McDonald's Westville Church Road — Restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal

Probably my worst McDonald’s experience ever. Normally this place is alright (maybe 3 stars). Today I came in to work during loadshedding. System was down so everyone was asked to order at the counter. At the counter the attendant just looked at me, no indication of being ready to receive any order. Even on my attempt at being friendly, she just looked blankly and talked to other people in the middle of receiving my order. After placing my order I went to work at a table. When I came back about 20 minutes later to collect, they had just completely forgotten my order, and some other people’s too it seemed. When I did finally get my order (Veggie burger and watermelon mcfizz) I took a sip of the drink and couldn’t figure out what, but something was off. Worried about a distinct ginger beer taste that was either that or chemicals, I was concerned and took it back to enquire, they told me it’s because they’re making it out of ginger beer today. I said what do you mean today? They said we’ll either ginger beer or sprite. To which I said (still a little shocked): but it’s normally made with sprite? The response was that they were out of sprite. I didn’t quite know what to say to this. Which person thought: oh well ginger beer is pretty much the same thing 🤣😂 I’m not sure if ginger beer allergy is a thing, but I hope it isn’t and that if it is someone who has it never falls victim to this sort of poor service. At this point the attendee is still just staring blankly at me and the person next to me looks about as confused as I am. I ask them politely to please let people know if you are going to make it with something different. To which I got a bland “ok”. I’m sure she also wasn’t quite sure what to say, but I want to make it clear at no point was I shouting or confrontational and I definitely think there are A LOT of places this experience could have been better. McDonald’s please invest in training your people. This is not on her, this is on you. You own the customer service and at this branch it is shocking. Unless that really is a policy (subbing out sprite for ginger beer), if so - then please fix that 🤮 I left my drink at the counter. Not that I was necessarily expecting one, but there was no offer of anything different or any assistance beyond the ok to my suggestion to inform people next time. (Which I doubt will be followed through on). Now I’m off to the garage to buy something to drink with R20 something less Rand in my bank account and still just as thirsty 😂😂

*I will add that the last time I had a bad experience here there was one person who was very apologetic and went out of their way to help me. I wish I knew her name. Please McDonald’s find a way to recognise your strong performers and train and inspire your lagging majority to develop. In any role it is possible to hold to a standard of excellence, which...

Where do I start - 07h45, 29 August.

My lovely wife went in and ordered at the counter because the self service screens were not working. She ordered 2 x Sausage with Egg McMuffin meals, one with coffee one with a large orange juice and a side of large fries. She was told that they are having issues with stock deliveries and with the store opening late because staff could not get in on time, something to do with missing keys. So she smiled and took coffee instead of the large orange juice. She paid and the amount was similar to what we're used to (we order weekly from this franchise). She was however not given a receipt apparently due to issues with the ordering system.

Meal took 30 minutes to prepare (SOP's not being followed probably caused this) No milk in coffee's (nothing was said about there being no milk in stock - again SOP's not being followed.) Upon getting to the car I noticed the 2 x hashbrowns were missing (Order was obviouslt not pre-confirmed as should be done). She took the items back into the store and asked for hashbrowns, upon which the cashier insisted on charging her - not wanting to dissapoint me she paid an extra R42 approx. Upon eating the meal, the fries were now cold, slimy, limp and unsalted. The hashbrown was limp, slimy and not crispy on the outside. The mcMuffins however were as good as always, just weirdly wrapped with some of the muffin unwrapped.

I also witnessed the store being locked, leaving a confused patron standing outside.

I'm not sure what happened this morning - there must be a story behind it all. I'm almost certain it's a rare occurrence - we have ordered from this franchise more times that I can remember and have never once had a bad experience. In fact the store is the cleanest McDonalds I've ever visited globally, the ladies and gents are polite and a real gem to have working there. I'd appreciate it if this could be looked into, I would hate for this type of apathy to creep in further and rot away such a good franchise.

Also on the bit of being overcharged, i'd appreciate it if that could be rectified at...

Full restaurant (every seat inside take) and only 3 staff working. The floor behind the counter and in the kitchen is disgusting, full of old food and garbage. Cashier wasn't even wearing shoes. Kitchen staff no hair nets or gloves. Terrible service. While I waited 25 minutes to be helped I saw 3 families come back to the counter because they were missing items. A gentleman who arrived before me waited 30 minutes for a milkshake. The machines to order from say that there is stock of almost everything but when you get to the till to collect (15-30 minutes later), only then does the cashier tell you they are out of stock of half your order. Perhaps all of this was a one time thing but I know for a fact that every single person in there wanted to give the staff a mouthful. That being said, customers did complain to individual staff and the only response I personally saw was an insincere apology followed by turning around and smiling at the other staff who were giggling in the back. If this is your restaurant... SORT IT OUT

January 1st,...