yes, I do. I don't "drive through" much anymore, but when I do, I sit right by the window and check my bag if I've made a request. . doesn't take long. I forgot to check my coffee at mcdonalds though and they put SUGAR in it ! Patooie! I did go in and have it replaced.
I would have taken the sandwich too! lol next time you smell onion rings, check before you drive away! lol

I just took her for her word, that SHE DID check, which she did not.

I didn't want a COLD hamwich, so I went down the road and got a ribwich. At the drivethru!

Too bad you hadn't checked at the time - then asked her where she found multi-grain bread in that package?

What would the lady who served you on your return have said had you told her that she owed you for gas and time ... in that their employee had assured you that she'd checked the order and that it had been correct, thus you were left with the feeling that you did not need to check, yourself?

And, on her refusal, asked her for her name (and if you had a cell phone, taken her picture) and then to speak to the manager. If that person refused, taken her/his picture and informed him/her that you planned to contact their headquarters, if they're part of a chain. The pictures would be for identification purposes. If headquarters refused to honour your claim that you'd consider laying a charge in small-claims court.

That should get their attention - and possibly some objection to having taken their pictures without permission.

Question: would you have had to wait 20 min. for service had you gone into the store? Or did you not have that option?

In your geographic location, you wouldn't be sitting 20 in. with the engine running at this time of year, I assume. In our city nearby, a recently-passed by-law provides for a motorist being charged if s/he sits with motor idling for more than 5 min. You might be able to avoid it if you'd moved the car during the 20 min. - which you more than likely had.

The purpose is to cut down on pollution and global warming ... and some of us would say that we also aid the worthy objective of slowing down our consumption of increasingly scarce - and consequently, increasingly expensive - petroleum products.

I hope that you have a wonderful New Year, Glenda ... and that the others of you participants do, as well.

ole joyful

Hi ole joyful. Just wanted to pass on some information from my "roadfood" friends who claim that fast food restaurants generally pay more attention to the drive through line than they do the walk in customer. I'm not in the business, or condoning... just passing on what I've heard.

And glenda, it's happened so many times that I ALWAYS check. I don't care that it takes a minute or so, theres been many a time I've said, whoa, wheres my ____________fill in the blank!

Of course, you wonder whose Onion Rings you got and who in return got your sandwich? Seems there would have to be more than one mistake made at that window if you account for the domino effect. Happy New Years, all!

Glenda, I'm glad you went back. I imagine very few people go to the trouble and spend the time going back. They'll never improve unless they get a lot of gripping about it!

I hate the drive thru, I've been looking in the bag to make sure my order is right BEFORE I drive away.

I always call when I get home and find my order is screwed up. Usually they put ketchup on my cheeseburger after I say NO KETCHUP.
They'll send me a coupon. They say to bring it back and they'll make it right. I tell them I go through the drive in because I'm in a hurry, and no I can't bring it back.

My Coffee order is wrong at least twice a week. I order, drive up and repeat my order before accepting it. I am always assured that it is as I ordered. WRONG! I order coffee w. cream only. What do I get? Double/Double BLECH!!!
Even when I go into the store, they don't let you add your own cream or sugar. So it starts again!

Restaurant is not far from where I live. Besides I did NOT want onion rings for my main meal.

Love their hot links with pimento cheese and crackers. Always ask for extra crackers, and remind them at the drive thru, and always YES you have extra. Last time, NO crackers at all!

Thank goodness where I live is convenient to most things.

The primary objective being ... not only fast, but efficient, too, please: which includes getting the orders filled as ordered, right?

ole joyful - hoping soon to be enjoying one more year (if not feeling entirely that way at New Year)

P.S. Some corporate entities specify that their liability extends only to replacement of the product which they'd provided (which could cause a real mess if some agencies, e.g. software makers, didn't so specify) but I have never seen or heard of such in relation to fast food establishments, have you?

The prospect of potentially being forced to pay extra costs to thousands, associated with the provison of just one sandwich or slightly more to each, would give corporate headquarters nightmares, I'd think.

Remember Macdonalds and the suit brought by the woman who'd spilled hot coffee on her lap??

But ... just why are you, ole joyful, encouraging (mostly U.S. readers) to be even more litigious-minded, as many claim that too many of them are far too litigious-minded, as it is!

o j

I usually try to check my order before leaving but in reality, don't always. And of course you know WHEN the mistake will happen! Mostly, I check to see that, for instance if I order to sandwiches and a fry, I see if there's two sandwiches and a fry in there. On burgers I order just ketchup. Interestingly at Burger King, I've found there's a WAY to say it, to get what you want. Do not say "just ketchup", you need to say "ketchup ONLY". Never a problem since. It's using THEIR lingo. The new thing I've run into is the way they push upsizing. "Small" costs $1.50 more! You have to say "value size". I started saying "whatever size is the price you advertise". I've made them change it more than once.

I do like to think that most of these places truly do want to try to make things right when there's a legitimate problem. And yes, if they don't know about it, there's nothing they can do to improve. So we as customers do owe it to them to let them know when there's a problem. You were very reasonable Glenda. Many would be expecting they give them the world for a mistake. Hopefully they can straighten things out and you can return to being a satisfied customer at their establishment.

I understand the business's frustration too, what with people threatening all sorts of things and the like. Everyone knows that nobody in their right mind will sue for a burger mishap. But it makes for good laughs at the water cooler. And really, some of these mistakes are just people not paying attention to their job. And that's a big frustration of mine. I don't care if you're a CEO of a gigantic corporation or a floor sweeper in an office. If you don't take pride in your work, you're incompetent. So many of these mistakes are so easily avoided.

After all the health issues lately I've been forced to eat out much more. I'm tired of of. Been buying more groceries lately and doing light cooking at home. And appreciating it much more. I'm sure many would laugh at my menus of late but compared to drive through... it's gourmet cuisine!

I check the bag to the extent that, like Cynic, I count the items, make sure I have what I ordered. I do not actually unwrap the sandwiches on the spot to make sure a cheeseburger is plain. My younger kids like their sandwiches plain, no condiments. We sometimes get home to find them loaded. But then my grief is actually with the picky kids. If I order one sandwich and it's wrong, I'm annoyed. But often when we go through a drive thru we order for 6 people, and I know that's confusing in a fast food place. I don't need to make it harder by ordering every sandwich different. I do expect to get every item I ordered, though.

I will, however, stick my straw in my cup and taste my iced tea before I drive away. 1/2 the time I order unsweet tea, I get sweet. Just the other day an employee at a drive thru handed me my cup, then stopped and said "Oh, I don't remember if I filled that with sweet or unsweet. Here, let me get you another one to be sure." I just no, it's OK, I'll taste it to find out. It was right! ;o) But he said joking "I wouldn't want you to pull away and have your day ruined because your tea is wrong." DS 16 y/o was in the passenger seat and about spit his drink out he laughed so hard. He leaned over and said to the guy, "You have NO idea! She'd come back." Cuz it really would ruin my day, or at least my lunch. ;o) I wouldn't drink it sweet and my family has heard me rant more than a few times about it. I'm notorious for that particular demand. So it was like the employee knew me.

Hi Steph,

I'm glad that you attested to your notoriety, yourself, rather than being accused of it by other participants here.

o j