A Good and a Bad Experience

From the start of this blog I've documented both good and bad experiences I've had doing business with all sorts of companies. I recently had one of each with two companies and thought I'd share those with you.

The good experience was at Best Buy. We're looking for a new TV, and a friend suggested we go to Best Buy and look at all the options they had available (he didn't say we should buy from them, simply look at the various alternatives since they have a wide selection.) While there, a young and knowledgeable salesman talked us through the options and answered all of our questions. In all, he spent 30 minutes with us and gave us a ton of what we felt was good information. I don't know if we'll buy a TV there or not, but simply by interacting with him, my impression of Best Buy went up dramatically.

The not-so-great experience was at Applebee’s. Let me start by saying that we don't usually eat at Applebee’s. But since my son and I received gift cards there for working a soccer tournament, we had to spend them. So the family went off to a local Applebee’s for a weekend lunch. The experience was "fine". Nothing major happened that caused a problem for us. But we left with two impressions of the place: bad food and too expensive. IMO, you can get much better food at a much lower cost at about a hundred different places. The trip simply reminded us why we don't usually eat there.

How about you? Have you had any good or bad experiences with businesses lately?

Comments

[Rachel May]

I agree about Applebees. The food is not that good.

[Kimberly]

I also agree, in general about Applebee's food. I make an exception for their White Chocolate Blondie and most of their salads. But since there is nothing good that my husband likes, we never go there.

[Terrence]

I ate at Applebee's about a month ago for the first time in two years. It was exactly the same as I remember it. Mediocre food, no atmosphere, and adequate service.

[David]

I recently hired a landscaping company to build a retaining wall, install drainage, etc..., and not only was I very happy with the job, but the person supervising it spent an hour or two talking to me about some other projects I could do myself that would improve the property even more.

I was very happy about that in particular, as he was giving me helpful tips and instructions rather than try to sell me more work. Because of that, I'll definitely go back to them in the future if I do need a professional.

[George]

I had two experiences recently while trying to exchange products: one at Zellers (the Canadian equivalent of Target), the other at the Apple store.

My wife bought me a wristwatch as a Father's day gift. The watch stopped two weeks after the purchase, so I brought it back to Zellers with the receipt. I explained the problem with the watch (the analog hands still worked but the digital display stopped working and none of the buttons would do anything). The clerk's response was "did you read the instructions?" (not a good start). She then rang up the exchange, and told me that the watch was no longer on sale, so I would have to PAY $20 TO EXCHANGE A DEFECTIVE ITEM - she insisted that I would have to pay the difference between the sale price and the regular price. I explained that this was unacceptable and asked to speak to a manager. She phoned a manager and was told (rightly) that the item could be exchanged without me needing to pay anything. The entire process took at least 20 minutes, and I was left frustrated and exhausted, but at least I had a functioning timepiece to show for it.

A few days later my iPod headphones (the kind with an integrated remote for an iPod touch) started falling apart - the rubber on one of the earbuds just started disintegrating. I bought the headphones six months earlier, but did not have a receipt. I brought them into the Apple Store, explained the problem, and was happily and cheerfully given an exchange for a new set of headphones, no questions asked. The transaction was ended with a pleasant "thanks for your business, sorry about the problem" and a handshake. The transaction was completed in about 2 minutes, and I walked out of the store a happy customer.

Given the experiences, I'll be far more likely to spend money at the Apple Store next time around, and far less likely to spend a dime at Zellers.

[texashaze]

I agree on Applebees - bad food and high prices. A friend of mine works for a large restaurant chain in corporate. He said most of the food at these places is frozen and then reheated via microwave or other devices. The food is also loaded with preservatives. I can cook my family a much better quality and healthy meal myself for more than half what restaurants costs.... only thing is someone has to do the dishes :(

Regarding good experiences, Costco has always had off the charts service even when the product was bad. I'm a customer for life. Note that their AmEx card is great on rebates too, 4% on gas!

[Patrick Lenow, Executive Director, Communications, Applebee's]

Great subject. As an employee of Applebee's it hurts to read the comments, but it is a fact we recognize. With new management we are improving the food, service, and atmosphere. It won't happen all at once. First great example are the new Real Burgers. Fresh, not frozen ground angus for the burgers. Give them a try, it will give you an indication of where Applebee's is headed.

[Eric]

Woah, a response from an executive director. Big times for FMF! :)

[Marlo]

We enjoy the service at our local Applebees but we do not frequent it very often. I do not find there is a specific food I "crave" from there like some other places. That said, we did go last weekend and I did notice some new options on their menu and I have tried one of their new burgers- good as Red Robin. Our server was excellent though...

