Drive Threw Apathy

If you were upset that they never repeated the order before paying,
you should have asked them to. You are allowed to do that. If they
have a hissy fit, ask for the manager.




Well you pretty much screwed your case when you acknowledged that
drive-thrus aren't as accurate as going in and ordering in person.

I don't think you should ask for a comp when you get in the drive-thru
line apparently aware that there is a chance your food can be messed
up..

Haven't you ever seen the Leathal Weapon with Joe Pesci where he
exclaims, "They f--- you in the drive through." I refuse to use a
drive through. I don't believe they're any faster and I'm not so lazy
I can't hop out of my car and walk a few steps into a restaurant. You
can watch them assemble your order and make sure it's correct.

Plus, here in CA with gas nearly $4.50 a gallon I wouldn't waste gas
idling in a drive through allt he while polluting the air.

"People who work drive through tend to be careless about delivering
orders."

No kidding, a careless 15 or 16 year old kid? How can you have gone
through life without knowing that the drive thru is manned by young
kids trying to get your food to you as quickly as possible? How do you
not know that you need to check your bag, which takes all of 10
seconds?
Why does McD's care that you played softball until your stomach was
aching and you were physically exhausted?
Know what I did the last time McD's forgot my fries? I just let it go
and I didn't stavre to death or pine away for my 79 cents lost.
Let it go, it is not a big deal and McD's drive thru will always have
apathetic kids working it so try to live in the real world already.

Talk to the restaurant manager. They should be able to replace
everything and make the situation better. That is their job. Not the
job of the customer service department.

asa

This is one of the biggest complaints about fast food restaurants. I
know it's a good idea to check the order before leaving, but I really
don't like doing that. Checking to make sure you have the correct
number of items is easy, but having to unwrap everything and make sure
it was prepared correctly is messy, especially in the car. Sometimes
it's hard to tell what's on those sandwiches without really taking
them apart. And then you have to put them back together and rewrap.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't think that should be
necessary. I understand why mistakes happen, such as the noisy
environment, bad speakers, etc., but I think the main reason is too
many people just don't listen or have trouble understanding English.
I realize that many of you think people who get paid minimum wage
shouldn't have to care about their jobs, but I disagree. There's
nothing wrong with taking pride in your work no matter what it is or
how much you get paid.

The other thing that bothers me is how much food is wasted. Every
time an incorrect order is returned, it gets thrown away. There's
just something wrong with that. At the risk of sounding like our
parents, there ARE starving people in the world and right here in our
own country. It seems disrespectful to throw away perfectly good food
just because people don't pay attention to what they're doing.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I do think there's room for
improvement when it comes to getting orders right.

I went to Wendy's few years ago and ordered a cheeseburger plain.
Nothing but bun, cheese, burger.

I drove home and opened up my wrapper and found every single possible
topping in the sandwich, tomatos, onions, mustard, mayo, etc. But it
was missing two things, the burger and the cheese. I thought maybe I
got a veggie burger but it also had bacon on it.

I called the store, coupon was sent in mail. I didnt flip out, make a
scene, make a big deal about it. As said before mistakes happen.
But I learned to check every single time I go to the drive thru and it
only takes me about 10 seconds.

I went through the McDs drive-through Sunday morning. I got my food,
pulled forward, opened the sack, pulled out two sandwiches, unwrapped
them and checked to be sure they were correct. This took, tops 15
seconds.

Go ahead and check your order next time. You'll be glad you invested
15 seconds.

I thought all churches were banning members from visiting
McDonalds???


Good Day

I used to work at McDonald's and we had a log book. If a customer
called after they had arrived home and told us that their order was
incorrect, we would mark their name and order in the book and next
time they came in, we corrected the problem, FOR FREE.

I don't know if this applies to every store, but in all my experiences
with McDonald's, they have always been more than happy to correct the
problem either right away or on a future visit.

You should have taken the time it took you to write this letter to
just call them and explain the situation. You probably would have
gotten an extra order of fries next time.

"To err is human, to forgive divine"
Alexander Pope

I'm with you on the incorrect order. Yes, you should check your order
before you leave, and no, it doesn't take 5 minutes, but to me that is
a defensive thing, not the customer's responsibility. As far as it
not being repeated back, if they don't have one of those screens that
show what was ordered, I always ask that they repeat it, I think that
is our responsibility.

For me, one packet of hot mustard would last a month...

Why is this so hard to figure out? It should come naturally, like
turning on your turn signal when making a turn. For the umpteenth
time on here, CHECK YOUR ORDER BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DRIVE-THRU
WINDOW!!! It only takes a few seconds!

Why is that so hard for people to understand?

It takes 5 minutes to open a bag and count 3 burgers and 3 fries?
What do you do, count each fry?

If you want more than one mustard, ask for it!

Drive-thru employees are human and make mistakes. I honestly don't
think they do it on purpose. What would they have to gain? It's not
extra money in their pocket.

Is the title a play (get it?) on words? A little softball humor?

Um, ok.

So if I understand, you drove away without checking your order. After
all that exercise, you must not have been thinking clearly. Obviously
the way to make sure you get what you asked for is not blindly drive
away.

"I get extremely frustrated when my food order is incorrect as i have
worked in the food industry before and know what service should be."

That means you understand mistakes happen, AND to avoid "frustration"
one should check their order before they leave. It would also be
prudent to ask the CSR to repeat the order of they fail to, for the
same reasons.

It takes you "5 minutes" to check your order? That's a shame. I hope
your skills on the softball field are better than that. It take me 10
seconds.

You don't deserve anything.

"No one wants to drive back out after a long night of physical
activities, and that is all the more reason that our order should have
been right the first time."

So, are you saying that people that weren't involved in physical
activities should be expected to drive back, that it's OK to mess up
their orders?

If your order was as simple as you indicated (3 cheeseburgers, 2
fries, and drinks), it wouldn't have taken 5 minutes to check your
order.

You're right, the order should be correct, but you know, as well as I
do, that mistakes happen. If this wasn't enough of an issue for you
to call the restaurant after the issue occured, or speak with the
manager at the time, why should they send you a gift card now? If you
would have contacted the manager, you would have given them an
opportunity to correct the situation, rather than going online &
writing a letter the next day.

All the McD's I have driven thru have a screen that copies the
customers order...I have yet to see one that does not have this.
While I always check my order before pulling out of the lot, I
sometimes do this at the pick up window if there are no vehicles in
back of me.
There have been times when the order was wrong, they corrected it and
then off we went.

Check the screen and if they do not have one re-verify the order
either when you pay or pick it up.

It seems like you are aware of the problem, as you've made a couple of
generalizations about it. I am puzzled as to why you wouldn't take
the time - less than 5 minutes, and surely less time than it took to
write this detailed account of your evening - to double-check an order
that you thought was going to be wrong. It's sad that we have to
check, but it is a fact of life.
I hope you won your game.