Shit hits the fan at DQ

Today after puppy class we went out for a treat since it was Neil's first day at work (blog forthcoming). After a 30 minute wait and raised blood pressure, the following message was submitted to the Dairy Queen headquarters. I know that Blizzards are a tasty treat, but next time you're in the mood for one think twice. It's the principle ;-).

Here is the message that we wrote. We'll see if it gets any results. (It is no exaggeration. If anything we were going easy on them, because I could only write so much in the tiny two inch square comment box. )

"We visit this location several times a month, and although there is usually a rather large line, until today we have been satisfied with the service and food. Following today’s experience we will not be visiting the Tudor DQ ever again – unless my concerns are addressed. While waiting for over twenty five minutes for our order (a small dipped cone and a medium blizzard) we had plenty of time to observe the inability of the staff to fulfill their jobs. A young employee named Rebecca was working at the counter to call out the ice cream orders. For the duration of the twenty five minutes that we waited she never once smiled. Other waiting customers discussed how unhappy she looked to be at work, which was putting in nicely. Numerous orders were incorrect. The orders that were made correctly were presented in a sloppy fashion with ice cream dripping all over the side of the cups. One customer had a strawberry cheesecake blizzard that was completely overflowing and smeared all over the sides. When she asked for a larger cup to put the overflowing blizzard into Rebecca placed the messy smaller cup inside the larger cup, not resolving the problem. It still spilled all over the customer’s hands and floor.

When it became apparent that our order was skipped over. (She was calling out #s 15 and up) I told her that our number (#12) hadn’t been called yet. Rebecca asked for the receipt, then asked the other staff members who were behind the counter making the desserts about it. When they said that they didn’t know her response was, “That one was called a long time ago.” I informed her that in fact it wasn’t (I was standing directly in front of the counter the entire time, and the number was never called, nor did anything that matched our order ever get placed on the counter.) Rebecca’s response was, “well that was a long time ago and they aren’t going to remake it.” She then proceeded to turn around a walk away to help another customer. Another customer who had been waiting, and said that she could vouch that our number was never called, asked for the manager. We then showed our receipt to him. The manager was able to make our order, although not before making it incorrectly on the first try. I can understand needing to wait when a store is busy, however, it is completely unacceptable to be told that they refuse to make my order that I had paid for and had been waiting 25 minutes for.

I expect a written apology, detailing how you are going to address these problems of awful customer service and extremely long wait times. Only after receiving such indication will I consider returning to your establishment. You can also expect that I will report your poor service to my friends and family. This is absolutely unacceptable."