28 April 2009

Civic Mcdonalds - On it's way to being worse than Erindale?

| trickydarts
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There is nothing more satisfying than medium cheeseburger meal at the end of a hard day. But I’m sorry to say that Civic Mcdonald’s just fails me every time. First of all – I know you work in a hell hole and it’s probably not the most satisfying job in the world, but a smile goes a long way. The customer service is horrible and it takes a good 30 seconds to understand what the person serving just said. Secondly – does it really take 6 minutes to get my coke? Didn’t think so.

Anyway, after waiting an eternity to order and get my meal, I bit into my cheeseburger only to find an extremely long, thick, black piece of hair right next to my pickle. Mank. I took it back and explained what was wrong with my cheeseburger only to have the girl look at me and say ‘And ..?’.

UM, SORRY WHAT?! I want a new, hair-free burger pronto!! I was absolutely horrified that she even had the nerve to speak like that to a customer!

I know Erindale Macca’s has no frozen coke machine and is over-run with infants, but surely that’s better than a manky hair-ridden cheeseburger.

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Deadmandrinking7:54 pm 06 Sep 09

Somebody needs to be murdered in Canberra, desperately.

Anyone have unresolved maternal issues?

lol – this thread makes me laugh

I went to Civic Maccas last week (Canberra Centre) as an internet ad for the “Angas Beef Burgers” had given me a craving.

The usual slow service but eventually I got my burger. After biting into it, I noticed it was missing bacon (something that happens often when I order bacon with my burger from here). So I took it back to the counter. After another few minutes of waiting, i was given my replacement burger which was missing the Angas Beef!! At least this amused the crowd of others waiting for their own burgers, even if the girl on the counter seemed to have difficulty working out what I was now complaining about.

If you want bad service go to KFC upstairs, never more than 2 staff on during the lunchtime rush, many a time I have not even bothered lining up in the huge lines.

If you want bad service… go to ANY KFC store. !

Deezagood… Most of my issues with McDonald’s come from Erindale. Getting served cups with ice instead of drinks… Waiting 25 mins to be served, waiting 20 mins for nuggets… etc etc…

I do have a gripe with Belconnen but, on Skyfire night this year I rocked up to Belconnen Macca’s bout 11pm. The “Dining Room” as they call it is open until midnight. The manager was outside the store chatting to mates and waited until we all got out of our car, woke up a small child and walked up to the front door before he told us the dining room was closed because of high demand… we had to go through the drive through if we wanted to be served. We suggested a sign might be nice at the entrance to the carpark and got ignored. The offer of anything free also would have been nice and I even asked for free upgrade etc and got ignored. Ahhh the lack of customer service amazes me somedays.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Years ago I had Maccas in Bangkok, and they had a deal where if you didn’t get your meal and correct change within 60 seconds of ordering it was free. Fastest Maccas ever!

As opposed to Erindale, which has the slowest Macca ever. All this Maccas talk made me feel like their hotcakes yesterday and having never been there before, I thought I would see if the rumours (about Erindale Maccas) were true. It literally took 10 minutes for my order to be taken (I timed them) and there was NOBODY at the front counter for that whole period. There were a few people ahead of me in the line, and the staff didn’t seem inclined to acknowledge our presence in any way – it was actually kind of amazing how there just looked right through all of us, as though we weren’t there. The Maccas was grubby and tired (both uncleaned tables and crap all over the internal food prep areas/coffee machine etc…) and the staff, bless them, looked rather ‘unkempt’ (this is me being extremely polite), and also utterly disinterested/disengaged. I know their job is probably boring, so I have some sympathy for their plight, but they are getting paid to do a job. Behind the counter, everyone looked kind of confused and were moving in slow motion. It was very sad to watch. My hot cakes arrived another 5 minutes after ordering and they were standard Maccas fare. The whole scene was so depressing that I won’t ever go back there again.

MrPC said :

The Service Centre at Pheasants Nest (sorta near Picton) has two Mobil servos (one on either side) but no fast food franchise. Picton is the nearest town of any substance and it’s a good 15 minutes away from the freeway.

They still do the Nescafe in foam cups with a paddle pop stick!

PS: Can the OP clarify if s/he means the McDonalds in the Canberra Centre basement or the one at Cooyong & Mort near Northbourne Ave & Barry Drive? They’re both bad, but the one under the Canberra Centre is consistently woeful.

