Burger King

Dear Complaints.com,

I agree with previous Burger King posters that the fact that there is NOT a 1-800 number NOR e-mail contact for complaints at the corporate level shows a distinct lack of respect for their customers’ opinions.

I was a customer at the Burger King 6064 at 1025 Seminole Trail (in the Seminole Square shopping center) Charlottesville, VA on Saturday 25th 2006 at 2:30PM.

Every Saturday I try to have a “family outing” with my 3-yr old son and 5 year old niece to spend quality time together and to acquaint them with appropriate restaurant behavior. The first thing I do when entering a fast food restaurant is pull a high chair up to the ordering line so my son doesn’t run around. The first thing I noticed upon entering was that the high chair was very, very dirty. Not dirty like the last kid was a little messy but crusted dirt and food that seemed old. Prepared, I whipped out diaper wipes from my son’s diaper bag and rapidly cleaned off the “important parts” of the chair.

The cashier was courteous and patient. I should mention the manager on duty tried to help us change toys in the Kids Meals, which was very nice, but wasn’t able to help us due to a lack of different toys. Really, those two interactions were the bright spot of my experience that day.

Your staff can be great, your food can be excellent, but if your restaurant is filthy then none of it matters. I will never return there. Behind the counter, I could see bread and fries on the floor. The tables were all dirty and I wiped mine off with more diaper wipes before I would let the children sit down. The floors in the main seating area were disgusting. I tried not to look but was forced to look to avoid stepping on chunks of food. In plain sight, there were several brooms and a broom pan but were never touched in the 30 minutes we were there. At first I assumed they were short staffed and didn’t have a floor person. Then I saw an employee make a sad, slow effort to change the trash cans and then he wandered away (completely ignoring the brooms and the food on the floor). After a while, during a lull in the customers, the cashier came with a wet rag to wipe the tables. She wandered back, looked around at the dirty tables, and wandered away-never having used the rag! It was surreal.

Before leaving, we cleaned our table and any mess my son made on the floor. While picking up stray fries, my niece looked at the underside of the table and made a noise. I told her I didn’t even want to know what she saw on the underside of that table. I would agree that no one should probably look at the underside of a table in a fast food restaurant. I was also aware that the children are impressionable, and as uncomfortable as I felt, I didn’t say anything to them because I didn’t want them to feel bad. Frankly, when she asked to go the bathroom I wanted to tell her to wait. Instead, I told her to make extra sure to wash with soap and warm water.

Additionally, the chairs themselves were white metal that hadn’t been painted in a while. On the backs of the chairs, where the back meets the seat, was a grungy orange color material. Every chair was that way. Was it rust, was it crusted food like the high chair, was it a combination? Who knows? I do know I am never, ever going back.

Ironically, I mentioned this experience to family members at home. My sister remarked that the last time she had been there, there was an employee on a break, engaged in conversation with a non-employee, seated at a table. The employee was speaking in a tone of voice not appropriate for a seating area in a place of employment. My sister heard all the intimate details of the previous night’s “party” from clear across the restaurant. She had been in a hurry, otherwise she would have spoken to a manager. Similarly, I thought I would call a complaint number, which doesn’t exist or write an e-mail (which they don’t allow). Nice.

Sincerely,

Vanessa S King-Mangard

Email User