I have been a fan and loyal customer of Panera for years. I used to get up at the crack of dawn and would be one of the first to partake in their fresh pastries and breads. The Panera brand has always reflected quality to me and I take my relationship seriously with them- as a customer, I expect that they will continue their good customer service and quality of food no matter what location that I patronize.
I recently moved to the area and decided to try out this location. I ordered my food online with the My Panera App and thought that I was good to go. I found the food waiting for me and rushed out of the store, no problem...
Until I went to eat my Green Goddess Cobb Salad around lunchtime and realized that the dressing was not Green Goddess. So, I returned to the store with bag in hand. I waited in line and then explained that I believed that they had given me a plain (old fashioned) cobb salad like the one that they used to have. The lady looked perplexed and essentially barked at me that the new Green Goddess salad was the same salad as the original only with different dressing... I was baffled.
The gentleman (anything but) who was working next to her peeped through the cellophane window of my carton and told me that it was the right salad (wrong answer). I again asked them to check the salad and told them that the salad dressing WAS NOT green goddess dressing. This seemed to pique their interest since it seems neither of them knew what green goddess dressing looks like (I'll give you a hint, it's not CLEAR) When I went to hand back the salad, the man puts both of his hands up and tells me that they are not allowed to take the salad back(?) but that he will just get me some green goddess dressing.
This was as the lady at the counter kept saying to me "but, it's the same salad..." to everything that I had to say. I was completely annoyied and felt disrespected. Newsflash, guys, it was NOT the same salad as the original cobb. There were several variations made to the salad and it needed to be checked. The employees should know the changes on the menu... especially for new offerings and these were fairly big changes.
I work in a customer service driven industry and the golden rule is that "The customer is ALWAYS right" Had these employees taken the time to CAREFULLY listen, possibly apologize for the inconvenience and then simply check my salad and offer the dressing, this interaction would have gone a lot smoother and I would have more confidence in this particular Panera. However, it didn't. I ended up calling corporate and filing a complaint. This
Panera is off my list. In all my years as a customer, I have never had such rude and ineffective service. I will not be going back again. If you want a side of frustration and disrespect with your ill prepared meal, then this is the place for you! read more