As a Marketing Manager, I think customer feedback is vital. Over the years, I have called, emailed or sent letters to numerous companies, including Pizza Hut, Campbells Soup,  McDonald’s and many others. Sometimes the feedback is great (I once sent a letter to Red Lobster to praise a server who brought something for the girls to much after an hour wait to be seated. Need less to say – he got a huge tip too) and sometimes the feedback is not so good….

About two weeks ago, my husband had to run some errands during the lunch hour, and offered to pick up some lunch for us while he was out. There are several local deli’s that we enjoy, but this particular day we decided on Schlotzsky’s. BIG mistake. HUGE. This particular location, located on Memorial Road in Oklahoma City, has the type of drive-thru that once you are in line, you are stuck.

Below is a copy of the transcript from the messages I received via Google Talk (note the time):

Since our office is approximately 10 minutes away, I am expecting him to arrive with my sandwich somewhere around 1pm. (10-15 minutes of waiting in line, plus another 10 minutes of driving seemed reasonable, right?)

At 1:04 pm, I get this:

At this point, I have logged onto their website and found the “Customer Feedback” form to fill out. Although I wasn’t actually in the line, I am the starving wife wondering where the HELL my food is. Poor Husband.

So, being the conscientious marketing manager I am, I filled out the Schlotzsky’s online customer complaint form and listed my grievances regarding the experience. When my husband returned home from our Labor Day vacation, we received a letter from their Corporate Offices apologizing for the unsatisfactory experience and sent us a $10 gift card. I am very please with the card, but what I really wanted was to hear from the franchisee (each location is a franchise, and the letter said we should be hearing from someone. As of this date – no word from the franchisee…. )

Have you ever had an experience (good or bad) with a product or service that you contacted the company about? If so – were you satisfied with the outcome?