Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dear KFC

I have been a loyal fan of yours ever since I first tasted your finger
licking good original fried chicken way back in the mid 80s. However,
last Monday, April 27th, I have experienced a series of very
unpleasant services from not one, but two KFC outlets near my
residential area.

First, we went to the KFC outlet at wisma PKNS, Bandar Baru Bangi at
around 9:15 pm. I was lining up for about 10 minutes when finally I
got to reach the counter. But, the counter boy casually told me to
move to a different line, put the sign "counter closed" and happily
sang his way back to the kitchen. "What the hell??" , just for your
information, I was the only customer left on that line and if I were
to move to other lines.. I had to go back into queues of 6 to 7 people
and god knows how long I have to wait until I get to reach the
counter. He saw me waiting there like an idiot for 10 minutes... if he
wanted to close the counter, he could just have asked me to move
earlier and not let me waste my time to reach the counter and be told
in the face that the counter is closed! I think that is darn rude !
Where is your common courtesy, man?

I was too pissed off to spend my hard earned money on you, I asked my
husband to just go to McDonalds instead. But being a loyal KFC fan, he
insisted to queue and get his fried chicken for dinner. Besides, my 4
year old daughter was so excited about getting her chicky meal. So, we
waited for another 15 minutes or so.. only to find out that they only
have twister left on the menu! Oh my god!! KFC! do something! Your
staff just don't know how to handle and communicate with customers!
The manager or one of the staff could just inform all those people who
spent their time queuing, a simple line would do... " we are sorry
sir/mdm.. but we are about to close and only have bla bla bla on the
menu" . And if they are too shy to stand there at the doorsteps and
tell the customers.. a simple handwritten sign posted at the front
door or hanged at the counter is good enough for Bandar Baru Bangi's
residents who I believe are all well read and literate people. Urghh..
Don't just think of what's in the customer's wallets, but also
consider our patience and dignity. Several customers were stunned when
they reached the counter and found out that the only food avilable was
twister. It's too simple, I don't think you need a customer to lodge a
complaint to the customer service department to improve on things like
this..

But the story did not end there. Being a determined person my husband
is, he insisted for us to go to the KFC outlet in Kajang which
operates 24 hours. There, well.. the service was better, when they
wanted to close the line , they didn't just turn away customers who
were already in the queue. Sadly, again, they didn't know how to tell
their customers about their shortfall. They promised to send us the
free toy that comes with chicky meal but it never came to us not even
until we have finished our meal. So, we went back to the counter and
asked one of the staff. But we were kept waiting and waiting and
waiting.. and the thing never came. If you don't have it or if it is
out of stock, just tell us so. We are your customers. We pay for your
service and merchandise!

I seriously hope action is going to be taken against this complaint I
made. It's not that I want your staff to be punished or what not, I
just badly want you to improve. You should educate your staff the
proper way to deal and treat your customers. Communication is the most
important tool in business. Someone like me shouldn't be telling a
giant conglomerate like KFC something as simple as that, but
sometimes, when we are at the top, we tend to forget all these little
things that are actually fundamental to our success.

Well, not all KFC staff are that bad, I have to say I enjoy dealing
with KFC at Warta, Bandar Baru Bangi as well as KFC at
Alamanda,Putrajaya. They are polite, and they always inform me when I
have to wait for some things I ordered or when things are out of
stock. Maybe, those KFC staff in Wima PKNS and Kajang could go and
learn a few things from them.

Thank you very much for your kind attention. Hope to hearing from your
management, soon.

yours truly,

scrollock

This was taken from an actual email sent to customerservice@kfc.com.my. Name was changed for confidentiality purpose . I will update the blog if there is any news from them