Sunday, July 15, 2012

Me vs Subway

Let me tell you, I'm a pretty easygoing guy.  I can take a lot.  And indeed, it takes a lot to make me complain publicly about a store or company.

But Subway's kind of taken me to a different place on how to complain about a business which has wronged me, and refuses to rectify it on my terms.  Allow me to explain.

The following is the complaint that I've attempted time and time again, like a minimum of a dozen times, to send to THIS SITE  with absolutely no success.  I would fill out the form, with all the necessary info,  jump through all the hoops, only to be screwed over in the end because there are problems with the site.  How convenient.  Look... if I'm running a business, I want to hear all of the nice things people are saying about what I'm selling.  But perhaps more importantly, I want to hear what people think is wrong with it so I can make them happy too.  This doesn't seem to be what Subway restaurants gives a shit about though.  That's okay.  I'll just keep shouting till they hear me.

I did post my complaint on their Subway Canada facebook page, only to have my complaints removed, with an answer from them telling me I should call their customer service hotline and place it formally.  I explained to them I'm not comfortable doing that.  If I'm the customer who's complaining, I would think I would be able to choose the medium in which I want to complain, no?  The thing here is, they're playing against themselves.  They're only making me angrier by worsening their customer service by telling me how to complain.  I mean, what the hell???

Anyway, here is the aforementioned complaint:

It is with regret that I complain to you about the service from the location of your Subway chain at 630 Pinewood Road, Riverview, NB.
I arrived at this location shortly after 12:50pm on Monday, July 9, 2012.  After placing my order at the counter to a younger group of staff (no issues with them), I proceeded to the cash to pay for my sandwich, a 6" cold cut on Italian bread.  The total came to, let's say approxiamately $3.94.  That actually may be the accurate amount, at least within ten cents, but I didn't keep my receipt because I shortsightedly left it on the counter after my experience.  The older lady at cash, somewhat abruptly, told me the amount, I handed her a $10 bill, and she passed me back $5.  For some reason, I took the $5 and my purchase and began walking out the door, I guess entrusting she gave me the right change minus six cents.  But when I walked out and approached my car, I realized I was shorted at least a dollar.  Going back into the restaurant, I approached the cashier, and there were three to four customers placing orders.  In between her serving one of these people, I asked if she might have shortchanged me, because I only got a $5 from a $10.  She asked me if I took my change from the dispensary cup, to which I said no, because I hadn't even noticed it.  I'd never seen a store that gave change both via cashier AND an automated dispensary cup.  She says, "well, the person after you must have gotten your change then."  I didn't even know, and she never told me about the change dispensing machine, because I assumed she gave me all of my change.  Nor did she say 'Thank you' when I got my change.  When I asked if I was going to get my extra change, she said "for what, six cents?"  To which I told her, forget it, keep it, and you won't ever see me in this store again.  I'm completely done here.  
If this is how this store does business, I will continue to inform others via viral social media to avoid this store and spend their money at a place who will actually appreciate it.  It is to my own admission that I mistook what my change was due to me, but that mistake was not avoided in any way by this incredibly rude cashier and not rectified at all by her ignorant behavior.  Is this really worth it over a dollar?  It is to me.  I didn't pay $5 to be served and treated like this, and I assure you, I never will again!
I don't want an apology from this cashier, because I know it won't be sincere.  I don't even care if I get my money back.  What I care about is that you'll do something about this abhorrent customer service, something I did not expect coming out of a great town like Riverview.  I should add that I'm not looking to get the cashier in question here fired, rather, educate her how to serve customers properly.
And by the way... I don't care if this cashier was 'having a bad day' or whatever her excuse was.  I had a relative pass away two days ago and I also serve the public.  But I assure you I don't take out my misgivings in my life on those who support the business I work for!
I appreciate you giving me your time to read this.  Sorry for the length of this, but this made me quite angry and spoiled my day.


Sincerely,
Mike Cook

That's the gist of it.  As it turns out, their nationwide customer service is just as lousy as their service at the Riverview, NB, Canada location that I've mentioned.  This doesn't even include the lousy service that I got at a Mountain Road location here in Moncton a couple of years ago when staff were laughing at me throughout my order.  In hindsight I should have complained then too.  Why were they laughing?  God only knows what were in their ingredients that day.

Well, I've had it with Subway, in any case.  Sandwich artists my ass.  At least you don't see burger joints calling themselves ground beef expressionists or something just as silly.

Thanks for reading.

1 comment:

  1. I don't think the person who served you meant any harm and just made an error. They don't make much money just minimum wage and couldn't afford to replace the money you lost. I also suspect that the ones that worked at the Mountain Rd store weren't laughing at you....they were for once enjoying their time at work...no harm done don't you think. I love Subway and so does my family and I haven't had any issues yet. Maybe you just had an unlucky day. I think you should just talk to them privately instead of writing the comments on their website. This way you can really explain how things happened on that particular day and who knows get a gift certificate out of it..

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