Friendly's Manager Outlaws Refunds, Demands That Employees Not Speak Her Name?
There's something odd going on at reader Brian's local Friendly's. Brian and his wife ordered and paid for two sundaes, but when Friendly's discovered they were out of the flavor they'd requested, things got complicated. First, the employees refused to give Brian and his wife their money back because the manager doesn't allow refunds, then, when they asked to speak to the manager, not only would she not speak to them, but she also wouldn't allow the employees to say her name.
Here's Brian's letter:
I thought you might be interested in an unbelievable experience I recently had at a restaurant.
Last night I went to Friendly's restaurant in Norristown, PA to get ice cream. My wife and I each ordered a sundae with butter crunch ice cream. After we paid for them, the cashier realized that they were out of butter crunch. My wife is pregnant and has dietary restrictions that prevent her from eating chocolate or nuts - which rule out almost all of the other flavors. So, since they didn't have butter crunch, we just asked for our money back.
However, she told us that she isn't allowed to give refunds. The cashier explained that their manager had been giving too many refunds recently, and that the manager would get in trouble if she issued any more. So because they didn't want the manager to "get in trouble", they refused to give back our money - despite the fact that we had paid for two sundaes that they couldn't give us.
We then asked if we could speak to the manager about a refund. After a worker disappeared into the back for a few minutes, we were told that the manager was in the back and on the phone, so she couldn't come out. I was astonished that the manager refused to come out and help us deal with this issue. After waiting another 5-10 minutes, the employees told us that the manager would not be coming out from the back. I suspect that the manager was not even in the store and the "on the phone" excuse was just used to cover up for her.
We asked for the manager's name, and were told by three different employees that they aren't allowed to tell anyone her name. So not only did they refuse to let us speak to a manager, but they wouldn't give us her name! However, I managed to overhear one of the other workers mention the first name of the manager [redacted.] The employee looked terrified after realizing that the manager's name slipped in front of customers.
By the time we had been waiting at the counter for about twenty minutes, the cashier said that she would be willing to return the cost of one sundae. This was completely unacceptable, since we had paid for two sundaes that we never got!
Eventually, after about thirty minutes, one of the employees agreed to get one of the half gallons of butter crunch from the take-out freezer to make our sundaes. Finally we got the food we paid for and left.
So apparently the manager at this Friendly's restaurant:
-- has instructed her employees not to issue refunds - even when they are fully justified - because she doesn't want to "get in trouble".
-- has strictly forbidden her employees from even telling customers what her name is.
-- refuses to talk to customers, even if they specifically ask to speak to her. In fact, I strongly suspect that she was not even in the restaurant, but told her employees to say she is "on the phone" to cover for her if she is not there
I tried contacting the store's general manager about this, but his business card only lists the phone number of the restaurant. I've put out an "email carpet bomb", but haven't yet gotten a response. Maybe getting the story out on your site will encourage them to do something about this.
Thank you.
-Brian
You might want to also give your local consumer affairs department a heads up about this new "policy." Selling a product they don't have and then refusing to issue a refund isn't, um, cool. Ya know? Come to think of it... it's not exactly friendly, either.
(Photo: *nomad* )
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Comments:
Monkey see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
Terrible food aside, my experiences at Friendly's have shown it to be one of the worst-run businesses I have ever seen. The levels of ineptitude are mind-blowing, so unfortunately this story does not surprise me. I hope Brian and his wife take their business elsewhere.
Pretty much matches my experiences with Friendly's- the most inappropriatley named store, ever.
Of course, Fuddruckers doesn't count unless you pronounce it wrong.
NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU!
At some point I would have called the police and had them charged with theft. The threat alone would probably have prompted action. Then again, we all know that police inexplicably side with big companies 99.9% of the time.
I don't know for sure what I'd do in OP's position, but I'd be tempted to call the police and ask for a report for theft just as Friendly's would if I'd eaten a sundae and not paid for it. Somehow I get the feeling that if the manager was there and knew the police were on there way a refund would be quite easy to get.
WTF is Friendly's?
That doesn't compute. AT ALL. How in the world is it okay to do this? Wouldn't the BBB have something to say about it?
Also, if the manager doesn't allow refunds to be issued, how was the cashier able to offer even a partial refund? Perhaps there is some secret threshold. Maybe if they had stood around in the store for yet another half hour, they could have gotten 3/4 of their money back.
