Lazy Cinnabon Guy Lies, You Get Free Churros
Reader Nathan writes:
Here's a story about how Cinnabon gave me some free churros:For some reason we love Cinnabon's second all caps "yelling" reply. Perhaps we've been doing this job too long.I went to a Cinnabon store at the airport (on a Sunday) and tried to order two churros. When I got there, there was barely anything stocked in the front trays - basically, they looked closed. There was, however, a tray of churros on the oven behind the cashier. When I gave my order, the cashier said that they don't have anymore churros. He told me that they only make churros one time in the morning and that they weren't allowed to make them in the afternoon (it was about 3:00 PM). It was very clear to me that the employee didn't want to make any churros but what do I know about some weird company policy.
I emailed customer service about my experience and here their reply (they sent it to me on Monday morning):
Thank you for contacting us about your experience on 3/29/2008 in Ft. Myers, Florida. We appreciate our guests taking the time to inform us about their experiences.As we understand it, the product you wanted to buy was not available at the bakery because the bakery had run out. We at Cinnabon are committed to giving you the value and variety you seek, so we take your feedback very seriously. We appreciate your willingness to tell us about your experience as it will enable us to follow-up with the bakery and correct the problem for you and other guests. Because Cinnabon's bakes all products fresh throughout the day and cannot always predict which products will sell, we sometimes experience temporary delays in product availability. We can assure you that the management team will work hard to prevent this from happening again.
While it certainly won't erase your past experience, we hope you'll give Cinnabon another try at our expense. We are sending a gift certificate for your use on your next visit.
If you have any other concerns or comments, please do not hesitate to share them with us or with the management at your local Cinnabon Bakery. We are committed to earning your loyalty.
Thank you again for your past business. We hope you will give Cinnabon another chance to serve you in the future, as your satisfaction is important to us.
Sincerely,
Chris
Cinnabon Guest Response LineI wrote back saying, "I don't really care to go on about it but it's just not true that they had run out. There was a tray of churros right behind him on the oven. Besides, if that was the case, then why didn't the employee tell me that? Instead, he lied and told me that they are not allowed to make them in the afternoon."
Well, I just received another email this morning (Wednesday):
I WAS DISAPPOINTED TO LEARN OF YOUR RECENT SUBSTANDARD EXPERIENCE AT OUR FT MYERS CINNABON UNIT. I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT "CHURROS" ARE SERVED FROM MORNING UNTIL CLOSING. I WILL INVESTIGATE THIS INNCIDENT TO SEE WHY YOUR NEEDS WERE NOT MET. CINNABON IS SENDING YOU A COMPLIMENTARY COUPON TO HELP US APOLOGIZE FOR THIS INNCIDENT. I HOPE YOU WILL VISIT US AGAIN WHEN IN THE FT MYERS AREA.Thanks Cinnabon!
(Photo:martyz)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam malesuada commodo erat et molestie. Duis pellentesque aliquam bibendum. Suspendisse venenatis lobortis eleifend. Mauris id est sed lectus convallis aliquam.
Post a comment
Comments:
I like how they misspelled incident twice. At least they are consistent in their yelling.
Churros at Cinnabon?
Why did you have to be so difficult, just get a delicious cinnabon like everyone else. :-)
They seem to have quick and good customer service. Many times I have emailed retail companys and never get a response.
"so we take your feedback very seriously."
It'd be great if it the 2nd reply was originally formated in bold red letters.
Hey! They're taking it seriously!
I didn't know Cinnabon served churros. Are they better than the Costco churros?
Everyone loves a happy ending.
That second all-caps letter just sounds so frantic! I'm imagining this really angry higher-up getting ready to go out and kick butt at Ft Myers.
@evenkevin: Or Sam's Club Churros? Heck, even my babysitter from Mexico says that Sam's Churros are better than anything shes ever got in Mexico! haha
I like how both the e-mails say that the location failed to meet the guy's "needs".
I NEED A CHURRO DAMMIT!
"INNCIDENT"? Lolz.
@renilyn: Yeah, but how creepy would they have come across with "I'm sorry we couldn't meet your desires."
love that second email.
Holy Capslock batman!
Weird text/grammar aside, it is pretty great that your comment received a response that clearly suggests they're fixing it (perhaps someone will get beaten with a churro?) After all the fruitless "I informed the company about substandard service and they laughed at me" posts we read, it's nice to see that Cinnabon apparently really does care about stuff like this.
Love those buns, despite the jillion calories in each one -- wonder how bad the churros are for you. Maybe the guy was just protecting your cardiac health. And that Mega Balm in the pic is kinda creepy; I imagine it's like rubbing icing on your lips.
Whats the point of this post?
Cinnabon apologized about this VERY MINOR problem & provided a coupon as a good will gesture.
Non-story.
Non-issue.
I'm waiting until some executive support person calls after an EECB and yells during the whole conversation.
"I'M SORRY YOUR EXPERIENCE WAS SO TAINTED AT OUR COMPANY WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE BETTER??"
you can stop yelling for one thing.
i can never get enough of the fanboys posting "but are they taking it seriously?" in every new article.
it's always so fresh and so new, every single article, every single day. i always like guessing how many times it will get posted on consumerist each day. sometimes we'll have office pools, or even guess it hourly.
@AMetamorphosis: his churro needs were obviously not met. call the fire brigade!
how can you write this off as a non-emergency, you churro hater!
@AlteredBeast: Probably blinking too. Now if the OP only used HTML email and not rich text we would have all enjoyed the full effect.
Was this really news worthy? Anyone has ever traveled can relate to the horrible employees at airports. From the security to the Burger King guy. It's all just minimally supervised people with loads of attitude. Just take what you can get and move on. I always remember that I am just there temporarily and they are stuck there serving chicken wings to high strung passengers such as myself. I just try to go out of my way to be extra nice to them. Kill em with kindness.
