The Case

Anonymous: ah. jenny and i had quite the horrible experience at dangelos sub shop this past weekend
CNR Ben: I had a bad experience with them, but 5 years ago. What happened?
Anonymous: it was so bad that we had to yell at the damn habib
Anonymous: so
CNR Ben: habib=your server?
Anonymous: yes
Anonymous: anyway
Anonymous: we go there and its very deserted
Anonymous: only two people working in the whole place
Anonymous: habib and some other woman
Anonymous: so we order a steak and cheese and a ham and cheese sub
Anonymous: first off jenny likes swiss cheese which they didnt have so that was bad Anonymous: i pay the guy and while the subs are being made i see a sign for clam chowder Anonymous: YUMMY! I want some I say to Jenny
Anonymous: "excuse me habib i would like some of you clam chowder as well"
CNR Ben: HAHAHA
Anonymous: i already have my money out because the sign says that its $1.86 for a cup Anonymous: i have out 2 dollars thinking that would be enough
Anonymous: he rings it up and he says "that will be 2.16 please"
CNR Ben: Right, $.05 tax to the dollar.. no more than $1.96
Anonymous: i was a little puzzled but just reached into my pocket and pulled out 16 cents Anonymous: habib looks at the change puzzled and says oh...2.16
Anonymous: i said yeah...thats what i gave you
Anonymous: no says habib .16
Anonymous: I KNOW
Anonymous: well after a while we finally figure out that he's saying 61 cents
Anonymous: with a terrible accent
Anonymous: F*****
Anonymous: now that seems like way too much tax on a $1.86 cup of chowder
Anonymous: I say "I only want a cup and the sign says its $1.86"
Anonymous: oh no the sign is wrong
Anonymous: habib now proceeds to take the sign and rearrange all of the magnetic proces just so he can charge me 2.16
Anonymous: EXCUSE me the sign says 1.86 and thats what i wanted to pay.
Anonymous: oh no..(still rearragiung the sign like a dumb f***) it 2.16
Anonymous: whatever fine...i just want the damn soup
CNR Ben: IT IS HYSTERICAL that he tried changing the sign!
CNR Ben: That's illegal!!
Anonymous: i pay the 2.16 and he bags up our sandwiches hands them to me with a smaile and says have a nice day
Anonymous: ah. hey f***** wheres the soup we just haggled over for 5 minutes
Anonymous: oh sorry sorry sorry
Anonymous: he goes and gets the soup
Anonymous: we take everything and go out to the car
Anonymous: i say to jenny "we may want to check the sandwiches to make sure everything is right"
Anonymous: jenny opens the bad to find a strange looking sub with roast beef, mustard and tomatoes and a weird wrap thingy
Anonymous: NOT WHAT WE ORDERED
Anonymous: F*****
Anonymous: At this point we are bulls***
Anonymous: we run back into the store and proceed to ream the guy a new a****le Anonymous: we demand all of our money back
Anonymous: habib is visibly shaken by our anger
CNR Ben: WOW
Anonymous: he then attempts to blame the poor little woman making the sandwiches Anonymous: he says "you made the sandwiches wrong"
Anonymous: when in reality those were the sandwiches for the customer in front of us who had ordered and then sat down to wait
Anonymous: stupid habib was the one who bagged up the sandwiches not the lady
CNR Ben: Oh no!
Anonymous: at this point we've got these sandwiches opened up on the counter and the woman whose sandwiches they are strolls up to inquire about where the f*** her food is Anonymous: "oh" habib says pointing to the opened sandwiches. here they are. i gave them to these people by mistake. they didnt eat them. theyre jsut fine. here you go
Anonymous: WHAT?!?!!?!
Anonymous: F*****
Anonymous: now this woman is bulls*** as well
Anonymous: we all yell
Anonymous: we get our money back and leave
Anonymous: all the while jenny is insulting the mans intelligence.saying that making a sandwich is not rocket science right to his face and yada yada
Anonymous: kinda funny
Anonymous: we then left dangelos with our refund in hand and went to Quiznos

Consumer Advocate Michael W. did not find this story as amusing. His critique is below

Mr. Dobson:

Thank you for forwarding the attached comments regarding this inexcusably unacceptable experience at a D'Angelo's Sub Shops franchise restaurant.

I'm not going to touch the lack of Swiss cheese at the establishment, because although being well-stocked with a wide variety of deli needs is crucial to its success, this was really the least of the problems with this whole experience.

First off, it is an insult that one cannot go to an eatery and expect to be waited on by someone who is able to accurately articulate the virtues of the King's English as, the last time I checked, it was still the official language of our fine nation. When one feels that there is mis-communication or lack of comprehension, it is well within your rights as an American citizen to demand an interpreter or someone whom you are able to effectively communicate with.

Assofar as changing the sign, I find that to be absolutely ridiculous. Prices are not posted so they can just be arbitrarily re-set by unauthorized store employees if they feel that the sign is wrong, and then insist that the consumer pay that price. That's in direct violation of consumer protection laws in the Commonwealth, and I would highly encourage that the Attorney General's office be contacted in that regard.

But yet this legal quagmire doesn't even end because now passing around sandwiches is a serious public health violation. As you can no doubt imagine, concerns regarding the serving of prepared food are very stringent, and this act is disgusting even to the layman, much less to a state-certified Health Inspector. I would highly advocate one be called in to this establishment because, if this seemed like an appropriate manner in which to solve this problem, I fear to know what else is going on in that place behind those stainless steel counters that the consumer doesn't have direct knowledge of.

In my initial attempts to research remedies with their corporate parents, I logged onto to dangelos.com, but was met with the web site of Massachusetts chain Papa Gino's. Being in the know, I recognize that the two companies are one in the same .... however, to the lay consumer, the Papa Gino's web site contains ZERO references to the D'Angelo's Sub Shops chain, and their Contact Us is pitiful at best, giving addresses only for potential employees/managers and those interested in Real Estate Development to open up their own franchise.

HELLO PAPA GINO'S ... REMEMBER THE CONSUMERS WHO KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS???!!!!

Give me some more time on this one ... this case is by no means closed.

Michael W.
Consumer Advocate