Three years ago, this was the best McDonald’s in Greenville, but it has steadily declined. We use to go there at least twice a week. Yet, because of the poor service, we have gone only five times in the past 12 months, during various hours. For every order, we used the drive-thru and ordered just burgers and fries, (five items at the most), with no special requests. Nevertheless, every order was wrong; something was missing, or we received someone else’s order. The fry containers are consistently underfilled, and the fries are always soggy as if they aren't drained. Today, I paid almost $5 for a large fry, but received the equivalent of a small, and the bag was so greasy, it left grease on my car seat.
Regardless of the time of day or simplicity of our order, we are always made to park, along with everyone else. If nearly every drive-thru customer must park and wait, this is not an efficiently operated drive-thru. Yet, even after parking, the orders are still wrong and the food is also usually cold, suggesting that it has been sitting, despite the fact the customers are waiting. Customers made to wait should not have to inspect every item before leaving, as accuracy should be checked by staff before that order leaves the building.
Five incorrect orders in five separate visits is not bad luck. It is statistically improbable:
Error Chance of 5 mistakes
Rate in 5 separate visits
----------------------------------------
5% 1 in 3,200,000
10% 1 in 100,000
20% 1 in 3,125
30% 1 in 412
40% 1 in 98
50% 1 in 32
Five incorrect orders in five separate visits indicates an unusually high error rate and a serious, ongoing management problem. This level of inaccuracy is unacceptable.
What really bothers me is this McDonalds is only one block from my home, yet I now drive three times farther to visit its competitors. Whoever is managing this location is clearly not providing adequate training, emphasizing accuracy, supervising employees, nor paying attention to what is happening during daily operations. When the same problems continue across different shifts and times of day, they can no longer be dismissed as isolated employee mistakes.
Also, the large number of 1, 2, and 3 star Google reviews for this McDonald’s also indicates that my experience is not isolated. Many other customers have reported similar problems: this location has been on a steady downward spiral for years. Even more concerning, the restaurant’s local telephone number has been removed from its receipts and replaced with the corporate number and negative Google reviews receive generic responses directing customers to a corporate link. This makes it clear local management does not wish to speak to clients, driving home the impression they do not care.
At this point, it is obvious management is aware of the issues, but they are directing everyone to the corporate office, why? It is evident this a management issue. However, instead of taking responsibility for conditions inside its own restaurant, management appears to be waiting for the corporate office to solve the problems for them. Corporate oversight may be necessary, but local management is still responsible for training employees and improving the customer experience. Redirecting every complaint to corporate does not relieve local management of those responsibilities. If the person running this location is unable or unwilling to correct these ever growing issues, the corporate office needs to seriously consider some retraining for the store manager(s) or a reassignment to a store(s) with less traffic until they have enough experience and training to adequately handle an operation of this size.
In the meantime, I have already reported these concerns to the corporate office, so I don't need the their link. Instead, I would like for you, management, to explain what specific steps are being made to improve food quality and order accuracy at this location.