I was already having a bad day and Taco Bell made it worse. I was leaving work and had several errands to run. I hadn't eaten all day so I figured I would place an order in the app and swing by the store to pick it up. I assumed it would be a simple and quick process... my mistake. When I placed my order in the app, I selected the option to pick up my food via the drive thru. However, when I arrived at the store and gave the person on the speaker my name I was told that if my food was not ready when I pulled up to the window I would have to come inside.
I tried explaining to her that I selected the option to pick up my food through the drive thru but she was too busy being rude to hear or understand me. When I pulled up to the drive thru I was polite but firm in my position that I should not have to come inside when I was given and selected the option to get my food at the drive thru. Now a young man joined the woman in raising her voice to insist that I come inside because they had not yet prepared my food. When the Manager was called over, he explained that not only was my food not ready, the order had not appeared in their system. On my end, the app was telling me my food was ready for pick up. On their end, it looked like I had not placed an order.
The Manager agreed to have someone bring my food to my car, but it still was not appearing in their system. I asked him to give me the drink I ordered with reward points and he had to look at my phone to see what I ordered (turned out they didn't have the flavor drink I ordered...). I parked in the spot they told me to park in and waited 15 minutes before finally going through the drive thru again only for them to tell me the order still hadn't appeared in their system. I asked for a refund and they told me they couldn't give me one and that I'd have to use the app to make that request.
My issue would be with the corporate office and the folks who made and maintain the app but the staff was unnecessarily rude. Rather than empathize with my position and try to appease me (ya know, the way one might treat a customer) they decided to berate me and treat me as if I did something wrong for simply wanting the food I paid for in the manner I requested it. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, now I'm being given the runaround for my refund.
I submitted several requests for a refund through the app but they all get funneled back to the store. Then I get calls from the Store Manager telling me I have to go back to the app. The Store Manager then tells me I should expect an automatic refund in 7 business days, but then the Regional Manager calls to contradict this and tells me I have to call my bank to dispute the charge.
I know some will read this and think I'm overdoing it for such a small thing and I get that perspective. I know some will say I shouldn't expect Chick-Fil-A service from a Taco Bell and I get that too. I am just really disappointed by the bad service at this location and in the fast food industry in general and tired of accepting "good enough" when I pay my more than good enough money for food and services. This situation could have been so simple but it has turned into a week long saga (and I still have to wait 10 days for my bank to process the dispute). I'm not sure I will ever go back to another Taco Bell but I'm certainly done with this location.
I'm sure this won't do anything to change anything but on the off chance it could... let's normalize treating people kindly on both sides of the speaker/counter. Let's bring back good customer service. Let's change this corporate culture of jerking people around until they get tired and give up. Do better, Taco Bell. Particularly this Largo, Maryland location. Thanks for letting me vent and share my experience, Yelp. read more