KFC has done several promotions offering free grilled chicken. One of their previous promotions resulted in tons of disappointed and agree customers.

KFC – May 5th Promotion

KFC offered a coupon valid for a free piece of grilled chicken on May 5th, 2009. The promotion was hyped so much (Oprah) that many locations stopped honoring the coupon within hours. From there they offered rain checks, and the promotion become a failure.

Elizabeth Vidrine tried to participate in this promotion. She said

“last time I printed this coupon EVERY KFC I went to had stopped taking the coupons by 11 am and I never did get to use it, they should say on the coupon that the manager will refuse you if he thinks to many people have come in already.”

KFC – October 22nd Promotion

After alerting my readers about KFC’s attempt to try again, I got an UNDERwhelming response. Most people go crazy for free food, it’s a frugal lovers favorite thing. A coupon for a free anything goes around the internet and back in hours.

Many of my readers weren’t interested in participating again due to the last failed campaign. For some people that was enough to not even visit KFC again free or not.

Shawn Wolfe said “After that last fiasco they had I will never go to KFC again.”

Tammy of Good Plans wasn’t sold on this free promotion going smoothly either. When asked if she would participate she commented:

“I won’t be participating. Every time I went to redeem my coupon, they were out of chicken. Then, I had to send in for a coupon, wait for it to come in, and when it finally did, it wasn’t good for another three weeks. Too much hassle. We haven’t been back since.”

When asked if he would be participating, Larry Rodgers said “No not since they didn’t honor my last coupon, what a waste of gas.”

By doing a  failed free offer, it has actually turned off people from KFC.

More Failed Promotions

The KFC free chicken offers may not of been the only fail, but it was the biggest.

Many coupons are rejected or not fully disclosed properly and that can piss off a lot of customers. This can also be due to not educating employees on the promotions.

Another big reason is if a coupon is “leaked”. Meaning that it was sent out to everyone instead of a select group of people. Basically another fault of the company. If you printable coupon and then make it “void” you should fix it!

Buffalo Wild Wings had a coupon for a promotion on their site. The item was 6 free buffalo wings. After the coupon began to be distributed they made it “void” and stopped honoring it. One customer commented on Deal Locker about it saying:

“When I tried to use the coupon, I was treated with verbal attacks by the managment at wild wings. I was a regular customer up to this point. Not any more.”

Could customer service be any worse?

Another comment on the slickdeals forum was

“BWW (Buffalo Wild Wings) in the Waterford Towers Plaza on Alafaya Trail in Orlando FL did not accept these coupons. In fact, they make that clear before you even enter the restaurant. They posted on their doors a sign that says they cannot honor these coupons because they were meant for “Bracket Challenge Contestants”. I thought I’d go in and ask anyways and they looked at me like I was dumb.”

And this one:

“I get very angry when I am told that a coupon is “fake” when I know myself I got it from the company’s website. Revoking their own coupon is their right, but it has to be prominently displayed (like the signs on the door) in order for this to be legally acceptable. (Otherwise it is classic “bait & switch”).”

Don’t mess with our coupons or you will lose our business! What do you think of these coupon fiascos?