With the upgrades to the Hume Highway, all the ’service centres’ now have hungry jacks/mcdonalds fast food outlets. If you want an alternative you need to detour off the highway into one of the bypassed towns. This will continue as upgrades to make it 4 lanes all the way continue.

Not all of them. The Service Centre at Pheasants Nest (sorta near Picton) has two Mobil servos (one on either side) but no fast food franchise. Picton is the nearest town of any substance and it’s a good 15 minutes away from the freeway. Better to press on to Macarthur, which is also 15 minutes away.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:01 am 29 Apr 09

Years ago I had Maccas in Bangkok, and they had a deal where if you didn’t get your meal and correct change within 60 seconds of ordering it was free. Fastest Maccas ever!

Pommy bastard8:14 am 29 Apr 09

Once, while dining at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Paris, I was served a bottle of Montrachet 1978 from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at slightly above room temperature!

Of course I summoned the waiter, who got the maitre d’, and they both agreed to have the sommelier shot at dawn.

It’s just like McDonald’s there at times…

They should issue the staff with shovels!

that’s Hindley Street drunks rather than the Maccas

Ewww, that is so gross!!

Personally, I’ve never had an problems with Canberra Centre (guessing that’s the one your’re on about) maccas, probably one of the quickest places to get served. Only critism is that it takes ages to get you food, directly attributable to the food now being made to order.

If you want bad service go to KFC upstairs, never more than 2 staff on during the lunchtime rush, many a time I have not even bothered lining up in the huge lines.

I would suggest making a complaint to maccas themselves not the individual restaurant. Head office normally acts pretty swiftly to improve non-compliance with the maccas way.
I dare say the restaurants here are a lot better than maccas Hindley st in Adelaide .. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25342461-5006301,00.html

I always visit the Maccas in LAX, it’s in the same spot in every terminal. So once I’ve done all my paperwork and am waiting for my yank domestic flight, I go to the Maccas there… it’s a habit. haven’t had a macca’s burger here in years, decades even.

There is nothing more satisfying than medium cheeseburger meal at the end of a hard day.

General Sanity fault. Insert life to continue. MacDeaths is stomach putty. It is the sort of thing you consume when you’ve just been run frantic for 14 hours and want salty, lardy nameless substances to expand your guts into a state of non-emptiness. We have a MacLards across from us…. we usually mange to talk people out of their sad offerings. Except for the Bacon and Egg McMuffins, and some of the drive thru girlys, which are most palatable and do not make you regret your choices….

black piece of hair right next to my pickle. Mank. I took it back and explained what was wrong with my cheeseburger only to have the girl look at me and say ‘And ..?’.

reminds me of a joke which I won’t post to save the trouble of someone moderating it and/or having to deny posting it at a later date. But it’s a really funny joke, so laugh already.

Hairs in burgers are not cool, and it sounds like basic hygiene procedures were not being followed in this instance. I would contact Maccas and/or the Dept of Health.

Agree with Ryan and Genie. If you don’t like a topic, avoid it and go to another! Tehre’s tons of topics on here that some of us don’t bother with. So what? But if you decide to contribute, then contribute. Don’t throw crap at what someone wants to say. It gets really boring sometimes reading people taking a kick at someone who has put up a topic. If you disagree with what they’ve said, then offer up your own opinion. But sooking about someone else’s opinion is really quite lame.

If you don’t like McDonald’s – DONT EAT IT. But please stop criticising the people who do.

Some of us would just appreciate some decent customer service for once, instead of people who seem to think the customer is the inconvenience to receive a paycheck every week.

Are you even aware of how frustrating it is to be handed a cup with ice and a splash of post mix and asking for the drink you paid for, not just ice in a cup. The server completely ignoring you and the manager coming up going “I suppose you want me to fill it up for you?”.

Clearly most of you are well paid and don’t need to eat at cheap fast food places. But I’m sure your day will come when maybe you will understand why trickydarts decided to complain. As I will point out they also mentioned the disgusting fact of a hair being in the burger.

Stop eating Maccas, problem solved.

I’d understand if you were out on a highway and your choices were Maccas, or 9-hours-in-the-warmer pie from the servo. Don’t like it? You’re in Civic ferchrissake – vote with your feet and spend your money at one of the 100+ food outlets within 2 minutes walk.

