... which is too bad, because it was fabulous. the absolute best thing about it was it allowed you to see the components of separate things (like the fact a vanilla shake is made of ice cream and water). it lived here, but links to it were removed several days ago, and now it's no longer functional.
it was a really really great tool. i'm sorry to see it gone.
Showing posts with label communique to SONIC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communique to SONIC. Show all posts
5/25/2011
the greatest drink token ever made
quit waiting and went through the drive-thru.
my vanilla dish was quick, but the wacky pack production was slow, slow,
slow. when the acting manager finally came to the window, he gave me
the pictured token as an apology for my wait: good for a free medium softdrink.
i've never seen one of these before, so they must be relatively new
(although the © says 2010).
it is just *AWESOME*. the chip itself is weighted and approaching pro-grade. the color is hilarious, a riff not only on the mints they give with your order at SONIC (it says "every customer is WORTH A MINT" on the reverse); but red is also commonly the lowest denomination of chips in a casino (okay, okay, it might just be a coincidence).
the fine print says it expires in 60 days, but there's no indication of
when it was actually given ... you could spend it for forever.
now, i'm one of the cheapest people who's ever lived ... in fact for the last 48 items i've received from SONIC i've paid a grand total of $45 ... but
there's *no way* i'm ever cashing this chip ... it'll be my talisman until it's lost, stolen or i die ... and you better believe it'll be seeing more than a little action as a card protector.
it's gotta be a vegas only thing. hilarious, great and on the mark.
superb.
5/20/2011
more SONIC spam
latest TXT.
i won't be trying any of the new burgers because they're over-hyping
them to me. (remember?)
***
Hey Cruisers, hungry? Then drive in to your nearest SONIC Drive-in to
try our two new Loaded Burgers: The fiery Blazin' BBQ & the oniontastic
Ring Leader!
i won't be trying any of the new burgers because they're over-hyping
them to me. (remember?)
***
Hey Cruisers, hungry? Then drive in to your nearest SONIC Drive-in to
try our two new Loaded Burgers: The fiery Blazin' BBQ & the oniontastic
Ring Leader!
5/04/2011
shopathome vindicated
if you don't remember my late night diatribe against shopathome, you should go back and read it ... be sure to track on the comments as well.
i'm pulling their response up here so it can be more readily identifiable by search engines ... i'm also critiquing what they said in-line here because i'm bratty and i think it's both interesting and funny in that 13-year-old-kid-yelling-from-the-back-of-the-class-room-kind-of-way.
So glad we stumbled across your blog.
let's be honest here ... they didn't stumble across my 'blog because they wanted to know something like "what's the number for SONIC FM?" ... they ran across it because some tattle-tale search engine (or outside research company) said i was bangin' on their door.
nevertheless, they didn't have to respond, and they didn't have to be nice about it.
Sonic is awesome!
let's see ... is this the right approach to take with someone who is completely obsessed with SONIC? i wonder.
It seems, however, that the Sonic Restaurant Coupons posted on our site were not so awesome. And we’re super sorry about that. We have removed every last one of them.
front line winner. from this point they could say probably anything, including, "we're burning down flamingo SONIC in your honor."
While ShopAtHome.com offers some fabulous coupons, deals and incredible Cash Back rebate offers, we realize that some of the content provided by our community members is not quite up to snuff.
exactly right behavior. say i'm right and then reiterate about how much of a genius i am. nothing is more convincing to the psychology of people than intermittent reinforcement. okay, sure, they said i was right just one sentence ago, but i may have lost track, right? i mean, i answered two TXT messages in the time in took me to write the last two sentences ...
and notice too how we get a little ad in there. nothing like giving a kid a shot after they get the sucker.
The Sonic “coupons” that were previously listed on our site were provided as part of our community contribution program. We encourage our site members to post deals that we may have missed in order to benefit our members. And, we offer an incentive for doing so. That’s good, right?
of course that's good.
what else are you selling? i'm buyin'!
