A Small Medium-Large Scam

I was racing between things one day and stopped at [Fast Food Place] on my way to my next stop, hitting the drive-thru so I could eat on the way.

Me: “Can I please have a medium [combo]?”

Employee: “Do you want to make that a large?”

Me: “No, thanks.”

When I got to the window to pay, the price seemed high, which I thought was odd, but maybe I had just done the mental math on the taxes wrong or misremembered the price of the item. And then, the cashier didn’t hand me a receipt. Weird as well, but whatever.

When I got to the window to receive my food, it all clicked as they handed me a large. I politely declined as I really had zero interest in paying two dollars for a few more fries and soda. At that point, the manager appeared.

Manager: “We don’t do refunds here.”

That was when I realized what was going on. Having worked fast food before, I gathered that they were probably doing some sort of “upcharge” competition — ring up the most larges and you get a reward.

I was slightly flabbergasted, but the manager repeated that nope, there was no possibility of a refund.

Me: *Smiling politely* “That’s okay. I’ll call my bank on speaker to do a chargeback. I’ll need you to talk to them. Since it’s on speaker, you can just tell them you can’t do refunds.”

And then, I proceeded to sit at the window, calling my bank, during lunch hour at a very busy drive-thru.

It turned out they can do refunds, and they can do them so fast I didn’t even make it through the phone tree.

And yes, I did file a complaint with corporate.