McCafe, why we love it, why we hate it!

[Ramius]

Ah, McDonalds, the place of the Big Mac, the ever increasing fatty fries, and the home of McCafe.

McCafe, a place for fine coffee, and coffee cards, which allow you to buy 5 get one free.
McCafe, also a place to receive vouchers from which say buy a coffee and a muffin for $4.50.
McCafe, the only place you get charged for free coffee!

Let me tell you a story, let me place you within an adventure of such. A couple of weeks ago now, I looked in my wallet and saw that I had drank enough coffee at McDonalds to qualify for a free coffee. And, doesn't everything taste better when it is free. Went down to McDonalds, card in hand and gallantly handed it over asking for my free Mochaccino. Standing there, with the ever pertinent smile which is never there I was told that would be 50 cents. My jaw dropped. What?!? 50 cents for a free coffee? I was dumbstruck, but not to be a prick yet, I handed over the 50 cents, lost my ever present prowess and left. Of course I had to ring head office to protest! And as such I did. Sorry Sean, you should not have been charged the extra, because of that we are going to send you some vouchers. Excellent.

Recently, a voucher was sent out saying that at McCafe, present this voucher and get a medium flat white and muffin for only $4.50. My initial reaction was, oh bugger, it is for a flat white, but, to my delight, I read the fine print "One offer per card per person. Offer applies to any medium McCafe coffee" Fantastic! So, I waltzed on down, and asked for my usual Mocha and to my surprise got told, that is an extra 30 cents! Even though, all the cafe's I have spoken to say that a Mocha is a coffee, McDonalds say it is a coffee and I had a voucher saying, any coffee, I was getting charged more. So, I decided to ring McDonalds customer support (09 306 5626) and explain my boggle. After getting told, I shouldn't have been charged extra and that the lovely lady was going to ring McDonalds Gisborne to say hey! what's going on?! I thought, ahh, that is it. The next day, I got a call from Joanne saying that yes! I should have been charged extra as the mailer was specifically for flat whites only! But hold on, the fine print says any coffee...in response to the message, I rang again today and was told that my concerns would be passed onto marketing and that was it!

Well, not to be outdone, I read up on the consumer commision website to find out what the legalities were behind this all, and decided, well, they have breached the fair trading act to ring up and make my complaint! Why the hell should they advertise one thing for one price and charge another price. It just isn't right, and the thing is, where else is it happening? So, what is next I hear some of you say amongst the drones, well, they are allegedly going to investigate further.

What makes this extremely worse for me, being Gisborne is such a crappy little town with crappy little people and crappy little places selling equally crappy coffee, McDonalds coffee is the best, the only thing which rivals it is the coffee machine at Lix Icecream shop!

Damn big conglomerates!

[Sniper]

Bugger mate. Thats not good, I bet they are putting all that money into non-worthy causes too

[Indiana_Jones]

ALEC BALDWIN will help you Ramius :rofl:

-Indy

[Skunk]

You expect free to mean FREE? :rofl:

[DemonWolf]

I guess I'm lucky that I gave up coffee 8 months ago! (Though not entirely... because I do.. sometimes enjoy a good cup of coffee.... but going to McDonalds, would be the last place I'd go.... for anything!) Hope ya get some good response from the investigation Ramius..

[placidfemme]

McDonalds sucks... there food tastes like crap

[Ramius]

McDonalds sucks... there food tastes like crap

Can't stand the food, but the coffee is good!

[ManDownUnder]

... they love hearing about false advertising... they even take conglomerates to court of it... fine them thousands of dollars and put their name in the paper.

That's what I'd do personally...

Go for it - what's the worst that could happen huh?

[MSTRS]

I know of someone who went to a Macds for a coffee. He was asked if he wanted some food to go with it. He raised his eyebrows and said "Do you serve food here?"

[yungatart]

You should move man, if Mcd's is the best place to get coffee. I wouldn't go there if you paid me to. I have had coffee at Subway in Gizzy- not too bad.
Vote with your feet and refuse to darken their door any more.

