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: 10:15 am, March 3rd, 2009 under Free Stuff.
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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?”
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They are in the business of selling meat. They could give a got damn about the issues some silly internet scam causes.
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Point is, if you offer something for free you should honor it. End of Story.
Steven L. is only offering excuses and trying to talk him out of it is pointless. Excuses are excuses. They don’t work at work and they don’t work at lunch.
Yes its nice they offered free subs, but offering and then not honoring is a rip off and DESERVES some anger.
In any case, now that I have given them my name and email address, I am sure I’ll be on some mailing list. And trust me, I’ll be lucky if it’s just THEIR mailing list. They could totally sell those lists to other spammers and voila they’ve made their “million subs” cost back. Marketing disguised as altruism.
AND THATS WHY I will no longer even consider Quiznos. (even though I have a personal connection to Quiznos and was a lifelong fan) -
I think it best for everyone if Quizno’s were to just go away. They obviously treat their franchisees bad, and this has shown that they use the rift between the parent company and the franchisees to treat the customer bad.
And the price war with Subway never made sense to me, because Quizno’s generally had better ingredients that warranted a slightly higher price.
I can’t support this company anymore, and I feel bad for the franchisees, but in classic NYC style, they were jerks about it and directed their anger with corporate at the customers.
It is a failed company.
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I would want to relate my story.
As some commenters on WalletPop and consumerist noted, this promotion made public the rift between the franchisees and Quiznos corporate. It should *not* have involved the customer. Even a hugely loyal customer like me, you could even call me a brand evangelist and I would not complain, is left with a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended.)
The problems I had with my local store (80 Broad St) in honoring my coupon led to my being forced to make a complaint. I in no way enjoyed doing this. I love Quiznos and to have to make a complaint actually hurts. The manager ended up emailing me back to apologize and sending me a coupon for a combo. He was very very nice and did what he could to rectify the situation.
Now, I don’t feel that I should use the free coupon he emailed me, and I have not used the million sub coupon either.
The day I had to complain to corporate was the second day I had attempted to use the coupon. The first day, I went for lunch at 1:56 PM only to see the posted signs saying that the free subs would only be offered between 3 and 6 pm. I shared that information here, then waited until 3 pm the next day to go for my sub at which point I was starving, only to find that no coupons at all would be honored! To have to fight with my local store over this was horrible, even though the manager was so nice in the end. I don’t want to have any unpleasantness ever at Quiznos. Sappy as it sounds, I go to Quiznos as a respite from my otherwise often unpleasant worklife. I look forward to my toasty subs and the friendly employees, and have had many great experiences with Quiznos.
So I never used this coupon, which I’d had emailed to my work address, since it seemed that Quiznos was only mailing out coupons to “new” email addresses that weren’t in the system, leading myself and others to believe that this was just a marketing ploy to harvest email addresses. I never got the one I’d originally requested from the email address known to Quiznos.
On Saturday, I received an email from Quiznos to this known email address stating that they’d noticed I’d never printed this coupon (because I’d never received it, and it’s not b/c it was in a spam folder as I have my own domain and don’t filter quiznos mail to any spam folder). I tried to this coupon at my local Quiznos on Long Island. I thought about the delicious, hot, toasty prime rib and peppercorn sub I was going to enjoy later in the day as I worked hard all morning on my homework. I was going to enjoy the pepper bar too, and get a free small sub for consumption at a later point, to stretch out the enjoyment.
I printed the cupon out, following all of their rules – after reading consumerist.com, I realized that there’s a special watermark and the coupon had to be printed in color, fine, I put a new magenta cartridge in the Epson 500 and printed the coupon, then drove several miles to the local store.
From all of my reading, I was aware that there was some degree of coupon fraud going on and so I understood when they took time entering my code into their computer to verify that it was a genuine, unused coupon.
While I was waiting, I ordered and paid for a regular size prime rib with peppercorn sandwich, which cost me $7.05.
This is because I’d originally read that the franchises were bearing 100% of the cost of the coupon program, which I later found an update on stating that they’d be reimbursed about 72 cents per sub. I knew they were still operating at a loss so I felt that the least I could do was buy something to accompany my free sub.
But the store said that something was wrong with my coupon! They refused to let me use it. A fight ensued, where I had to complain that I understood about the fraud and knew everything about the promotion, but this coupon was genuine and they should accept it, and that I was unhappy that they claimed they would honor the coupon, yet found a loophole not to, (what I am calling a “submarine clause”) even after I’d paid $7.05 for a sandwich!
