Thursday, June 25, 2009

Customer Service That Bites

You ever have one of those days where lots of little things go a-wry and it just snowballs into feeling super frustrated??  Well tonight was one of those times.  

First, Joel took our CRV in to get one new tire, which ended up being 2 new tires, with a possible 3rd tire (we're going to have to replace our spare soon).  The CRV also needs a couple of other things done to it.   Oh joy.  

Second, we made a stupid decision to go see "Year One" with Jack Black and Michael Cera.   Stupid movie with stupid humor, which actually ended up being kind of boring.   So we left almost halfway through as the characters were on their way to Sodom.  I think you get where that was headed.  We even asked the theater if we could have a refund or exchange our tickets for another movie, but they said they could not do that.   Joel was rather perturbed about it.  

Next, we went to eat dinner at Chik-Fil-A, which is one of my favorite fast food places ever...until now.  I don't know about you, but I love Chik-Fil-A food & their advertising is brilliant.   I could eat there at least once a week.   

Unfortunately, the 2 chains here in Tyler typically get our orders wrong 75% of the time.  It's very disappointing.   Normally, I just go w/ the flow.  Tonight was a different story.  We had coupons for 1 free chicken salad sandwich and 1 free chicken sandwich.  Joel used the chicken salad coupon & ended up getting a grilled chicken sandwich.  We didn't say anything because it wasn't a big deal.   

Then I ordered from a different cashier, who was Hispanic.  Honestly, I don't have a problem with hispanic people...as long as they can speak ENGLISH....our national language!  Needless to say, something was lost in translation.  I asked if I could get the deluxe sandwich instead of the original and just pay for the lettuce and tomato.   She asked if I wanted the combo & I said yes.   She said it cost $6.81, I paid it, but then thought, "hmmm, that sounds like I paid for the whole thing & that my coupon didn't actually count at all."  Then my tray came out and they had 2 sandwiches on there.   One original and one deluxe!  I tried to explain that I only ordered one sandwich and wanted to pay to "upgrade" it to a deluxe b/c the coupon said one free sandwich. 

There was another cashier who understood what I said & even added that I should've only paid for the lettuce and tomato, which cost about $.35.  My cashier had to explain to another co-worker in spanish because obviously she didn't understand what I was talking about.  A customer next to us even understood what I was saying.  She said I should've gotten my meal for free.  Naturally, I liked that idea!

Instead of getting $3 back for the sandwich, I ended up getting $.35 back!   Really?!?   REALLY?!?!  That's as if my coupon said free lettuce and tomato on your sandwich.  REALLY!?!?   A long line started developing, so I just decided to let it go and take my $.35.  But oh wow...seriously, how hard was that to understand!??  The other customer next to us was so sweet that she gave us 2 coupons for free brownies.   I told her thank you and that I'd probably use it another time.  ;)   

After all of that, we proceeded to Walmart to rent a movie from Redbox.  On Joel's iPhone, he has a redbox application, which sometimes gives him promo codes to get a free movie.  So I punched in the code and ordered the movie, slid my debit card, and waited for the movie to come out.  I looked at a nearby poster for a few seconds, then tried to grab the movie.  It ended up getting sucked back into the machine.   I tried using the promo code again, but it wouldn't let me b/c it said it had already been used.  Joel tried one more time and of course, it didn't work.   I told Joel that I didn't want the movie anymore, it's not worth the additional frustration.  

We came home after a very disappointing evening feeling rather frazzled.   I chose to neglect working on my quilt because I was so afraid something would go wrong with the way everything else played out thus far.  Man, when you get bad customer service, it's like getting the wind knocked out of you.   You have a hard time recovering, but once you do, you can move on with your life.  That's what I plan on doing.   Tomorrow is another day with hopefully a much better outcome.  Lord, please help me with my attitude.  


As always,
Eloise

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