McDonald's
Reviews and Complaints

The last weekend or so in April of this year, I pulled through the drive thru of my corner McDonalds and ordered a Quarter Pounder meal. The sign said 3.79. I paid, got the receipt, it totalled to 3.99 + tax. The drink was broken out separately. That's standard practice now, the breaking out of the drink price.

I pulled through and asked about being overcharged. The guy got the manager, who stood and argued with me for a couple of minutes, patted his pockets down like I was taking his money, told me he puts the prices up so it couldn't have been wrong, told me it was the tax (I pointed out the tax). Finally gave me a quarter and a hot apple pie.

I didn't want the pie. I wanted an apology for being overcharged and treated like an idiot. I wanted sincerity. I most certainly did NOT want to be treated like I was in the wrong.

Round two.

One month later I try the same McD's, this time for breakfast, thinking maybe that manager had trained his shift to overcharge. I have no idea how the registers work. I'm since told they just push buttons and prices come up. Same thing happens with a breakfast meal. Overcharged 20 cents.

I was meeting a friend to walk and didn't have time to argue with a manager, so I came home and emailed McDonald's, explaining all that happened. I thought it odd that a store seemed to consistently, intentionally charge an extra 20 cents per meal. Who gets that money? The next morning, early, I got a phone call from a supervisor about my email. She was vague. No apologies. Abrupt. Glad she could satisfy me. Except she hadn't satisfied me and I said so. She said she'd send me some coupons. Why? To eat someplace I'm never going to again?

Last week I got a letter from a regional person. A form letter. It's very generic. I emailed McD's again and told them I wasn't pleased, that I would never eat there again, then blogged about it. Almost immediately I received an email from the local supervisor to this effect:

Dated July 8 -
I am writing in regard to your concerns about the previous price issues at
our location at 91st & Memorial. I have tried to reach you by phone but was
unable to do so. First, let me apologize for the impression I left during
our first conversation. I certainly did not intend to come across as vague
or unapologetic. I researched the original complaint about prices on the
menu board being different from what the receipt shows you were charged. I
found that the price for the Sausage Egg and Cheese McGriddle was incorrect
on the menu board. I asked the Restaurant Manager to correct the menu board
immediately. Unfortunately, with the large number of items we offer, we can
miss something in posting pricing. At this time I am not sure what action
you expected from our first conversation or what action you are looking for
now. Based on the information provided I felt that we did resolve the price
issue. We place a lot of importance on the feedback we receive from our
customers. I appreciate the fact that you took the time to contact us in
the first place and look forward to discussing this issue with you again.
Please contact me at the number below or on my cell number, 918-6 (I'm really tempted to leave her cell number intact).
Liz B*******
General Manager
Mar-B McDonald's

That was certainly genuinely caring and apologetic. Not. Same tone as the phone call. I responded with the following and never heard back:

Thank you for your response. This happened not only with a dinner menu, but a month later with a breakfast menu, which is what you're addressing here. The earlier event was a Quarter Pounder meal. Unfortunately I didn't have time to address it with breakfast, as I was running late to meet someone. Also unfortunately, the manager treated me like an idiot the first time I addressed it.

Your response to me was simply acknowledgement that I was unhappy with the situation. Not much more or less. I wasn't necessarily angry, but definitely unsatisfied with my treatment as a human being. I was unhappy with our conversation and feeling as though I got the brush off, as though you simply wanted me off the phone, as though I was a nuisance.

I will no longer eat at McDonalds. I know that you said on the phone that you'd send me coupons (which you didn't - I got a form letter from someone in Texas), but I don't want coupons I won't use.

You say that you're not sure what action I was looking for. I am simply looking for an apology for being treated like I was at fault, as well as an apology for being overcharged. Not excuses. If the manager had apologized and refunded the difference immediately the first time, I would have let everything go. It's not about money. It's about customer service.

**********************************
This isn't about the money. The supervisor sent me two coupons for free sandwiches, which I gave away. And then blogged about the entire thing again.

This evening I saw three advertisements for mcdonalds coffee in spanish and I am in the US, our language is english. I have traveled over seas to Germany and Turkey and all Mcdonalds are in english but in the United States you advertise in spanish . Are we ashamed to be Americans and english speeking ? I will now go to Burger King for my morning coffee. Our goverment has chosen english for the US's language when has this changed, I am insulted, my family came from Germany but I don't see you advertising in German, you can come from anywhere in the world but when in America speek english. Greatly Insulted

Visited IKEA today and stopped into McDonalds for a bite to eat afterwards only to have my order refused. Coming from the London - Windsor area, a very popular order is a Double Cheeseburger dressed like a Mac, in London and Windsor they have special wrapping and a register button devoted to this order. When I attemtped to order this very item in Burlington both the clerk and the manager looked at me like I had asked for the world on a gold platter.

It was explained to me that not a single restuarant in Burlington would serve me this order since I would be "ripping off the restaurant" and that I need to order a full Big Mac meal and that there was no difference other then an extra piece of bread. When I calmly responded that it is that very piece of bread I do not want and this order is very common since my college days back to 2003 and that I was willing to pay the extra 39 cents to have my cheeseburger dressed differently; I received no apology when I was told "I can't do that for you, I'll give you a package of Mac sauce." Instead of offering another meal or product or accepting my offer to pay extra for this simple service, the manager reiterated that she can not allow her customers to rip off and steal from her restuarant.