Ultimately, after I explained the situation to the manager and had to tell him what the ultimate consequences of his refusing a legitimate coupon would be (i.e., I *would* email corporate, I’d done it before, I would post to a blog, I would stop my once a day visits, never return to that store and so on) the manager apologized and gave me a card that he signed for a free sub, but after all this, I won’t use it, and I *still* have never used my free sub coupon.
But honestly, who wants to go through this? I don’t like to have to feel like a bully to the poor hard working store owner, and so I haven’t been back to Quiznos since.
I *will* go back, but this program was a huge disaster. It was handled extremely badly. It generated loads of bad publicity for Quiznos. The franchises should have honored the coupon from the start without dragging the customer into it, and corporate should subsidize the franchises for the sandwiches at 100% of the cost.
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Fair enough to all – This promotion was obviously a disaster. I didn’t have all the details at first, but see why so many are upset. Too bad that an idea that stood to benefit so many ended up hurting both the establishment and the consumer.
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I have been eating at Quiznos for about 6 months and after this promotion I was left feeling tricked and was a little embarrased when they refused my coupon and acted like I was trying to pull something. I will not be back.
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whatever happened to the commercials with the ugly mascots???
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@Monique: You mean the Spongmonkeys? The Spongmonkeys rule! Quiznos, bring them back, that’s the only way to save the brand! :)
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@ Cosi – Yes
and that awful song that got stuck in my head! -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk-1EMKfRhQ
sorry… I had to
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Dear Ms. Steinfort,
You probably feel that this promotion was an overwhelming success despite the “handful of people who have reported some problem redeeming their free sandwich.”
Respectfully, while I only have anecdotal evidence to the contrary, the amount of ill generated by the giveaway to your franchise owners as well as old and potential new customers has permanently damaged the good corporate image of Quizno’s so carefully crafted by your Spongemonkeys and last season appearance on Mr. Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice.
That said, any chance of running this promotion again next week? Kind of craving a free toasted prime rib and peppercorn.
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THEY GOT A PEPPER BAR!
My serious question for the Quizno’s CEO: What sort of detailed training protocols do you require your franchises to follow? I ask because I’ve experienced a tremendous range of quality from store to store — some Quizno’s have friendly employees who make a proper sandwich quickly and neatly, while other locations always seem to have trouble putting the simplest sandwiches together.
Compare to a chain like Starbucks — which, say what you will about the product, but their employees are well and thoroughly trained, and I’ve rarely seen a barista who was having trouble making the drinks.
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Here’s an idea. Maybe they should do a better job contacting the franchise owners when they have such a genius idea. Instead of the vague disclaimer of “participating stores”, they should list which stores are participating on their website. That way you don’t waste people’s time when they can get a better deal without all the bull at Subway. They managed to drive people to their locations and drove them away for good.
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FYI, I was hoping that the Quiznos at 34th and 8th had perhaps risen to the occasion and were honoring the coupons. They are still denying them and still have the signs posted on their doors that they will only honor coupons for those who live or work within five specified zip codes. This is my third attempt to use the coupon, my third store and third FAIL! Once again I paid for my food and guess what, they messed up the chicken cantina sammie which is NOT supposed to come with hot sauce. Sigh. I have one more day. I plan to try the Chambers Street store tomorrow.
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I haven’t stepped foot in a Quizno’s since they thought a rat in a sombrero was a smart marketing campaign. Barf.
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It appears that Subway doesn’t want to be left out of being full of shit. They are running a “Limited time” promotion now that says “All Footlongs for $5″, not just the select that normally are, but when you read the fine print, it turns out that all footlongs that previously weren’t $5 still won’t be $5. The exact same subs as before are $5, they just decided to call that “All” of them.
The marketing people at these companies are fucking satan.
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Cosilicious, i can’t believe you actually ended up paying for a meal. You got weak!
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@Jeff: I paid for a meal each time I visited Quiznos. What can I say, I was hungry… and I crave Quiznos particularly when I can’t get my Cosi, banh mi or dumpling fix. Plus the Treats Truck has not been near Wall Street in weeks!
I have been hoping to read a response from the CMO. I found a response here if anyone is interested:
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Follow-up: I got a phone call a few days ago from who i assume is the manager at the store i visited. He was really nice, apologized, explained a bit of his side of the story, and invited me back for a free sub. We’ll see how/if this actually goes over.
That CMO strikes me as a snake and, after reading lots of the comments posted on consumer & food blogs about this, i think she is full of crap that they are reimbursing 90% of the cost of the subs. I am sure that there is some kind of accounting magic (involving overheads, COGS, etc.) that would produce that 90% number, but not in a way as beneficial to the franchisee as it sounds.
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….it would be:
More ads like this please:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15W1eAMy_pI&feature=related
Thank you
“Did you use the Million Man March and it’s associated issues as your template for this promotion?”