Well, only when the posts are actually valuable to our members. We make every effort to monitor these posts and ensure they provide valid offers. Unfortunately, sometimes we miss a few.
the truth of the matter is probably something closer to "we make a small effort to monitor posts until some jackass points out something they consider to be a 'crime' to some goddamn search engine ... at that point we turn the bacon-eaters out with well-written responses and pray to a merciful god that we can get the tigers of the enemy to fall asleep."
And we’re sure sorry that our oversight resulted in your time being wasted and has left you with a bad taste in your mouth for ShopAtHome.com.
hey, i'd almost forgotten about that. you bastards! you wasted my time.
oh, that's right, i'm not mad any more. and that bad taste? it's probably just the cooking grease being a bit off ... i don't blame you guys.
We don’t always get it right, but we do always make it right.
oh, oh, oh. jetblue could stand to learn this lesson. morgan johnston, are you watching what's going on here? have you considered this approach?
you will.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write about us and for keeping us honest. We sure prefer to see positive posts, but we appreciate the opportunity to improve our site, our service and our deals!
Annette Nueske, Customer Service Manager
you'd think this would be the end and everything would be "just fine" in the land of yick-yack.
but you'd be wrong.
i got a follow-up to the versatran mailbox and they're gifting me a card to restaurant.com. (i sincerely hope it's something they get in bulk or pay less-than-face-value for or some such.)
no, thank YOU, shopathome.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE AND READ ON!
i asked the woman involved here, "annette nueske" if she was of the famous bacon nueskes.
she is.
let's back up.
Q: what's this 'blog about?
A: food.
Q: what kind of food?
A: crappy fast food and spectacular drinks. which i like.
having a shirt-tail nueske talk to me is like writing a transportation 'blog, complaining about some ghetto kid having his feet on the seats and getting an apology from the illegitimate great great great great great grandson of thomas jefferson, who also just happens to run customer response for the chicago transit authority.
i mean, this is a big big deal.
SONIC could do very very well by talking to a nueske or two and getting their bacon in line. in fact, if SONIC apologized for their bacon the way shopathome apologizes for their crap users, the whole world could be snackin' on cheddar 'n' nueske's tots RIGHT NOW, man!
"annette" claims that they're not close to the bacon side of the family ... that's WORSE than being a hunt and not being close to the oil side of the family.
what you need to do, "annette," is talk to every damn person you possibly can and see if you can't arrange a family reunion on some easy day ... say, christmas ... and add, "hey, it'll be so so GREAT to finally meet you ... and don't worry about the food, we'll bring a crappy oscar mayer ham, so you don't have to bother with anything."
and your relatives will just cronenberg.
you'll end up with so much delectable meat products that you'll have to be followed home by a battery of EMTs.
i swear to you, you eat your relatives' bacon and you'll quit shopathome in a (what could be ultimately be your last) heartbeat, just to go work with the 'cuz.
what's that? it's too much for you? fine. adopt me. i will gladly be a nueske and forgo the greatness that is in my immediate family tree. i'll do it and we both can reap the benefit ...
... and i just know that the huge feast would all wash down well with lemon slushes. (those, of course, would be on me. well, sorta.)
i'm pulling their response up here so it can be more readily identifiable by search engines ... i'm also critiquing what they said in-line here because i'm bratty and i think it's both interesting and funny in that 13-year-old-kid-yelling-from-the-back-of-the-class-room-kind-of-way.
So glad we stumbled across your blog.
let's be honest here ... they didn't stumble across my 'blog because they wanted to know something like "what's the number for SONIC FM?" ... they ran across it because some tattle-tale search engine (or outside research company) said i was bangin' on their door.
nevertheless, they didn't have to respond, and they didn't have to be nice about it.
Sonic is awesome!
let's see ... is this the right approach to take with someone who is completely obsessed with SONIC? i wonder.
It seems, however, that the Sonic Restaurant Coupons posted on our site were not so awesome. And we’re super sorry about that. We have removed every last one of them.
front line winner. from this point they could say probably anything, including, "we're burning down flamingo SONIC in your honor."
