Complaint Review: Waffle House - Wilmington North Carolina

This is too comical for words. I thought someone actually monitored these boards! It is obvious that they do NOT. This is the 3rd report about this company in the span of 1 hour. It is clear that there is a disgruntled employee loose who is abusing a keyboard in the wee hours of the morning. My husband and I travel for our jobs all over the US and when doing so we always stop at a Waffle House sooner or later. We have happened upon a few that were not as clean as I would like but I am well aware that I was not stopping at the Tavern on the Green. You are able to watch your food being handled and cooked because the gill is right there in plain sight. If you have a problem with the way it is being handled then open your mouth and say something prior to it being put on the table. We have never had a problem at any one of the hundreds we have stopped at and the staff does a fine job for the fact it is a 24 hr dinner. I use to think this sight was a good resource to use so I as a consumer would not get swindled but for the past year it has turned into nothing but a day time talk show and not even as humorous as the Jerry Springer Show.

Every experience I've had has a been a good one. I like the food and the employees I've encountered have all been fine. Maybe I'm just lucky the WHs in my area are good. To address some previous comments: The food is cheap so I've wondered how well the waitresses fare with tips. I always tip 30 percent minimum, so they fare well with me. As far as hiring ex-cons, I don't care if they hire someone who made a mistake but is trying to redeem themselves and earn a living. Ex-con or not, if "we" have released that person back into society and they have served their time and are sincere in their efforts, they need a job like the rest of us.

I am a waitress at a waffle house in Texas. I will admit that quite a few degenerates go through the waffle house employment line, due to the lack of drug testing. However, they are usually short lived. I have been with the company for several years now, and I am very deticated to my job as well as my customers. It's important to remember that this company is actually several franchises strung togerther into a rather large and ever growing corporation, and different franchise owners set different standards for their stores. We work very hard for our inept 2 or 3 bucks and hour...and yes that really is what waitress get paid hourly...It is easy to become frustrated and when you give all star service and recieve no tip time and time again....how hard would you try for 2.28 an hour?

What do you expect from Waffle House? it's not Morton's or even Outback. Waffle House is known for being cheap all around, if you want it your way go to Burger King.

Chris, Your loyality to WH is commendable. But, as you mentioned, it is a large company and has many stores. I am sure that there must be a reason why a person would want to come online and make a complaint against a company. I am also aware that there are disgruntled ex-employees that might might want to leave a slur against a company that they are upset at. I would hope that most people who read these reports are also aware of these things. The answer isn't to disregard all complaints or demand that someone somehow document poor service. How is that done? It very often comes down to a he said, she said. With a large company it is very possible to have a "bad" employee, or one that is having a "bad day." It is also possible that a customer is being difficult. That is really a very definite possibility when you are in a public service company... and that is what WH is. If there is a misconception between what the customer asked for and what the customer recieved, it is childish to get snotty and petulantly "blame" the customer for ordering wrong. A simple, "I am sorry, I will tell the cook to warm it up a bit more. Would you still like it pink inside or more brown?" It doesn't cost a thing and it is easy enough to do. I guess what I am saying is that it would be best if a person's complaint wasn't simply disregared because it wasn't personally witnessed by you or it is outside your experience with the WH that you work for. Instead, it would be better to give a customer a suggestion on how to contact the corporate offices to report situations like this which hurts the customer, the company and you as an employee. Closing your mind to what they have to say and ignoring feedback is what causes situations to become exactly what they are reporting. Once on top is not the time to get comfortable... If you are in a position of authority, I would hope that you investiage. If not, them maybe passing this on to someone who can would be a good thing. You think? However, with your comment here disregarding customers' complaints may not look good.

First of all, all of the rebuttals to this report had nothing to fo with the report, so why were they listed as such? Secondly, how is posting any information without doing any investigating helping the cunsomer as this web site claims to do? As to the initial report, a medium rare steak has a cool, red center. That sounds like what you got the first time. If you do no like it that way, do not order it. However, if you did not eat your food, you do not have to pay for it. That is WH compnay policy and the law. I have worked for this compnay for fifteen years, and I can vouch for the training all associates should receive. Its not like being a waitress is a difficult job to learn, although it can be a very difficult one to master. Are there alcoholics working at the WH? Sure, as there are alcoholics everywhere in our society, but the majority of WH employees represent the majority of society: hard-working people who take a job that few will attempt in an effort to make enough money to support themselves and their families. Waffle House is a great company with a proven track record of success. We have five times as many locations as Huddle House and will soon overtake Denny's as the #1 24-hour restaurant establishment in the world!

I have worked for the Waffle House since 1997. I have seen and heard a lot of things there. The people they hire never get the proper training that they need. So we had all these people who had no idea of how to cook or be a waitress working there. They talk like crap to there customers. 99% of them are Drug addicts and drunks. They come to work when they want and no one ever does anything about it. But the good ones get fired. They don't wash there hands. It is just plain out nasty. Management knows everything that goes on there and don't care. As long as they get there big check. As far as District Managers, they rip off the stores and fire employees for it. I will never eat in one of those places again .

We have eaten at several of these resturants in several different cities and we find the same service and experience in each place.
We went in for just coffee at the Waffle House in Archdale, NC.

My friend got his coffee and I never got mine. We reminded the waitress. My friend drank his entire cup of coffee and still I had not gotten my coffee yet.

What is the deal?? When she asked if he wanted another cup, he said no we were still waiting on my cup... she put down the ticket... i stood up and said wait a min... since I can't get coffee and have had to sit and watch him drink his.. i refuse to pay for the one... then she tried to give me coffee and by now i was warm enough.
Another time in Thomasville, NC... we ordered our food. We were never offered our drinks that we ordered, until we were almost done and then no refills as we sat there talking.

Another time coming from a stay in the mountains we stopped to order breakfast and my friend recieved only half of his food. by the time he did get his food he had finished the first part and i had finished my entire meal.

None of these times were busy times, or I could see mistakes... but this was beginning to be a habit, so now??? We never go back.... enough is enough.

i'm not a fussy customer and always leave a tip... because i know most waitresses work hard for their money, but this was unreal.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: JD

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
I used to manage a Waffle House and everything you people have said is right. Most of my employees were ex-cons, all of them were on drugs, they knew very little about the food service business, they were rude to the customers and the majority of them were unreliable save for the morning crew who had been there the longest. I came in one evening unannounced and
a cook and his friend were playing broom hockey with a frozen chopped steak patty all over the dirty floor. I finally quit when I realized that it was never going to get any better and I was the one in charge there. Since then, I've never stepped foot in a Waffle House again, it would turn my stomach to do so. And don't EVEN get me started on that stupid song on the jukebox or the forced "GOOD MORNING!" that every employee must cheerfully shout out at the customer as they walk in.

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Elizabeth Lake

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
My cheating husband works at a waffle house in ORLANDO FL and yes they dnt care about anything.The employees are almost all on drugs (mgmt knows) they hide liquor behind the resturant,(mgmt knows). I go in to talk with my husband and they ban me! Even though the server Adrienne was drunk and Scott was drunk and stoned.She also has herpes and Hep C .Janice (mgmt) would you like people like that cooking and serving your food? Ick! And
all of this is true!

They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:

Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Keith Cambridge

Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion

Rebuttal:
Waffle House has a devout following. Why, I don't know. The service at Waffle House is always horrible, the grill and waffle irons look like they haven't been cleaned in a month, and the restaurant always has flying insects inside. I can't argue with you on your report, it is right on the money.