Frankly, since we were a group of 4, she lost 4 potential customers over something so simple like ketchup vs thousand island dressing. We all left without ordering and felt very displaced. In today's economy if you have customers walking into your place of business ready to hand money over to get something they want, you should be willing to accomodate your customer in any way, thanking them for spending their hard earned money with you during these tough times. We and our money were flatly turned away and we went down the road to Wendy's who was happy to tailor any order for any one; and took our money with a smile and a thank you.

When I attempted to tell McDonalds about this service refusal and the annoyance of inconsistent restuarant offering, I was further surprised to see that McDonald's Canada doesn't want to hear from their customers, offering no email address or contact form for their customers. As a multi billion dollar company, wouldn't you want to hear from your customers in real time, at their convienence. In this economy, aren't your customers everything, their loyalty and the value they see in your product - I'm pretty sure thats all thats going to get a business through this economic turndown - but hey, since a little bit of Mac sauce is going to make the company tight this fiscal, I guess I"ll continue eating elsewhere until McDonalds changes their tune about wanting my money.

I have been going to mcdonalds for 40 years. Really bad food this time! I ordered french fries [large size] and a southern style chicken sandwich with extra mayo. The french fries were cold and must have been sitting around for quite a while. Also there was less than a 1/2 teaspoon of mayo on the lukewarm sandwich. It wasnt very busy there and it was 12:30 p. M. There were pleanty of employees standing around but still got poor service. They must have made everything way ahead of time in hopes of customers. Well, it didnt happen. I came home, nuked the sandwich on which I had put mayo and threw away the fries. Very bad visit. They lost a good customer.

I went through the drive thru about 8:30 in the evening on my lunch break. For a change I decided to try one of the angus sandwiches. After I paid, I sat a window for 5 minutes and then they had me pull to the side and wait for another 15 minutes. They finally brought me my food after about a dozen or so cars have gone through. By the tim I got my food and drove only about 5 minutes away the fries where room temp. And the sandwich was cold as well. By that time though I had to be back at work.
I think that it should be posted that it takes time for those sandwiches to be made if that is an everytime thing. Otherwise I think if some one has to wait for their food more that 5 minutes after they order there should be a discount on their next order or something free. After all it is supposed to be "fast food" and its not hardeez. So they don't need to try and be like them.

went to McDonald's today sent my 18 year old daughter in to get a meal, when she came back she was almost in tears, i asked her what happened, she told me one of the staff working in the kitchen started swearing at her, so i went in myself to see what was going on, i called for the manager and told him, he called this person, his excuse was my daughter was in their earlier swearing at him. this very confused person thinks its OK to swear at customers and come up with any reason to cover their mistakes. the manager, which has no right to be a manager, if he cannot do his job properly, he turned around and said i know where he is coming from. we got no apology. i will be taking this further as much as i can anyway. McDonald's really need to give their staff proper training and anger management.

Restaurant is filthy... flies trapped in food display areas;dying and dead... overflowing garbages; filthy toilets; filthy floors; tables and chairs not wiped; windows dirty; broken tiles and equipment; 12 year olds trying to make coffee (just doesn't cut the grade)... and ever since the green coffee has arrived it is obvious it is cheap crap that they are pretending is so much better for the environment when really it is just cheaper to buy from "rainforest alliance" blah blah blah

I was in a Macdonalds today t in Scarborough Ontario. I saw at least 3 to 4 cash registars open. One Line. when I got in line. then a little latter More customers came in and since no line was really defined by the store itself the new custumers that came in went in front of me by going to the cash with one person. Now I could see that there was only one line but I guess they could because there was no barrier showing that there was one line for the four cash registars. I have seen this problem in a lot of places that I go. and I feel very frustrated when it happens because I wait my turn in line and sometimes for quit some time. when this happened today i felt very upset and felt why should I wait in line while people who just walked into the store can jump in front of me just because they don't feel the line up was clearly defined.
So I left. I feel Mcdonald's s and other places of business should make sure if they have more than one resturant then the line up for customer's should be clearly defined by the resturant and not the customer coming in. It would I feel be better all the way around.

I stopped at McDonalds today, and went to the drive thru. It was around 3:00 in the afternoon. There were sprinklers oscillating very close to where you order, and spraying water into my car and all over me. I had to shut my window twice while attempting to order and finally gave up. I went to the window and told them I wasn't finished ordering, but couldn't because I was being sprayed with water. It was all over my face. My car was wet all the way over to the passenger side window. Because my order was put in late, I had to pull up and wait. The guy who brought it out appeared to be a shift manager and I told him that people were being sprayed by the sprinklers. He responded by saying, "Oh yeah?" He then smiled, chuckled, and walked back inside. I was completely outraged. I don't hold McDonalds to a very high standard but this was unacceptable. It wasn't just a little bit of water. I could have dealt with that. It was the manager's response that really angered me. He didn't care, or even pretend to. He didn't seem to understand that it was a problem. People shouldn't have to worry about getting soaked while trying to order food, and then be completely disregarded when they politely mention it to the management. I am not loving it!