I went to the Arbys website to glean the nutritional makeup of its Philly Beef and Swiss sandwich. That sandwich was not represented on the nutritional chart.
The website has a 'contact us' feature, as many websites do. It even solicits feedback. Observe:
So I sent them a nice note, suggesting they add the Philly Beef and Swiss to the nutrition chart. And here's what they said:
Message 1:
Dear Arby's Guest,
We have received your Guest Feedback message and are directing it to the appropriate department. For follow-up purposes, your feedback tracking number is 250867.
Your feedback helps us improve the overall guest experience at our restaurants. Thank you for taking the time to contact us.Sincerely,
Arby's Guest Feedback Team
Message 2:
Dear Arby’s Friend, (Note: I've been upgraded, from 'guest' to 'friend'! - BD)
Thank you for your suggestion. We sincerely appreciate your interest in Arby’s. However, as a matter of policy and practice, Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc. does not accept or consider unsolicited ideas.
Due to the nature of our business we receive many unsolicited ideas and submissions. As part of our policy, we do not treat any unsolicited material as proprietary or confidential, regardless of the manner in which it was submitted by you or any conditions you placed on such submission. In addition, we do not compensate anyone for unsolicited material.
We wish you the best in your future endeavors and we hope to continue to serve you as a loyal Arby’s customer.
Very truly yours,
Arby’s Customer Relations
Despite more than three years in the workforce, and some time in website development, I cannot fathom why a corporation would have a 'suggestion' option as part of its interaction with customers and then spit back a note like that.
In the fevered mind of some lawyer, is there a significant difference between 'suggestion' and 'unsolicited advice'? Perhaps there is! :)
For the record, I wasn't hoping for stock options or even a free sandwich. I just wanted the nutritional breakdown for the Philly Beef and Swiss.
Addendum
I went onto Starbuck's website for info about one of their products -- reduced fat cherry-lemon cake. Afer a vain search, I sent a note to Starbucks saying the following:
Why does your website make it impossible to find the nutritional content of a slice of reduced-fat cherry-lemon coffee cake? The nutritional information page has no information. It recommends you go to a local store's page, which then pushes you back to the general nutrition page. That's an insane loop and one that shouldn't be happening on the website of a major multinational brand.
And they wrote back with the following:
Hello Bill,
Thanks for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.
To better assist you, we would like the opportunity to speak with you over the phone regarding your email. Please call our customer relations department at 1-800-235-2883. option 0. Please have reference #5176454 available when you call. We are happy to help you with any questions or concerns you have.
We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us, and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sheena L.
Customer Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company
If you would like to share your thoughts about your experience with Starbucks Customer Contact Center, please click on the link below to participate in a short survey. Your comments will be used to ensure that any future experiences with Starbucks Customer Contact Center meet your highest expectations.
http://www.starbuckscontactcenter.com/star_ccc_index.asp?group=CR&template=CR117
Call me crazy, but why not send a note saying (words to the effect of): "Oops, sorry for the bad user experience. Here's the information you were seeking on the reduced fat cherry-lemon cake. We will look at improving the offerings of our website. Thanks very much for bringing this to our attention."
Frankly, I didn't bother to call. Canned notes leave me cold, and the point of the call would likely to be to give me, in the nicest possible way, another non-answer.
Screw that.