McDonalds, McNuggets, and Corporate Greed

M

milkweed

Valued Senior Member
I first heard of this the other day but didnt pay attention until today:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29498350/

McDonalds refused to give me a refund also. It was a different situation. I had been waiting in the pull-over line after the drive thru asked me to wait for my meal. I didnt mind until the wait turned into 20 mins and when the woman brought my food she apologized, saying I had been forgotten. I drove away before realizing my food was cold. Room temp fries.

From that point on I would not pull off and wait.

Finally an order was made, nothing special, just 2 fries and burger, no extra nothing, no hold whatever, nothing special. I was asked to wait in the pull off area. I said, Thats OK, I will just wait here (in the drive thru). The girl said, but we dont have the fries so if you'll just pull off...

I explained to her I had been forgotten and would not pull off. If that was a problem, she could refund my money and I would go elsewhere. She got the manager. Again I said If you dont want me to be in the drive-thru then refund my money and I will go elsewhere.

They produced the food immediately.

I dont know what the laws are, but I believe a consumer has a right to a refund of their money, if the product ordered does not exist at the time of purchase. McNuggets are mcnuggets and I dont see how a customer should be forced to chose something else when the store advertises a product. I dont know that she abused 911 with her call either. It appears to be theft, possibly theft by swindle, bait and switch, whatever the term is when you defraud a consumer. When I order a steak, I dont want the waitress bringing me ribs. If I order chicken, fish isnt an equivalent.

Thoughts?
 
It's funny, they did send the police to that McDonalds. Such a situation could easily get violent. She did give them an alternate order, but they said she couldn't get that because it was less expensive, and they couldn't refund any of her money. That makes no sense because they give change all the time. What difference does it make how much money she gave them initially?
 
milkweed said:
Finally an order was made, nothing special, just 2 fries and burger, no extra nothing, no hold whatever, nothing special. I was asked to wait in the pull off area. I said, Thats OK, I will just wait here (in the drive thru). The girl said, but we dont have the fries so if you'll just pull off...

I explained to her I had been forgotten and would not pull off. If that was a problem, she could refund my money and I would go elsewhere. She got the manager. Again I said If you dont want me to be in the drive-thru then refund my money and I will go elsewhere.

They produced the food immediately.
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What probably happened is by the time you were done arguing with the employee and the manager, the fries were already done.

It doesn't sound like they did anything wrong. The employee asked you to pull off, and you said no. The employee then essentially said, "Are you sure? I'm only asking you to pull off because our fries aren't done cooking". You refused again, and she got the manager to give you the refund (I used to work at McDonald's and I can tell you that regular employees are not authorized to give refunds, nor do they have the key to open the cash drawer without making a purchase).

It doesn't sound like corporate greed at all. It just sounds like they were trying to work with you and be nice, and you had the wrong attitude.

spidergoat said:
She did give them an alternate order, but they said she couldn't get that because it was less expensive, and they couldn't refund any of her money. That makes no sense because they give change all the time. What difference does it make how much money she gave them initially?
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Usually that isn't a problem. When I worked there I dealt with that situation several times. It requires a manager to open the cash drawer, and I never saw it escalate to any type of problem. There must have been bad employees at that particular restaurant.
 
RubiksMaster said:
What probably happened is by the time you were done arguing with the employee and the manager, the fries were already done.

It doesn't sound like they did anything wrong. The employee asked you to pull off, and you said no. The employee then essentially said, "Are you sure? I'm only asking you to pull off because our fries aren't done cooking". You refused again, and she got the manager to give you the refund (I used to work at McDonald's and I can tell you that regular employees are not authorized to give refunds, nor do they have the key to open the cash drawer without making a purchase).
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The employee did not essentially say "are you sure...." The employee told me I had to pull off. She got the manager because I wouldnt, and the manager said I had to pull off. The manager said she couldnt give me a refund, they dont do that.

It wasnt more than a minute from the first pull off to the side to the getting of the order, I would estimate. Maybe 1-1/2 mins.

I am sure you dealt with rude people often. I was not rude, I was very pleasant with them. I didnt blame the girl for repeating the corporate line. I found the manager very testy and demanding. Too used to working with (and ordering around) teens I suppose.
 
