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The Worst @Culvers Burger I've Ever Experienced

my rather reluctant reply to http://twitter.com/culvers/status/2758867400 

Culvers,

I didn't want to discuss this experience further, but honoring your request for specifics...

I'm a big fan. Before you were in Illinois, I drove out of state to enjoy your delicious frozen custard. I've learned to love the butterburger, tuna sourdough sandwich, delicious turtle sundaes, and more. I've been a customer and your evangelist for years! I'm what you would call a 'foodie'. I love eating, I take photographs and write about many of my meals. 

I had been reviewing different burgers on my 'burger blog' and was excited to add a Culver's review to complement the other burgers. I've seldom had bad Culvers's experiences, these mostly limited to wrong orders but never bad food.

This was my worst fast food experience. My perception of your brand was destroyed.

July 20th I went to Culver's at 1765 N. Rand Rd, in Palatine, IL. and from the drive-through ordered the double butter-burger. I was offered a special including fries and drink. Remembering @culvers_on_rt60 promoting Culver's coffee, I requested one.

I pulled up to the drive-through window, and a gentleman was there holding the coffee towards the top, the cap squeezed off and the coffee poured on my hand. The attendant seemed genuinely concerned that he may have burned my hand. 

Employee: Are you OK did I burn your hand?
Customer: I'm fine, just get me another cup.
Employee: Are you sure you're not burned?
Customer: Yes, please get me napkins.

He got napkins and another cap (1st one was on the ground next to my car) and repeated failing at attempting to secure the lid to a bent cup. He then got a 3rd cap, and used the palm of his hand where one would drink from, to apply back-forth pressure, perhaps securing the lid in his opinion, confidently exclaimed 'there!' and handed it me. I was disgusted at the unsanitary handling of palming the drink hole.

They had me pull forward and wait - standard procedure and not a problem. I reached for my phone and went to refresh my screen when someone was at my window, handed a bag, said 'here' and walked off. WOW that was fast I thought.

This is the burger I received (photo taken within minutes):

Cimg0207-feed

I couldn't complete my video due to it smelling like feces:

Culver's Double Cheeseburger on 12seconds.tv

I'm not sure what to say. I loved your restaurant and brand. I do respect you reaching out to me, asking to share. Without your encouragement I wouldn't have posted this, and I'm reluctantly doing so. My reluctance is that I help many companies 'clean up' bad perspectives and experiences, and wouldn't want to contribute to anything negative. I do admire your boldness asking me to share! Where do we go from here? 

Comments (1)

Sep 21, 2009
culvers said...
Thank you for the details. As you have experienced in the past, Culver’s takes great pride in doing it right for our guests, so we’d like to find a way to resolve this situation and get you back as a Culver’s fan. I actually reached out to you on Monday, 9/14, via Twitter DM so we could discuss offline in more detail. Please check your DMs and contact me if you are open to it.

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