The Day I Almost Went to Jail for a Pressed Cuban & Blimpies Smoothie

Friday night, I almost went to jail, and for good reason. I went to order a Cuban sandwich and strawberry pineapple smoothie from Blimpie located inside our local Super Wal-Mart. Now I've never before shopped at Blimpie, but our family shops at Super Wal-Mart, and I decided to shop there for a quick bite for Shirre instead of going to Smoothie King whose smoothies are tasteful and flavorful and whom I discovered while in college at University of South Florida. When I arrived at Blimpie, the clerk took my order and asked if I wanted the Cuban pressed. I said, "Yes," because I figured that was a good option, and I've never ordered a Cuban for Shirre before. When I arrived home, Shirre looked at the Cuban and didn't like the fact that it was pressed and smelled funny. She also tried the smoothie and declared it tasted like nothing. I tasted it and concurred; it tasted like wood to me. Since Shirre hadn't bitten off the sandwich and the bill had cost me $9.50, I was determined to get my money back for a sub par product. If the bill had cost only $2 or $3 total, then I wouldn't have made a big deal about it. I would have just eaten the money--and maybe the sandwich myself.

Now would come the hard part--getting my money back. I called the clerk who had sold me the meal and explained to him my problem with the unsatisfactory meal. He had an attitude with me over the phone and said, "So what's the problem?" when I explained to him what the problem was. So I informed him that I would see him in a few minutes to rectify the issue. First, I stopped at Subway around the corner from my house and ordered a Cold Cut Combo foot-long sub for Shirre. I arrived at Wal-Mart just a few minutes before Blimpie's 9pm closing time to find the gate closed almost all the way, but there was a crack so I slipped inside with smoothie and sandwich in hand.

Again, I spoke to the clerk in person, noticed he was the only employee on duty, and asked for the manager's name. Wouldn't you know it, he was the manager, said he had been for four years (whoop de do). He asked me what exactly the problem was, and again I explained as I had on the phone that my wife was not in any way satisfied with the quality of the product. Since I had paid nearly $10 for the meal, I wanted my money back. The manager then became abrasive, told me that he had already asked me if I was satisfied while making my meal, and that customers bought this meal from him all the time. I responded that I didn't really care what anyone else's opinion of his food was, and that it all tasted like "crap". I also reminded him that everyone's tastes are different and that being a foreigner like me, he should know that tastes are diverse and all are not going to be satisfied by the same foods. The manager then told me that it was my opinion that the food was bad, it was my fault that I didn't like it, and no he couldn't give me my money back. Later he said that ok, he might give me half of my money back but that was all he could do. At that point I was highly agitated, and I was entertaining the thought of violence. I haven't done anything bad in a long time, and I might be getting rusty, so I wanted to see if I still got IT. I told him that he needed to show me the Blimpie policy on customer returns, and show me specifically where it said he was not allowed to refund my money. He said no, there was no policy, so I told him I wasn't leaving until I got my money refunded, and that once I did that I would never return to his sorry establishment. Finally, Mr. Manager (a thin wiry guy who liked like he might be from the East) gave me my $9.50. Whew, he didn't know that he had been saved by the bell! I thanked him for finally providing good customer service, told him my name, and asked his name. Can you believe it, his reply was, "No that's allright, sir." I replied that yes, I was aware that everything was alright and that I was trying to be polite and thank him by name. Since he wouldn't volunteer his info and wasn't wearing a name tag, I badgered him for a few more minutes just to annoy him, and told him that I would find out his name by contacting his superiors. Then I left the store after speaking to a couple Wal-Mart employees camped outside. I'm generally not into drama, but man this was 15 minutes worth of drama that I really enjoyed.

Bottom line, I paid $10 for a bad product and received about $20 worth of even worse service. I'm not working yet, so I definitely wasn't taking any foolishness, but I would have done the same thing even if I had $1 million in the bank. It's the principle--the customer is always right, and good customer service says that if the customer is unsatisfied, you as the manager must make it right some way--either give the customer his money back, replace the product (if it is defective, wrong size, flavor, etc.), or provide some similar product or service of equal or greater value. A good manager understands that a key to long-term success is word of mouth by satisfied customers. When you satisfy a customer he may tell a few friends and family. However, when you dissatisfy a customer, he will tell about 2 to 3 times more people than the satisfied customer. So you always want to respond positively to any complaint. That's good Business 101, and this guy, "Tyrone" didn't follow it. Yes that's his real name as I found by asking another Wal-Mart employee.

So to all my friends, I'm encouraging a boycott of Blimpie. This would be the same restaurant that lists such healthy offerings the Veggie Supreme sub. Read below for the awe inspiring nutritional details.

Worst "Healthy" Sandwich
Blimpie Veggie Supreme (12")
1,106 calories
56 g fat (33 g saturated fat)
2,831 mg sodium
96 g carbohydrates