From: andrew.bennett@steaknshake.com

To: world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com

Date: Jun 15, 2006 6:38 PM

Subject: Pittsburgh Mills Visit

Eric,

     Let me start by first apologizing to you and your girlfriend for the dining experience you received at our Pittsburgh Mills location. I want to personally thank you for taking the time to let me know about your experience. If I dont know about the issue, I cannot address it. I assure you that guest service is the very heart of Steak N Shake and it has been since 1934 when we were founded. When for whatever reason a guests expectations are not met, I make it a point to try and personally find out why and what I can do to make it right for them.

     Steak N Shake is nothing without you The Guest. That fact is never far from my mind when dealing with any customer in any situation. I want to make this right for you. I also want to assure you that what you experienced is far from what this company deems as acceptable. I have addressed the issue with the GM. The GM in turn has addressed it with the manager.

In an effort to make this right I would like to invite you back to any Steak N(The infamousN) Shake location in PA for a full breakfast, lunch, or dinner on me.  I hope that you find this solution to be a feasible one as the one thing I hope to achieve with this communication is to prove to you that service has been and always will be a focus at Steak N Shake. When you respond please include an address at which I can forward a formal letter as well as the coupons for both you and your girlfriends next meal.

I hope to hear from you soon,

--------------------------

Andrew Bennett

District Manager

Steak N Shake

C/N Ohio Division

Pittsburgh DMA

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From: ERiC AiXeLsyD Mailed-By: gmail.com

To: "andrew.bennett@steaknshake.com"

Date: Jun 15, 2006 8:09 PM

Subject: Re: Pittsburgh Mills Visit

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for your detailed and urgent attention to my messages.  I have taken a hobby of replying to spammers, asking companies odd questions, and real consumer advocacy issues for the occasional posting in my blog. 

My friends and I always discuss places all around town, whether it's a store, restaurant, or some other type of hang out.  We think it (pardon the lack of a more appropriate term:) sucks when places of business find poor customer service acceptable from employees.  A lot of my friends are musicians.  We all have day jobs, and work hard to make a living.  We can all really appreciate the value of a dollar, and the value of time and service and how they translates back to money.  We like to think that even though we're not high rollers or big spenders that we can still be treated with courtesy & respect when spending our valuable leisure time and hard earned money on things like going to the movies, buying stuff at the music store, or enjoying a nice dinner out.  It angers us when we're treated like we dont matter.  So, I decided to become more vocal about it... at least in the written sense.

Again, I relay to you that I have been to Steak 'N Shake many many times in several locations, and have never run into anything that I would consider a problem.  Most of the time, our servers are quick, curios, and friendly.  The food is always excellent.  I have even been at the Steak 'N Shake in the Waterfront on a weekend night when the place is packed, but service seems to always run smooth.  Hopefully I leave tips that show my appreciation.  (Sometimes my girlfriend even says I tip too much.)  I hope that you can pass on the good word to the Waterfront & Robinson stores.

I really don't write these letters intending to get a free meal...  but, such an offer is always appreciated, so I will humbly accept.  It just seems important to me that people like me don't run into these kinds of problems when going out & about.  Sometimes a bad experience with customer service anywhere can set the rest of the day into a bad mood.  People dont need to deal with that, & should generally expect more.  WAL*MART is probably next on the list.  They hire "greeters", right?  How many times has that person actually said hello to you in your last dozen or so trips to WAL*MART?  I have also written to  Boston Market, Sonic, car companies,  And Many Others.  Sadly some of the old messages were lost due to a crash in our message board.

Thank you once again, and I will pass on the word that Steak 'N Shake does care about the customer, and takes pride in their service. 

Respectfully,

-ERiC AiXeLsyD

ERiC AiXeLsyD

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