Steak n Shake Complaint - Don't go to Concord Mills Steak N Shake - Manager does not care about customers

Manager does not care about customers - Complaint

Review by mikeacejr on 2011-03-05

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA -- After shopping at the local mall, my wife and I ate at Steak n Shake. It was was busy tonight, but we have normally have had good experiences in the past. Not this time. I had a coupon for a double hamburger with 2 sides and a milk shake for $5.99. I got water. My wife had a coupon for mushroom burger with fries and she got diet coke. The coupon was for $3.99. The whole night the service was slow and seemed to be under staffed. The first incident happened when I received my hamburger and beans. I received no spoon and the hamburger had nothing on it. It was just the bun and 2 patties. I had asked for all the way, except no mustard. The waiter advised to keep the hamburger and he would have another made. A few minutes, the waiter came back and advised I could have any hamburger I would like to make up for the mistake. I advised I would take the mushroom burger. At this point I have not received my other side - a salad. Then when the salad came out, I received no silverware. I went to get silverware. During the meal, we advised we would take another milk shake to go for my wife. Finally, we got all of our food. Then after much time, only 1 milk shake comes out.. We advised we would just take the one, but the waiter advised the other would not be charged. So, we waited. While we waited, I went to pay the bill. When I went to pay the bill, the manager Timothy Pitchford advised we had to pay for everything. I advised we did not order 3 hamburgers and we advised we did not need the other milkshake since we were waiting and we should not be paying for that part of the bill. I explained there was mistakes in our order and the service took way to long. The manager made no acknowledgement of our situation and just demanded that we pay. I felt accused and felt this was a very unkind way to treat a customer. The manager stated the bill was $21 and change with the extra mushroom burger. He stated he took that off, but the bill only went down to $20. I asked for breakdown of the bill. Tim was very short with me and in a very short and demanding manner advised I needed to pay right away. I advised I would go ahead and pay, but would not be back. He rang up my bill. After paying, Manager Tim did not give me an itemized bill to know how he got the total. My wife and I will not be back to this Steak N Shake. We can understand being short staffed. But can not understand a manager having this kind of attitude. He did not care about us.

Comments (17)

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Comments:

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-03-05:

Quite simply, it was the server who said that you would not be charged for a second milk shake and the extra burger.

What happened when you informed the manager of this? Based on your description of the events, I would have advised the manager to take the extra out of the server's wages if he wanted it so badly.

Posted by mikeacejr on 2011-03-05:

From our understanding, it was the servers first night waiting tables. It appeared he checked with the asst manager before advising we would not be charged. Probably the right thing would have to made the double burger the right way at min. and maybe not charge. But either way, the manager declined/refused to check further on the situation. It seemed like he was accusing us of odereing more food and not wanting to pay for it. Found this to be accusing/rude.

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-03-05:

That is bizarre. I would have looked the manager right in the eye, and told him that I had been informed that these items would not be charged because of the poor preparation and service, and that I would not be paying for them. Then, demand that the server be brought into the conversation.

I don't waste time feeling embarrassed or accused. This is a totally unacceptable situation.

Posted by mikeacejr on 2011-03-05:

I normally agree with the last comment and that is normally what I would do. Although my wife and I give a lot of grace. When we walked in the door I noticed an officer and when the situation with the manager happened, I took it as there is no discussion. I almost feel like I had been "had" by staff adding on to the bill... for which we could not eat all of the food. For which we did not order. I do see this manager only recently started working there and was previously at a Bob Evans.

Posted by Justice-4-All on 2011-03-05:

The server is a representative of that restaurant, and if they told you that you wouldn't be charged for various items, then the manager has no recourse but to honor them. The manager can shore up with the employee at a later date and time. I would've demanded to see an itemization of the bill. You have the right to know what you are paying for.

Posted by unslated on 2011-03-06:

I never had good service at any Steak n Shake. I like this review.

Posted by trmn8r on 2011-03-06:

You are more of a gentleman than I, Mike. I have had a lot of bad experiences and I don't let myself get pushed around in chain restaurants. I have a pretty good idea of what is fair and what isn't, and I am afraid I don't let good manners stand in the way of pointing it out to management. I do understand that not everyone is the same, however.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-03-06:

At the very least, I too would have demanded to see the itemized bill, which leads me to the part I don't understand. Did your server give you the check? That would have been the time to let him know the total was wrong and would have held him responsible to correct it. Did you have the check when you went to pay the bill?

Posted by Prince-Caesar on 2011-03-06:

Wow, I absolutely would have NOT paid the full bill and gave the manager the money for what I agreed to pay for. I would have definitely got the server involved in this. If the manager wanted to cause a scene, I would tell him to call the police if he has a problem with it.

Posted by Ytropious on 2011-03-06:

I just ate at SNS. I want to point out that you actually DON'T get an itemized bill after paying...you just get a credit card receipt for the amount charged.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-03-06:

No check? How do you know how much you're being charged? I have never been in a restaurant that did not present an itemized bill at the end of the meal.

Posted by Ytropious on 2011-03-06:

At the end of the meal yes, after paying (like a receipt) no. The bill and the receipt are completely different.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-03-07:

Then I don't understand why the OP didn't question the bill before getting up to pay it. That would have been the time to remind the server about not being charged for the second burger and the milkshake. At that point, it would have been the server's responsibility to fix his own mistakes.

Posted by mikeacejr on 2011-03-07:

Just to clarify and I saw someone comment on this. When we were at the table, we were given an itemized bill that had our initial order. It had other pieces stappled to it. I asked the server about that and he advised we would only be charged for our initial order to make up for the mistakes. As mentioned previously, it appeared to my wife and I that he had discussed with the asst manager. When the manager demanded I pay.... I was not given an itemized bill of what we paid for. I believe a previous comment makes note of how sns does this w debit or cr cards.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-03-07:

I didn't expect you to get an itemized bill after payment, but I was wondering why you didn't question the server about the bill before getting up to pay it. Thanks for clearing that up.

It does sound like you would have had to create a scene to get the manager to do the right thing. I can understand trying to avoid that.

Posted by mikeacejr on 2011-03-07:

Looking back, it is no wonder they have an officer at this sns... ;)

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-03-07:

Mike, I thought that was interesting, too! I think you might be right.