[onearmedbandit]

Okay, when you go to say, KFC (which btw you shouldn't), and order a combo with drink and go home (which is less than 5 minutes away) where do you stand if said drink is flat. I've had this happen to me a couple of times, and it fucks me off. I didn't see their advertising saying 'with flat Pepsi', I didn't pay for flat Pepsi (oh but I did), so why do I get a product that doesn't fit its description and isn't fit for its purpose. I complained on their website (because I can) but didn't hear back from them.

[TonyB]

McDonalds sucks... there food tastes like crap
The Deli Rolls are actually pretty good! No! It's true! I was amazed- it tasted like FOOD, not like polystyrene!

[yungatart]

The Deli Rolls are actually pretty good! No! It's true! I was amazed- it tasted like FOOD, not like polystyrene!
Surely you jest, my friend

[Brian d marge]

I think i can top that

About 3 weeks ago we signed up for Fibre optic,, 100 Mbps up and down ...ok they said we will be round monday 10 am ..
cool

So at 10 on Monday the man arrives ,,,I am in bed ,,wife answers door ,,,,I get up ...man gone

wheres me fibre I say...here says wife .....
Hang on ..its a new modem and the same ole wiring ..

Ring help desk ......( ahh sir its ..its copper from your house to the street and fibre after that ...)
Ayyyy?????
ok whatever ...as long as I get 100 Mph internet who cares if its a piece of string,,,,

3 or more phone calls to help desk ,,to get the dam thing working ...seems the software installs a filter ,,,( now at this point I must say I know nowt obowt computers ..I switch them on and off ..and if one or the other of those 2 methods dont work ..I call my mate who knows the royal smart person)

So eventually we are connected ..and eerrr it seem the same as before ...so I test it and find out we are getting an International speed of 1.6Mbps ...Slower than before me thinks .....
Phone help desk....after much complaining ,,they send Engineer round ...a week later and lo and behold I am getting a local speed of between 20 and 30 Mbps and an international of 1.7 Mbps ...

Hang on a miniute Engineer my good man ....wheres me 100 ...
dunno says engineer

Rings help desk does I .......Didnt you read the ...you gets what you are given .....in the small print ,,,,,paragraph 100046 ( under the thank you sticker??)

eeeerrrrr ...no

tough then aint it ....

But I toook it on good faith ,,that the speeds would be around 70 or 80 at least ,,,not 20 ....you know you sort of have a reasonable expectation....

tough ...we da man ,,,,you bend over ,,you pay ..... ( see sub section 4.3,,paragraph 0.001 )

So while this is all happening ...the provider ..who also is making wild claims on speed an efficiency ... The internet is disconnecting during peak times ..sunday nite 11pm ,and takes at least 5 min to reconect ( frien rekons is a dynamic ip address and if its disconnected then I have to manually reconnect ,,, what ever I dont care/know ...all I know is when I am talking to a client/friend ...and it crashes my end ...I have to appologise due to the internet this end...

Soooo....what to do .....My next attempt would be to go back to adsl ( 50 up and down ) assume a 50 percent loss , which would give me the same speed as I get now ,,,but for 1/2 the cost ....

BUT ...I want hangings ,,,and public sacrifices ..from the head of these companys ......they have lost site ,,,of the fact that they are here to provide a service ,,,as in oh ,,,I can do that for you ...,,as in CAN ,,,

Its like me saying ,,,dont worry sir ,,I can fix that nuclear reactor leak .... here ,,just let me at it with me New Telwin welder ,,,I ve had a few course ,,,at the poly ,,so should be alright !!!!:rofl:

NOT

So its not just Telescum ,,they all are at it ........

Stephen

Must dash as its getting near the time , when I open the little brown envelope and take like a man again ,,,,,,,,:moon::buggerd:

[TonyB]

Surely you jest, my friend
Nay! I jest you not. Tis good food.

[Sniper]

Nay! I jest you not. Tis good food.

Im with Tony here. Their Beef and BBQ is bloody brilliant!!

[Wolf]

Im with Tony here. Their Beef and BBQ is bloody brilliant!!
That's as may be, but I'm betting the rolls aren't as big as you gather from the ads - I notice the burgers held by the people in the ads look monstrous but my tiny little mitts seem to dwarf the MacD burgers I've bought. Either their actors are all five-year-olds wearing false moustaches or they deliberately make larger burgers for "advertising purposes only" - nothing like the pissy little things you pay an astronomical price for at Mackers.