I miss Boston. =(
I misread the headline as "Friendly manager refuses refund ..." and I was like, "No she's not."
We don't have a Friendlys here. I guess that's a good thing.
it sounds like the employees were trying to help you. They're probably scared of her! It sucks when you have no power and a bad manager.
For those of us in the midwest I think its like a Culvers
@eggshelld: The BBB is toothless. It has been for a long time. It has zero influence on large companies, and a very minor influence on small- to mid-sized local businesses.
The last time I stepped foot in a Friendly's was about 10 years ago. My dad and I had just gotten home from a day of skiing in New Hampshire and we were both pretty tired and looking for a decent dinner. We walked in and stood at the front of the restaurant for about 10 minutes and none of the staff even bothered to acknowledge our existence. Needless to say, I'm not all that disappointed that the Friendly's was shut down about a year later, torn down, and a Wendy's built in its place.
If I ran into a similar situation I'd likely tell them they have one more chance before I call the cops and report the restaurant for theft. If they still refused then I would most definitely call the police (not 911 but a non-emergency number), explain the situation to them, and see if they could have an officer come out to get my money back or how to go about filing a police report for the theft. I'd make sure to make this call in front of the employees and any other possible customers. Yes, I know the police are likely to have more important things to deal with, but just the call and mention of filing a police report for theft should get their buts in gear. (Heck, I may just call my home or work number and pretend I'm talking to the cops)
@Jenng: It's a family restaurant chain in New England that is known for having a large selection of ice cream.
I don't know what prisons are training convicted thieves and muggers to be corporate managers nowadays, but the plan seems to be going very well. The prior experience really fits well into their current positions.
I'd start raising a serious stink after 5 minutes, and have the po-po on the way within 10. Holding your money (hence, you) hostage for 30 minutes over this is completely unacceptable, and "Friendly's" had better offer you more compensation for the hour and stress invested other than what you originally paid for. Mess with their business license if need be.
I used to have a Friendly's not far from my house. The waitresses were all older ladies who were really nice. The ice cream and the appetizers were always great, too. Shame to hear that things have gone downhill.
@Jenng: It's an East Coast "Ice cream parlor" that serves "diner-style food".
[en.wikipedia.org]
This is pretty sad. I fondly remember going there in the 80's and loving it.
I think they're locally owned franchises, but I could be wrong. I really love the one that opened up down here in NC, but I also have my share of horror stories at the ones in Connecticut. One includes having a soda spilled on us by the waitress, and then when the manager came over to check on us, he didn't even comp us the soda. Oh, and the kicker? I used to be good friends with him in highschool.
That sort of behavior, and the behavior in OP's letter, is just S.O.P. for most New England businesses.
It sounds like the manager is already in trouble with either corporate or with the franchise owner, most likely for deep-seated, staff-wide customer service problems that have resulted in her comping a whole lot of food. Incompetent kitchen staff leads to late orders, incompetent waitstaff leads to wrong orders, incompetent management leads to not inducing the rest of the staff to competence.
How anyone could be so dumb as to think a "no refunds policy" could solve any of this is beyond me.
Then again, the majority of restaurants in which I worked during my waitressing and bartending days had a decent number of staff members and managers who had pretty serious drug problems. It's tough to be effective, and frequently tough to even be present in the restaurant during your shift, when you're coked or tweaked to the eyeballs.
Just a thought.
I learned a long time ago that there is nothing friendly about Friendly's.
I'd given up on Friendly's but then gave them a chance once I moved to Virginia. And I was right the first time.
Theft, pure and simple. Can't sell me what you can't deliver and then keep my money for nothing.
Probably a regional manager you can contact.
That's hardly true. I spent years living in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I had great, good and bad service. I hardly think you can generalize about an entire region of the country.
I do miss all the seasonal seafood joints in New England ... God I hate living in Texas!!
Location?
What, vanilla wasn't an option? No way I'd wait that long for buttercrunch!
The OP put out an email carpet bomb. Did he call their 800 number listed on the corporate website? It appears that they are franchises. Corporate can let you know who the owner is.
Also, although the BBB is generally useless, the State Department of Revenue or the Attorney General might be interested in a retail business that charges for a product, doesn't deliver the product and refuses a refund.
