is very wrong here.

May i check 

1) If your twister fries is so hot fav, why don’t you put them in your regular menu? 
2) When you announced there is no more twister fries, shouldn't you announce it before your fries runs out? (at least when there’s only 10 packs?) 
3) Before your fires is officially out of stock, shouldn't you guys serve those who queued up and ordered (1st in 1st out) with the remaining stock? Oh wait, you mean you guys practice last in, 1st out? 
4) Attitude - So, you manager can just brush your customers off and said it is officially out of stock. I will refund the differences to you, bye. Shouldn't you guys admit your poor planning and service lapses in this case? 

I'm loving it. My foot.

Maybe it's time to take back the service excellence award you had won previously.

I had tried to give you guys a chance to explain, but your email reply never came. Not even now, i think you guys simply dont care right? So i decided to message their facebook on 5 Feb 14.

Hi McDonald's Its been awhile since my email feedback to you guys. I have no received a reply via email. Please reply to my email by 6 Feb or i will post my feedback to your Facebook wall to let your other customers understand the service better. Thank you.
In came the McDonald's Facebook reply on 6 Feb 14

we are truly sorry for the delay in responding to you. We have informed our Business Consultant to follow up with you and will be reminding him again. Thank you for your kind understanding and patience.

So my reply on 7 Feb

i see, get the person to email me back and not call as i may no be able to take calls

McD: thank you for letting us know. We will let our colleague know. Thanks!

on the same day my reply

ok roughly when can I get a response from McDonald's Quality Service Manager?

No news until February 11th, 11:22am

we apologise again for the delay. We have conveyed this to our colleague who will be in touch very shortly. Thank you.
So i assume they will get in touch very shortly. Their message never came. So i replied them on 14 Feb 14

How long more do you guys need? Indefinitely?

Silence from them. So i followed up with a message on 17 Feb 14

Hi McDonald's. I think you guys are fooling me.Do you guys really value customer service? How about service recovery? Stop giving false hopes to your customers. My 1st email to McDonald's was on 23rd January 2014. It's close to 1 month and all i ever received was this msg from the Facebook team who tells me the reply is on the way. Is it so difficult to get you guys to write an email back to me? 

So on 19 Feb Mcd replied: we are truly sorry about the delay in responding to you. Please rest assured that our customer care colleagues will be in touch very shortly. Thank you.

And my final reply to them

I am very sick of your apology. We need explanations instead.

Did I over reacted to this? You be the judge. 

McDonald's, i am truly disappointed in your service recovery.

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Fareast Flora, too far for us

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Have you ever asked yourself how reliable your flora are? What if they screw up your orders on your big day? 

Background of case

Many concerned/thoughtful boyfriends, husbands, guys who wanna woo their dream girl were left helpless when the roses that they had pre-ordered did not arrive at the designated timing.

Angry customers demanding their rightful refunds

Just take a look at the FarEast Flora Facebook page and you would see plenty of unhappy customers posting their unhappiness on the Facebook wall. 

Customer A

How can you do this to me?!!!!!!! It is 6.05 pm now and the flowers ordered by my husband on 5 Feb is not here!!!!! Why did you not listen to your customers' feedback. Mr Jeremy Huang told you 3 weeks ago that you screwed up his surprise for his wife's birthday by sending the flowers past 6 pm and you did it again and some more on Valentine's Day. Who is going to wait around for your flowers to arrive? You better have a service recovery program in place. To think we have been your customer for over 20 years!

If you cannot accept so many order don't book in the business.
You will lose all your customers for over-promising and under-delivering. Cardinal sin for service industry.

Seriously, Far East should close down their FACEBOOK before you get FLAMED further. Hide your face. How can you expect the recipient to be waiting for her valentine flowers and still waiting? no cow sense doing business this way. what a shame

Any good nurtured person would have been tested to the limit with this kind of service.

My husband emailed them 15 mins ago and they say they will check and get back. no further update! Annoying. If accepted payment, must honored delivery. Gosh! you not only ruin the day you ruin the valentine's dinner too!

Goodness me! I just got a call from delivery lady. She said she part timer. When she reported for work, she saw a order slip to send flowers to my office between 9 am to 5 pm& wonder why flowers still sitting in the office! 