While ShopAtHome.com offers some fabulous coupons, deals and incredible Cash Back rebate offers, we realize that some of the content provided by our community members is not quite up to snuff.
exactly right behavior. say i'm right and then reiterate about how much of a genius i am. nothing is more convincing to the psychology of people than intermittent reinforcement. okay, sure, they said i was right just one sentence ago, but i may have lost track, right? i mean, i answered two TXT messages in the time in took me to write the last two sentences ...
and notice too how we get a little ad in there. nothing like giving a kid a shot after they get the sucker.
The Sonic “coupons” that were previously listed on our site were provided as part of our community contribution program. We encourage our site members to post deals that we may have missed in order to benefit our members. And, we offer an incentive for doing so. That’s good, right?
of course that's good.
what else are you selling? i'm buyin'!
Well, only when the posts are actually valuable to our members. We make every effort to monitor these posts and ensure they provide valid offers. Unfortunately, sometimes we miss a few.
the truth of the matter is probably something closer to "we make a small effort to monitor posts until some jackass points out something they consider to be a 'crime' to some goddamn search engine ... at that point we turn the bacon-eaters out with well-written responses and pray to a merciful god that we can get the tigers of the enemy to fall asleep."
And we’re sure sorry that our oversight resulted in your time being wasted and has left you with a bad taste in your mouth for ShopAtHome.com.
hey, i'd almost forgotten about that. you bastards! you wasted my time.
oh, that's right, i'm not mad any more. and that bad taste? it's probably just the cooking grease being a bit off ... i don't blame you guys.
We don’t always get it right, but we do always make it right.
oh, oh, oh. jetblue could stand to learn this lesson. morgan johnston, are you watching what's going on here? have you considered this approach?
you will.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write about us and for keeping us honest. We sure prefer to see positive posts, but we appreciate the opportunity to improve our site, our service and our deals!
Annette Nueske, Customer Service Manager
you'd think this would be the end and everything would be "just fine" in the land of yick-yack.
but you'd be wrong.
i got a follow-up to the versatran mailbox and they're gifting me a card to restaurant.com. (i sincerely hope it's something they get in bulk or pay less-than-face-value for or some such.)
no, thank YOU, shopathome.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE AND READ ON!
i asked the woman involved here, "annette nueske" if she was of the famous bacon nueskes.
she is.
let's back up.
Q: what's this 'blog about?
A: food.
Q: what kind of food?
A: crappy fast food and spectacular drinks. which i like.
having a shirt-tail nueske talk to me is like writing a transportation 'blog, complaining about some ghetto kid having his feet on the seats and getting an apology from the illegitimate great great great great great grandson of thomas jefferson, who also just happens to run customer response for the chicago transit authority.
i mean, this is a big big deal.
SONIC could do very very well by talking to a nueske or two and getting their bacon in line. in fact, if SONIC apologized for their bacon the way shopathome apologizes for their crap users, the whole world could be snackin' on cheddar 'n' nueske's tots RIGHT NOW, man!
"annette" claims that they're not close to the bacon side of the family ... that's WORSE than being a hunt and not being close to the oil side of the family.
what you need to do, "annette," is talk to every damn person you possibly can and see if you can't arrange a family reunion on some easy day ... say, christmas ... and add, "hey, it'll be so so GREAT to finally meet you ... and don't worry about the food, we'll bring a crappy oscar mayer ham, so you don't have to bother with anything."
and your relatives will just cronenberg.
you'll end up with so much delectable meat products that you'll have to be followed home by a battery of EMTs.
i swear to you, you eat your relatives' bacon and you'll quit shopathome in a (what could be ultimately be your last) heartbeat, just to go work with the 'cuz.
what's that? it's too much for you? fine. adopt me. i will gladly be a nueske and forgo the greatness that is in my immediate family tree. i'll do it and we both can reap the benefit ...
... and i just know that the huge feast would all wash down well with lemon slushes. (those, of course, would be on me. well, sorta.)
