This is definitely an above and beyond situation since it really was a simple mix up. Good on Panera for not letting this escalate any higher.

It's nice that Pantera did that for you.

However, why wouldn't you check your bag before leaving? Especially considering your distance from the restaurant?

That's a great story. I like Panera bread's here in STL. A little on the expensive side but still well worth it.

Panera has consistently had above average service in my experiences. I'm often in their stores very early on my commute and even before 6:30 am, I always have a pleasant stop.

Good job Panera!

(now, back to the consumer horror stories, I want OUTRAGE!! :D )

@kirbypuckett: Let's not start up with blaming the victim, please. The comment code's still on the first page; please read it.

@kirbypuckett: Seems to me that's a legitimate question to which the answer is: Panera is usually so awesome that we don't contemplate mix-ups!

I'm glad Panera's customer service exceeded expectations, because it's one of my favorite places.

I've been hit so many times by incorrect orders that it's expected. Even when I double-check, my wife invariably finds that something is missing or messed up (I just count the wrappers in the bag). If other restaurants did what Panera here just did, I'd order more large orders more often. Pay attention, competitors!

Ever since they gave me a hard time about taking tomatoes off a sandwhich I have't like panera. That and they ditched the crispani's

I woulda signed the note "Love, sarabadara." Just to see if anyone noticed.

I can't comment too much about their service. But, at work, we often have lunch brought in from Panera when we are hosting customers. I just love their sandwiches and cookies. Mmmm.... Cookies..

My parents had an awful night at Panera once: took forever to get their food, when they finally got it the order was wrong, rude staff, the whole deal. My dad sent an email to their customer service and he mailed him coupons totalling 16 dollars (over the cost of both meals) and everyone was happy!

This is nice. I love nice stories!

Reminds me of when I bought munchkins at Dunkins for the staff meeting, paid for 50 got 25. I called and they gave me another 50 for free - I didn't ask or anything - and when I said I only needed another 25, he said it was for "the hassle." Too nice!

Way to go Panera Bread!

Hooray, Panera Bread. A+++ WOULD DO BUSINESS AGAIN

Panera is always a great experience for me too, glad to hear more good stories from them. You can't pay for this type of good exposure, I hope more comapnies try though! :)

service at Panera is miles ahead of the competition. Not to mention the food is great as well

I've had two other good experiences at Panera.

I once ordered their Orchard Harvest salad, which includes pears, dried cherries, pecans, gorgonzola, and greens. When I got the salad, it was just greens and cheese. They said they were out of the other ingredients. I filled out the comment form on their web site and received an apology and a $10 gift certificate.

Since then, the service has gotten a lot better. A few months ago, I ordered the corn chowder, which had the "vegetarian" insignia next to it. I noticed large chunks of bacon in it, and they realized that they'd combined the corn chowder with the potato soup, which had bacon. The manager apologized and brought a fresh bowl of chowder to our table, along with a free cookie.

Always a good resolution and friendly staff.

I live in a town of about 65,000. We have one Panera at the North end of our town in a shopping center.

Our downtown area is vastly underseved by restaurants, and there is a corner vacant location that would be perfect. In a two block radius is a large office building, two banks, city hall and a library. Tremendous market potential for a casual dining place like Panera.

I contacted their customer service line to suggest that this could be a possible new location for expansion. The response: We have people who do this. We don't need your help or suggestions.

Although I love their food, it was a real turn off when they dismissed a loyal customer so condescendingly.

When NJ first got Panera bread I liked them, for a quick bread bowl of soup or a nice sandwhich (mostly because they were the only thing by my job). But lately I'd say they've done nothing but suck. Their quality of product over the years has gone down. Their staff at most locations seems stupid or at least not caring.

The last time I was in a Panera with my wife we both ordered sandwiches, I got what I always get and she got some sorta panini or hot sandwich. well her sandwich was cold and never heated. I asked the guy why and he kept asking to see my receipt which I got then he looked at it.. and still was asking.. so you want this heated?

Well yea I ordered a damn hot panini isn't that what the receipt says.. then i got this response. So you still want it heated? at this point my wife lost it and spoke to the manager informing him that due to incompetence we won't eat here ever again.

could be isolated but damn.. a hot sandwich is usually hot.

