I got one of these sandwiches yesterday, they've got nothing on Chick-Fil-A.

What is the deal with these penny pinching stores? Do they not understand what a "promotion" is? They make you buy the drink so you don't just keep going through the line over and over. Who cares what kind of drink they buy?

If I ate one of those I'd be a tunderpants as well!

They're managers at a McDonald's and cheating a promotion to raise their numbers, suprised?

they rejected me cause i chose the meal, meaning if i said give me a drink, free sandwich, and fries on the side i would have paid like 2.50, but since i said meal, they charged me like 5.50

I got one for breakfast w/ a coffee and one for lunch w/ a soft drink and then a sensible dinner.

@frankadelic: Zing!

Soft drinks are I believe the most inexpensive drinks for fast food places to survive.

I feel this persons pain as I have I encountered promotions before that insist on soft drinks. This always frustrates me because I am in a minority of the population that does not drink soft drinks. I am not simply going to buy one just to get some deal. I usually end up not ordering anything at all, or if I'm really hungry, paying more to get a non-carbonated drink.

I'm amused that the ad writer got screwed only because thier jobs is to entice people to consume what they don't want, make people forget a company's wrongdoings, and confusing the general public as much as possible with too-good-to-be-true deals.

"...for fast food places to SERVE"

Are we ever going to get an edit button?

@Shutaro: It would have been better is I managed to spell Thunderpants correctly :)

The McDonalds I went to for lunch specifically for this freebie offer didn't have any signage and the drive thru guy was particularly good at "playing dumb" until I said I wanted to drive around and speak to a manager. He understood what I wanted to order pretty damn quick then.

Later in the evening my friend wanted to get the freebie offer so we went to a different McDonalds near my house and they actually had signs promoting it, but as we were pulling into the drive-thru, the manager came out and started taking the signs down. This was at about 5:30. I asked if the promo was still on and he said "Well, yes, but you're the last one to get it."

Ordered a large sweet tea both times and didn't get hassled about it.

And yea, it seems to be a direct competing sandwich to Chick-fil-A's, though not as big a piece of chicken.

i don't know people can complain about such petty crap like this. it's a promotion. they're not bound to it, and that's why the tiny print always says crap like "participation may vary." it's a free sandwich, goddammit. if you're too incompetent to just go in and order what they ask of you, then don't complain when they don't give you the sandwich.

a possible reason why they didn't allow sweet tea - don't they already have a current ongoing promotion for $1 large sweet tea? to do so and to also get a free chicken sandwich would be combining two promotions, which always gets peoples knickers in a twist. in any case, give them a goddamn break. seriously.

Does anyone else find it funny that McDonald's, who was trying to promote a "southern style" chicken biscuit, wouldn't allow customers to buy sweet tea - which is a "southern style" drink?

Maybe I'm the only one.

I went yesterday and asked if I could order a sweet tea and get the free sandwich. Note that the Sweet tea is 32 oz and only a dollar (which is cheaper than a soft drink). She said of course. I got both and was on my way $1.05 later.

I had a med coffee with my free biscuit and the large sweet tea and sandwich for lunch no problems at all.

I agree with the irony of not allowing a southern style iced tea to count towards the promotion, but as always, individual results may vary :)

oh man, i gotta comment again in short succession (sorry). thunderpants says "So, BOO to the local franchise managers, but way to go Customer Service Rep." So what's the point of this post? Just so McD's HQ can see it and be like "time to get to the bottom of this" and track down thunderpants' local managers and reprimand them. good for you thunderpants, good for you (same to consumerist)

If it says "Medium Drink" then and med drink on the menu should suffice.
Now, if it said "Medium SODA" or the like - fine.

@Nihon no Purin:

You think it's so beneath you to complain about getting what is advertised, but here you are making comments about it. Go be an asshole someplace else, kay?

@Applekid: Yeah, ad writers (like me) use the Jedi mind trick. Go buy a sandwich and stop whining.

@GreatCaesarsGhost:

Yeah I agree! Its petty & pathetic. Of course you never know what would happen to a mCflunky if he actually thought for himself or allowed a substitution. Some of those managers are anal retentive, micro-managing wackjobs.

I'm tired of the promotions where they say something is free (when you buy something else).

I am not a big fan of chicken sammiches, but I'd get one if it were actually free & i didnt have to buy anything.... besides...I dont buy drinks at fast food places.

It is a SOUTHERN chicken sandwich!!! How can you not expect it to be coupled with a Large SWEET Iced Tea!!

