I went to a KFC a couple of suburbs away from my house almost three weeks ago. The meal I got TERRIBLE. The chicken and chips tasted like they'd been sitting there for an hour - the chips were literally hard and shriveled. I only noticed this when I was unwrapping the things in the kitchen, and I was incredibly annoyed. Why? I asked the drive thru cashier for fresh chips, first off, and secondly to make sure the chicken was relatively fresh. I always do this, because I worked at a KFC as a high school student to make some extra cash and I know sometimes things get stale easily.
Not only this, when the guy at the other window was handing me my food, I asked him flat out "Did you guys make sure this is all fresh?" and he nodded and said, "Yep. All fresh." There was NO WAY in hell any of it could have been made fresh - my house is barely 10 minutes from this place. It was without a doubt the worst food I've had served to me in a very very long time.
So, that's sucky. But here's the real suck part I'm annoyed about. I rang them, straight after discovering my food was horrible, and explained my story. Due to the fuel in my car being very low, I really didn't want to drive back. The manager was happy to mail me out free coupons to reimburse me for my food, and told me he'd mail the stuff out the next day. I gave him my address and was happy with it all.
A week goes by, I receive nothing. I figure that perhaps the mail service is being slow, but just to double check, I ring back. I find out that he hasn't mailed it yet, and am REASSURED that he'll mail it that way.
Another week goes by. And almost another full, until I finally get pissed enough to ring back. Now, up until this point I've been very polite and understanding, because sometimes, shit just happens. But now, I'm angry, and I find out that he's lost the letter, my address, and can't find his book with my complaints written down in them. Enough is enough. I crack it and ask him for his head office number, because I knew I was not going to get anything from him.
Seriously, if you flat out PROMISE a customer you're going to reimburse them, you do it. You do it promptly. I didn't once scream, get irate or nasty, or anything of that sort - I just wanted some sort of compensation. I will never go back to that particular store.