Jessica sent a message to Julia Stewart – Chairman and CEO, DineEquity, Inc. – Email Address that said:
Hello , I am reaching out to owners/CEO/president in order to inform you of the dearth of commitment and service at the Windham Maine location. I am a small business owner in Casco ME , with our rapid increase in business and dramatic hours my husband and I are working, we have our 4 children that we structured in our schedules to always sit for dinner together, which includes about 4 nights a week of Applebees car side to go (average of 65.00$ each visit). With that being said, I will get to the issues.
First of all, I am shocked at the amount of weekly visits and yet no one remembers you to make it feel more personal. Key problems; at least two times out of 4 weekly my order doesn't get put it and wait a MINIMUM of 60 minutes AFTER the 20min time frame given during phone order. 3 out of 4 times the order is incorrect, including completely forgetting full meals (kids meals, burger, etc..) . For me the biggest issue of all, is the justification ESPECIALLY BY MANAGEMENT!! I finally went in and spoke with management where I found one chef (Brian ) who actually gets the concept, other than that, I have spoken with at least 2 other managers one in which has delivered my food to me personally after 1 1/2 hour wait THREE different times, where I was given the excuse that I must be calling my order in when everyone else is!! WHAT??!! Mind you two of these excuses or should I say "blame" where on Wednesday's , when he told me that they are busy and I should try a different time frame...WHAT???!!!!! I'm sorry but I thought restaurant business relies on "DINNER and LUNCH RUSH" most importantly, should be prepared for these "rush" times. I have been given a couple free appetizers and a 25$ coupon, however as I explained to the management, I don't want free food, I simply want it right and in a timely manner, and even when a simple mistake is made an apology not an excuse or definitely not blame my time frame as the problem...
I recently stopped going out of shear aggravation, when last night I decided to give it another try in lieu of the very convenient curbside offered and my husband love for the cowboy burger. Well, again I waited over an hour and after I told the waitress that if the meals have not been made to please be honest with me because I did not have time to wait, so she told me she would check and be right back,10 mins later the manager came out, of course telling me how busy they are ,I asked him if he remembered me from a couple weeks ago and times before that, he said yes blankly, handed me my bill walked back inside while I waited another 10 mins then returned with our meals and I paid him. I was in awe , first of all he actually didnt hand me the bill, it was raining and he neatly patted it on edge of my window sill into the wet console, I peeled it off in several pieces because it disintegrated for the most part. This is the same manager , when I asked him if Applebee's simply doesnt like me, he answered me , maybe that's it!!
This is all extremely frustrating since in our area there isn't a whole lot of choices for decent food, Applebee's had wonderful food, however unfortunately the service in Windham is bothersome enough that I will travel and be forced to go somewhere else.
Jessica