I’ve spent several grand at Maccas, but as of 5 years ago I decided it was time some other places got my money. Try it – you might like it. Or you might not. Maybe you could give us more updates if you find somewhere especially bad or good.

ant said :

The Sutton Forest one is the only Maccas I’ve been to in Oz in recent years. Their coffee is reliable, I’ve not had the food. When in the US, I like ot go to Wendy’s as they make each thing to order, so it’s not sitting there in a melting parcel like Maccas and Hungry’s…

America really needs to export/Australia really needs In-n-Out Burger. They really do make everything fresh and it’s all simply cooked to order.

creative_canberran6:51 pm 28 Apr 09

It’s Maccas… the hair probably had more nutritional value than the rest of the plastic grub they sell.

They are after a quick buck (ironic given the slow service these days) and to hell with the customer and food standards.
Has anyone noticed that a lot of Maccas stores absolutely drown the beef patties in black pepper on Sundays and Monday mornings… I would suggest to hide how aged the food is.

I disagree. Maccas actually tastes half-decent now that Burgers are made when you order them.

I’d take a 3 minute wait for a fresh burger than one that’s been sitting on the warmer for the last twenty minutes.

And seriously, can’t somebody make a thread about bad service without being shouted down for their decision on where to eat? I think we’ve worn out the old “you get what you pay for!” reply by now.

Made For You has completely ruined Maccas. Mate, a 10 minute old quarter pounder tastes just as good as a 1 minute old quarter pounder. 5 plus minutes of waiting doesn’t taste good at all.

At Belco Maccas the other night I ordered and paid for a cheeseburger and received a hamburger. I consider it to be a more injust punishment than Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment.

Well maybe AS injust.

I here you trickydarts! In general Canberra Maccas are crap – Forget Erindale being on the blacklist, I think they’re all on an equal playing field now.

I think Maccas customer satisfaction has taken a leaf out of Anchorman’s book – 60% of the time, it works every time…

Instant Mash4:41 pm 28 Apr 09

Wow, that’s pretty crap.

Canberras unemployment went down last month to 2.3% as about 4% of people are unemployable places like maccas will always struggle to get enough good staff

Those bypasses are brilliant. I often go to Sydney taking the Tarago Road until it joins the Hume at Goulburn, but you go through Goulburn to join teh Hume on the other side and it’s a major pain in the bum!

I’ve going to try backtracking via Raaaambo next time, and see if I can get on the Hume at the first Goulburn exit. The signs don’t tell you about that.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster2:39 pm 28 Apr 09

ant said :

I sure reckon the McCafes on the highway are a good idea! Don’t you remember the coffee one used to get at the food places on the highway? Nescafe in foam cups. if you went into the towns, you might find an espresso machine, or you might not.

I’ll never forget the arrogant B at the Mittagong Shell before the bypass was put in. He was doing a roaring trade – virtually a monopoly – and I wanted $20.00 worth of petrol – it went just over to $20.02 (this was before rounding down). I went in to pay and gave him $20.00. He said “2 cents!” to which I said “surely you don’t want 2 cents?”. He said “2 cents, 1 cent, it all adds up at the end of the day”. I got my revenge when the bypass was opened the following year and his monopoly suddenly dried up.

I sure reckon the McCafes on the highway are a good idea! Don’t you remember the coffee one used to get at the food places on the highway? Nescafe in foam cups. if you went into the towns, you might find an espresso machine, or you might not.

With the upgrades to the Hume Highway, all the ‘service centres’ now have hungry jacks/mcdonalds fast food outlets. If you want an alternative you need to detour off the highway into one of the bypassed towns. This will continue as upgrades to make it 4 lanes all the way continue.

The only alternatives I’m aware of are the old shops near the gundagai service centre and the unbypassed Holbrook. There are a few pubs as well. They are difficult to access and not as well signposted as the ‘service centres’.

Someone somewhere decided this was a good idea.

Danman said :

Deezagood, I agree too, but people still have a sooky la la.

I think some people really need to travel to developing nations – that certainly gave me scope in my life.

Same here; and although I count my/our blessings every single day … and absolutely love living here, I still catch myself having an occasional (trivial) whinge … I think it’s the human condition to complain 🙂

I’ve been to macca’s (a fine Scotish family restaurant!) in developing countries and it’s always been better than Erindale and miles in front of Lanyon (the worst on the planet as far as I’m concerned). I’ve no doubt that the poor standards are due to the staff, or more properly, how they are trained and managed. My daughter worked at Macas Lanyon and left after six months. By the time she left she’d had a total of 90 minutes training and there’d been over 100% staff turnover.

Deezagood, I agree too, but people still have a sooky la la.

