KFC — Restaurant in Victoria

I used to visit this KFC almost every single day, and received such consistently flawless service for the better part of a year, I once reviewed this location as having some of the best customer service of ANY kind of establishment in Victoria. But several months ago, I went in for my usual order, and the entire crew had changed. I didn't get my usual greeting by name, but didn't think much of it, other than the old familiarity would come in short time. I picked up my order, but being so used to the previous level of service (and not noticing the red flags of how unhappy everyone seemed), I didn't think to check it. But when I got home, half of my order was missing, and the store was closed, so I figured I'd be able to deal with it the next day without issue. I was so confident because in the past, if ever I'd had a problem (duplicate charge, items I already purchased online out of stock), the staff was quick to set me straight, and with a smile. When I went back the next day for my usual order, I asked if they could tack the previous items on, or just issue a refund, and to my shock, I was treated as though I was trying to cheat them out of free food (for one, I was expecting the usual friendly remediation, and for two, I already had a paid order, if I wanted free food, wouldn't I have just gone in without one??). Anyway, it hurt my feelings, and I was so offended, I stopped going in, altogether. But after several months (or maybe a couple of seasons) of going without, I finally decided to try again to see if the situation had changed. To my extreme delight, the atmosphere had completely returned to its previous chipper, fast-paced, positive vibe. Of course, the new crew didn't know me at first (and had no idea of my previous loyalty), but it only took a couple of days, and I was back to being greeted by name, offered my preferences (instead of having to ask), and, finally, when I did have an issue with an order, being treated with respect as it was promptly--and most apologetically--remedied (the irony being that due to the nature of the issue, no apology was actually even needed!). I noticed one person seemed to be directing the rest of the night shift, giving them the confidence to fix my issue, without any hint that they should feel negatively or resentful toward me for asking, which I really appreciated. Time after time, this person has also personally made sure that everything in my take-away bag was to my liking before I left, restoring my confidence in ordering to my previous levels of absolute certainty. I have been so impressed by the complete turnaround, I finally asked if I could post his name in a google review, because I want him to get the credit he deserves for the kind of effort it takes at a fast-moving, thankless kind of establishment such as this, to provide consistent, daily excellent service to customer after customer, all night long (I'm not even sure if I could do it!). If you previously left this establishment due to service issues such as I had, OR, if you've NEVER been, and just want to walk away with a lightening fast dinner and a smile on your face, stop in to the Douglas Street KFC, where Ankush is making sure customers love everything about their experience! :)

UPDATE

My last visit, I was was SO late, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get anything, but, given the circumstances, I still had to try (a friend who can't get food for themselves didn't have enough to make it through the night). Ankush asked if I wanted to substitute white meat (so I wouldn't have to wait), I asked if they were out of dark meat, thinking I could just offer to take drums (my friend has trouble swallowing white meat), but before I could explain, Ankush said, "no problem!" and rushed off to fire up a whole new batch! During this time, several more customers came in, and he didn't turn any of them away, EITHER! I feel bad that everyone stayed even LATER because of my visit, but even more impressed by their commitment to serve every last customer without question or hint of complaint. I'm...

My experience with this restaurant both in terms of this specific location as well as the overall company and corporation has been unbelievably bad. The problem is them repeatedly not giving me what I ordered when I order it and I think over five times now arriving home with basically an order that kind of looks like mine but it's missing items and outright has just switched some items for others. A couple times its been explained to me that the food that I ordered wasn't there so they kind of thought of what could maybe substitute for it and sent me that. They never called me to see what I would like or refunded me for the stuff that they didn't have. They just sent me some other stuff. This didn't work out for me cuz the stuff they sent me wasn't stuff that people who I was feeding wanted so a bunch of food went on eating despite me paying for it all. Again this has happened over five times in the last year.

When I finally decided to complain about it and see if there's something I could do better to solve this going forward the management and customer service team at the store basically told me there was nothing I could do and I had to just hope that they had the food I ordered when I ordered it. I tried to place a complaint on their website but the form was broken and wouldn't allow me to fill it out. When I called their corporate order line the 800 number, thee person who answered the phone was very condescending and refused to offer any help or let me speak with their manager and just repeatedly would put me on hold that would eventually hang up on me.

There's awesome fried chicken places all over Victoria I highly recommend you try out somewhere like chicken 649 or Thunderbird chicken or Popeyes. Every one of those places is superior to Kfc on Douglas, and perhaps more importantly they treat their customers with dignity...

Three times - you're out! First time I ordered from KFC Douglas they never showed up, and after two hours I called to cancel. The owner offered me a 20% discount on my next order. I wasn't pleased but figure these things happen. No biggie. Second time I ordered they took 1 1/2 hours when I was told 44 minutes. I didn't ask for the discount for the first failed because it was so many months before and I didn't have the name of the person anymore. I paid full price and gave a $6.00 tip to the driver. This delivery the food presentation was horrendous. The multi-bucket combo seemed to have been dumped, things were spilled inside into the different compartments.The food was poor at best. The fries were soggy and they forgot the salads. I went to the store the next day and the on-duty manager told me they would comp my entire meal. Great. Third delivery I called to redeem my complimentary meal and again it was soggy fries and looked as if the bucket had been shaken. Also it was again one hour and twenty five minutes after I'm told it was going to be delivered in 44 minutes. I even called the store and spoke to the "manager" that handled the situation the first time, so he knew we were ordering. How then does the complimentary delivery show up late again and poor presentation with sub-par food? I'm going to speak to the owner and KFC corporate...