Customer Service Case Study: KFC

I was going to come here and write about the honest communication when it comes to customer service. Let's face it, customer service in Trinidad and Tobago sucks. There are always the few stellar moments, but the jury has long ago given its verdict. We suck. It is sad when a company's brand is about the suckage of its customer service.

As I was saying, I was going to find the positive in the morass of bad customer service. KFC. Trinis are in no way deterred by the bad service we get at KFC. We boast that the Independence Square branch of the "chicken and chips" giant is the best selling outlet in the world. Yeah, we proud of that. So clearly we don't really care much about its customer service. Fried, artery blocking chicken is bad enough, but to have it served without some pretense of love is just barbaric.

Anyway, I used one of my 2 annual KFC consumer moments tonight. I called area code - 0777 to get my portion of heart disease as I was hungry. KFC has done quite a good job in advertising its new chicken and shrimp wraps aka Twisterz. I wanted one cause I cannot do the junks of flesh. The girl informed me that they do not deliver the wraps. Why, I ask. Brace yourself for the answer.

"Something about when the breeze hit it. When the breeze hits it, it gets stiff"

I picked myself off the floor and told her I wanted it anyway but appreciated her telling me that the wrap's shelf life was rather short. I was hungry, was not willing to start the car to go to the KFC to get it and was certain that a stiff wrap could be un-stiffened with the help of of some Glad Wrap and 10secs in the microwave.

So this was where the honest communication came in.

An hour later, I was still waiting for the wrap and by now, this thing had to be a weapon cause I am sure the breeze was doing a real number on stiffening it. Fifteen minutes later, the delivery man appeared and cause I was certain that after an hour and 15 minutes, there was no way this service could get much worse, I paid for my delivery and went inside.

And then...it happened.

I opened the box and my wrap was there, my drink was in my hand but my fries were missing. I mean....SERIOUSLY?????

Called back and it was not a pleasant conversation but the young lady assured me that the missing fries would be delivered shortly. Well, 20 minutes later, she calls again to tell me the driver would deliver my fries at the end of his shift...at 10pm. This is a full 2 hrs after I placed the order mind you.

In all of this, the young lady was apologetic and honest, but this begs the question, is KFC even concerned with their brand? I doubt it cause they sell hundreds of thousands of meals a month I am sure. But does this mean that their customer service must be non-existent? They clearly recognise the inferiority of their customer service cause gone are the days when your order was delivered in 30mins or it was free. They probably recognised that they were losing a lot of money so instead of fixing the lateness of their drivers, they just got rid of the "30mins or free" deal. Wow. They just don't care! This is obvious.

I am just amazed by this and it's now 10.05 and my fries are still...not here.