And the boycott continues...

It's been over a year since I've eaten at Baja Fresh. So I've decided to give their support team another chance at keeping a customer. They've lost hundreds of dollars that I would have spent in the restaurants this past year, all over what was it, around six dollars that they needed to refund to me?

It'd be funny if I wasn't so passionate about standing on principle in a matter like this.

So, I sent them the following correspondence:

Feedback Message:
Baja Fresh Guest Relations Comment Card
Baja Fresh Experience:
Food Quality: Excellent
Service Quality: Dissatisfied
Cleanliness: Excellent
Order Accuracy: Dissatisfied
Speed of Service: Dissatisfied
Value: Dissatisfied
Overall La Salsa (sic) Experience: Dissatisfied
----------------------------
Location Visited: Thousand Oaks, Moorpark Rd, CA
Date and Time: 1/12/2007 at 12:00pm for Take Out
Visit Frequency: Frequent Customer
----------------------------
Comments: It's been over a year since I've eaten at Baja Fresh after being a person who ate there at least once a week. I tried to resolve my problem with your company a year ago but no one seemed to care. I'm just curious to see if there's anyone working there this year who actually wants to get a customer back. See what I went through last year at: http://bajaboycott.blogspot.com/
----------------------------
Recommend to others: No
Why?: http://bajaboycott.blogspot.com/

Still waiting...

I just wanted to update the blog and let everyone know that Baja Fresh has still done nothing to respond to my complaints.

If you are in the same situation that I am, or if you agree that corporations should not be allowed to get away with this behavior, please help me to get the word out that we need to boycott Baja Fresh.

My actual correspondence with Baja Fresh

Message sent through BajaFresh.com (12/11/2007):

From: kevinpr81@gmail.comSent: 12/11/2007 01:03:22 PMTo: bajafresh.support@na.ko.comSubject: Contact US for BajaFresh
- First Name: Kevin- Last Name: Richardson- Address1: ********* - Address2:- City: ********- State: CA- Zip Code: *****- Email Address: kevinpr81@gmail.com- Phone Number: ********- Site ID: http://www.bajafresh.com/-

Comments: I placed an order on your website (Baja Fresh Thousand Oaks Email Confirmation #347766) but when I went to pick up my order I was told that they could not find my order.
They asked me what I had ordered, and then they rung me up and swiped my gift card. In the end, I was charged twice. (My receipt says Check #: 7536.) How can I go about getting my $6.38 back? ** End of Comments **

Response from Baja Fresh "Guest Response Line" (12/12/2007):

Dear Mr. Richardson:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your recent visit to our Thousand Oaks, California location. On behalf of Baja Fresh, please accept our most sincere apologies. We are committed to providing our customers with tasty FRESH Mexican food and great service, and I am so sorry we fell short during your recent visit.

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of our business and we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to address your concerns. I can assure you that we will review this incident with our Thousand Oaks Team, and will continue to monitor our procedures to ensure the quality of our products and services meets our company's high standards. We realize that you selected Baja Fresh based on our excellent reputation and we are committed to meeting your expectations.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. We truly value your patronage and we look forward to the opportunity to serve you again soon!

Sincerely,

JanBaja Fresh Guest Response Line
P.S. Please retain your Thread ID in the message body. This will help us locate your information should you need us again.
[THREAD ID:1-GEABZD]

My first response back (12/12/2007):

Jan,

When should I expect for the money to be returned to my gift card?

Kevin

My second attempt (1/3/2008):

To Whom It May Concern,

Is there a reason why, over three weeks later, I have still not received the money that your company (I'm hoping accidentally) stole from me? How about a simple reply to my response from December 12th?

You have over charged me, and I have politely requested a reimbursement. I normally frequent Baja Fresh, but I have a personal policy of refusing business to establishments that steal from me. It's a simple matter of principle for me, but as for your company, it does not seem like $6.38 is a good reason to lose a customer.

From your website, I can see the "Forced redeem" that your employee ran on my card when I went to pick up the order I had placed online at 11:30am. I have copied and pasted this onto this correspondence so you can see the proof for yourself. I also gave you my receipt numbers earlier, which means that it should have taken very little research on your side to confirm that I had been cheated.

If it is your company's policy to ignore customers problems and to instead feed them meaningless canned responses, then it is clear to me that my "patronage" is truly of no value.

As of right now, you have insulted a once loyal customer. I hope someone answering these messages has been properly trained to keep a positive public image of your company. Because as of right now, I am frustrated and annoyed. I let you know of the problem immediately, and you have done nothing to fix it. This is bad business.

And by the way, when I go to the "We Care" section of your website, all that it says is: "Sorry, currently there are no menu items available in this category." It's obviously a little glitch in your programming, but it really sums up the image of your restaurant in my eyes right now. Careless.

Sincerely,
Kevin Richardson

Gift Card Number:606037*****10065068*Gift Card Face Value:$0.00For current value see belowExpiration Date:
DateActionAmount Store location2007-12-11 12:20:23Forced redeem-6.38 050 - Thousand Oaks 2007-12-11 11:30:30Redemption-6.38 050 - Thousand Oaks 2007-12-10 17:15:18Activate15.00 050 - Thousand Oaks Gift Card Balance:$2.24

And my last try (1/21/2008):

Mr. Delucia,

What does it take to get a response from Baja Fresh? Terrible customer service reflects poorly on any company. Is this really the image that you want the public to have? I have been ignored for well over a month. Does upper management know that customers are being neglected this way? I have not eaten at your restaurant since this problem started, and I refuse to eat there until this is resolved.

Ignoring your customers leads to losses in revenue. Is it your company's policy to ignore customers with legitimate problems? I am forwarding my correspondence thus far. As you can see, all that I have received is one canned, meaningless response. Your company accidentally charged me twice for the same order, all that I am asking for is to have the money returned. Why is this such a difficult request to have fulfilled?

If I continue to be ignored, I will simply give up on your ability to resolve my problem. I will never eat at any of your restaurants ever again, and I will do all in my power to get the word out that allowing customers to order their food on-line is a way for Baja Fresh to steal money. Right now I perceive your company as a whole to have absolutely no integrity. Please convince me otherwise.

Sincerely,
Kevin Richardson

As of posting this, I am still waiting for a response.

Do not eat at Baja Fresh

I'm not sure if I'm alone, but I've been robbed by Baja Fresh.

I ordered some food on-line with a gift card, and then went to pick it up on my lunch break. When I got there, the lady at the register told me she could not find my order, she then asked me what I had ordered. I told her, then she asked how I paid, and I answered that I used a gift card. She asked to see the gift card, and then swiped it.

It seemed kind of strange to me at the time, but I figured they must have a database that would link the purchase. To my surprise, I found out that I had been charged twice for the one order.

I contacted customer service through their web site the day that this happened, expecting a quick refund. Instead, I received a canned response that I'm sure they give to everyone with a complaint.

I wrote back asking how long until I would get my money back. They never responded.

I wrote again, explaining that I was annoyed that I had never received a response. They never responded to that e-mail either.

I then wrote to the guy in charge of their PR. (He's the only guy you can find an e-mail address for when you look up Baja Fresh.) And I explained how I was insulted by the lack of customer service I had received. That I just want to have the money that was accidentally taken from me returned. Still no response.

Baja Fresh apparently ignores customers that they rob from.

I don't know about you, but I do not support companies that ignore customers after robbing them. If they lack integrity regarding this, where else do they lack integrity?

I cannot trust a company that has no integrity, can you?