I honestly cannot get over how absurd and unpleasant this experience was, so I feel compelled to leave a review.
I used to order from Jaws Tteokbokki fairly often because I genuinely enjoyed their food, even as recently as earlier this year. On September 1, I placed an order for a half size tteokbokki and 3 pieces or cheeseballs. After picking up my order, I did some quick shopping for about 5-10 minutes. When I got back to my car, I realized that the sauce had leaked so badly inside the plastic bag that most of it had spilled out of the container and was even leaking through the outer bag. Since I obviously could not take the food home like that, I went back in and explained what had happened. Instead of apologizing or even checking the packaging first, the female employee immediately told me that she had seen me on my phone while "swinging" the tteokbokki as I walked out, and repeatedly offered to show me the store's security footage as proof.
I have ordered from this location many times before, so I know how their tteokbokki is normally packaged. The plastic seal is usually extremely tight hat it is difficult to tear open by hand, which I know is why they normally include the small red cutter in the bag.
I did not drop bag, hit it against anything, run with it, or intentionally shake it. I carried the bag exactly as it was handed to me and walked around a store for a few minutes. If normal walking is enough for nearly the entire contents of a takeout container to leak out, that sounds like a packaging problem. And in fact, while waiting for the employee to contact the manager, I noticed one corner of the plastic seal looked different. I pressed it lightly and it was visibly loose and easily pushed down, completely unlike the tight, flat seal I had received from this restaurant many times before. I showed this directly to the employee. Interestingly, after seeing it, she went from saying the manager would review the footage and call her back to offering to remake my food. I declined and received a refund.
I was still so uncomfortable with the way the situation had been handled that I called the restaurant again afterward and asked to speak directly with the manager. The same employee told me she could not give me the manager's phone number. That itself was understandable but the way she kept talking to me was unacceptable. She repeatedly interrupted me and told me things such as, "If the customer is wrong, then the customer is wrong," that the manager had also watched the footage and agreed that I had shaken the container, that the manager would be there tomorrow so I could come back then, that they were closing, and even, "This is America, and I know the law." She continued bringing up the security footage over and over again to the point that I genuinely could not understand why it was being used so aggressively in response to a complaint about leaking food.
I explained that if she could not provide the manager's contact information, she could simply give the manager my phone number, or I could speak with the manager myself the next day. But separate from that, I asked whether she truly believed this was an appropriate way to speak to and handle a customer. Instead of addressing that question, she continued interrupting me and repeating the exact same statements about the footage and blaming me for what happened.
What turned it into such an upsetting experience was being immediately accused of causing the problem myself, repeatedly confronted with "security footage" before anyone even properly examined the packaging, and then spoken to in such a dismissive and confrontational manner, even after I showed the employee that part of the seal was visibly loose.
Extremely disappointing customer service and employee training, especially from a place I had previously enjoyed and ordered from many times. read more