"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" is a poem by Robert Herrick. This poem portrays our existence on earth, and that people age as life goes on, and everything becomes boundless. Herrick here urges people to take advantage of youth and energy while they may! The poem is in the genre of carpe diem, to seize the day.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Update - Burger King


Here is what happened...

Someone on 248am suggested that I call Mr. Anton Hamchaoui at Burger King HQ. I found Mr. Fame Hamchaoui on Facebook instead, who turned out to be his nephew and the marketing manager of BK. I sent him a msg on facebook, and he responded promptly. He promised me that a serious action will be taken towards what happened (regarding the quality of both, the service and food). He explained that he wont let such mistakes pass away easily, and said that at Burger King the customer is THE king! He asked for my contact and called me on the same day.

He said he read my post along with Mark's and the comments of the readers. He said he wont ask me to remove my post or anything, but would rather try his best to make it up to me.... even though I told him that a lot of people doubted me and question my credibility of that incident, he said he believed me (talking about customer satisfaction and retention)! He apologized and was very polite and professional... something the manager I encountered in Qadsiya lacked. He asked me to save his number and contact him again if something, God forbids, like that should happen again!

I may not look at junk food nor fast food chains for while now, but at least I am not as upset as I was 24 hrs ago!

Thank you Mr. Hamchaoui, I really appreciate you taking the time to call :-) It means something, that I wont give up on customer service completely :-)

UPDATE:
The operations manager just called me as a follow up after Mr. Hamchaoui's call, and he was also very apologetic and concerned and now they wanna invite me to a one day visit to any BK branch of my choice to see their staff and kitchen.

43 comments:

ZeroArk28 said...

I'll give you one advice, ASK THEM WHERE THEY STORE THE FOOD.

Anonymous said...

You Go Girl!!!
I'm not a fast food lover, so no Fast Food forever!!!

Anonymous said...

WOOOOO HOOOO, Ansam, YOU made a difference! Aren't you proud of yourself for making a fuss? I am very proud of YOU! I bet some manager gets his bottom kicked for treating you so cavalierly! Woo HOOO on you!

Unknown said...

If only every person did what you did instead of being ignorant, not just about food but about everything we have here in Kuwait that is wrong ya3ny... everything would be much MUCH better lol.

Glad that you did what you did, and let's hope that they will learn their lesson.

Hasan.B said...

3ad Geltela esaweli special discount??

Purgatory said...

take me with you, I will be your taster ;)

Its free right?

Grey said...

Yey ! you made a difference , Can i go back to Burger King now ?

Ansam said...

Neoark-
Hmmm sure :-) If I decide to go, I will

Anonymous-
Good for you :-) I cant give up junk food, but I am good without it for now... :-S

intlxpatr-
Thanks :-D
I am not as disappointed as I was 24 hrs back :-D

Ahmed Al Musallam-
Thank you :-)
I hope they do... both managers who called were really nice

Hasan.B-
hahahahaha la nesait :-P

Purgatory-
Sure :-P Like that is gonna happen!

Grey-
LOL its between you and BK ;-)

George said...

Ansam, say you wanna visit..mmm..let's say their Salmiya kitchen....and fix a time....just as it's time...head on to another location and say you wanna 'check out' that kitchen instead of Salmiya. A little surprise twist.

Maya KWT said...

"Ansam"
المراة التي هزت
Burger King
على وحدة و نص

a girl with a fringe said...

3ashat wala!

ANSAM a big thank you to you:))

Big Pearls said...

You rock girl:)

Unknown said...

good to know they're handling it professionally bs estaqfarAllah now everytime i order ANYthing from ANYwhere im gonna dissect it from one bun to the other!
o i totally agree with ahmed's comment!

NewQ8 Bride said...

ANsam Rocks :)

Anonymous said...

These BK guys are nice people, I would have just ignored your negative comment and your attempt to promote your page “Don’t feed the flames”. They should have asked themselves if you are getting enough traffic to make it worth. In many cases you can be innocent and still have others attempt to damage your reputation. The internet is a wonderful thing, but the behavior at times is just silly.

Anonymous said...

Shame on you 248am, If you want to write an effective review it must be at least your personal experience not Ansam. Bloggers must know that they are publishing words publicly and therefore have ethical obligations for their readers. It is very important to check and verify your sources if you have something to say that could potentially hurt or bring harm to an organization you had to make sure that this a BK sandwich.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Ansam, I think Buger King is the best !!!!!

Ansam said...

George-
I wish I can! Hehehehe He said something like, a rep will be accompanying you :-)

Maya KWT-
LOL

a girl with a fringe-
3ash ghaleech :-)

Big Pearls-
Thanks.... come on, I did not do anything THAT big hehehe

Fatima-
Yes, there is hope :-)

New Bride-
Awww thanks :-)

Both Anonymous Comments-
Yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night :-)
BK guys asked me NOT to remove or delete the post... we, bloggers, are not attention seekers! I am speaking for most bloggers I know

Ansam said...