@wrongneighborhood: That was my first thought as well.

@friendlynerd:

i'm not presenting it in a manner where it's "beneath" me or where i'm so high and mighty and not guilty of stuff like this on occasion as well. i just can't help but be annoyed and angry when people on this website complain to no end about big evil corporations like mcdonalds, and yet participates in their promotions, only to spit back in their face and complain about that, too. really, all they did was tell thunderpants that he/she needed to get a different drink. it's not like they even withheld the deal.

I'll take the manager's side for some of this.

A medium or large drink, I'd assume that would mean a fountain drink for how much? A $1.50 or $2.00? Maybe an OJ or coffee, too.

I think it comes down to the drink price. Because McD's Sweet Tea is $1.00 if you purchase it specifically. There's probably some kind of break-even point for these promotions. Furthermore, I think it also depends on whether the store is a corporate or franchised store.

Corporate stores have to accept everything. Whereas franchisees have some discretion. This is why promotions and coupons say, "Valid at only participating McDonalds"

Usually when I buy a meal I get the cup and fill with that sweet, sweet dee-licious stuff! So, I even if I had to spend more to get a free sandwich, it's still be a win-win for me! :)

At one McDonald's I went to, they give you a medium cup and have fountains for customer use. So I got a sweet tea. At the other, the manager said I could also get a medium fry and qualify for the promotion, so I did that at that one and another one. On top of that, you could also get a shake and qualify. My cousin from NJ was visiting, and there was a McDonald's here that still has Shamrock Shakes and she wanted one, so that was another sandwich.

All told, I think it was 5 sandwiches I got, I ate two of them. I have to say, pretty close to Chick-fil-A. But DON'T ORDER CHEESE! It's $0.40!!! CFA charges $0.20 for it, what a rip!

@radio1: Then they should have stated such. It just said "large drink" so that's all you have to buy, not necessarily a soda.

I can't believe some people are blaming the victim.

Then again, I can. Even when the admins come out and tell us to stop, it hasn't.

I'm lolling at all the consumerist posters that actually enter a McDonalds.

There needs to be a bully tag for this and similar posts. Yesterday there were the stories of unkinD Donuts refusing teens (free) iced coffee, and Wal-Mart refusing baby orphans water at a charity event. I think the refusals are motivated by greed, but the actions taken are extreme--there is much weight-throwing-around and anger. In the case of DD, some misguided managers think that youth aren't profitable customers, and in the case of McD's, there are probably a few more pennies to be made off a soda than a cup of tea. But there's no need to throw people under the bus.

/bully

On one side, these situations where a single manager at a chain store or franchise 'interprets' a company-wide offering the wrong way are starting to wear thin here on Consumerist. You'll always be able to find some goof-ball manager or sales clerk who blows it - and often blows it quite spectacularly in a way that makes for perfect media/blog fodder.

On the other hand, companies should start getting a clue from the number of these types of posts on Consumerist. They should send a short, succinct, single-page notification on the terms of the deal (legalese will kill this, so it's gotta be simple). It would be good to have the flyer/web site posting remind managers that stupid moves like this just make the company look bad and to show some intelligence - uh, I mean, common sense - when faced with a particular situation. Wise discretion can save a lot of companies some real consumer heartache.

@howie_in_az:

Yeah, I'm amazed at that myself. I don't care if they gave that shit away for free *every day*. I'm still not eating it.

Didn't pay attention. I always thought Sweet Tea was something else, as it is always sold in a large cup.

Again another bone headed management story. I think its awesome that someone claiming to be part of the ad-agency got denied. It would be funny if like the MC Donald's CEO or an exec came in and was like. I'M THE EFFING CEO!!! and the clerk was like.. I'm sorry I can't do that.

Sounds like a good time for a chargeback!

I think turning people away because you can't take the effort to follow a promotion pretty much qualifies as the opposite of doing a promotion.

But then again you don't get to be manager of the local Mickie Sleeze by being the brightest or most likable person.

@Nihon no Purin: Actually the McDonalds here sells ANY size soft drink for $1, not just sweet tea. So your point is? And if the promotion actually says a medium or large drink, then in the English version, this means drink, not soda or pop or coke. If you don't like them complaining, go read other sites.

For what it's worth, I ordered two sweet teas and got two free sandwiches.

I found the sandwich to be pretty tasty. Too bad they are normally too expensive for such a small sandwich.

Later,
Chrome...

