Panera Bread — Restaurant in Burlington

I visited the Panera Bread Cafe #4989 in Burlington, NC. on Dec 2, 2018. It is a nice locations and attractive looking store. I ordered the SW Chili Chicken Salad, full size. The store was busy and I was not in a hurry, so I was okay if the order took a while. I expected my salad to be fresh and well made for the price I paid. It took nearly 30 minutes to get my order, but I was okay with that since they were busy. When I got the salad, it did not present itself very well, looked very sloppy. When I took my first bite and only bite, the lettuce was extremely soggy, very limp, like it has sat in a refrigerator overnight uncovered. There was no chicken in my salad, at least I could not find any. I was disappointed and took my salad to the register where I ordered and purchased. I explained that the salad was not good and just wanted to get my money back. The cashier explained she would have to get the manager, and I was okay with her lead. When the General Manager arrived I explained that the food in the past was always very good, but this salad was just not at their standards and very poorly make. I had other errands and just want to get my money back. The General Manger than took on an arrogant attitude and said he was not going to give me my money back. He did not any look at my salad to review. I told him I was not interested in getting another salad and to please just give me my money back. He again said, very firmly, and with a lot of arrogance, I will not give you back your money because I do not have to give a refund. He stated he might consider a voucher for future use at the store. At this time he was just rude and I told him I did not want the voucher, I simply wanted my money back. He again stated no refund and left. I apologized to the cashier and said I was not leaving until the manager did the right thing and to refund my purchase. I was not rude or belligerent, but was very stunned by the lack of customer service I was just handed. I was ignored from this point with the expectation I would just leave. The cashier was asking customer's to just come around me to place their order. Another customer approached the counter stated that the pickup window said they were out what she ordered and just wanted a refund, not interested in anything else. She was told the same and was refused a refund. Later the same General Manager told me to leave and if I did not he would call the police and have me removed! I was simply holding my position at the register wanting a refund. I was stunned and told him calmly to call the police and have them remove me. He got on the phone and called. This was all over a $11 salad. Many people in line were stunned as well. I am a professional in the market place and responsible for many employees. I have never in my life experienced a total disregard of customer service by a GM as I had that day. Companies pays a lot of money to market themselves with an image they want to portray to the public. No customer should have been ever put in my position with today's standards and it cost that store more that $11. It cost them a very loyal customer who will never return and will never have a good word to say about Panera Bread. I have submitted a dispute with my credit card and will get a refund. I submit this complaint publicly because there are a lot of hard working people that work for this company and should not have this GM represent their companies values. Update: 12-11: I did get my refund, but had to file a dispute with my credit card company. It was approved in my favor. They lost a customer and the purchase price was refunded. If you received food not as described and paid with a credit/debit card, file a dispute. You have a very high probability it will be refunded...

Literally the worst Panera I’ve ever patronized. If you order delivery, have the driver hand it to you and check it before the driver leaves. 9/10 times something is missing or made wrong. When I finally decided to start reporting them every time something was wrong (because I was losing so much money due to the missing items or because the mistakes were actually egregious due to food allergies), it was SO often that they started making me feel like they thought I was either crazy or a liar. That’s when I stopped ordering delivery.

If you order pick up or drive through, check it before you leave. 9/10 times something is missing or made wrong. They even get it wrong when dining in!

And then, Lord help you once you start asking for things to be remade because the customer service is TERRIBLE. They put you at the back of the line, even though THEY are the ones who messed up.

I got so sick of it that this time I asked to keep the wrongly made food. My daughter’s allergy meant that she wouldn’t have been able to eat it at all, so I had to have it remade. But I thought maybe my husband could at least benefit. Having to wait for it to be remade is such an inconvenience, and I know they have to throw out the food anyways. So this time I asked to keep it. They tried to charge me $12 for it! The manager initially told me they couldn’t give it to me because they had to log everything they throw away. But he finally admitted that he wasn’t going to give it to me because it was going to be his dinner. I appreciated his frankness, although I doubt the company would like knowing the franchise is delivering poor customer service so that the manager can have a...

I hate writing negative reviews, but this was such a disappointing experience, I had to say something.

We stopped in our way home from an overnight business trip on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 5th between 7:35-8:00 pm.

We specifically looked up all of the Panera Bread locations along our route home, b/c we can't stand fast-food burger-chain restaurants, & we both love Panera Bread, which we will ALWAYS seek out when we're on a road-trip. Regardless of where we are in the U.S., I'm rarely ever disappointed by Panera Bread. In fact, this was the first really disappointing experience we've ever had.

Although they weren't busy, the staff didn't stop their conversation to acknowledge us until we told them we were ready to order. Despite my being very happy, polite, & friendly (as I always am every time I speak to someone who is or will be handling &/or preparing my food), the staff seemed annoyed that we were interrupting them, as if we were an inconvenience & they were put out at having to take our order.

But, it was literally THE ONLY Panera Bread (that wasn't way out of our way) between where we were leaving from in Greensboro, NC & our home in Virginia Beach, so we placed our order: a Turkey, bacon, & avocado sandwich, 2 drinks, a brownie, & an orange scone.

When we opened the sandwich (which we were splitting), we found an avocado peel was inside the sandwich. Yuck. We couldn't, & didn't, even eat the sandwich after that.

If this was our local store, I would've gone back so the manager could make it right, but we were already on the road & on our way back home to Va. Beach, so there was nothing I could do. We split the chips & brownie...