[NC]

McDonalds sucks... there food tastes like crap
I never wondered what crap tastes like, but now I know :)

[HDTboy]

When I worked at McCafe in Whangarei, the vouchers were good for any medium coffee /mocha /hot chocolate. no stupid extra charges. this was over 3 years ago mind you, the chocolate powder (only difference between coffee and mocha) prices must have skyrocketed since then.

If I were you I'd be ordering a cappuccino and taking in my own chocolate powder so you could make a mocha for yourself on their bench in front of them at no extra cost

[WINJA]

McDonalds sucks... there food tastes like crap
AND THE PACKAGING IS MORE NUTRITIOUS THAN THE FOOD

[WINJA]

TO BE FAIR ABOUT MCDS , THEY HAVE THE HIGHEST FOOD HANDLING STANDARDS OUT OF ANY FAST FOOD JOINT, I ALSO INSPECTED THE MEAT PROCESSING PLANT MANY TIMES AND THE MEAT IS THE BEST QUALITY .
THE CHICKEN CEASER SUB IS DELICIOUS

[Gremlin]

I also hate McD, tastes like cardboard, and I haven't had it for years.

The one advantage though, which Winja touches on is their food is top quality, and all over the world too. Go to India (or something along those lines), and you want a meal, you are best going to something like McD, because the food is still of a "high standard".

[LB]

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We frequent McDonald's/McCafes a lot.

Re the 50 cents you had to pay for the free coffee.....I would think that is because you ordered a large drink? The coffee card specifically states that after X number of clips you get a free medium coffee. You can pay 50c and upsize to large.

The deli rolls are very nice, and they are (IMHO) a reasonable size.

From memory I thought the $4.50 voucher was for a muffin and any type of coffee. Can't look at it cos it's in the car waiting to go to Manfeild tomorrow (see below).

BTW, the Paraparaumu McD's (on the main road) now serves FW/latte etc. They aren't a McCafe, but they do serve McCafe coffees. Also, they do them through the drive through. We're testing it out for the first time on our way to Manfeild tomorrow (they open @ 6.30am).

We go to McD's/McCafes by choice in all our travels. We know what we're getting, we like the food, and there's always relatively clean toilets.
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[LB]

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PS: was the 30c extra for the voucher moccachino because it was a large and not a medium?
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[SARGE]

being an avid world traveller, the one thing you can always count on is McD's.. and, bonus points.. if you ever get in trouble in a far away place.. well... we call it the "American Embassy"..

[sels1]

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We go to McD's/McCafes by choice in all our travels. .... and there's always relatively clean toilets.
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The only reason I ever go near them......usually

But actually I have had a coffee at Gizzy Mcafe as, as Ramius says, it is one of the better places in town for such things.

[Wolf]

... and there's always relatively clean toilets.

Only reason to go in there.

There's a slang term "McShit" - going into a fast food place just to use the toilet with no intention of actually buying the food.

If you get accosted by a PFY and say "I'm just going to the toilet first, then I'll be placing an order" it's a "McShit with Lies."

[Ramius]

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We frequent McDonald's/McCafes a lot.

Re the 50 cents you had to pay for the free coffee.....I would think that is because you ordered a large drink? The coffee card specifically states that after X number of clips you get a free medium coffee. You can pay 50c and upsize to large.

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The Coffee was for Medium.

[Wolf]

"Ever wonder why Zik Zak burgers come in plastic packs? Some of the plastic rubs off on the burger and doubles the nutritional value." Max Headroom (from the adventure series)

"Next time you feel like a Zik Zak burger just reach for your old leather wallet - it probably tastes the same."

Of course Zik Zak was the series' generic maker-of-everything so they wouldn't get stick for dissing a real company, but it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to figure out which companies inspired some of the digs.

One of my friends always reckonned McD's burgers came wrapped in paper so it rubs off on the burgers to increase their nutrition and flavour - "one standard burger and 15 flavours of paper wrapper"...