Reader Kristina was hungry and ready to make use of her Subway $20 gift card, however, when she tried to redeem it at the Subway store at Water and Wall St. in Manhattan, the transaction unfolded like this:

Me: *offers gift card as payment*
Employee: “Nope.”
Me: “I’m sorry?”
Employee: “No gift cards.”
Me: “But this is a Subway gift card. And I am in Subway.”
Employee: “No gift cards.”
Me: “It says on the gift card that this is used like cash in a Subway.”
Employee: “Machine’s down. You want your sandwich or not?”

This might seem like a routine glitch, but over a month later, “the machine” is still inoperative. Kristina’s letter, inside…

Over a month ago, I went to the Subway at Water and Wall in Manhattan with the intention of using a gift card a friend had given me as payment. I ordered my sandwich, but when I went to give the employee the gift card, I was informed very rudely that the gift card processing system was down and as such it could not be accepted. Dialogue:

Me: *offers gift card as payment*
Employee: “Nope.”
Me: “I’m sorry?”
Employee: “No gift cards.”
Me: “But this is a Subway gift card. And I am in Subway.”
Employee: “No gift cards.”
Me: “It says on the gift card that this is used like cash in a Subway.”
Employee: “Machine’s down. You want your sandwich or not?”

I could have paid cash, but the employee was so unpleasant in his response (bad tone, sounded very impatient and trying to rush me out despite there being no other customers there, no apologies offered) that I just left and went to another Subway on John Street (they are every other block in my area). The other Subway was having the same problem (you’d think the employee in the first Subway would have mentioned that the issue was not isolated), but the manager there was very apologetic and even gave me a free sandwich for my trouble.

I filed a complaint for the Water Street Subway on the company’s website and received a letter thanking me for my comments, but it was just a generic response. This past Wednesday night I decided to give the Water Street location another chance, and they *still* hadn’t fixed the gift card issue.

Kristina

We did some research and called the store at 122 Water St. and found out, not surprisingly, that the gift card machine still doesn’t work. The employee we spoke to did not know why it had been broken for so long and when we asked when it would be fixed he simply hung up.

We found this number for Subway Global HQ: (800) 888-4848. If you hit 85 for customer service you are able to leave information regarding specific store complaints which, according to the recording, will be forwarded to a regional office and store owner. If you would like to escalate your complaint via snail mail their address is: Subway Global HQ, Customer Care, 325 Bic Drive, Milford, CT 06460. Good luck, and keep us updated.

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