Friday, August 26, 2011
Mr. Jim Skinner, Chief Executive Officer
McDonald’s Corporation
2111 McDonald’s Drive
Oak Brook, Illinois 60523
Dear Mr. Skinner,
I have been a long-time patron of McDonald’s restaurants and am generally pleased with the service and food that I receive there. Most recently, I would like to applaud the addition of the oatmeal breakfast item, which I frequently find myself ordering. Unfortunately, not all of your locations are as exemplary as the next. One such location is the one on West Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
While the food at the West Liberty McDonald’s is of standard Mickey D’s caliber, it takes so long to get it that it can hardly be labeled fast food. Any time of the day, whether it be 12:30 a.m. at the 24 hour drive through or otherwise, it takes the patience of a saint to wait to place an order, and this is with very few patrons in front of me. This evening, there were two cars in line, and I still had to throw up my hands in exasperation and turn around.
One could literally go to the supermarket, purchase the necessary ingredients, return home and prepare a similar sandwich in the amount of time that it takes to purchase one at this location. Now, I couldn’t do it at the dollar menu cost, but I had to forfeit that luxury when pulling away tonight regardless. It is heartbreaking that such an excellent franchise has fallen into such disarray, and this in a recently-remodeled location, no less. I can only continue to vote with my feet when the service is this obscenely poor, and hope that it makes a difference.
At times when I’ve sent letters to various companies, they’ve responded by sending me gift cards and things of that nature. I’d like you to know, this is not my objective. After all, the food wouldn’t be free if it took 20 minutes of my time to receive it. I ask that you only take these concerns under advisement when looking at ways to speed up the process.
Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Friday, August 26, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Subway
Mr. Fred De Luca, CEO, Subway Restaurants
Subway World Headquarters
325 Bic Drive
Milford, Connecticut 06460
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Dear Mr. De Luca,
Yesterday, I visited a Subway restaurant located in North Fayette, Pennsylvania. Both the sandwich I ordered (a 12-inch Philly cheese steak on Italian herb with onions and banana peppers) and the service were absolutely flawless, and I commend you and the franchise in that regard.
I was, however, shocked to learn that the price of this sandwich was a hair’s breadth short of $10.00. Mind you, this was with no drink, no chips, and no macadamia nut cookies, which are, incidentally, delicious. I realize that in tough economic times, fewer and fewer people are able to afford to go out to eat and that the resultant loss in profits will need to be compensated for somehow, however I do not believe that charging $10.00 for a sandwich is the way to go about doing this.
When discussing Subway, one is reminded of the exploits of Jared Fogle. Supposing that
Mr. Fogle threw caution to the wind where health was concerned, and instead had the Philly cheese steak at every meal for an entire year. I ask you, would he have eaten $11,000 worth of food? I don’t believe that any reasonable person could conclude that he had. As a figure of comparison, someone earning the federal minimum wage, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, would gross $15,080.
At the risk of committing reductio ad absurdum, had a family of four eaten these sandwiches at every meal for the entire 11 years that Jared has been associated with Subway, the total cost would be almost half a million dollars. Assuming drinks, chips and macadamia nut cookies, it would easily exceed that number.
Of course, no one is suggesting that anyone could or should do this, but it exemplifies my point: The sandwich is blatantly too expensive. As much as I would love to continue eating at Subway frequently, the number speak for themselves: I cannot afford it.
In closing, I would like to commend you once more for the quality of your restaurants, their food and the service provided within them, but, again, I would strongly urge you to take a look at these numbers and try to find a happy medium between profitable and reasonable.
Sincerely,
Subway World Headquarters
325 Bic Drive
Milford, Connecticut 06460
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Dear Mr. De Luca,
Yesterday, I visited a Subway restaurant located in North Fayette, Pennsylvania. Both the sandwich I ordered (a 12-inch Philly cheese steak on Italian herb with onions and banana peppers) and the service were absolutely flawless, and I commend you and the franchise in that regard.
I was, however, shocked to learn that the price of this sandwich was a hair’s breadth short of $10.00. Mind you, this was with no drink, no chips, and no macadamia nut cookies, which are, incidentally, delicious. I realize that in tough economic times, fewer and fewer people are able to afford to go out to eat and that the resultant loss in profits will need to be compensated for somehow, however I do not believe that charging $10.00 for a sandwich is the way to go about doing this.