I once bought a chicken cesar salad from them and when I got home some of the roman was brown and a little wilted. I called them and told them that I had just bought a salad and they should probably get new lettuce or something. The lady on the phone asked me to hold, I didn't want to cause I wasn't going to do anything just throw it out. Turns out she got the manager and when I explained the situation the manager told me to come in and get another one. I said that I wasn't looking for anything just wanted them to know, why I have no idea, and that I didn't want to drive all the way back. The manager then asked me when I bought the salad and I gave them the time off of the receipt. The next day I checked my bank account online and they refunded my entire purchase. I had also purchased bagels, which were perfectly good, and they gave me those for free basically. That was way beyond what they needed to do. I'm sure they could have just refunded the salad. They definitely secured a customer.

Frankly, because of my addiction to Cinnamon Crunch bagels, their clerks could greet me with a "what the fuck do you want", and I would keep coming back.

(Not that that has ever happened, mind you. I've always been very please with the level of service at Panera.)

"d"

That's the 'd' missing out of the parenthetical from my last post. Sorry for the mix-up, but I am not sending you all a twenty dollar gift card.

I love Panera.... in an almost unnatural, stalker kind of way.

I eat there a few times a week, sometimes twice a day... I think I need a 12 step program.

"Cinnamon Crunch bagels,"

Wow...I had two bad Panera experiences (wrong orders, rude staff) and stopped going. Maybe I should have complained.

If only all companies were as good at taking care of smaller issues like this before they become big issues. I think I'm going to grab some Panera for lunch today.

Mmmmmmmmm

@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: Roz before you get all high and mighty, Kirby was clearly talking about "Pantera ".

And as I know, you never leave a meeting with Pantera without checking you packages first . . .

@That-Dude: Man, you owe me a new keyboard because I just spit my coffee all over my laptop. Thanks for the morning LULZ.

While I do think this is great customer service on Panera's part, this "automatic solution" can lead to the masking of a chronic problem. There are multiple Panera locations within reasonable driving distance from me (lucky me!). There was one location my partner & I tended to go to more often because of its proximity to some of our favorite shopping. Unfortunately we had numerous bad experiences at that location so we no longer go to that location. Each time we had a problem we very pleasantly brought it to the manager's attention and every time she apologized (very genuinely) and gave us credit for future free food. Very nice, not even really necessary (but much-appreciated). These problems occurred over the course of about a year. Again, while the apology and credits were nice, we consistently encountered the same problems over & over again (missing items, incorrectly prepared (not matching the receipt)). Their quick response may lead to a failure to address the cause of the failures, leading to repeated identical problems. Again, appreciate the hassle-free gesture, but a follow up to address the cause of the problem would be even better.

@HungryMohican:

I definitely saw a change after submitting my complaint on the web site. I got an email back from a "Customer Service Representative," who claimed she had forwarded my comments to the district manager.

If you aren't seeing results from the local staff, try stepping up the chain of command. At the very least, there are probably more free gift cards in it for you.

I've disliked panera when they tried claiming a Burrito was a sandwich and sued the mall. They had an agreement with the mall to be the only sandwich establishment so when the Mexican restaurant opened up in the mall they sued the mall. Ultimately the judge ruled that a Burrito is not a sandwich. This happened about two years ago.

Panera's pretty good. Free Wi-fi, decent soups and salads, etc. I only have two issues with them:

1. They changed the bacon they use. They used always used the pre-cooked kind, but the switched to some very low quality bacon. It looks like raw bacon and is stringy and fatty. Just gross.

2. While I have no problem with the Panera employees, I find the customers to be incredibly annoying. Maybe it's the location I go to, but every time I go in there, I get sandwiched between douche bags in line. I usually just order over the phone and pick up at the store because of this.

I'm glad you had such a positive experience. My experience with Panera in Stafford, VA paralled yours up to and including the manager's offer of coupons. I opted for the discount coupons to be mailed to me. They never arrived even though I made sure to have the manager repeat my street adress back to me

For me, the final nail in the coffin was when I called in a dinner order a few days later. When I arrived, I stood in front of the sign that says 'pick up your call in orders here' for 5 minutes, ignored even though many employees glanced my way. When I asked the manager about it, I was told that the sign was applicable only during lunch time. "Why leave the sign up after lunch?", I asked. Blank stare - no apology. Banned!

@blah,blah,blah:

If you're at a Panera and you're _not_ sandwiched between two douchebags, then the douchebag is you.

Never heard of the place...
Need to see if there is one in my area...
Are they franchised?

