If You Could Say Something to the CEO of Quiznos, What Would it Be?
The complaints are still rolling in about the Quiznos free sub promotion, and they’ve issued this official response:
The response to the Quiznos Millions Subs Giveaway has been nothing short of overwhelming. That’s great, right? Right… but given that we have had over a million consumers respond in only three days, there are a handful of people who have reported some problem redeeming their free sandwich. If you’re one of them, please let us know right away by emailing millionsubs@quiznos.com. We’re working hard to address every issue very quickly.
They also sent me a personal email, asking if I’d be interested in a phone or e-mail interview with Quiznos’ CMO, Rebecca Steinfort. According to the PR person “she’d love the opportunity to respond to you and your reader’s concerns regarding the Million Subs campaign.” Oh yeah? Are you sure you know what you’re getting into? Alright… you heard them right. Got something you’d like to say or ask the Quiznos CEO? Post it in the comments, and I’ll forward it along.
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:15 am, March 3rd, 2009 under Free Stuff.
40 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
40 Comments
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they really should’ve trained their store’s staff in how to handle disappointed customers
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Don’t F With NYC!
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I have no time to sort out Quiznos’ bs and I am no longer interested in anything they have to say
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Ask her why they closed the store at 56th btw Park and Lex! I loved that place and it always seemed busy.
This city seems to be rife with poorly managed, sometimes dirty Quiznos. I saw a mouse running around at the 49th (I think that’s the number) and 3rd ave location a few years back.
With so few stores in Manhattan, why not better regulate them for quality? Seems odd to have so few, so poorly run, and close one of the good ones in what is a major sandwich market with about 50,000 Subways.
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I don’t like Quiznos… even before I saw the troubles I decided against getting one. They should do another million sub giveaway that is REALLY a million sub giveaway… not a buy a bag of chips and a soda here, and buy a footlong sandwich there, and get $1.00 off a sub there… The fact that so many stores were trying to implement their own policy tells me that corporate dropped the ball and is seemingly trying to throw their stores under the bus. I think they should do it again, and front all the resources needed to get this thing running right… Otherwise, fuck Quiznos… and Subway… I’ll go to Blimpie.
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I rather like Quiznos – Before i moved to NYC i used to go to locations in the ‘burbs all the time – since I moved here (4 years ago) i have been to the one near Penn Plaza once, but i’ll never go back for two reasons: 1. location is horrible, 2. the people who worked there the day i went were very rude. I thought i’d give them another shot with this promotion, but due to the comments i read on ML, i decided against it. Zach, i’m not sure anything you tell them will matter. I would suggest telling them to train their employees in how to treat patrons. Also, tell them to open more locations in the city – 48th & 6th would be perfect!!
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Why on earth do you cut the ends of the bread off ?
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As a Q’nos eater since 2002 (in ATL), their quality has decreased about as rapidly as their nauseating expansion in the intervening years. I’ve come to the conclusion they’ve been peddling a reputation they long ago lost the right to have: Potbelly’s (also from the Midwest) makes a far better toasted sub now, and with places like Subway on that bandwagon, they need to retrench and make their quality (of both product and, we now clearly understand, service) the number one priority.
I do love the pepper bar. Don’t change that please.
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I don’t understand all the furious commenters who seem to be so selfish that they forget that an incredibly large number of people across the country were awarded free subs through this promotion. Are you upset that the McDonald’s in Times Square doesn’t have a dollar menu? Things are different here in Manhattan and, to be honest, your claim to free food is less legitimate when you work in one of the wealthiest cities in the nation. Quizno’s is not the only establishment with different policies regulating it’s Manhattan franchises. If you read this site, you probably have more money than the average person. I know this for a fact because I lived in the South for some time and have seen the EXTREME differences in standard of living first-hand. You chose to live and work here – deal with it. I’m just happy that, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of individuals were given lunch for free and can deal with the fact that I was not one of them. Way to whine like a bunch of children over how “life isn’t fair” when you should be grateful for the fact that anyone at all benefited. Typical New Yorkers.
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ask them, why are they so dumb as to offer an arbitrary number of sandwiches?
they’re better off saying they’ll do free sandwiches from 2 to 3pm on one day and people will be less pissed off. at least that way we know if it’s 3:05, we missed it. how the fuck are people supposed to know you only offer a million free ones? that’s just dumb.
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I used to love Quiznos. But they suck now. Sorry.
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Well, I don’t agree that “an incredibly large number of people across the country were awarded free subs,” Mr. Steve “Quiznos Shill” L. If you read Consumerist, more people were denied free sandwiches than got them.
“your claim to free food is less legitimate when you work in one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.”
It’s also one of the MOST EXPENSIVE cities in the nation. The rent on a studio apartment here would pay your mortgage in Iowa City. SO one would argue that we have more right to free stuff than someone who pays $400 a month to rent a HOUSE.
THEN DON’T OFFER THE PROMOTION IN NYC. Seriously, this has happened before, and that’s when I say “okay, I get it”. But they offered it no hold barred.
