Shortcut to Savings

[mortonfox]

It was an unseasonably warm afternoon at 64°F. The local Dairy Queen was actually open for business and people were having ice cream outside in January. How bizarre! Not wishing to waste a fine afternoon, I went to White Plains for the Shortcut geocache. It's in a part of White Plains that's not so busy, by a walkway connecting the residential area to downtown White Plains. I'd been there some time during December but could not retrieve the cache because it was under ice. Today, obviously, there was no such problem.

I noticed that the Tappan Zee Bridge toll has gone up from $4 to $4.50. I don't know what the toll is yet if you use E-ZPass. No doubt some of the money will go towards adding yet more "Life is worth living" signs to the bridge. I noticed that there are now suicide hotline signs on the Nyack part of the highway even before entering the bridge! I'm sure that will get the jumpers to reconsider.

Second round of shopping A&P's triple-coupon week this evening. This time, I got $33.53 of groceries for $5.58! Some of the items were $0 after coupons. In particular, I got a free case of bottled water, which I'll give away if I don't use it all myself. The funny thing is most of the $5.58 was from 4 cans of soup, so I could've brought the total down to under $2 if I didn't get the soup. However, that would really be screwing with the supermarket and besides, I needed the split pea soup because it goes well with roti prata.


After yesterday evening's dinner at Quiznos, I followed the online survey invitation on the receipt and filled out a survey. I gave the restaurant an overall good rating but noted that the sammies and side salad were priced a tad high for the portion sizes. This morning, I got a phone call from Bill, the current Quiznos manager. I don't know what I was expecting to hear but I got a barrage of justifications for the pricing, a round of stonewalling whenever I said anything, and a lot of hiding behind Quiznos corporate policy in general. He also said that I was making a big deal about nothing, which even if true, is not the way to speak to a customer. The impression I got is he's someone who'll be impossible to speak to on anything, so henceforth, I'll not go to the Ramsey Quiznos. I suspect his attitude will be the same if the day comes when I have a real problem, so the toasted is not worth the trouble. I do appreciate that Bill took the time to call though. It's just unfortunate that we couldn't arrive at a meeting of the minds. I miss Victor, the previous Quiznos manager. He was someone with whom I could discuss just about anything.

Yesterday night, I also found out through a comment posted on this photo that the Patchogue LJS has been replaced by a Starbucks. I had no idea the LJS had gone away. I stopped going to that one 2 years ago because the staff had an argument with me. So I couldn't help feeling a bit of schadenfreude on hearing of that restaurant's demise. Of course, not knowing anything about the LJS-closing situation, I cannot say that poor customer service was the reason for their downfall but it couldn't hurt to be nicer, could it... Quiznos of Ramsey?

Comments

[platypus]

Er, if you fill out a rating survey the business isn't supposed to call you back and argue with you. Shouldn't they just take whatever feedback their customers give under advisement, and possibly contact people who had really horrible experiences to try to make it up to them? I mean, the net effect of the call was that you'll avoid returning to his store, and that's just stupid of him.

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It sounds like the manager was afraid that he would lose his job based on a poor review, whether or not he was reality-based on this particular point. I suppose, considering his reaction, his fears might be justified.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

The franchisee owns the restaurant so I don't think he can get fired. If Quiznos corporate is dissatisfied with his representation, they could withdraw his franchise but I don't know how often that happens, if at all. My guess is he just has a strong personality and likes to engage in argument.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does have the effect of driving away the customer. It's a case of winning the argument but losing the war since the customer is the one who ultimately decides where to spend his lunch money.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Ah, being replaced by a Fourbucks coffee is like adding insult to injury.

The Quiznos down here in Pompton Lakes is quite nice, or at least has been to me whenever I've gone. My wife is still quite sad that they took her favorite sandwich off the menu, though.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

There aren't any more good Quiznos in this area. I won't go to the one in Hillsdale either because that's the restaurant where the manager put up a "No refills" notice on the soda dispenser while I was right there.

Next closest Quiznos is the one on Route 59 in Nyack, which is not convenient to me.

[d4b.livejournal.com]

"No Refills" = Penny-wise, pound-foolish. Manager may think, "losing $1.59", but the reality is that the "loss" is only a few pennies of water, carbonation, syrup, etc. The labor and even the cup are already paid. The customer is not going to buy a second soda. So it's all good. Only a few people will actually refill at all, and that makes for more satisfied customers, all around. Even those who don't refill could feel better if the sign said, "free refills". Stick around more = more likely to buy more stuff. Happier customers = repeat business.

Sorry, end of rant.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Even with unlimited refills, no one's going to drink the gallons of soda it'll take to actually cost the restaurant $1.59 in materials.