I think some people really need to travel to developing nations – that certainly gave me scope in my life.


I used to quite frequently here, though doing so now would lead to lashings of random abuse, and no real discussion, so chose to cease and desist of late.

Isn’t that what you did? Well, not abuse, but lashings of sarcasm anyway.

Back on topic, I concur. Especially at the ‘And ..?’.
And…. it’s a minor health issue.
Although pickle could be a euphemism, so the hair could be expected. 🙂

Danman said :

Good to see RiotACT consistently tackling the big issues…

Can I get my windscreen washed on an unregistered pushbike whilst waiting in the drive (ride?) through McDonalds in Braddon, or would Hungry Jacks in tuggeranong be better for that ?

I guess you could look at this as being a positive Danman; life must be pretty damned good in Canberra if issues pertaining to window washers, fast food quality and renegade cyclists create the most angst/interest amongst the population of Rioters. I think that is why I like it here so much… there is not too much (of note) to whinge about!

That’s bitterly disappointing. You deserve better than that trickydarts.

So raise a big issue Danman

I used to quite frequently here, though doing so now would lead to lashings of random abuse, and no real discussion, so chose to cease and desist of late.

I have and will continue to raise issues in a more appropriate forum*.

Just here for the ride now, to see where we are going, and exercise my “right of reply”.

*Need not imply electronic medium.

anyway I digress, back OT, Sutton Forest McDonalds is a well oiled machine, the queues can be 10/15 deep across the counter and you will still have your food in 8 to 10 minutes… In the Canberra Local generic FF eateries, it takes that long to get served, hence why I frequent these type of places less and less.

Oh +1. +1!

GardeningGirl11:22 am 28 Apr 09

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

The fact remains, though, that standards in many maccas have slid considerably over the past 10-15 years.
Maccas has never been a top shelf restuarant, but for basic food, especially when traveling (and especially with kids) it’s a pretty reasonable compromise.

Agree.

Cook your own food you laggards!

The Sutton Forest one is the only Maccas I’ve been to in Oz in recent years. Their coffee is reliable, I’ve not had the food. When in the US, I like ot go to Wendy’s as they make each thing to order, so it’s not sitting there in a melting parcel like Maccas and Hungry’s. Taht food it pre-digested anyway, a bit like baby food, and wrapping it up in paper just has the final digestion process starting earlier. At least if they put it together to order, you have a running start at it.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster10:06 am 28 Apr 09

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Go have a look at the Sutton Forest maccas on the Hume Hwy for a different view. They know how to run a fast food place!

The one in Maroubra is not far behind . . .

I just went to the RiotACT RSS feed and opened the three stories I hadn’t read yet, with the result that the two serious topics had no responses, and this one has six!

Seriously, there is crap service to be had all over the place (although the American-style chains certainly have the monopoly). How about someone suggest somewhere you can get good service, rather than just complain about where you can get bad service?

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:00 am 28 Apr 09

The fact remains, though, that standards in many maccas have slid considerably over the past 10-15 years.

Maccas has never been a top shelf restuarant, but for basic food, especially when traveling (and especially with kids) it’s a pretty reasonable compromise.

I blame it on the staff. Go have a look at the Sutton Forest maccas on the Hume Hwy for a different view. They know how to run a fast food place!

If that’s all you have to worry about mate. I dare say things aren’t so bad.

Personally I find sex more satisfying than a cheeseburger.

if you want to try something different but just as crap have a go at woden KFC ! service plus !!

Lol! You ate at Maccas.

Fail!

(That’s twice in one week I’ve been able to say that.) 😀

So raise a big issue Danman and let the debate commence 🙂 Just avoid Maccas in Tuggeranong for your push bike – it’ll be stolen before your eyes by the ferals that haunt the place.

PreciousLilywhite9:50 am 28 Apr 09

‘There’s nothing more satisfying than a medium cheeseburger meal at the end of a hard day’

Dude, you need to get out more…

Good to see RiotACT consistently tackling the big issues…

Can I get my windscreen washed on an unregistered pushbike whilst waiting in the drive (ride?) through McDonalds in Braddon, or would Hungry Jacks in tuggeranong be better for that ?

And why has McDonald’s decided that the extra large beverage is a no-goer? I am quite confident that my own daily purchases made the size extremely viable. I blame the general decline in McDonald’s service on the crazy move to food preparation “to order”. I thought the whole fast food agenda was based on people being given limited choice so things could be ready to go without personalisation…

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