If my flowers which were ordered on 5 Feb had such great difficulty reaching me on 14 Feb why did Far East close booking only yesterday? If orders placed between 5-13 Feb were delivered on time, Far East florist owe me a BIG explanation!

Less than 3 hours left of Valentine's Day & my flowers are still not here! Unbelievable ! Is Far East into flowers business ? Is this the way to delight the customers? Please go back to basics to learn how to deliver flowers on time!

Obviously Far East Florist DO NOT communicate with their delivery team! my hubby emailed Far East close to 8 pm to route flowers to our home instead. Only then they replied AND promised to reach by 9 pm! Hello! What time now? Right hand don't know what left hand is doing & they want to run a business. Worst of all, they are not apologetic at all. Message is loud & clear - Don't call me. I'll call you AND at my time!

My flowers finally arrived at 11 pm. It was added to the list of evening delivery items. Delivery lady told me she was shocked when she saw stated Delivery time was from 9 am - 5 pm but flowers still sitting at nursery. Cut story short. The petals of the pink roses look burnt, baby breath feel like dried flowers & the water in the vase had turned yellow. Wonder what can I do to revive a $245 floral arrangement. I want compensation ! Obviously they lost control of the supply chain.

Customer B

MY FLOWERS NOT RECEIVED TOO!!! THIS IS A TERRIBLE COMPANY WHO DOES NOT EVEN PICK UP THEIR CALLS.

Made a trip down to FullofSh*flora to demand a refund and gave a peace of mind to the manager. Seriously doubt they were doing much to remedy situation as everything looks so slow paced there even though manager was apologetic.Seems like upper management was nowhere to be seen. Duno if unaware of situation or JUST nonchalant about it.

Customer C

From all the comments I've read here, I definitely won't be ordering flowers from Far East Flora anymore. I left my office at 615pm today, and the flowers my boyfriend had ordered were still not delivered. It seems like either customers' orders weren't delivered within the slated timing of 9am-6pm or one would receive flowers in a bad condition. The company also lacks the basic courtesy of informing customers that they are unable to deliver the flowers and instead choses to let their customers wait endlessly. Phonecalls to your hotline were not answered and ignored- not the smartest move to appease your angry customers. I just hope you can be prompt in following up with the refunds and live up to your reputation as one of the best floral company in Singapore. But one thing for sure, you've lost several customers today because of your company's lack of efficiency and after-sales service.

Customer D

It is 715pm now and you have still not delivered my flowers. Delivery time 9am-6pm??? It is no where near the time frame. My wife have already left the office. Hotline can't call through also. This will surely be brought up to CASE.

If you guys can't handle the mass flower orders then you should have closed the orders earlier or hire more delivery staff. I could have bought the flowers from other florist shop.

Thank you for spoiling this special day. You have lost another customer. Please refund me the money and give compensation for this lousy customer service. (Order:W410309)

Customer E

the day is ruined.. order still not delivered till now. If you should see a guy crying over flowers... that's me. I was just so pissed i started crying. seriously. horrible experience.

Customer F

Thanks for SCREWING UP my valentine day with CRUSHED FLOWERS at 5.45pm! More people should read about this so their important moments won't be destroyed by FAR EAST FLORA!

Customer G

This is it, the time now, 601pm. No flowers received. Today is Valentine's day, i hope you understand. Fareast flora used to be so efficient that it exceeded my expectations and this is why i had been a loyal fan.

1) Seen many friends receiving their flowers, ok no issue, the flowers will eventually arrive before 6.

2) The time was 4pm and the status still shows DO Generated, so decided to call. The 1st call asked me to wait, so i waited, the next moment i know, only good bye was said from you guys.

3) Tried calling back, no answer, cant even get through.

4) 5pm, getting worried, pm this FB page to no avail. So sent an email but in vain.

5) Now its past 6. Where are the flowers?

If you guys cannot deliver, have the courtesy to call your customers and inform them, so they know whats happening. If you guys cannot take so many orders, then stop at whatever amount you can deliver! Now, the flowers didn't arrive, my wife will not be able to hold a bouquet of flowers when she dine with me.

Well done FareastFlora. You jolly well make the full refund to me and everyone else or else we will go to CASE. And we will win. Your reputation will go down the drain and this will be it.

Customer H

Seriously ? whats up with the service here? IF you cant handle the delivery don't freaking accept orders and let us down at the end of the day. Advertise so much but fail utterly.