Anonymous-
No need for sorry if you think it is the best :-) To each his own opinion :-)

Anonymous said...

Ansam, professional shot of the sandwich [tomatoes + whopper name], THANKS GOD we have PHOTOSHOP. What do you really want, maybe free items or money or just fame. I think we should share it as we are sharing comments. Maybe next time you can post a MAC photo as well.

Anonymous said...

Ansam your problem is with the restaurant manager not with burger king brand, you took this as a personal vendetta. Let me ask you, if he had said sorry would you still publish it on the net. BE FAIR GIRL

Ansam said...

Anonymous(1)-
If you know me! LOL if you ONLY know me you would know that I dont know how to use photoshop...
I want a clean meal and good customer service... Thats the full experience :-)
BK managers who contacted me are not as hostile as you are dude!!!

Anonymous-
Well... first because I ate from that sandwich, and secondly for the bad customer experience! BK managers who called apologized for both... If he was a professional in handling the problem, I would not have stormed out! I told him I will publish the pictures and he didnt seem to care! Are you reading my posts???
When Mr. Hamchaoui and the Operations Manager called they apologized for the quality of food and service! That means they read my post and they said we wont ask you to remove it so give it a rest!! Of course I would be upset with that kind of customer service!!! I even asked him for the HQ numbers and he gave me (correction, he told me to look it up on the hanging poster) which was the 1 811 111 number, and Mr. Hamchaoui explained to me as bad and that is the number for ordering not the HQ!

Daddyz Girl said...

Ansam 7abebti kha6ach alsoo :(. And eewww Burger king is really disgusting n filthy

Mark said...

please ask to visit the salmiya branch or muthana branch. maybe then i can start eating there again after your visit!

Ansam said...

Daddyz Girl-
Kha6aach ellaaash :-*

Mark-
Muthana hmmm! OK, I will see what I can do :-)

eshda3wa said...

go and take LOTS AND LOTS of pics for us

Ansam said...

eshda3wa-
LOL will see about that :-)

NS said...

I believe that BK has the best food when it comes to fast food. I am sure that such mistakes happen in nearly EVERY restaurant! But, as BK had an experience (sorry it had to be you Ansam!), Im sure they will work even harder to guarantee it will never happen again! Im heading there now!

Ansam said...

NS-
If you check older posts I wrote about how much I like their whoppers. I am sure such mistakes do happen in many restaurants, I agree with you! I was also upset with how the branch handled it :-S
They are actually working on making it up to me!

Unknown said...

Ansam, how is it so far?? are you enjoying the fruit of your success?? thanks, we learnt from you, I might do it also, a nice photo of nasty food, how nice your thinking is.... you might be getting now lots of lots of free food...maybe, or money...maybe, fame for sure!!! WOW i'm lovin it

Ansam said...

4janns-
I am not gonna dignify this with an answer :-) Have a good one!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
anne said...

u know what guys im a burgerking staff and im proud to be the staff coz the company and burgerking orient us the proper way how to make the product in its standard procedure actually this is what i want to tell ansam maybe u got now the fame and popularity but dont u think that u can damage some people whose working in that fast food just think about it if u really professional as u have said u will think that those people who work in that restauarnt will be affected and coz them to terminate we all know we are here to work and to earn and im a filipino dont tell that its just because we recieve less salary we are gonna ruines your food its not proper we are hired from the phillphines and we know how to do our job properly ok for me the last post of anonymous i agree with coz for me u just like popularity or advertisement coz ive read on your other post u will just gonna eat in mcdonalds what was that if u are refering only to the burgerking why u should have to inform the bloggers that u will gonna eat in mcdonalds if u dont want an advertisement it means u encouringing them to eat in mcdonalds which is the competitor of our restaurant am i right just think about that. for me your damaging the name of burgerking mostly the staff of the burgerking and ruining thier job we are to work and trying to serve our customers a good and fast service ok. take note some restaurant make mistakes too NOBODYS PERFECT even u....

Ansam said...

Thank you Anne for your comment. I am not trying to ruin anyone's reputation and FYI I have not eaten junk food since that incident. Dont judge me if you dont know me... I have lots and lots of cabayan friends :-) and in previous post (6 Pack... Or NOT!?) I wrote about me LOVING Burger King Whopper... No one seems to worry less but when I say something like this, the world turns into chaos.. believe me I do not need fame or popularity or advertising, you are again judging me :-) No one seems to get that I was upset on how I was treated... because the manager of that brand did not even apologize and was looking at me as if I was joking with him and when I told him I will publish the pictures he said OK!! Read well before you judge :-)

anne said...

better u tried to visit one of the restaurant and try to be a staff like a training so u would know how hard working in the fastfood working like 12 hours or more u dont know the work inside and better know the standard of burgerkings all restaurant had thier own standard procedures just to serve their customers a good service and qaulity of food im concerned to burgerking ans mostly the staff coz the restaurant will not gonna work if its just because of the different staff like indian, srilankan, nepal egyptian, filipinos and other more we are not here to get a popularity we are here to earn and workhard for the burgerking to give good quality and fast service to our customers, its up to u if u doesnt want to eat in burgerking anymore we still have more customers they can order like what we have says HAVE IT YOUR WAY its up to them with or without condiments we all want to give our customers a better service we are not perfect either u.....

