This was my first time ordering from Alpaca Chicken. I had been curious to see what all the rave reviews were about.
I do not live in Chapel Hill. I live about an hour and a half away, but whenever I have an appointment at UNC, I usually try one of the area's highly rated restaurants. After my doctor's appointment, I decided to place a large order so my family and I could try several menu items.
I ordered Chop Chop, 22oz. Jarritos Mango drink, Arroz Chaufa, Green Beans, Lomo Saltado, Rice, Fries, Pollo Saltado, Chicken Soup, Two Half-Chicken, Green & Yellow Sauce, Two orders of Tres Leches Cake, and Flan. I placed the order at approximately 3:25 p.m., and the app notified me that it was ready at 3:45 p.m. I picked it up around 4:00 p.m. The restaurant did not appear to be very busy, so I trusted that the staff had checked my large order before handing me the bags.
Unfortunately, when I arrived home, I discovered that some of my orders were missing.
I called the Chapel Hill location and initially spoke with an employee who told me I could drive back to Chapel Hill to get the missing drinks. I explained that I live approximately an hour and a half away. Driving another three-hour round trip in an SUV and spending additional money on gas would not be reasonable as they should have been placed with my order in the first place.
The employee apologized and said she could not issue a refund at all because she did not have access to the system and no manager was available. She told me that someone would call me back.
I later received a call from someone named Lucia or Lucita, if I remember correctly. She explained that she could not process the refund at that moment because she was not at the restaurant, but she promised to take care of it the following day. I told her that was fine as long as she followed through and would not forget.
It has now been a week, and I have not received the promised refund or any further communication.
I am attaching a copy of the receipt that was attached to one of my food bags. The receipt appears to have been used as a packing checklist, with handwritten check marks beside many of the items. However, the drink listed on the receipt does not appear to have been checked off.
Considering the size of this order, someone should have carefully checked the quantity and contents of every bag before handing them to me. The restaurant was not busy when I picked up the order, and the receipt provided a clear checklist that could have been used to catch the missing items.
Mistakes can happen, and the missing drinks alone could have been easily resolved. What is most disappointing is that I was promised a refund and then received no follow-up. Good customer service requires honesty, accountability, and following through on commitments. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend the Chapel Hill location.
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MY RESPONSE TO OWNER:
As stated above, I have already reached out to the Chapel Hill location and explained the situation in detail.
I agreed and trusted that she would keep her word. More than a week later, I still have not received the promised refund or any further communication.
Your response now asks me to contact the restaurant again, even though I have already done exactly that and was promised a resolution. I should not have to repeatedly chase your business for a refund after your employees failed to include part of my paid order and then failed to honor their promise to correct it.
The appropriate response would be for management to review the order, contact me directly using the information already associated with it, and process the promised refund. The responsibility to resolve this should not continue to be placed on the customer.
Your public response also contains unfilled template language such as "contact_name" and "contact_title," which makes it appear that my review and the details I provided were not carefully read before the response was posted.
I am still waiting for Alpaca Chicken to follow through and make this right. read more