Customer I

Hi. My boyfriend ordered a bouquet of flowers for me. It was delivered during lunch time. The condition of the flowers? The "bottle" which you had arranged the flower in before you wrap it had a leak. MY OFFICE DESK WAS WET. And there was no card. My boyfriend told me that he had put a special message in the card, WHICH I HAD NOT RECEIVED. Called your Customer Service. I chose to hold on..but next thing I know, you had auto hang up on me. GOOD ONE.

Customer J

 HEY FAR EAST WHERE IS MY FLOWER ON VALENTINE DAY? MY OFFICE ALREADY CLOSED & NO ONE BOTHER TO CALL AT ALL? WHAT KIND OF SERVICE IS THIS???????   

Customer K

I am furious at the lack of responsibility of your business. No delivery...no call and your hotline was engaged.

Customer L

 Absolute screwed up! I helped my brother reserved a bouquet for his wife. No delivery, no call back, called and called the hotline which was most of the time engaged and when finally got through, was promised call back TWICE but none fulfilled.

Customer M

 This is really really bad service. No news at all. It's almost akin to a scam whereby money is collected, but no goods delivered and no news heard. Maybe we can all consider taking a class action or even a police report given the vast majority of failed delivery. Far East Flora better figure out how to resolve this amicably.

Verdict

FarEast Flora had indeed disappointed their loyal fans/customers. This is a very serious matter, can you imagine someone's big day might not have a bouqet of flowers? Let's say you are getting married, you ordered a bouquet from them, gave them special instruction to deliver, they never arrived. Would you even trust them?

Next, their customer service is non-existence. If they do not know what is customer service, i would recommend either they close shop or attend a course. A flora exist for what purpose? Sell flowers. This is the minimum requirement. If your company had a good history of doing that, the public will see that you have a good system running. So they will trust you with their money while they do their own things. All they wanted to see is a smile on their partner's face. The surprise they would get is amazing, not this kind of surprises. Like a friend of mine said, incidence like this only happens on APRIL's FOOL DAY, not Valentine's day.

Can they imagine the state that the poor consumer might have suffered? If they wishes to close down their hard work business, let us know. Let the whole world knows, FarEast Flora is no longer doing this as a business. Consumer will gladly choose their rivals over them.

So, they can't deliver what they promised. No one on this planet want to know is this person's fault that person's fault. You open a business, you jolly well know how to handle your customers if something crops up suddenly. My guess for them not contacting their customers as below: 

1)Lack of manpower. They do not have enough phones to call out to their customers for a start, i guess none of the staff wants to use their own phones to call for something not caused by them, unless they get a full sponsor. 

2) Lack of communication. They might think they might still be in time for most delivery but they are so wrong. You do not communicate with your supply chain, you lose everything. 

3) Can't be bothered as there are too many to call. 

Whatever reason it is, they had failed badly in their job. They deserved to get the rod. Full refunds are just the minimum compensation they can offer. For the trauma and anger caused with no explanation or service recovery, they need to add in some other things to please their angry customers.

If this is the way their management is heading, they are going down. Or maybe they had relocated to the Far Far Eastern side of Asia, that's why the flowers won't reach their customers on time.

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M1 Downtime again

A word of advice to M1. If you dont have such a big head, dont wear such a big hat.

Same for your business concept, if you cannot provide a good service to your customers, stop telling people you are sorry or you are the most Vibrant and dynamic communications company, providing mobile and fixed services to over 2 million customers.

You know what? You guys should just close down. The main purpose of your existance is to provide at least the basic calling and messaging services. And you guys can't do it?

If this is the 1st time, ok we take it with a benefit of doubt. But this is a repeated mistake. The last thing we want to see is M1 becoming like SMRT. Down-time becoming a norm.

When Singtel's MioTv experienced down-time, everyone of their customers received 1 month of waiver for their subscription. This is call Service recovery. The last time M1 was down, the so called service recovery is free talk time for a few hours. What a whole load of nonsense is that.

Some of us rely on our hp for business. People who wants our business call us, if they cant get through, they go to our rivals.

Worst still, if you are trapped in a lift, you thought you have a lifeline, your mobile phone and it's not working, well done. If you see a crime and you want to call 999 or a fire you want to call 995, you cant. What would happened??

Somebody better give the nation a good answer.

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