McDonald's — Restaurant in El Cajon

I’ve been coming to this location since 1993 and have only seen the homeless problem outside get worse and worse with all the loitering! They only use one window in the drive-through so it’s always backed up! My last experience I had to wait in line from the drive-through because it was so backed up just so I could drive around and park curbside! Well, I ordered curbside, and my food was never brought out to me! I ordered through the app at home, drove to the location, then selected my curbside after all that. Waited 15 minutes. Tried to call the store three times and no one answered. Even left a voicemail telling them I just need a refund And my food is never been brought out to me after 15 minutes sitting there. Then I proceeded to go find the corporate customer service number so I could try to get a refund from them. Never got the refund. I’ve recorded now three calls to customer service, I have submitted a ticket online, And after submitting the ticket online, was called by the regional district manager, who was supposed to help me with my refund. I explained to her why I ordered curbside due to all the homeless. I don’t feel safe going in. The drive-through is always backed up so she offered To mail me a gift card. After over a week, I texted her to tell her I never received my gift card and confirmed the address I sent her was correct. She told me she sent it so I waited another week. Following up after two weeks, she told me that she sent it but clearly I haven’t gotten it yet and I don’t believe she sent it. I proceeded to call customer service again because the email from submitting the ticket online expired after 72 hours and the district manager had promised me she mailed my gift card in the form of my refund lol. Dealing with customer service the third time, I recorded a representative telling me this would be escalated to their regional office since I have been Stonewall and lied to by the district manager! It is now been over a week. I have gotten no call or voicemail. And still no gift card in the mail! So now I am being forced to file a complaint with the FTC to further investigate this and hopefully prompt a conversation with McDonald’s executive office. All over $15! I have never been through such a hassle to get a refund in my life and just wanted to tell all you people that read these reviews what this company will do if you order on the app curbside and don’t get your food what you will have to go through! Of all the other fast food companies, McDonald’s has been the most complicated procedure to deal with in terms of getting a refund for food you were never served, This is absolutely ridiculous and a violation of consumer rights! I can’t believe a district manager would lie in customer service with literally do everything they can to Stonewall you and lie to your face that it’s being escalated. Luckily, I recorded everything! I recommend not telling these people you are recording them because then they will just refuse to talk to you from my experience. A franchise owner of this establishment at this location needs to seriously check on its staff! This entire situation could’ve been avoided. Had they just answered their phone. I can’t believe of all places McDonald’s would be doing...

This is going to be a long one and I never leave reviews but I was shocked by my experience last night. I ordered 2 separate drive thru pick up orders through the app, I gave them the confirmation codes for both orders and when I pulled up to the window they only gave me one of the orders so I sat back in the drive thru and told them I needed my second order. When I come up to the window the second time, the MANAGER, David told me that they didn’t see my order on their screen. He took my phone 3 times and saw my confirmation code which also included the date which was 12/7/24, the time, 10:50 pm and the address of this location and absolutely refused to make my order. His solution for me was to order it again and come back in 24 hours to talk to another manager and get a refund. I told him I was not going to pay again, sit back in the drive thru line and come back, mind you I have the first order in my car getting cold as we speak. That’s absolutely ridiculous when he clearly saw my order. He proceeded to slam the drive thru window on me and then opened it again and kept asking me to leave and again, I told him I wasn’t going to do without what I paid for and he kept saying “I’m not going to give you free food” I wasn’t asking for free food. I’m asking for the food I paid for, that he saw that I paid for. I had to sit and run up his drive thru time before he gave me my order and the order was COLD!! Like it’s been sitting at the window the entire time he’s been refusing to give it to me and telling me to pay for it again. I was so upset when I finally left because not only is this person CLEARLY in the wrong, this was a MANAGER and he kept telling me to come back tomorrow and talk to a different manager for a refund?????? I’m talking to the GM of this location on their next shift because that interaction was absolutely ridiculous and inappropriate. I’m also a manager and that situation could’ve and should’ve been handled a million...

So originally I was going to rate this McDonald’s a 1 star because how bad they messed up on my order and how rude one of their cashiers were but I called the store to complain about the terrible customer service experience. The manager on duty spoke to me and apologized for the terrible experience I had and told me I could come back any time and I would receive either a full refund on my order or they could replace my entire order for me. She was so sincere (which I really appreciated) and so I went days after to get a refund on my order and the gentlemen that helped apologized and offered me dessert for the inconvenience. They gave me a full refund and even a little more for the gas I spent to go get the refund. This is the definition of true hospitality and value of their customers. I will definitely continue to go to this McDonald’s as they have more then did enough to keep me as a customer. Great Way to keep a...