4/27/2011
SONIC dish network promo
a pal stopped by durango SONIC last weekend to pick up a 99¢ sundae. along with the order receipt there was a glossy postcard (read "expensive") ad for the dish network. the upshot was if you signed up for a new activation, you got a "free" $20 SONIC gift card.
i have no problem with an ad like this being shoved in my face ... gimme a chance at a deal i won't otherwise know about, and i might take it.
except, of course, in this specific case ... i don't watch TV ... because i don't like ads being shoved at me about things i don't care about.
the bottom of the ad (in the SONIC "square," strangely enough), says, "how much can we save you?" a tough, tough question ... how much can you save off of my current TV bill of $0?
4/08/2011
jr. breakfast burrito failure
at 12:40 AM i roll into flamingo SONIC (having already bought a bottle of tabasco sauce at terrible's next door). the target, of course, is 50c breakfast burritos.
i order two from the drive-thru and am asked to pull forward.
while i'm waiting, someone cashier (or cashier-like) comes out. this action, right here, is never a good sign.
"you said you received this offer by text message?"
"that's right. it's right here ..." and i pass my hiptop out to the hop.
he goes back in. i can see a small conference inside.
he comes back out. there isn't food in his hands. this is going to be a denial.
he's chirpy in that mormon missionary kind of way. "you're going to hate me, but that coupon isn't good until 5:30."
i fake a smile. "no problem." and drive off. i can hear a woman inside say, "does this mean no burritos?" as i drive past.
as soon as i get home, i call the 800 number. i tell them exactly what i'm telling you now.
ignoring the fact that it was written in a cool style that's best approximated by a 13-year old girl, that TXT message from yesterday was 112 characters. adding the phrase "from 5:30 " (or "frm" if you insist) in front of the "til ..." gives you ten more characters, or 122. there isn't a TXT message broadcast system in the world that can't handle that length.
i realize not all SONICs in the world are 24 hours. i don't care. some of them are.
las vegas is a city where the terms "night" and "day" are just pleasantries to appease outsiders. everyone who lives in this town understands that when the clock hits 12:01, it's tomorrow, it's morning. that collective group understanding is one of the reasons i live here and one of the things i truly relish about what otherwise might be thought of as a hellhole oasis in the desert.
when SONIC sends a TXT message that says, "Start ur morning @ Sonic on Friday 4/8 til 11am w/50 Cent Jr Breakfast Burritos. Plz mention txt when ordering," then they need to honor it and they need to honor it in the way the city views it.
or let's look at the reverse and let me ask you this ... if you're not going to honor this TXT, what's the point of sending it? what purpose does it serve?
i assume you're shooting for something bigger than raising my blood pressure, but maybe not.
it's not an exaggeration to say this is false advertising. and even the stupidest ambulance chasing attorney could easily argue that this ad is bait and switch.
and now i'm going to say something that i didn't say to the operator, but i'm saying to whoever the hell reads this thing.
if you are going to offer discounts that are in turn defective or not honored (here and here are but two examples that i've written about beyond the case i'm talking about here ... i have about half a dozen more from before i started this 'blog) don't offer me anything.
you guys are buggin' me. i'm tired of you rattling my cage.
i order two from the drive-thru and am asked to pull forward.
while i'm waiting, someone cashier (or cashier-like) comes out. this action, right here, is never a good sign.
"you said you received this offer by text message?"
"that's right. it's right here ..." and i pass my hiptop out to the hop.
he goes back in. i can see a small conference inside.
he comes back out. there isn't food in his hands. this is going to be a denial.
he's chirpy in that mormon missionary kind of way. "you're going to hate me, but that coupon isn't good until 5:30."
i fake a smile. "no problem." and drive off. i can hear a woman inside say, "does this mean no burritos?" as i drive past.
as soon as i get home, i call the 800 number. i tell them exactly what i'm telling you now.
ignoring the fact that it was written in a cool style that's best approximated by a 13-year old girl, that TXT message from yesterday was 112 characters. adding the phrase "from 5:30 " (or "frm" if you insist) in front of the "til ..." gives you ten more characters, or 122. there isn't a TXT message broadcast system in the world that can't handle that length.
i realize not all SONICs in the world are 24 hours. i don't care. some of them are.
las vegas is a city where the terms "night" and "day" are just pleasantries to appease outsiders. everyone who lives in this town understands that when the clock hits 12:01, it's tomorrow, it's morning. that collective group understanding is one of the reasons i live here and one of the things i truly relish about what otherwise might be thought of as a hellhole oasis in the desert.