@frankadelic: By the looks of your icon, you look like you might be well on your way there!!

Yes, clearly McDonald's is in such dire financial straits that it is important that consumers not ask to have the terms of a printed agreement, given the caveat that the store is a participating location, honored.

Bad, bad consumer trying to deprive the big multi-billion dollar corporation of .50 during a promotion designed to get you hooked on their new sandwich that probably half of the people at least will come back to buy again multiple times at full price.

Honestly, what is the world coming to when people try to redeem a coupon for what it actually SAYS you can do? Bad bad people.

(sarcasm meter should be pegging when you read the above)

i was there yesterday and ordered the evm. and got charged accordingly... that was my bad.

@Kounji: "It would be funny if like the MC Donald's CEO or an exec came in and was like. I'M THE EFFING CEO!!! and the clerk was like.. I'm sorry I can't do that."

I have a story kinda like that. Small family-owned local department store. Brand new late-teens security guard. A scruffy late-middle-aged gentleman dressed in a strange collection of odds and ends is repeatedly approaching and speaking to shoppers. The guard approaches him and very politely says, "Sir, I'm sorry, we can't have you harassing our customers. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

The apparently homeless guy looks bemused by allows himself to be quietly escorted off the premises by the security guard. Twenty minutes later, he's called up to the manager's office. Next to the manager is the scruffy guy, who says, "Son, I really appreciate the your courtesy and diligence in doing your job, but next time, don't throw me out of my own store."

This was like 20 years ago but the store owner still tells it all the time and thought it was an excellent joke. He then says something like, "I took the hint and had my wife buy me some new clothes."

Oh Noes! I didn't get a free dose of saturated fat, factory farm, wallowing in feces, filled with anti-biotics cornfed chicken.
By turning you away (hopefully for life), McDonald's was doing you a huge favor.

Meh. I dont like chicken sandwiches anyways.

Isn't the tea the "cheapest" drink you can get from McDonalds? If it was that important to get a "free" sandwich, then purchased a coke and just ask them to fill it with tea instead if that is what you want to drink.

I don't have the ad in front of me, but most of them say at participating places... which gives stores basically the right to follow what they want.

The intelligence of the average McDonald's employee is pretty low. Face it, there are better jobs that pay less. McDonald's doesn't pay minimum wage because they can't get people to work there. McDonald's has to pay more than minimum wage to keep their employees. That's how bad it is. Who wants to go home smelling like greasy fast food? The employees do have the chance to move up. No one will come in off the street as a manager. They couldn't pay someone enough money to entice them to work as a manager at McDonald's. None of the employees will look to a manager fresh off the street for answers, because a manager off the street doesn't know anything.

So, it boils down to this: If you are stupid enough to stay gainfully employed at McDonald's, eventually you get to be a manager. That's the deal.

How many times have you asked an employee a question and watched them immediately turn around to ask a manager? That's training. 100% of the time, the employee will look for a manager, correct? The employees are stupid. Management treats them that way, and they are trained to look for a manager.

Now, take all of the employees, and pick the one that is most likely to stick around the longest, and that person will be a manager. The smart ones quit. They take other jobs. They go on welfare and make more money, and have free time. The dumb ones stay, and they eventually learn the McDonald's methods, and they become management. It doesn't mean they can make good decisions. It simply means they have a high tolerance for work, they know the simple things that have to be done, and they can't find a better job than McDonald's.

Yeah thats what my manager was trying to do. She told us to only give away the free SSCK's if they ordered a soda.

I went in for breakfast yesterday and ordered the new chicken biscuit thing. I see it has it's own meal on the menu and I ordered. Did they tell me that it would have been free if I had simply ordered the sandwich and a large drink? No, of course not. The cashier shifted uncomfortably and rang me up. To top it off, I work in Waikiki where everything at McDonalds is at least 25% more than other stores. Almost $7 later I walk out with a large OJ, sandwich and hash browns. Most expensive hash browns I've ever eaten!

I went to McDonalds yesterday for this and they wouldn't let me get a Sweet Tea either. I didn't really care. I just ordered a regular drink and filled it with Sweet Tea.

I will compliment them on one thing though, even though they were absolutely packed, it was the best service that I have ever gotten from there. Everyone was working their butt off.

McDonalds has sweet tea?!!? I thought you could only get that in the deep south!! I haven't seen it anywhere here in California... they're always like "um... you can put sugar in it yo'self" and I'm like "oh honey, you just don't get it, now, do ya?"