Harvey's 5890 McLaughlin Rd Mississauga 7:48pm April 27, 2018
After having dinner with family, I decided to get a LARGE milkshake from Harvey's for dessert for my wife & I to share on our long drive home.
It wasn't until we got on the 401E that my wife noticed there were cookie crumbs in it - by taste and clearly visibly. As I have a wheat allergy, I decided just to go to another Harvey and explain the situation & exchange it rather than turn around on the highway for a $4 shake. The most convenient place for us was at the Harvey's 1000 Rowntree Dairy Rd, Woodbridge, ON.
When I pulled up to the order window I carefully explained that I ordered a large shake from ANOTHER Harvey's location that had cookie crumbs in it and was just looking for an exchange. The person at the window said she couldn't help me and so I asked for a manager. When I got to the drive-through window a young man told me it was "not his problem." That is not the words of a store manager. I said that I understood that it may be a food franchise but that it was only a $4 order, and any other franchise in Canada would honour something like that. To him it did not matter. I said are you willing to risk losing a customer for life over $0.10 COST of ice-cream. He said "It's not because of me that you may never come back!" Who says that to a customer? I said well here - take this back because I'm not going to finish it. He wouldn't take it and just continued to argue with me. Finally - it wasn't until I threatened to post my experience on social media that the girl at the drive through said - "Just give it to him". He finally took the LARGE chocolate shake from me and returned with a MEDIUM chocolate shake. I said "thank you," and he responded with the typical millennial response of "no problem!"
Clearly, if you are in customer service - especially as a manager, that is no way to speak to ANY customer.
What would have been a much better response would be something like:
"Oh sir, I'm so sorry that other Harvey's location made a mistake with your order, but because we are a franchise we don't actually have an obligation to the other restaurant, but I would be happy to offer you some coupons or gift certificate for your next visit," or
"We're so sorry ...when a store is busy there are mistakes that do happen with orders from time to time, but because we are a franchise we don't have an obligation to other location, but we will exchange it for you just this once and ask that you follow up with the other restaurant tomorrow, and let them know of their mistake." Either one would have been a much more professional response than "That's not my problem!" How many other customers at that location have experienced that kind of treatment?
Everyone has bad days - that is inevitable - but if you are in a customer service industry, you cannot afford to have a single bad day with customers - especially over $4. When there are SO MANY other alternatives to eat at - with social media and feedback sites like Google reviews & Yelp, you just can't lose a single customer, or they will never be back and convince others to not go there either. I will never go back to the Harvey's 1000 Rowntree Dairy Rd, Woodbridge, ON, and it will be a while for the bad taste of Harvey's to leave my mouth.