When discussing Subway, one is reminded of the exploits of Jared Fogle. Supposing that
Mr. Fogle threw caution to the wind where health was concerned, and instead had the Philly cheese steak at every meal for an entire year. I ask you, would he have eaten $11,000 worth of food? I don’t believe that any reasonable person could conclude that he had. As a figure of comparison, someone earning the federal minimum wage, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, would gross $15,080.
At the risk of committing reductio ad absurdum, had a family of four eaten these sandwiches at every meal for the entire 11 years that Jared has been associated with Subway, the total cost would be almost half a million dollars. Assuming drinks, chips and macadamia nut cookies, it would easily exceed that number.
Of course, no one is suggesting that anyone could or should do this, but it exemplifies my point: The sandwich is blatantly too expensive. As much as I would love to continue eating at Subway frequently, the number speak for themselves: I cannot afford it.
In closing, I would like to commend you once more for the quality of your restaurants, their food and the service provided within them, but, again, I would strongly urge you to take a look at these numbers and try to find a happy medium between profitable and reasonable.
Sincerely,
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Citizens Bank
Ms. Ellen Alemany
Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
One Citizens Plaza
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Dear Ms. Alemany,
I have been a Citizens Bank account holder for many years, and in general I have been very pleased with the friendly and professional service I receive every time I walk into one of your branch offices. However, in the past week, I have spotted an issue of concern that I’d like to share with you.
In regard to Citizens Bank’s new policy of charging penalty fees to bank account holders who receive paper statements, I would like to formally express my disapproval. This service has always been part and parcel of what the bank has given its account holders in return for entrusting it with their money. All of a sudden, it costs $36.00 to print and mail 12 paper statements per year. Why?
Many account holders would prefer to deal with important financial matters on the hard copy rather than relying on computers, and you can count me among them. Now it seems as if we are being strong-armed to change. Again, why?
The guise is that it is an effort to “Go Green.” Aside from the fact that not all account holders agree with the politics of this effort, it seems to be, in actuality, a pretense to cut more corners in order to save money. Where dollars and cents are concerned, you’ve made a smart move. However, I find this decision lacking in the customer service department.
I know you have elderly and disabled account holders who are not familiar with or able to use computers, and they will be forced to eat these fees if they wish to know anything at all about what’s going on with their bank accounts. Again, I find that truly unfortunate. With more and more small banks advertising fee-free accounts on television, I think this is something you ought to take into consideration.
Furthermore, upon viewing my transactions online, these penalties are marked only as “Fee,” leaving me to inquire further to figure out what exactly I had done wrong to incur them..
These fees were removed as a one-time courtesy, which I do appreciate, but I am disappointed by the fact that I will have to resort to e-statements in order to avoid them in the future.
Thank you for all the years of solid, reliable banking. Please share my remarks with the rest of your board members.
Sincerely,
Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
One Citizens Plaza
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Dear Ms. Alemany,
I have been a Citizens Bank account holder for many years, and in general I have been very pleased with the friendly and professional service I receive every time I walk into one of your branch offices. However, in the past week, I have spotted an issue of concern that I’d like to share with you.
In regard to Citizens Bank’s new policy of charging penalty fees to bank account holders who receive paper statements, I would like to formally express my disapproval. This service has always been part and parcel of what the bank has given its account holders in return for entrusting it with their money. All of a sudden, it costs $36.00 to print and mail 12 paper statements per year. Why?
Many account holders would prefer to deal with important financial matters on the hard copy rather than relying on computers, and you can count me among them. Now it seems as if we are being strong-armed to change. Again, why?
The guise is that it is an effort to “Go Green.” Aside from the fact that not all account holders agree with the politics of this effort, it seems to be, in actuality, a pretense to cut more corners in order to save money. Where dollars and cents are concerned, you’ve made a smart move. However, I find this decision lacking in the customer service department.
I know you have elderly and disabled account holders who are not familiar with or able to use computers, and they will be forced to eat these fees if they wish to know anything at all about what’s going on with their bank accounts. Again, I find that truly unfortunate. With more and more small banks advertising fee-free accounts on television, I think this is something you ought to take into consideration.
Furthermore, upon viewing my transactions online, these penalties are marked only as “Fee,” leaving me to inquire further to figure out what exactly I had done wrong to incur them..
These fees were removed as a one-time courtesy, which I do appreciate, but I am disappointed by the fact that I will have to resort to e-statements in order to avoid them in the future.
Thank you for all the years of solid, reliable banking. Please share my remarks with the rest of your board members.
Sincerely,
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