Wendy's — Restaurant in Sumter

Fast food this was not. I usually prefer Wendy's for drive-through hamburgers, but today was disastrous. My family went to the Wendy's drive-through after grocery shopping on Sunday for a late lunch at about 1:00 PM. We thought we would mostly miss the church crowd slowdown. We initially got in the drive-through line and waited for the cars to move.

After a few minutes of not moving, my wife thought she'd save some time, and she had time to download the Wendy's app, create an account, take orders in the app for a family of four (including two indecisive, picky-eater children), and pay before we even made it to the speaker menu.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the speaker menu, and it took another 10 or so minutes for the drive-through cashier to acknowledge us. We told them that we were picking up a mobile app order, and we were directed to the second window. We got to the second window, and we weren't acknowledged for another five or so minutes.

When acknowledged, the cashier handed us our bags of food and our drinks while at the same time saying, "We're out of the kids apple bites. Can I get you something else." Though the lack of apple bites wouldn't have fully deterred us from choosing Wendy's, it definitely felt that there were multiple opportunities to inform us that they were out - maybe 1) within the app while ordering, 2) when the team member reviewed our order when we checked in at the speaker menu, 3) once we arrived at the second window before the rest of our food was ready and bagged.

When asked if there was something else they could get us, I asked for a refund. We had already paid for the apple bites, and we'd been waiting 35 minutes for them. I'd prefer a refund rather than a replacement that we'd have to wait for while the rest of our food gets cold. She said, "I'll have to go get my manager." Another five minutes goes by, and instead of a manager and a refund, she passes us a container of apple bites. I don't know where she got them or why they were out of them five minutes ago, but inconveniently they found some. We then asked if they had another container for our other child's kid's meal, and she disappeared for another five minutes. A second container of apple bites in hand, we left for home to eat our now cold food after sitting in the drive-through for 45 minutes.

Aside from the cold food, they also succeeded at getting my and my daughter's burgers wrong (I ordered a Dave's Double and received a single, and my daughter ordered no cheese on her burger and got cheese). Waiting a long time and eating cold, wrong food is probably against the core values of Wendy's restaurants.

To add insult to injury, when I tried to use the app to live chat with Wendy's customer service, no one ever joined the chat. We then called the support number and heard the recording that customer service is closed on Sundays. It seems like that information could have been posted within the app, at the minimum.

Do...

• ok, edit, I went back… I went back because the jr cheese deluxe is the only burger my kid will eat. I took two teens with me also. Again I went to drive thru and when I pulled up someone said something on microphone so fast and inaudible about not being able to use the drive thru I thought so I drove around saw people inside again and reluctantly went in. It was a little busy as far as people in the seats but nobody was in line. I stood in line for a few minutes curious why nobody had approached us yet, even a “I’ll be with you in a moment” would have been appreciated. When I tried ordering a few things it was “we don’t have this or that” “ that will take a few moments” So I asked if the soda machine was fixed because it only had three options and none of them diet a few weeks ago. No. Still broke. I just looked at the kids and just ordered a jr cheese deluxe. That was it. My kid got his sandwich, ate it there, we watched him eat and then left. We drove Nextdoor to sonic and ordered all our food there. I ordered a burger for my kiddo too even though he just ate hoping my kid would like it and then we could stop going to this Wendy’s all together… he’s on the fence… me too kid, me too… ** It was a fail tonight honestly. I only went because my daughter begged me for new fuego fries and my son likes the jr cheese deluxe. Pulled up to drive thru and told the was an issue and I would have to come in. My son’s burger had so much mayo and hardly any veggies, he didn’t eat it. After I ordered the nice girl at counter apologized that the desert cups had no dome lids but she would do her best. Order was taking a long time and apparently they had been looking for the powder to make the fuego fries. Meanwhile our food was getting cold. I ordered Asiago chicken and years ago you could taste dressing and have a juicy cx patty. This time it seemed like I might as well ordered a value menu chicken because it was not a full chicken sandwich. Sad that quality just diminishes, I’ll just go elsewhere for chicken sandwiches, never again… my daughter burger was no tomato but it came no lettuce no tomatoes… maybe they were out of produce since my sons was missing lettuce and my sandwich skimpy too. I had ordered an iced coffee which I did not know they could not do for dinner hr with no coffee. Then we went to get fountain drinks and I wish I knew there were only three options, non diet, and not any syrup options either. If this place runs like this normally I’m not sure how they will stay in business. The staff was...

The absolute nastiest fast food restaurant I have ever been inside. Women's sink was stopped up and full of what looked like food. The men's bathroom has caution/danger tape around the door. If the dining room is that bad, i can only imagine what is going on in the men's restroom to constitute putting up "danger" tape. The beverage and condiment station hasn't been cleaned since this building was erected. The drink machine doesn't work and is covered in something disgusting and orange. No napkins, straws, condiments. The floor looks like it has never been swept or mopped. 2 different people put their bare hands on my kids' food. I should have walked out as soon as I walked in. I watched the GM walk all over food on the floor while he was on the phone. It was just nauseating. Don't be fooled by the new building. I told the kids do not ever ask to come here again. The worst part is, I reas the reviews and saw other pics and that's exactly what it looked like...