So far this year, I have had two times where I have had issues with mobile restaurant apps. The only mobile app I actually use to place orders from is Taco Bell, since the others have had issues that have yet to be resolved for me. This does not include the delivery apps, such as GrubHub, DoorDash, etc., which I refuse to use. Popeye’s Chicken has, for the last 5 months, not allowed me to order Chicken, as when I select the section for “Signature Chicken” the area is blank. as seen in the picture.

Other apps, like McDonald’s, Burger King, Popeye’s or Wendy’s, just don’t offer a robust experience when placing an order through their mobile app. I think my main issue is customization of items. Taco Bell’s app allows for full customization of items, and you can even swap items if you want. I have not found that to be an option in the other apps. That may be because I quit using the apps other than to see if any deals are available that I might be interested in utilizing, which is extremely rare as most of the special offers are not for items that interest me.

Taco Bell is unique, in that most people pretty much know what they want before they get there. The app makes it easier to place the order and make customizations the way you want, without having to make sure the employee understands what you are saying in the drive-thru. Although you do still have to deal with issues of employees not making the food properly, which is the ultimate reason for this post, and while I am still a fan of Taco Bell.

As I stated previously, I have had issues with the mobile apps. For Taco Bell, I have had two issues this year, both of which were fixed relatively quickly. Both were fairly simple issues to fix, and Taco Bell even gave me a free item for the trouble, which was not expected. Now, I use the app for Taco Bell because I love the Taco Bell Rewards system they created for using it. I am currently at “Fire” level of rewards (unlocks after earning 2000 points), earning 11 points per dollar purchased. After 250 points, you get a choice of a free item. My favorite item to get from the rewards is the Chalupa Supreme, followed closely by the Bean Burrito. There are currently 11 items to chose from within “Fire” level, while the basic “Hot” level has six items.

After fixing the latest issue, I was able to order some Taco Bell for Cinco de Mayo. My fiancé had been craving Taco Bell for several days and I don’t like to miss out on points, so we avoided ordering until the app was fixed. Taco Bell had a rewards challenge for May 5th where purchasing a “build your own Cravings box” would get you 150 bonus points. So we ordered that (swapped out and made all four items the Nacho Cheese Doritos Loco Tacos, love the swap feature, although would have liked to be able to swap with an upcharge to supreme, but I digress), a Nachos BellGrande Combo (no beans), a Crunchwrap Supreme (add beans & Chipotle Sauce), plus a few other items. When we arrived home and started eating our meal, we realized that lettuce was missing from all our items, and the nacho’s were less than desirable (see pictures).

Suffice to say, we were not happy. While I didn’t take a picture of them, the Nacho Cheese Doritos Loco Tacos and the crunchwraps also did not have any lettuce in them. Having working in restaurants, including QSR’s like Taco Bell (Popeye’s & Burger King to be exact), I know what it is like to run out of certain products. The first thing you do, is inform the customer that this item is unavailable, when it may become available again, and then ask/offer alternatives. None of these were done for our order. I will point out that even though I had ordered via the app, when I arrived at the restaurant, I wanted to order a side of the seasoned beef, so that we could have extra beef for the Nachos. Having specifically ordered “extra” in the past and not getting an amount that we felt was extra, we decided to go this route. Unfortunately, as we ordered, we were informed that they were out of the lids for the side bowl. I find it curious that they had no issues telling us they were out of lids, but failed to tell us that we would not be receiving lettuce in any of our items that come with lettuce.

I called the store to speak with the manager about this issue; however, the phone would go directly to voice mail where I was unable to leave a message. Tried calling another Taco Bell in town and got the same response, voice mail with no way to leave a message. Called a third Taco Bell and finally got ahold of a manager, who immediately apologized and informed me that her store had just recently sent lettuce to the store I had ordered from. She explained that the district manager was there overseeing operations after the manager broke a bone (hip I think she said). She took my name and number and told me that the district manager would contact me as soon as they could that evening. That was at 4:30 pm on Wednesday, May 5th.

On Thursday morning, I sent a series of messages via Twitter to @tacobellcare, the account which had helped me both times I had issues with the app. I had apologized for contacting them, unsure if they could actually assist me with this “IN STORE” issue or not, but hoped they could pass the information along to someone who could assist me with dealing with the issue that happened on May 5th. They apologized, asked for my app account name, and asked to send them a screen picture of my in app receipt. Within two hours, they were informing me that a refund had been issued and they were truly sorry for the issues I had been dealing with. I will admit that I was not looking for a refund, I just wanted what most people want in these situations, and that is for the food I ordered to be made correctly.

If you want to know my thoughts on the service issues with regards to how much these employees are making, please check out my blog post https://www.doctormckeown.com/2020/10/compensation-you-get-what-you-pay-for, While I do feel that pay is a reason why the food I received was lacking, it doesn’t explain why the district manager, generally a higher paid employee would allow for products that do not meet quality standards to be allowed to be served to a customer? Was that person not paying attention? Did they even care? While I may not go to that specific Taco Bell again for a while, this issue has not diminished my respect for the company as a whole. I still enjoy their food, even though I wish they would bring back my favorites: Taco Salad, Mexican Pizza, and Double Decker Taco’s.