McDonalds workers are always completely useless and full of shit, it's what you get when the food actually has more brain cells than the employees.
 
RubiksMaster said:
What probably happened is by the time you were done arguing with the employee and the manager, the fries were already done.
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Actually they probably gave him fries that were meant for an order that had been placed ahead of him, and somebody else (probably a customer who was waiting in the restaurant) ended up waiting a long time even though they ordered before him.

The real problem is that they never warn you ahead of time that it will take extra time to fill your order. They let you order whatever you want, take your money, and only then do they ask you to pull off because your food won't be ready for 10+ minutes. Usually if I had a lot of extra time to wait around for my food, I wouldn't be going to a fast-food drive-through.
 
Nasor said:
Usually if I had a lot of extra time to wait around for my food, I wouldn't be going to a fast-food drive-through.
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I almost never go thru a drive thru because they so consistently screw up the order, sometimes take a long time and then you're often trapped in the drive thru line, and I just generally find the experience annoying. I park the car, walk in, and order my food to go.
 
madanthonywayne said:
I almost never go thru a drive thru because they so consistently screw up the order, sometimes take a long time and then you're often trapped in the drive thru line, .....
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Well, with the constant use of billions of drive-thru windows in the USA, obviously your experiences are NOT normal. If everyone had your experiences all the time, like you claim, no one would use a drive-thru.

Baron Max
 
madanthonywayne said:
I almost never go thru a drive thru because they so consistently screw up the order, sometimes take a long time and then you're often trapped in the drive thru line, and I just generally find the experience annoying. I park the car, walk in, and order my food to go.
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Same here, that and the food tends to make me :puke:.
 
Nasor said:
Actually they probably gave him fries that were meant for an order that had been placed ahead of him, and somebody else (probably a customer who was waiting in the restaurant) ended up waiting a long time even though they ordered before him.
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Actually, you might be right.

The real problem is that they never warn you ahead of time that it will take extra time to fill your order. They let you order whatever you want, take your money, and only then do they ask you to pull off because your food won't be ready for 10+ minutes.
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That does seem to be a contributing factor, but with the way the restaurants are set up, it's not possible to know that ahead of time.

milkweed said:
She got the manager because I wouldnt, and the manager said I had to pull off. The manager said she couldnt give me a refund, they dont do that.
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Sounds like this manager didn't know what he/she was doing. That's not what the managers were like at the location I worked at (or even the majority I've dealt with).
 
spidergoat said:
Same here, that and the food tends to make me :puke:.
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Indeed.

Recently they started a new advertising campaign here in Queensland (Australia).. "Chicken nuggets, now made with 100% chicken breast".. Now? Now? What the hell were they using before?

Although the kicker was still the breakfast bacon and eggs McMuffins.. "Now made with 100% bacon".. :bugeye:

I'm scared to think what the bacon was before they decided to go with 100% bacon.
 
milkweed said:
I explained to her I had been forgotten and would not pull off. If that was a problem, she could refund my money and I would go elsewhere. She got the manager. Again I said If you dont want me to be in the drive-thru then refund my money and I will go elsewhere.

They produced the food immediately.
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Should have demanded a refund and then ate the money....it's more nutritious.
 
this is stupid, tripple 0 (911, 666, 999 ect) is NOT there for this any more than someone needs an ambulance for a fish bone stuck in a tooth (true story). If you actually need the police for something like this then you should be calling the NON emergency number, however a better number to call would be the equivlant of the state office of business and consumer affairs or the ACCC.

leave the emergency numbers for emergencies please
 
Anti-Flag said:
McDonalds workers are always completely useless and full of shit, it's what you get when the food actually has more brain cells than the employees.
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they're not all useless, just most of them. lets not spit upon the elite few who actually get ur meals right and give u hot fries. i work at maccas, i cook, i take care to only serve shit that's edible.
 
the problem with mCcdonalds is that they are mostly kids who have just finished school, and even the managers are kids essentially, so they are mostly full of shit, (i can only talk about UK) anyway why eat at mccdonalds you ahve cold fries, tough burgers and lets be fair here, they are not all that good for you.
 
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