Wendy's — Restaurant in Lenoir

Today (3/29/25), we visited Wendy’s around 2:33 PM and placed a large $70 order through the drive thru. The attendant was polite, but when we got home, we discovered that a burger and fries, worth $10, were missing from our order. Instead of going back to the store, my wife called and asked for a refund to her card.

This is where things took a turn for the worse. The employee on the phone offered a replacement burger but said that a refund was not possible because they “don’t have the wireless connection to do that.” As an IT Director with years of experience in restaurants, I was stunned by the lack of professionalism, customer service, and technical understanding of their systems. After questioning their claim, my wife was met with a snarky response when she asked if they had internet access: "Of course we do."

My wife pointed out that refusing to refund money for an item we did not receive is essentially theft. I also couldn’t help but notice that only offering cash refunds when a card was used creates serious concerns. In my experience, that kind of inconsistency is a major red flag and could easily open the door to misuse or even laundering money from stolen cards. That concern, combined with the dismissive attitude on the phone, prompted me to go in and request a refund in person.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I informed the cashier that I wanted a refund, and he went to speak with the manager. About five minutes later, the cashier handed me cash without any refund receipt or interaction with the manager. The manager did not bother to speak to me or acknowledge the situation, showing a complete lack of effort to make things right.

As I was leaving, I noticed the manager at the front counter and asked for her name. Instead of answering, she said, "How can I better serve you?" I replied that they had already been given the opportunity to serve us correctly the first time when we called and that I did not need her name since I had the receipt and time stamp. She tried to defend the situation by saying, "We offered you a replacement!" to which I responded, "At our inconvenience, it was your mistake!" and walked out.

It is absolutely frustrating that we had to go through this much trouble to resolve a simple mistake on their part. The lack of accountability and customer service from the manager was shocking. I would expect much better from Wendy’s as a company, but this experience has certainly made us question whether we will be returning to this location or any Wendy’s, for that matter.

This complaint will also be forwarded to the Better Business Bureau for further documentation...

Today marks the 5th Carolina Burger I have ordered and specifically asked for no onions. Each and every time they ignore my request. The last two times i stressed to them that this is an ongoing issue and again strongly specified no onions and today they did it again. Usually I check the order and when it’s wrong and I have to park and go in or drive back through. Today when they handed me my order they assured me 100 percent they did not add onions to my Carolina Burger. I made the mistake of thinking they where telling the truth and there’s no need for me to check it as busy as the traffic was. I thought finally they got it right but once again they put Onions on it and this time Lied about it. So I try to call the manager to ask why it’s such an issue and no one will answer. They allow it to ring off the hook. So out of frustration I decided to leave this negative review because my attempts to politely figure out this issue go ignored. So maybe leaving my compliant Here will result in a positive reaction from Wendy’s. Next time I order this burger and it’s wrong I will sit at the drive thru window until they...

Worst experience a at wendy's ever. We walk in there is a spill on the floor at the entry way where they had put a wet floor sign but had not bothered to clean up. The cashier goes to clean up the mass for a people walk by the cash register none of them wait on us. Another woman is sweeping the floor where food is being prepared with no mind to dust being kicked up and getting into people's food. And then goes back to handling food without washing her hands. The cashier comes back again with out washing her hands and finely waits on us and she also is touching people's food putting things on the trays and never washed her hands! It was not that busy in the store both of my companions burghers had been sitting for quite a while they were stale the French fries were stale. The tables in the lobby were dirty again it was not busy in the store! The bathrooms were dirty. I came out of the bathroom to see where someone had swept dirt up towards a wall and just left it sitting there. Unless there's a major shake up in the way this store is run don't waste your time going there you will be very...