when SONIC sends a TXT message that says, "Start ur morning @ Sonic on Friday 4/8 til 11am w/50 Cent Jr Breakfast Burritos. Plz mention txt when ordering," then they need to honor it and they need to honor it in the way the city views it.
or let's look at the reverse and let me ask you this ... if you're not going to honor this TXT, what's the point of sending it? what purpose does it serve?
i assume you're shooting for something bigger than raising my blood pressure, but maybe not.
it's not an exaggeration to say this is false advertising. and even the stupidest ambulance chasing attorney could easily argue that this ad is bait and switch.
and now i'm going to say something that i didn't say to the operator, but i'm saying to whoever the hell reads this thing.
if you are going to offer discounts that are in turn defective or not honored (here and here are but two examples that i've written about beyond the case i'm talking about here ... i have about half a dozen more from before i started this 'blog) don't offer me anything.
you guys are buggin' me. i'm tired of you rattling my cage.
4/01/2011
SONIC SPAM
latest TXT message. anyone following this 'blog knows this isn't news and this is the second time a TXT has been used as nothing more than a status message.
SONIC, don't use my TXT messages for sending me things i already know ... use it for discounts and announcements. you're not der wienerschnitzel. (you're not even das wienerschnitzel.)
***
Take the SONIC Match Maker Quiz & get a coupon for your perfect SONIC
Drink and Premium Beef Hot Dog match. Go to
http://matchmaker.sonicdrivein.com to play.
SONIC, don't use my TXT messages for sending me things i already know ... use it for discounts and announcements. you're not der wienerschnitzel. (you're not even das wienerschnitzel.)
***
Take the SONIC Match Maker Quiz & get a coupon for your perfect SONIC
Drink and Premium Beef Hot Dog match. Go to
http://matchmaker.sonicdrivein.com to play.
3/31/2011
SONIC TXT problems
got this fan mail from a long-time reader in denver, CO today.
Re: so, i tried to get some mozzarella stix...
Re: so, i tried to get some mozzarella stix...
... with the 99 cent txt offer at the sonic halfway between my work and my home this evening...
...to no avail.
Of course, I do not have txt capability on my phone, so i could not prove what you posted, but the helpful young lady at the drive up window let me know they were not participating in any kind of txt promotion anyway.
no worries, i will get some another time.
your description of the stix: "no real taste -- more of a conduit for fat and salt into your system" is spot-on, in my book, and I was craving that exact sensation this evening.
congrats on getting noticed by the mothership! Your appreciation for them and their products has garnered you a well-earned gift - very smart on their part.
ignoring the fact that this person isn't actually receiving the TXTs in question, the bigger idea here is an ongoing problem ...
SONIC needs to step up to the plate and educate the subsidiaries on how to handle out-of-market promos ... telling a customer "no, this isn't good here" might be acceptable from a business point-of-view, but is scorched-earth policy in the customer relations world.
look at this from the customer's perspective. let's say someone enters every damn TXT offer that gets put in front of your face (certainly that's what a corporation would want you to do). whoever follows that path has no idea who's talking to them when they get a message. their phone beeps and they see, "Snack It Up @ Sonic Wed. 3/30 with 99 cent Mozzarella Stiks All Day Long. Plz mention text when ordering," there's no immediate indication that it might not be good in, say, lubbock, TX.
if you try to get a SONIC to accept a TXT they don't recognize, it makes you, the customer, feel like a creep. i know this all too well.
better would be to have a common ground where all SONICs agree to abide by any offer that's out in the field ... i mean, come on, are they going to that many people in manchester who are trying to take advantage of a vegas offer? ... and if joe-bob franchise owner can't actually afford to take the buck-and-a-half hit on an order of mozzarella sticks, then maybe corporate should subsidize some, or all of that difference.
i really don't see how this should fall on the shoulder of the consumer to know what is, or is not, honored where-and-when. it's our money. it's our custom. you as a company have to work for it.
step up to the plate.
do your job.
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