Dear Mr. Shaich,
Allow me to preface this letter with this sentiment: I love your food! The soups are terrific, and the bread! The fruit is always fresh and sweet, and the veggies in the salad never mushy or brown. The pastries are delightful, never burnt or dry, and always fresh. I just love it. That being said, let me move on to the reason for this letter.
The tastiness of your food is completely offset by the inability of people who work in your restaurants to get an order right. I can honestly say that seven visits out of ten, there's something wrong with my order. I was given the wrong soup on one occasion. Not a huge deal, as I like all of the soups, but it is annoying to ask for one thing and receive something else. On another occasion I asked for an apple instead of a baguette. I received a baguette anyhow. Again, not the biggest of issues as I enjoy the bread. On yet another occasion, I ordered the Pick Two combo, but did not receive my sandwich. The incidents go on from there.
Back in June of this year, I ordered a strawberry poppyseed salad with chicken. I love this salad. I had been looking forward to this salad being in season. When I got back to the office, I noticed two things awry: 1. I didn't receive any chicken in my salad and 2. I ordered a full sized salad, but received a half portion. I checked my receipt, and sure enough, I paid for a full sized salad with chicken. This was absolutely the last straw.
I normally don't complain about minor mistakes, as the lunch crowd can cause a lot of confusion and I understand that the servers have their hands full. This time I did call the restaurant because over the last month or so (my office used to order Panera about once a week), the mistakes had come to include missing items. When I am ordering for myself only, I always check to be sure everything is there, but when I am ordering for the whole office, I don't have the time to dig through eight bags of food and determine who ordered what and whether or not it's all there; not to mention the people in line behind me wouldn't appreciate being held up in this manner.
When I called, the person who answered the phone was polite and apologetic. He took down my information and assured me that I would be taken care of. I didn't give it another thought until I received my 'care' in the mail. When I opened the envelope, there was a brief letter of apology and a gift certificate in the amount of six dollars. My total for the salad I only partially received was eight dollars sixty five cents. Now, while I realize there's only a two dollar and sixty five cent difference between my compensation and what I paid for the salad initially, I was still quite put out by it. In order to receive a replacement salad, I would have to actually contribute about 30% of the price myself, which seems a bit unfair seeing as how the mistake was wholly on the part of the restaurant.
Is a full refund too much to ask for? I really don't think so. I came to the conclusion that this company clearly needs the money more than I do, so I will not be redeeming this gift certificate. I very much enjoy your food, but the hassles I experience at the hands of the people that work at Panera restaurants far outweigh the enjoyment I get from eating there. I will not be returning to your restaurants for a good long time, if at all. An excerpt from the gift certificate itself sums up my experience nicely:
"Although we pride ourselves in this commitment to customer satisfaction, we sometimes fall short of our expectations."
Once again, you've fallen short. Two dollars and sixty five cents short.
Sincerely,
Christie Holland
Allow me to preface this letter with this sentiment: I love your food! The soups are terrific, and the bread! The fruit is always fresh and sweet, and the veggies in the salad never mushy or brown. The pastries are delightful, never burnt or dry, and always fresh. I just love it. That being said, let me move on to the reason for this letter.
The tastiness of your food is completely offset by the inability of people who work in your restaurants to get an order right. I can honestly say that seven visits out of ten, there's something wrong with my order. I was given the wrong soup on one occasion. Not a huge deal, as I like all of the soups, but it is annoying to ask for one thing and receive something else. On another occasion I asked for an apple instead of a baguette. I received a baguette anyhow. Again, not the biggest of issues as I enjoy the bread. On yet another occasion, I ordered the Pick Two combo, but did not receive my sandwich. The incidents go on from there.
Back in June of this year, I ordered a strawberry poppyseed salad with chicken. I love this salad. I had been looking forward to this salad being in season. When I got back to the office, I noticed two things awry: 1. I didn't receive any chicken in my salad and 2. I ordered a full sized salad, but received a half portion. I checked my receipt, and sure enough, I paid for a full sized salad with chicken. This was absolutely the last straw.
I normally don't complain about minor mistakes, as the lunch crowd can cause a lot of confusion and I understand that the servers have their hands full. This time I did call the restaurant because over the last month or so (my office used to order Panera about once a week), the mistakes had come to include missing items. When I am ordering for myself only, I always check to be sure everything is there, but when I am ordering for the whole office, I don't have the time to dig through eight bags of food and determine who ordered what and whether or not it's all there; not to mention the people in line behind me wouldn't appreciate being held up in this manner.
When I called, the person who answered the phone was polite and apologetic. He took down my information and assured me that I would be taken care of. I didn't give it another thought until I received my 'care' in the mail. When I opened the envelope, there was a brief letter of apology and a gift certificate in the amount of six dollars. My total for the salad I only partially received was eight dollars sixty five cents. Now, while I realize there's only a two dollar and sixty five cent difference between my compensation and what I paid for the salad initially, I was still quite put out by it. In order to receive a replacement salad, I would have to actually contribute about 30% of the price myself, which seems a bit unfair seeing as how the mistake was wholly on the part of the restaurant.
Is a full refund too much to ask for? I really don't think so. I came to the conclusion that this company clearly needs the money more than I do, so I will not be redeeming this gift certificate. I very much enjoy your food, but the hassles I experience at the hands of the people that work at Panera restaurants far outweigh the enjoyment I get from eating there. I will not be returning to your restaurants for a good long time, if at all. An excerpt from the gift certificate itself sums up my experience nicely:
"Although we pride ourselves in this commitment to customer satisfaction, we sometimes fall short of our expectations."
Once again, you've fallen short. Two dollars and sixty five cents short.
Sincerely,
Christie Holland
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