We’re always making fun of companies who overuse the phrase “taking it seriously,” but it looks like Wendy’s isn’t playing around. An anonymous tipster found a chicken bone in his Wendy’s sandwich, and got taken very seriously when he reported it.

I recently found a chicken bone in my Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I nearly choked on it, but I wasn’t seriously injured. I called the manager about it, and he created a report. He didn’t even ask for a receipt, just my name and contact information. He then told me Wendy’s was “taking the matter very seriously.”

And boy were they.

Over the next few weeks I received phone calls from store managers, casualty claims supervisors, managers from the food processing company, insurance companies, and a few others that I can’t remember. I was afraid to pick up the phone, worried I would have to explain my simple situation to another person. I half expected Dave Thomas to give me a call, just to make sure I was doing all right.

After three weeks of phone calls, that’s finally been resolved. I received a $20.00 gift card and a formal apology in the mail today, but honestly I’m thankful just to be done with the phone calls. Joking aside, Wendy’s did a great job of escalating my complaint, and they’ve earned me back as a patron.

Maybe it sounds like overkill, but if more companies acted like Wendy’s and demonstrated some follow-through on customer complaints, we probably wouldn’t have grown so tired of that phrase by now.

(Photo: phlyingpenguin)

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