[Colin]

Interesting that Applebees responded so quickly. I've had exactly the same negative impression of Applebee's lately. It's the closest restaurant to our house, but we've stopped going there because the food isn't very healthy, tastes like a TV dinner, but still costs ~$30 for two of us.

[Foobarista]

We took our car to the Honda dealership for A/C work. We had bought an extended warranty when we bought the car, and when we got the bill, the price seemed too high. We asked them to recheck the price as we had a warranty, and the worker tried to lecture us that we needed to have a warranty number in order to use the extended warranty. I mentioned that the Toyota dealer never did any such thing with our Camry, and that their computer should have all this stuff in it tied to our VIN number (sometimes it helps to be a database guy). After a bit of grumbling about how long it would take, he went off and futzed with the computer for about 15 minutes, and came back with a bill for $100 instead of the $299 they wanted to charge us initially.

[David]

I guess I'm in the minority about Applebees. While I don't consider it one of my favorite restaurants, I don't think it's as bad the other comments say. Price seems about the same as other competing restaurants in the area. Typically we pay $7-10 for a meal which I consider average for that style restaurant. There are some lunch meals that are cheaper, but I don't typically go out for lunch. I don't think I've ever had a meal there that was bad. Again, nothing stands out as great, but nothing stands out as great at most of its competitors in the area either.

[rdub98]

I went to Applebees last night. My wife and I chose from the 2 for $20 menu and I will have to tell you, her salad was great (according to her), and my burger was not only better than I expected, but one of the best I have had this summer.

We ate in the bar area and the bartender was our waiter. He was funny, professional, and very good at his job.

So from that, I would not give all Applebees restaurants a bad rap. Some are really good.

[ES]

I don't think Applebee's should be singled out. I find it is comparable to all the sit down chains including Chili's, TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, etc. They all offer mediocre food for too much money. I find Chipotle, Baja Fresh and Panera bread much fresher at a better price.

I just want freshly prepared food whether it is at home, at a mom and pop hole in the wall or a white table cloth fine dining location. My 6 year old though finds the Applebee's grilled cheese is out of this world. I just don't understand him.

[Emily]

I love Applebees salids and deserts. If you ever have to go try the southwest salid and a blondie :-)

[SAHM]

When we moved, we had to replace/repair the hvac in our new home. Got several estimates that were all about the same. The difference came when one guy came out, was able to take the one part working on the downstairs unit, put it in the upstairs unit to make it work fine. We just had to replace one complete unit instead of 2. We recommended him to several people and when our rental property started having issues, we had him out to fix it. We were very pleased until about a month ago. He made some very negative and racists comments that really turned us off. We were not comfortable having him back out, so when the a/c went out,again in our rental, we called other companies for estimates and to do the work.

[David]

Props to Applebee's for responding and recognizing the problem. His response was frank and honest.

[Texashaze]

Regarding Applebees, et al, One needs to look at the context of these reviews too. FMF is about money management. From my perspective when feeding my family of 5, going to casual sit down restaurants do not provide value. I can feed the family better quality for cheaper. However from an entertainment perspecitve if I'm on an expense account or with my buddies then casual restaurants like Applebees do the job.

[Lilac]

I had a very bad experience with the online web design company Delicious Design Studio and its owner Jessica. She took months longer than she said she would to design my blog, would ignore emails, and when I finally wanted my deposit back, she wouldn't give it. I should have checked her Better Business Bureau ranking, but I didn't. I found out a lot of other people had complaints against her too (BBB and otherwise). I would have filed a BBB complaint but she just ignores them and/or lets them go to "unresolved closed" status - doesn't help the customer. She doesn't care about customer service, and she uses her little loophole that says that "refunds won't be given under any circumstances". That should have tipped me off in itself, but I thought her portfolio spoke for itself. Oh well live and learn and buyer beware :(

[Brian S.]

Applebee's. I stopped going there many years ago after a series of lackluster experiences. Lukewarm food, lengthy wait times for service, and average customer service left me with a negative impression of the chain. During the late 90's and early 00's, it used to be a regular stop for my family and I. Now it's not even an option.

[Keving]

I disagree about Applebees. We have found them to have good service, tasty food and reasonable prices.

[Peter]

Typical chain-food franchise bleuch. I refuse to believe that somewhere with close to 2000 outlets has decent food whatsoever. The last time I had to grin and put up with it due to in-laws wanting to eat somewhere like that I had to take my tastebuds to a spa to let them recover.