yep.... that'll do it. i don't mean to offend anybody, but i saw on cable news that the majority of the KFC's in the southern states are the one's that are out of chicken. also (dont' quote me on this) word on the street is that POPEYE'S chicken is watching this closely to see how it turns out so it can launch a campaign itself for either free chicken on a certain day, or a buy one get one free type of deal. nothing concrete... but thats the word around the water cooler.

-dave

So.... They put the Coupon on Oprah, one of the... nee THE powerhouse in marketing and advertising... And they don't expect droves of people to come to their door asking for free food? Honestly, KFC Messed up on this one. They didn't anticipate how popular FREE would be in a recession.

Don't the KFC marketing people read?

What happened recently to Quiznos when a bunch of their locations didn't honor widely-promoted coupons?

What happened at Popeyes?

What happened when Denny's was overwhelmed with people wanting free meals? (Oops, they gave away free food to people waiting in line, and coupons for free meals later on when they weren't so swamped, so people wouldn't have to wait... I guess they actually know how to attract and keep customers.)

and well.... there goes my plan for free chicken. now i have to shell out over $7 for a chick-fil-a meal or pollo loco or some other chicken sandwhich from a fast food chain.

although....i could claim i'm a teacher and get one for free.... hmmmmm........?

lol!

Yay!

Allstarecho = Jody! ME! :]

Crap! Now I'm craving fast food. Big time! I'm fat enough as it is!

That's what the sign on the KFC in Leavenworth, KS says. I just came from there, but not for that stuff.

KFC doesn't even have chicken when they charge for it, why would the execs think they'd have chicken during a free promotion?

Well that was pretty dumb. Who runs out first thing, on the same day as the promotion starts to redeem something that doesn't expire until weeks later? I'll wait for another week or so.

@militarydave: Mmmm...chik-fil-a. Yum. Personally, I'd rather have that over KFC anyways. Too bad there's not one nearby that I can walk to. *sigh*

@Avrus: This is true. My favorite fast food chicken is KFC Crispy Spicy. They never have any cooked. I always have to wait for them to cook it.. but they always give me a discount for the wait. They say not many people buy the spicy so it sits there and gets old and they can't afford to cook it just to toss it in the garbage.

@militarydave: MMMMMMMMM Chick-Fliet yummy.

My Oprah coupon got denied.

I don't like Oprah anymore!

Yeah, this is why I'm waiting until next week. I printed out my 4 allotted coupons, and will redeem them when the big push dies down by Friday or Saturday. Come Monday morning I bet a lot of people will have let this slide out of their radar.

@1234tu: yes. yes i agree. especially those milkshakes! -dave

I went to KFC today to get my free chicken meal. When I told them that I wanted baked beans instead of cole slaw they told me that I did not have a choice. They said that it was managers choice and that I would take what they gave me. I tried to explain that the coupon said managers choice for the chicken not the sides and was told by the manager to happy with what I was getting for free. When I tried to explain that I had allergies to cabbage I was told to not eat the cole slaw then.

@calchip: Really? What happened to Quiznos? No Quiznos in 10 miles of me would honor the Million Subs Giveaway coupon and Quiznos corporate has stonewalled me on the complaint. They racked up massive advertisement out of it (even the poor word of mouth benefits them.) I was pleased to see KFC honoring the promotion around here. I almost never go to KFC so the fact that it brought me in their doors was a success. I won't go back to Quiznos.

If I'm reading that sign right, it's only the chicken that was allocated to the promotion that's out of stock. Could you buy non-promotion chicken? What's the difference? Do they take the feathers off the non-promotion chicken?

The managers choice on this is what scared me. It just made me think that it was the manager's choice what meat they used for the promotion, and you might be getting spoiled meat, meat that was spit in, or just a lower quality of meat than what they use normally etc...

Besides I never eat at KFC anyways so no need to start now.

@Avrus: I went to try the new grilled chicken the other day and they ran out. This was even before any promotions or free giveaways. All they had left was 1 leg about the size of a pack of gum.

@billlnv:

contact corporate.

DEFINITELY contact corporate.

This is a big scam. They have a little bit of chicken allotted for the promotion, and when people show up and are told they're "out of chicken", they're hoping that you'll buy something else for lunch or dinner anyway. It's a pretty weaselly way to get people to KFC who normally wouldn't bother.

@allstarecho: hehe!
totally worth a screenshot and a print/frame up from Target. :D Congrats for the tip!

I actually went into a KFC in Richmond, VA this afternoon with one of these coupons. The line was short, service was fast, and the person behind the counter was polite. Oddly enough, one of the better fast food experiences I've had in a long time...

@fantomesq: calchip was asking a rhetorical question, we all know what happened at Quiznos.

I saw the free chicken thing here yesterday. I don't patronize KFC for health (calorie) reasons. However, grilled chicken might be a bit better. So, I go to the website and try and get a coupon. Epic FAIL!

I got used to getting unpredictable results from Micrsoft centric website, but since Firefox now has about 30% of browser visits (alexa) and some science oriented sites have 70% or more, the number of Microsoft centric sites has fallen tremendously. So, I'm surprised to see that KFC has a brutally Microsoft centric website. It gave me a window declaring my operating system (Linux) unsupported, even though I use Firefox.

