I have never had a negative experience at any Byrne Dairy until today when I stopped in to the Byrne on the corner of Milton Ave & Onondaga Blvd to get a coffee. The French vanilla creamer was empty with a couple of drops coming out and stopping. It was empty, so I asked an employee if she could please replenish the creamer. I immediately got an abrupt response from her loudly saying: "I'm already doing 87 things today" and she "stomped" away. I found her response to be extremely rude, but didn't say anything back, and asked the cashier if the manager was available. To my shock she said: "that is the manager." I asked the manager's name, and she said Eileen, saying there's a refill bag in the dispenser, and just looked at me as if she expected me to change it. The manager overheard me ask for some creamer from the cooler, and she stomped over to the dispenser where I was now standing. When I say "stomped," I mean like a three year-old would stomp when they're being forced to do something they don't want to do with their legs in a marching motion, arms close to the side and shoulders pitched forward. I had no idea why she was so angry but whatever the reason, taking it out on a customer is extremely inappropriate. When she came over to the dispenser, I pushed the button for the creamer to show her it was empty and a small drop came out and then stopped. At that moment yelled at me: "that wasn't necessary!" as if I was some kid being scolded. (I am a senior citizen) As she was opening the dispenser, I said: "every time I come in here it's empty." That set her off and she slammed the lid so hard I literally thought she fractured the machine. She refused to refill the creamer and stomped away the same way she stomped over saying loudly for everyone to hear: "I'm not taking this. I'm not allowing a customer to talk to me like that." A total meltdown! I was left standing by the creamer dispenser feeling awkward while people gave me sympathetic looks including an employee who was scooping ice cream- when I saw another employee stocking a rack. I walked over to her and asked if she could please change the bag in the creamer and she was very cordial and changed it immediately. She then apologized to me because it was empty. All during this time, the angry manager was in the back by the ovens loudly complaining that she "wasn't going to allow customer to talk to her that way," and I commented to the employee who changed the creamer "I think your manager is having a meltdown" and the response she gave made me think it was typical behavior for that manager. I can only imagine how she treats the people she manages if she gets that mad at a customer asking for creamer.
After getting my coffee, I asked the cashier for the number to corporate, and her response to me was "you can look it up online." At this point I'm thinking to myself 'nobody must like working at this Byrne Dairy store.' I asked her to please write it down and she did. I left the store and went to my car and immediately called corporate only to find out they don't have a customer service department, but a rep agreed to listen to my negative experience which she said she would pass on to the district manager. She also told me the manager, Eileen, had been with them for a very long time, so apparently the bar is set low. Byrne makes the best sandwiches I've ever had, but it's not worth it being the way I was treated.
I wasn't going to write a review of this incident because I was waiting for the district manager to contact me, but when I thanked the rep at corporate for listening to me and saying: "thanks, Katie," which is the name I thought she said- she snapped saying "it's Keely, it's Keely" in an annoyed tone. I even actually apologized for the mispronunciation, but when the call ended, I thought to myself, why am I apologizing for anything? I was treated rudely when I spend my hard-earned money at Byrne. All I asked for was creamer and I don't expect to be treated the deplorable way I was today. The rudeness of the Corporate rep when I mispronounced her name is what made me post this review today. Horrible customer service results in a one-star review. Both Eileen and Keely would benefit from some retraining in customer service skills before they get any more negative reviews. I wouldn't think my experience today is the impression Byrne Dairy wants to promote to their customers, but after talking to Corporate, I'm not sure. I found it amusing that as soon as I left the store the rude manager came outside to smoke a cigarette. Apparently she got her 87 things done. This particular store has a dismal review rating. Multiple one star reviews complaining about the same types of things I experienced yet none have responses from Byrne corporate. Makes me wonder why anyone patronizes this business. read more