Oct 30 2012
McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It – (as long as it long as it wasn’t rejected by another customer)
I love McDonald’s. Their burgers and fries taste great and their restaurant food is consistent from city to city. They implement great marketing campaigns and their prices are affordable. Whenever I’m hungry and see the golden arches, I usually give in to temptation. A couple of years ago, I even bought the below vintage looking t-shirt to advertise my love for their food to my friends.
Even though my father doesn’t frequent McDonald’s as often as I do, he will occasionally grab a burger on the go. On October 22nd around 12:15 pm my father stopped at the Park Royal McDonald’s in West Vancouver and ordered a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Burger.
Much to his surprise, the burger he was given had an obvious bite taken out of it. (please note the below picture is not of THE actual burger, it is just for illustrative purposes)
Needless to say, he was shocked and disgusted. He immediately alerted the staff and was given a quick apology, a new burger and a complimentary apple pie. To his knowledge, the manager was not even notified of this incident.
After all of this, he overheard a female staff member asking a male staff member where he put a burger that was returned by a previous customer. She informed him that he should have put it somewhere else. My father assumes he was given the rejected, second hand burger.
Had I been in the same situation, I probably would have instantly taken a picture with my iPhone and shared it on Facebook and twitter. McDonald’s Canada is in tune with their image in online communities and likely would reach out hoping to retain me as a customer and prevent the same experience being endured by another customer.
Heck, McDonald’s Canada CMO Joel Yashinsky even took the time to comment on my classmate Ariel’s blog.
On the other hand, my Dad isn’t keen to return to McDonald’s anytime soon. Had I been a McDonald’s employee, I would have AT LEAST given him a free meal and probably have given him a small gift card to ensure he returned in the future. To make matters worse, my father went online looking for an e-mail to contact McDonald’s Canada customer service. He couldn’t find one.
Social media provides such an excellent platform for my demographic to address otherwise unreported consumer issues. However, I’m surprised that McDonald’s doesn’t have an e-mail address or website form to better communicate with customers like my father. I would be really interested to hear how Mr. Yashinsky would have resolved the situation and hope that bringing this unpleasant experience to the attention of McDonald’s Canada can prevent future customer dissatisfaction.