I was especially insulted that the Hillsdale Quiznos manager put up the "No refills" notice right in front of my face as though I'm the refill nut costing him his livelihood. He could've at least waited until I was gone.

[d4b.livejournal.com]

Right; add Hillsdale to your complaint when you speak up about Ramsey.

My point about $1.59 was in perceived loss of gross, not actual materials. That's the real fallacy here; the manager imagines that they're "losing" a customer purchasing the second glass for $1.59 (or whatever), forgetting that all they're really "out" is the ten or twenty cents of raw materials, if that. (Plus, if forced to pay, it's not likely that the second glass would ever actually be bought.) Especially in such a thin margin business, a phantom 10 * $1.59 = a perceived $16 loss of revenue (which, for soda, is admittedly mostly profit).

[d4b.livejournal.com]

83% off (or somewhere around 95% off without soup). I guess you answered my question (http://mortonfox.livejournal.com/558689.html?thread=3017825#t3017825), then! :-)

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

At the extreme, I could've picked just the items that were free after coupons. It'd be funny to have a supermarket receipt with zero at the bottom.

[d4b.livejournal.com]

That's a great title for your next ebook... "Zero at the Bottom -- How to Make a Million by spending practically nothing on food, housing, taxes, insurance and entertainment, and still manage to Have a Life"

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

This guy (http://consumerist.com/342440/there-is-a-guy-living-in-the-paramus-new-jersey-ikea) has the scoop on spending nothing on housing. He's living at IKEA!

[d4b.livejournal.com]

Heh; thanks. I'll watch the video in the morning. Reminds me of The Terminal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/), which in turn is based on the true story of the guy who's living (http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/airport.asp) at Charles de Gaulle airport. I love this exchange:

BY GIRLY AT 01/08/08 10:38 PM

If his apartment is getting fumigated, shouldn't the landlord provide alternate housing?


BY MERCURYPDX AT 01/08/08 11:07 PM

@girly: MA'AM PLEASE! Stop tugging at the thinly veiled Wacky Reality Cover Story™ covering the marketing promotion!

Thank you.
Ikea Corporate Services

;)

[hishoken.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would so fill out another survey and let corporate know about managers attitude. That is highly inapropriote (spelling?), and should not go unanswered.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

I need a direct email to Quiznos corporate or it'll just go back to the restaurant manager. Maybe Consumerist knows. Hmm.

[d4b.livejournal.com]

http://www.quiznosfranchises.com/

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

That looks more like the point of contact for those who're interested in owning a Quiznos franchise.

[d4b.livejournal.com]

Precisely! I've found, in many organizations, that those who are poised to sell something are the most effective channel to address these types of problems. Bill may own the business, but it's the franchiser name and reputation which are on the line, and that turns it into a sales problem (especially given that you are blogging about this, and thus putting it in the public eye).

[wildfox34.livejournal.com]

This is why I won't fill out those online survey invitations. If they don't like the fact that I'm a little miffed at their services, then tough. I'm entitled to my opinion whether they like it or not.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

I see it as a courtesy to let restaurant managers know why I may not be going back. Whether they learn from my feedback is up to them. Not every phone call ends in an unsatisfying way, so it really depends on who's handling the customer feedback. I've had very pleasant exchanges with representatives at KFC and Qdoba corporate and they sent gift certificates to make up for the trouble.

[bucktowntiger.livejournal.com]

yeah that Quizno's manager loses

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In particular, it's my business that he'll lose.

[bucktowntiger.livejournal.com]

I feel ya. I had to boycott the Harvest Foods on Rodney Parham Road after the owner profiled me and followed me around the store, asking what I was buying, what was in my hand. It was late on a Friday night, and I was buying condoms. He wanted to see what I was buying, and I didn't feel like it was his business. So the fool wanted to check out behind me so he could see, and I let him go ahead and check out while I went to the back of the store. This muthaf***a didn't leave; he stood around and followed me to the back of the store! So I saw him go back there and then tried to check out; but he had told all his clerks to notify him when I came back to check out, and he came up and took a look. Then, he left the store. So I asked the clerk if she knew that guy, and she said that he's the big boss. I left the condoms on the register and let her know that I didn't like being followed in a store by store management and that I would never shop there again. Blatant racial profiling.

[jairus-greywolf.livejournal.com]

I bet if Quiznos corporate found out that Bill was phoning customers they'd probably fire him. This is a lot like those car manufacturer surveys that have you rate dealers' service. All of the dealers ask (intimidate) you to call them first if you can't give them a good rating. Hmm.

[mortonfox.livejournal.com]

Bill is the restaurant owner so they can't fire him. They could kick him out of the franchise but I don't know how often that happens, if at all.

Yeah, I don't like car dealer surveys where they strongly encourage you to be "completely satisfied". If I have an opinion to give, I'd rather give it uncoerced.