The attitude of Quiznos shills/franchisees on blogs and elsewhere has ensured I’ll never go there again.
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@ Steven L: This wasn’t a issue simply relegated to the NYC area… From accounts given to Consumerist.com, this was a problem around the country. Granted, maybe more NYC Quizno’s didn’t honor the coupon… Also, why should one’s claim to a free sub be illegitimate because they may or may not make more money then someone from Georgia, and they may or may not live in a expensive NYC apartment? If the coupon says free and has no regional conditions that inform us of a possible price to pay, then it should be honored. Mcdonalds clearly states on all their coupons and ads that prices may vary by location(SPECIFICALLY MANHATTAN)… From what I know, the million dollar sub coupon had no such restrictions. Should NYC be charged more for everything just because out of towners have a perception that if you live and work in NYC you are living on easy street? give me a break!
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@ Anonymous: LOL to you calling me a “Quiznos Shill”. Is this the only way you can comprehend someone taking a standpoint that differs from the herd mentality that is driving this criticism? I live in Manhattan and, even with a salary that I thought would put me on easy street, understand all too well the constraints that come from paying out the ass for rent and everything else. However, I also understand that my standard of living, as a result, is pretty great in the grand scheme of things. There’s a difference between being broke because you choose to move to the center of extravagence and being broke because the factory in your town just shut down. If you move to Newark and commute I’m sure you’ll find your financial situation improves and then you’ll be able to afford that $5 sub that you are so furious about
@ Lou: You have a valid argument. The only point I was trying to make from the beginning is that complaining over the inability to cash in on a FREE sandwhich, especially in such a wealthy area, is ridiculous. It’s not like the people who owe you a paycheck decided to arbitrarily deny you for no reason. These people owed you nothing – tried to give out a free product to a million people – and apparantley had some administrative difficulties in implementing the grand plan. Either way though, there’s no net loss for the consumer. NYC people shouldn’t have to pay more than the rest of the country by default, but NYC people should quit complaining when others are so much worse off and all a company tried to do was hook up as many patrons as possible. They never denied anything that anyone was actually owed and should probably have handled the implementation of the plan better.
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@ Steve L. – I totally agree with you in a lot of ways, but I think what it comes down to is this: these companies are gigantic companies trying to come up with ways to creatively market their products. So, somebody in a board room comes up with this idea- they implement it, pay a PR company a ton of money to advertise it, tons of sites like mine publicize it, only to have consumers (the people you are trying to connect with) get turned away at the point of purchase.
I think it’s perfectly legitimate to be upset when they clearly didn’t put any thought into how this was going to work. They were more concerned about something that would generate publicity, than having a promotion that would make sense, and work properly. It’s up to the consumers to show these companies that “any publicity” is not necessarily “good publicity”.
And on a personal note, it makes me angry because it takes away from the credibility of a site like mine. Next time I post a free food alert (or any sort of promotion) you’re going to question whether or not it’s actually legitimate.
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@ Steven: I understand your point… but not everyone working and visiting Manhattan actually LIVES in manhattan… I can see if EVERYONE who was in Manhattan at any given moment was living in a nice Manhattan pad… I’m from the Bronx, I work in Manhattan. Does that mean I should pay more? I don’t think so. For example… The dollar menu in Manhattan is nonexistent… Does it get me kind of angry… hell yea it does… Because I’m paying a higher price for the same quality food as I get in my South Bronx neighborhood. If someone working/living/visiting Manhattan should expect to pay more, then I believe they should EXPECT something more. Whether it be better quality, more quantity, or just exemplary service that you otherwise wouldn’t find per usual stores… I totally see where you are coming from but not everyone in Manhattan at any given moment has the means of everyone who LIVES in manhattan and should they be genuinely upset with paying higher prices at various stores, then I can’t blame them.
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@Steven: This was not a giveaway of coupons on a street corner. In order to get the free sub, you had to spend a bit of time and effort on their site, give your email address (and ZIP?) and place yourself on their mailing list. Why not filter out anyone with a 10xxx ZIP code, if they don’t want to offer the promotion here? I don’t think it’s too much to ask to expect something that you actively spent time on and signed up for.
Somewhat related (not @Steven): Have you ever been to a Subway that doesn’t honor the $5 footlong promo? It would be totally expected in NYC. But they are all on board and you know what? Say what you will about the food, but at lunchtime there’s always a line of 10 or so people, and basically the places are jumping. There were maybe 6 customers total in the Quiznos i went to yesterday. Something for those morons to think about when running a promotion to gain customers. (or for the whimpering pussy franchisees to consider as well) -
“Dear Beccy, your promotion was ill thought out and now considered to be a rip off.As a girl you have no right to hold such a posisition and may a suggest a 2 year sabbitical at Zen Burger.”
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“Why can’t your company make a good sandwich?”
“Did you use the Million Man March and it’s associated issues as your template for this promotion?”