So, I sent an email to the KFC address provided for complaints. This morning I find email from KFC. I was thinking: they gonna gimme chicken anyway! ... I open the email and it's a form letter referring me to the same web page I had seen the day before on having trouble getting a coupon. It wasn't helpful then and not today either.

So, KFC has lost an opportunity to re-gain me as a customer. ... Last I was at a KFC was about 1975 I think.

@Parapraxis: Or Oprah. :)

There's a pdf of participating KFC's On Oprah's coupon page. They changed the text of the link to the pdf in the past hour. It now reads "KFC restaurants that are selling Kentucky Grilled Chicken."

Earlier today, the link specifically referred to participating restaurants!
Looks like Oprah doesn't want to be named in the ensuing class action suit.

The same pdf of participating restaurants can also be downloaded at the unthinkkfc site. It's under the link "List of Participating Restaurants."

Nice. After fighting the KFC coupon website yesterday for about an hour, we finally got our coupons to print. My wife ran down the street to our local KFC and right when you walk in, they have a sign saying that they do not have the new grilled chicken yet. apparently, not one of the KFC's in Rochester even has the equipment to cook the new chicken yet. What's even worse is that they have been putting the free coupons in the local papers. My wife called KFC last night and talked with a customer service rep. She said they have been bombarded with calls about the unavailability of the new chicken.

Pearl, Mississippi: The median income for a household in the city was $37,617, and the median income for a family was $42,013.

Only 12% lived below the poverty line, where in my large metropolitan city over 20% live below the poverty line. I wonder what the KFCs are like in the actual city. I can only imagine it's a nightmare.

Have you tried to print the coupon? You have to install an executable on your compupter to print it. WTH?

You can get right to the KFC site, but then from there you need to click a link that takes you to another site to print the coupon. That second site has been unavailable much of the day.

What is the problem here? Why can't the coupon just be an image on that first page? Why do I have to go to a (mostly) unavailable coupon site and then install a .exe program on my computer just to print the darn coupon?

Just tried a KFC here in Atlanta (Panola Rd.)
Exceeded promotional allotment, no longer accepting the coupons *already*
Note stated that they may be able to accept them later during the promotional period, but for now, demand has far exceeded supply.

We went to the local KFC in Overland Park KS @ 6:30 pm-That free chicken was very yummy.

where do you expect them to store all this chicken? of course this promotion is going to be wildly popular, but i doubt they have enough freezers in a KFC to hold enough chicken for that many people. i don't know what a plausible amount of chicken for them to be able to hold is, but i'm sure there is some sort of average customer count per day & that equates to how many freezers/fridges they have. i'd rather get properly stored meat than get food poisoning from a free meal.

@dohtem: Where was it denied and what were the circumstances?

@militarydave:

If Popeye's were smart they would honor the KCF coupons, especially in areas where the KFCs have run out of chicken or are unable to honor the coupon.

I don't understand you consumerist's??? One day I come on this site, and you are all sooooooo conscience about the world, and the environment, and animal rights, and saturated fats, etc. Then the devil and Oprah (I'm still deciding which is which) offers you some free cancer and now you all LOVE KFC!?!?!?

@Joseph Beck:

Read the privacy policy of that "coupon printer". I don't fully understand what they have on there, but there seems to be a lot of information collected through cookies and other means, that I didn't feel it was worth it for some free chicken.

@UnnamedUser: You have to install a coupon-printing application to receive and print the coupon. That application is for Windows. That's why.

Standing in line for a half hour to get this food gave me visions of America 5 years from now. Except the Colonel's face was replaced with Obama's.

@Outrun1986: I assumed "manager's choice" meant you would get pieces without much meat on them.

yep, they ran out of a KFC in San Marcos, Texas that I think was a franchise. However the one up the road about 10 minutes that was in a gas station was serving a lot of happy people some yummy chicken. They just made you go inside and would not serve you at the drive thru. Less than a 10 minute wait.

@calchip:

The Denny's promotion went great around here. The wait was under 15 minutes and they provided everything they promised.

@UnnamedUser:

I'm sure they're heartbroken over it.

I got three free meals yesterday, no lines, no problems and three more free meals today at a different KFC, again no lines and no problems. I plan to go back tonight or tomorrow for more, hopefully they don't have the sign up.

I used the two I printed out yesterday today without any problems at all. I shall use the two I just printed out 1 min ago tomorrow. Sometimes it is good to live in small town America because they don't run out of chicken.

@chocogray: Consumerist's are a crazy bunch!! We like things, and hate things, beep beep ribby ribby, etc. Just try and figure us out?!?!?

@militarydave: Wow, you've got an exciting water cooler.

I'm running low on money this week, and all the KFCs near me are participating, so help me if I can't at least get 1 free meal at any of them.

The closest KFC to me probably will be out of chicken. They have only had this grilled chicken since the beginning of last week and they constantly have to cook more. I'm bracing for the worst.