Hey! I used to live in Cedar Falls (which runs right into Waterloo -- think a tiny version of the Twin Cities) and I've eaten at that Panera many times. I can attest that they have great service and friendly people. They offered me a free cookie once by way of apology for forgetting to put the dressing on the side of my salad. Well done, Waterloo Panera!

i would sincerely hope they took care of that issue considering it's their flawed ordering system that caused the problem. filling customer orders based on first name alone is a pretty dangerous tactic, considering how common some people's names are. My first name isn't even that common, and I was one of 3 in a 20 person freshman english class I had, and also one of 3 at the 300 person company I work at now.

They should either call out order numbers from the receipt, or go back to the pager system that some (all?) paneras seem to have abandoned...or expect to deal with issues like this that arise on a semi-regular basis

From all the positive comments. I can only assume that they are consistently hiring sound managers and giving them the authority to compensate up to a certain amount without kicking matters up the chain.

Too often businesses have managers who really have no more authority than a glorified supervisor. Then everything needs to get kicked up the chain to get resolved. This leads to the manager usually screwing over the customer to avoid looking bad to his superiors.

I love Panera. They also donate all their leftover bread for the day to the local homeless shelters. Too bad the rising food costs is causing them to trim their menus down a bit and hurting their profits.

@Imakeholesinu: I would have to agree way overpriced for a sandwich. I will stick to the local deli, low prices and quality ingredients.

If their CS is so good, I'll email them about f'ing up the St. Louis Bread Company and see what happens.

Love Panera, there is about 3 within a 15 mi radius of me and each one has great customer service and is friendly even at 7am.

i like them for breakfast or a place to stretch out in the afternoon with coffee and a pastry.

the sandwiches and salads are overpriced, but when i am amidst nowhere in some odd town, and there's no Jason's Deli or local delight i like, i'll usually go for a pick two. it's a known quantity.

the last time my order got screwed up they gave me a $10 gift certificate so i could get a free sandwich the next time, as i soldiered on stewing and ate mine. when the manager was working the room, he idly asked if i'd gotten the wrong sandwich when he looked at the receipt. i figured out that the jerk who'd been yelling got mine, and i got his.

needless to say they know how to keep us happy. said manager also comped me a mugf of coffee and a cookie. i gladly passed up the food chain how much he rocked.

I love my local Panera!

I frequent Panera at least 2 times per week. One day I left my cell phone on the table. I came back 10 minutes later, hoping some Good Samaritan had turned it in or something. The manager immediately went to review the security camera. Turned out, an employee had pocketed my phone! Panera bent over backwards to help: they wrote a letter to my cell phone carrier to verify that the phone had actually been stolen (thankfully, I had insurance), they fired the employee, and gave me a gift card for $50!

@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz:

I wasn't "blaming" the victim, I was just asking a simple question.

I thought it would be common sense to check an order before leaving a restaurant, store, etc... I do it every time to avoid situations like that.

I despise Panera -- even though they have yummy Cinnamon bagels and Cheese bagels.

I mean, come on! Three dollars for a bagel and cream cheese, and they don't even spread the cream cheese for you?!? (They give you a tub of cream cheese you have to deal with yourself).

Panera, you fail. Gimme Dunkin Donuts anyday.

@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: Taking Kirby's side on this one. From the comment code:

Please, suggest alternate courses of action, or add important information that might help others or that we missed.

Noone's questioning that this was Panera's mistake (and that they responded very well to it). Just that there were things that the victim might have done that could have caught this.

And Roz, as an honest question (and not an attack), are you saying you wouldn't check your bag in that situation?

My local Panera Bread unfortunately forgets items all the time when I make a carry out order. Because of this, I ALWAYS check before leaving.

I wish the one I went to would have issued me $20 gift certificates each time!

@Consumerist-Moderator-Roz: I agree with the others... I don't think he was trying to attack anyone. :/

At first I wasn't a fan of Panera, but now I like them.
The one closest to me is about 2 years old and they have great service.
I really like their soups and their breakfast sandwiches. I even tried their kids meal grilled cheese and it was yummy!
I am glad to hear that they handled the customers mixup quickly and efficently.

@TheWraithL98: I always give fake names in stores that ask. My real name is very common, but odds are I'll be the only "Octavia," "Vidette" or "Roxanne," and that my order will come out right accordingly.

@kirbypuckett: It would be a good idea, but you could also easily imagine many situations in which you might not have time/chance to check the bag. (I.e., you came in with your small child, which is now getting super-cranky and on the verge of starting to screech, so you are getting the hell out of Dodge before you ruin everyone else's day AND have an enraged three-year-old keeping at least one of your arms really busy.) So it's not the answer to everything.