McDonald's Hillion Mall — Restaurant in Singapore

At 2.14pm, on the 2nd of Jan, Thursday, I ordered 2 set meals and an alacarte burger: Fish fillet with prosperity fries and milk, Double cheeseburger with prosperity fries and milk, and an ala carte beef prosperity burger. It was peak hour and the restaurant was crowded with no seats available. My grandmother and I decided to order take-away through the Self-ordering kiosk since we were unlikely to find a seat anytime soon and my grandmother's legs would hurt from standing too long. With great dismay I watched as the screen calling our orders cleared out slowly with our order number, 2591, never being called. We were the last to get our order with over a dozen customers before us received theirs. We waited for 30 minutes before I decided to question the front counter. The lady asked if I would prefer to speak with her store manager, Sabir, instead as he was the expedite. This manager greatly disappointed me. Albeit apologising for the long wait, his tone suggested that he was annoyed. He even cut me off midway as I was complaining about the 30 minutes wait and other customers after us getting their order earlier. I quote and he said, "I'm sorry ma'am but could you let me finish first?" And gave me the excuse that the newcomer kicthen crew accidentally dropped the last beef patty and they had to cook a new batch and they were following the order number. He cut me off mid complain with an excuse, giving me an annoyed tone. I understand I may be a teenager and look young but that did not give him, a manager, any right to cut me off and give me a bunch of excuses for poor and slow service. It was only after my insistent questioning and refutes that my order was finally delivered at around 2.43pm. I even saw a prosperity beef burger waiting at the expedite area for 5 solid minutes after my complain to Sabir, and he was nowhere to be seen. He then gave me 3 EXPIRED vouchers for 1 sausage muffin and 2 pancake sausage platters. I walked back into Hillion mall and told the counter lady about it to which she went back in to find Sabir. As I waited once again I asked another counter lady how many kitchen crew were there, she asked her manager standing at the cashier to which the lady told me to wait for a moment as her manager took orders. The problem was, Fatine, the manager at the cashier was unable to give me an answer on the spot of how many kitchen crew she had at lunch period? She never returned to answer me which annoyed me further. How could a manager not know their crew strength at the back of their hand? Nonetheless, Sabir returned with 6 new vouchers, 3 chocolate sundae, 1 orea Mcflurry, 1 Cafe coffee and 1 Apple slices pack which supposedly had "no expiry date". I asked him the same question that Fatine did not reply me on and he informed me that they were understaffed with only 4 out of 6 kitchen crew (including a new kitchen crew) and he was the only one expediting. However, it is the management's problem for poor schedule MANAGEment, and slow service. This experience was awful and by the time our order arrived, the store barely had orders and the crowd had left, there were empty seats! We wasted our time had a terrible service! The fish fillet didn't taste fresh either and clearly sat out for several minutes before being used! I would never return to this branch ever again! The front counter staff were helpful in assisting me to get my order out faster, it was a pity that the manager(s) in charge at that time poorly carried themselves, spoke in a tone that was rude, sounded annoyed and condescending. The expired vouchers to make up with the SUPER long wait was a sorry attempt and excuse. He simply sounded unbothered about my complaint! A waiting time over half an hour for 2 meals in a fast food outlet was worse than waiting at a restaurant. Terrible move of making such half hearted apologies. The free vouchers were clearly meant to try and "subdue" my disappointment, was NOT genuine if Sabir was unable to CHECK the expiry date of the vouchers before handing it to me. What if I...

I ordered using the first self service kiosk. My first payment declined, I retry the payment. I unsure if the second payment went thru or not because the screen shows that the machine was out of paper and I need to approach the staff.

The first Indian woman staff I approached asked me to report to someone else. It wasn't clear. Maybe the manager or other staff. But I was sure she point towards the counter. Waited at the counter and tried to look for anyone to resolve my issue . But none of the staff is free for me to ask. Not sure if the first staff aware or not that there is no one at the counter at that time and no one is assisting me. I was so blur for a few minutes. Can't she helped me the first time I report to her? If she can't, can't she escalate my issue to other staff knowing there will be no one will assist me?

I managed to stop a Chinese staff to help me. She did go to the self service kiosk and checked that the first receipt was stuck in the machine. But there was no trace of the second payment I made. I did try to explain that I made the second payment. But she assured me that the payment did not went thru based on the first receipt. Plus, she already checked with the manager. That's okay, at least she stop to help me.

Made a second order , but still doubt myself because I got no notification from my bank even with the successful payment. Turned out that my second payment was actually successful. The manager refunded me for my new order. I was just lucky because I saw a staff trying to search for the table for my second time payment. I asked her myself what was she looking for. Managed to tell her the whole story.

I don't blame the second staff I approached. At least she tried to help me although she missed out that I did the second payment. But I felt like the first staff did not try to help me in the first place. U know no one gonna help me, why u leave me hanging...

If possible, do yourself a favour and make your way to the bukit panjang plaza McDonald’s instead.

I used to think the long wait times were due to a large amount of orders but I’ve come to realise this particular outlet is just poorly managed or understaffed. Expect waiting times of at least 15 minutes if the store isn’t crowded. If it’s crowded abandon all hope.

The usual experience at this store will be as follows. You would have made your order and looking forward to your meal in timely fashion as you’ve come to expect from this fast food chain. Your order number shows up as ready for collection on their screen, but you’ll realise they just mark all the orders as ready for collection regardless of their actual status. They will prepare your fries and fountain drinks well in advance and leave them by the side; if you’re lucky, your fries might still be crispy when you collect but your coke will definitely be flat. There’ll also be a pile of burgers, nuggets and other mains. You’d think all they have to do is assemble the meals that would be ready and get then out but instead most of these items will be here in purgatory while the employees scramble to pre-prepare fries and drinks. The cherry on top will be a hapless employee grunting your order number at a barely perceptible volume and then getting disgruntled when no one comes to collect their food. There’s also a good chance they’ll get your order wrong so do check your food...