Ansam said...

Anne, did I say I was perfect!! As I said read before you judge dear :-) I was upset because my problem wasnt handled, the manager was careless, I ask him for the head quarter number and he gives me the 811811 whatever number and actually he tell me to look at the poster... he did not even bother to give it to me... I tell him I will publish the pictures and he says OK!! Where I work, if I do a mistake I get accounted for :-) My manager is Lebanese and my team leader is Indian... you are being so judgmental and thinking that I am racist or something!! You know what the difference between Burger King here and Burger King in the USA? Is that there in USA the managers and staff are trying to give the best experience to the customers... here, you are taking it very personal! Your marketing manager and operation managers are treating me professionally but the staff clearly seem to have a problem and need to be trained on how to take criticism and how to handle a problem!!

anne said...

i didnt say u are perpect ive said that everyone of us are not perfect thats why im trying to tell u why dont u try to visit and try to be a staff so u would u know the standard all my coworkers was upset too of what happen coz we are working in this fastfood then something come out from the net that our product is junk and telling we are serving not good quality of the food how would u recommend that to your customers how would u feel as a staff infront of the customers if there is a news from the net about this story that why we also upset hope u understand that too so thats why i comment ok. if thats what happened on u in behalf of all staff we do say sorry for that and we will try to serve our customers good quality and service.

Danah said...

i don't need to defend ansam but i felt like i had to say this one thing.

the one thing that makes a company stand out from another, barring the excellent quality of food, is the CUSTOMER SERVICE. if you can't handle a simple comment or criticism then your behaviour is far from professional!! people are not stupid, when we don't get the service that we think we deserve we know that we should blame that particular person and not an entire establishment!

anne, no one is belittling what you do. working a 12hr shift (regardless of the nature of the work involved) IS hard work! by pointing out that ONE branch served rotten food doesn't mean all bk employees are not doing there job.

and how boring would it be if all blogs only pointed out the positives of companies/shops? all aspects of customer service should be talked about..good AND bad! how else will they improve themselves?

sorry for the long comment, ansam!

Ansam said...

Thanks Dandoon :-D So sweet of you to give a third opinion on what seems like a never ending battle...

Now Anne, I have a sisterly advise for you :-) I mean it....

1. I read what you wrote on Mark's blog and you seem to be defending Filipinos... BTW I did not look at Nationality when I posted about it PLUS he was NOT a Filipino so give this subject a rest.

2. My manager is Lebanese, and I am fine with it.. we have an Indian team leader, and I am SUPER fine with it... so again, I AM NOT racist :-)

3. Its a BIG MISTAKE for you to say fine if you dont want to come, we have so many others who love BK... is that your way of marketing or retaining customers? You do not tell them if you like our service come... if not, then leave... BIG NO NO NO...

4. I did work in the food business as a freelancer for a year and I cared so much about customers and the customer experience and satisfaction so it is also wrong of you to tell me... come try and see how we work.. you need to learn some marketing skills dear

5. Learn to take problems specially when they actually are happening or happened already... realizing you have a problem is solving half of it.

6. Learn from your marketing manager Mr. Hamchaoui and the operations manager.. They both seem very professional and very helpful. You need to learn from them

Ansam said...

Ohhh I remember the Marketing Manager saying at Burger King, the customer IS THE KING :-) You know how that made me feel about the whole incident? A lot better... Learn from him... Please :-)

anne said...

when this story comes out honestly they make action right away they talk to all staff regarding about this issue in different stores for sure and honestly we learned from what u have done and try to serve our customers better than their expect honestly just read your blogs this day coz as a staff we have long hours and i was visit it because i was concerned of my job and luckily dont have a customers asking me about this news in the net i admit if i have customers telling me i dont want to eat in burgerking i was upset some people say that but i have nothing to do about it.

Ansam said...

Anne-
Comment all you want :-) I hope you take my pieces of advice or at least consider them. And please dont judge if you dont know the person in reality :-) I am done doing this back and forth comments if they wont lead us anywhere... have a good one
Salamat Cabayan :-)

anne said...

from me and behalf of burgerking staff we do really apologize of what u have experienced we will do try to serve our customers better now and give them good qaulity of food we will try to do our best we promise u that just to serve our customers what they want ok thanks anyway for u atleast u here our side too if u think ive said something wrong im sorry ok. i appreciate for your advise hope to meet our marketing manager and ask if they can give us release just kidding.... thanks and take care...

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