Friendly Ice Cream Corporation
1855 Boston Road
Wilbraham, Massachusetts 01095
Phone: 1-800-966-9970
i had a friendlys refuse service to me and my family on my 16th birthday :( it was an hour before closing...
i ended up eating mcdonalds...
trust me it wasnt as pathetic as it sounded, the manager was just an ass.
I know that here in Houston (maybe all of Texas), it's illegal not to have a manager on duty if a restaurant is open. Restaurants get dinged for this on their health inspection reports. Brian should call up whichever local news station's consumer advocate runs the best "rat and roach" restaurant report and tell them all about their adventure at Friendly's.
and they had the product in the freezer the whole time! After about the third time asking for the refund that's when I identify myself as a deputy and inform them that someone is going to be arrested.
Wow. Just....wow. I live in California but my hubby is from upstate New York and every time we visit his family, a trip to Friendly's is the first order of business.
The manager sounds like a prime candidate to work in a California DMV. Same attitude, but no ice cream.
Doesn't surprise me a whole lot. Any time I go to Friendly's (not often, since I started watching what I'm eating), it kinda skeeves me out how they operate that place.
Was the manager's name Voldemort?
An restaurant run by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
I'm surprised no one made the Harry Potter reference. But this is crazy. This is probably why some people wait until after your food is ready to get it. The McDonalds around here does that sometimes if it's not to busy. It wouldn't be too hard to look and see how much ice cream you have left. Then if they didn't have any, they could tell you and let you decide if you want anything else. If not then you leave and they don't have to offer a refund since you never paid.....
Of course, that would be living up to their name. We can't have that.
@Carso:
Are you from Toledo? Frisch's is a Big Boy franchise. I think outside of NW Ohio they're called something else :o)
The dumbing down of America is proceeding right along. Think about it for a moment. You've just ordered an item and paid for it, then discover that they cannot provide said item.
What does the cashier think is going to happen here? "Oh, well bummer, OK, I guess I'll just leave now and let you have my money for free! You be sure to have a nice day now, and thank you so much for the trouble it took to ring that sale up on the register."
Apparently no cognizant thought whatsoever was taking place here on the part of the employees of this restaurant.
This is a very good illustration why everyone should take 5 or 10 minutes to look up and program all the local jurisdiction non-emergency police numbers into their cell phone. I've been thinking about this for several months, this story will motivate me to actually do it.
I would have called the cops. Until they gave you the product you paid for, they were basically stealing from you.
I'm sure if you mentioned that was your plan after them giving you the run around for 15 minutes their attitude would have quickly changed in your favor..... though I probably wouldn't have taken the ice cream at that point, can't trust angry food preparers.
Beetlegeuse!
Beetlegeuse!
Beetlegeuse!
Oh no, the manager magically appears!
Friendly's is somewhere on the restaurant heirarchy between Wendy's and Denny's.
Clearly she is a SECRET manager!
She is a manager so elusive, no one knows where she is!
And those who do know where she is dare not speak her name!
ugh I wonder if they ever 'toured' the one in Colonial Heights Virginia. I say 'toured' because getting your food is an exercise in futility. Not to mention WAAAAAY overpriced for the nasty stuff that you get and then refuse to eat because it looks like it was just taken from another table and delivered to yours.
I am convinced that the Waffle-House in Colonial Heights gets the people that are even worse as they dont even bother to serve people!!!
Of course you could visit the KFC on the scenic newly updated with shiny signs Boulevard. They get the prize for idiocy: They run out of chicken on Sundays. Matter of fact they run out of chicken a lot!
Im surprised they have been able to stay open this long..
V
Board of Health! Report to Friendly's immediately!
I don't understand why they didn't just get the ice cream out of the damn take out freezer to begin with. They weren't "out of it". They were "too fucking lazy to go get more from the freezer."
@jrubow:
as in stuff they serve? because culvers has always been a veyr well done fast food experience. good food, usually prompt service(had to wait over ten minutes once and they gave me 2 free scoops of custard coupons before I even got to complain). This friendly's place sounds pretty bad though oh well I doubt a place like that coudl survive where I live. Chicagoans pretty much let crappy restaurants die.
@Cupajo: the stuff in the takeout freezer is likely inventoried as one unit and meant to be sold as such. the stuff in the counters is inventoried as part of the main food supply. By opening a retail packaged container that store had to mark that container as shrink.
That is COLD!