@oakie:
LOL ... churo needs not being met
Perhaps we should insist all Cinnabon employees recieve proper Churro training before they are allowed to serve us for minumum wage ...
:-)
@oakie: I've been thinking of making it into a drinking game. Unfortunately, I mostly read the site while I'm at work.
Also, I liked that they put churro in quotes. Why? Are they not really churros? Are they churros in name only? Are they so-called "churros"?
sure, this isn't ground breaking news but in this day and age of horrible customer service i think it's nice to recognize a company that cares about it's customers. good on 'em. the all caps crack me up too.
Dammit OAKIE,
Now I keep walking around my office asking coworkers if their churro needs are being sufficently met ...
2 thoughts:
1) The second email is probably directly from a regional manager or some such, and they're probably either on a blackberry or don't know much about email. You'd be surprised by how many people in higher positions have their communications vetted by their admin staff.
2) Nothing is better than costco churros.
This is fairly off topic, but my contact at the freight service my company uses always REPLYS TO MY EMAILS IN ALL CAPS. Which I find very strange. Maybe her capslock key is broken. Oh well.
Also, Cinnabon will give you diabeetus.
@m4ximusprim3: I agree that the second e-mail was from an executive manager. I was an executive secretary for years and this is a perfect example of why it was such a good idea not to let the managers we supported anywhere near computers. To say they were clueless and dependent would be the understatement of the year. The OP should pat himself on the back for eliciting a pure, crude, unvarnished example of "executive actually addressing a problem instead of hiring someone to do it for him."
@kelptocratic: Her software is overwhelmingly likely to be some archaic DOS-based logistical piece of dreck that they've been using for fifteen years. It isn't her fault.
I predict a shitstorm in the Ft Myers area, judging by the second e-mail.
To all of the posters asking why this is being posted, you are missing the point. His e-mail was addressed promptly, and the company gave him compensation without the OP asking. And if nothing else, just to see the second e-mail. That one is certainly not an automated response.
@speedwell: Quite possibly, though I'm not convinced, as her coworker seems to be able to type properly.
Regardless, they're pretty damn good at what they do, so I can't complain.
a wise man once said "CAPS-LOCK IS LIKE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME"
@nursetim:
You said:
" To all of the posters asking why this is being posted, you are missing the point. His e-mail was addressed promptly, and the company gave him compensation without the OP asking. "
So you basically agree with many of us that this isn't an issue.
What I find laughable is that this dude took the time to write a second email about something so trivial ...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
@AMetamorphosis: Now I had the impression that the 2nd funny email was probably from somebody lower on the chain, like a district/regional manager, not from someone at Cinnabon HQ. Recently I wrote a note to Taco Cabana about their filthy store that takes 15 minutes to give you 3 tacos when there is only 1 person ahead of you in line and their front door is broken and slams on your arm when you open it and there is no soap in the bathroom and they serve burritos after they've dropped them on the floor, and well, I got a professional, coherent reply from the head office, and another, more quaint reply from the store manager. He cut out my address from the forwarded email and taped it to a small correspondence envelope that had his hand-written apology inside. It was cute, like getting a letter from your pen-pal.
( light bulb goes on )
Ahha ... I see sez the blind man ( grin )
Its the 2nd email that everyone is fixated on.
NICE to see you got a hand written apology ! :-)
@kelptocratic: Don't you mean "irregardless?" Chad? Chad? Where are you?
@AMetamorphosis: I think these CS workers, chained to a terminal all day, appreciate some meaningful feedback of whatever type. I was glad to tell Taco Cabana that things had definitely improved, and the CSAgent wrote back to thank me for letting her know. It wouldn't be much fun to write these letters all day without ever getting one in reply, don't you think? In the case of the OP, he wrote back because Cinnabon's corporate-speak missed the point--he was writing about an employee who didn't want to be bothered to stock the store with pillowy cinnamon treats.
Re: " CS workers, chained to a terminal all day, appreciate some meaningful feedback of whatever type. "
Not really, I sit here all day surfing websites while on the phone assuring you that your call is very important to us ...
Seriously, yes, we DO appreciate positive feedback ... thank you for reminding me of that :-)
Maybe that particular employee is not allowed to make "CHURROS" unsupervised.
"we take your feedback very seriously [only for money]"
does everyone remember the fortune cookie game, where you add "in bed" at the end of your fortune? i suggest we add [only for money] to the end of all "seriously" verbiage.
@m4ximusprim3: I beg to differ. While I agree that the churros from Costco are quite good, there are better ones. You usually have to look for them, and mostly available in mom-and-pop shops, so they are not as widely available as Costco's, but they are worth the hassle. You can find some good ones in "Placita Olvera" (aka Olvera Street) on the north side of downtown LA. Or, if you are close to Whittier, there's a place called "Churrolandia" and, as the name indicates, they are known for their churros, amongst other baked goods.
Never heard of a Churro. I am too lazy to Google Churro. I would probably just order a Diet Coke.
thread delivers!
I'm going to Taco Bell ... er Hell for lunch
3 gusses ( & the first 2 don't count ) for what I'm getting ...
LoL. Nothing says you're taking a matter seriouly by REALLY MAKING A POINT IN ALL CAPS.
Is that photo real or shopped? I'd be really disturbed if the same place making the buns are also making petroleum based products. You know, someone might come in drunk one day dump a bag of wax into a vat of cinnabuns. And we be amazed by how shiny the buns are.
The second reply email is gold Jerry, gold! The yelling caps is hilarious as is the spelling error.