Rant.. KFC White Center

[JoB]

Today one of those things nobody want to have happen happened to me. When i went to my local drugstore to make a purchase my debit card was declined. I immediately called and found that there had been a fraud alert. Some time in the wee hours of the morning someone had tried to make 3 purchases totalling about $1500. One of those purchase attempts was at paypal which requires the 3 digit security code from the back of your card to process transactions.

I mention this because it means that it is highly unlikely that i was the victim of a card scanner.. as they are unable to scan the old school printed number from the back. So.. it’s likely my card number was lifted somewhere where i had given the card to a person and they had processed it and given it back to me.

I thought back where i had used my card in the last week or so where it would be possible for someone to copy my code.. and came up with only one purchase.. the one i made at the drive thru at the local KFC in White Center.

I know.. I know.. but the prices had apparently changed on the item i was purchasing and they didn’t give me a total when i ordered and i found myself a couple of dollars short at the window and i was very tired which is why i was ordering lunch at the drive thru in the first place:(

So after dealing with my debit card company and verifying that i could pick up a new card at a local branch this afternoon.. i stopped to let the manager at the KFC know what had occurred … so if they had a problem they could fix it.

I thought it was the decent thing to do. … But thus begins my rant.

The gentleman who answered the door told me there was no manager on duty and there would be no manager on duty until one o’clock and i should come back later. After explaining to him why i wanted to see a manager and repeatedly using the phrase “i wanted to give them a heads up that they might have a problem… He wouldn’t give me a time or the name of the manager or even the store phone number.

So, I left. And i called back at 11AM after they had opened and asked to speak to the floor manager.. who turned out to be the same man i had talked with that morning. I know that because when asked he admitted that he had been the person to talk to me.

Again, he refused to give me the name of the store manager and this time told me to call back tomorrow.. When pressed he agreed to take my name and phone number to pass along to his manager and then put me on hold.

When the phone was picked back up, the person on the other end was the cashier that had taken my card the day before.. and she proceeded to interrogate me about what was charged and where and what for. I answered her questions and then she told me that i had to be mistaken it couldn’t possibly be any of the employees at that store.. and accused me of accusing her of theft. Again.. i repeatedly used the phrase “i want to give a heads up to the manager that they might have a problem”… after several minutes she did take my name and phone number and told me she would give the information to the manager when she came in.. at 1.

My only negative comment to her was on closing.. and i told her she had a very bad attitude.

I called the again at roughly 2PM and someone who said they were the manager when i asked to speak to the manager answered the phone. She did not give me her name. I used exactly the same language. I told her i was reasonably certain that this is where my card had been compromised and why. I told her that i had only called to give her a heads up so that if there was a problem it could be dealt with.

She proceeded to tell me how she didn’t appreciate someone calling and accusing her employees of theft I told her i had not done that and that i wasn’t asking for anything more from her but the courtesy of listening to me.

She told me she would call her manager (again without identifying them) and did not thank me for calling. I told her that after contacting the store and her employees 3 times to do the store the favor of letting them know they might have a problem.. i was not impressed with her reaction and that was no way to get a good review. She hung up.

I met a friend for a late lunch after going downtown to my local bank.. yup.. downtown.. and she suggested i try contacting the district supervisor as i was pretty certain at this point after being basically stonewalled by three different employees that my concerns were not being taken seriously.

So.. this evening i flipped through websites (one phone number listed for customer complaints connected me with some phone chat service with the best guys and gals) I finally found a customer service number that connected me with a human being.

He wouldn’t give the name of the district manager or contact information either but he did listen to my tale and take the information and promise that someone would call me from the district office.

We will see.

I am not holding my breath and i am no longer patronizing that KFC.

and yes, in the interests of fairness I will let you know if i hear from them.

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[cardtaken2]

Hi JoB,
We too have had our debit card compromised not at KFC but an online purchase made at Walmart (not us doing so) and a propane purchase at the Chevron in Tukwila. The one online my husband being a package delivery person we were able to get the info from where the purchase was delivered (6 blocks from us) we gave the info to the Police they visited the household and were told this person is/was working for a job that was all online even his pay was to be paid online??? long story short our CU gave us our money back (600.00) this “person” in question nothing happened to him, the Police believed he thought it was a real job. :>( As for the Chevron husband went down to them told them they had an employee who took our info off of our card and CU again gave us our money back.
Why us honest hard working people have to put up with “LAZY creeps” like this is just the world we live in and we just have to stay on top of things like this by watching our accounts closely. Sad but true. Hope all works out OK for you and your accounts/money.

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[newnative]

My boyfriend has had his credit card numbers stolen a lot in various manners. Once he tried to file a police report and was told the bank would handle it. They actively discourage people from investigating their own theft. I’m not sure why. He wanted the guy prosecuted and wanted to testify and they wouldn’t give him any information. I finally convinced him to stop using his card at his local gas stations (in Texas). Hasn’t happened since.
JoB I wonder if you could take your concerns to BBB? They took customer service to a whole new level with stone-walling your attempts to contact a manager. Sounds like the place is a hive of corruption. I know enough about their cooking and hiring practices that I would never set foot in a KFC ever in any state.

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[JoB]

cardtaken2 .. the credit union has made us whole for everything but the inconvenience

newnative… my husband wanted me to file a police report.. but from what i have heard from you and others it really isn’t worth the hassle.. and it is a hassle.

I may file a report with the BBB. If i don’t hear from the district manager by midweek next week i will… not about the theft so much as about the way that the KFC management has handled my attempt to let them know they might have a problem.

i wish i believed that these kinds of crimes would get prosecuted but they are somehow seen as victimless crimes since most of the time the cardholder is eventually reimbursed.

Apparently our time and trouble don’t count .. i have about 9 hours invested so far in cleaning this up and i am nowhere near the end of making sure all of my automated bills will get paid.

and no. i will no longer be stopping by KFC to pick up lunch. they have simply made it more trouble for me than it is worth.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by JoB.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by JoB.

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[newnative]

It’s too bad because I have very fond memories of Kentucky Fried Chicken from when I was a child. What a let down it became over the years.

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[JoB]

i agree…

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[Jeannie]

KFC is crap, and they’re not going to attract high-caliber employees. It’s certainly regrettable that you received such awful customer service, but it’s not surprising.
P.S. Do a little research on how KFC’s supplier treats the chickens before they’re slaughtered, and you’ll probably lose your appetite for Kentucky Fried Crap.

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[anonyme]

Totally agree with you Jeannie, especially about the chickens. The slaughter is the merciful part.

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[happywalker]

Popeyes is or will be opening soon in White Center. Their chicken is far superior than KFC anyway. Popeyes made a good business move to come on into the neighborhood.

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[JoB]

I thought i would let you know. I did everything a customer should do when they suspect their credit card information was compromised by a store.. up to and including tracking down their nationwide customer service number and giving them a report.
In spite of the fact that both the local manager and the national customer support person said either the owner or the district office would be contacting em.. i have not heard a word from anyone.. to be perfectly clear… in spite of leaving messages and my personal contact information at every step of this process.. i have not been contacted once by any level of management during any step of my attempt to inform their management structure of a possible problem.

Needless to say.. i not only won’t be using my credit card in that store.. i won’t be patronizing Kentucky Fried Chicken .. period. If their management policies are this bad when it comes to handling customer’s money i don’t want to find out the hard way what their policies are for handling their food.

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