When we order from a fast food restaurant, our expectations are fairly low, as we really just want a cheap, quick meal that does the job. That seems like a simple and fair request, right? Sadly, there are times when fast food places can't manage to meet even the lowest of expectations. Perhaps it was our fault for trusting a fast food joint in the first place, but it seems silly to consider fair business practices as a lofty ideal. From Burger King's Croissan'wich swindle to Chipotle's shady calorie counting, join us as we warn you what fast food restaurants straight up cheat their customers.
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00:00When you go to a fast food joint, you're not asking for much — a fast, filling meal at
00:04a decent price, and that's about it.
00:07But sometimes you don't even get that.
00:10So the next time you hit up your local drive-thru for dinner, take a close look at your receipt.
00:14Here are some times that fast food restaurants cheated customers.
00:18Burger King's croissandwich
00:20Burger King ended 2017 by settling a class-action lawsuit claiming Maryland customers had been
00:25cheated for almost two years.
00:27The lawsuit was filed by Coletta Anderson of Maryland, who claimed customers who used
00:31a buy-one-get-one coupon for BK's croissandwich were paying an inflated price.
00:36Anderson says when she used the coupon, she was charged $3.19 for a single sandwich.
00:41Without the coupon, she was charged $2.16 for the same sandwich.
00:45And this wasn't a one-time thing — she claimed that Burger King was intentionally hiking
00:49prices for people with the coupon, as she and her lawyer were similarly overcharged
00:53at several other locations.
00:55BK denied there was any funny business going on, but they still settled the matter and
00:59agreed to hand out some $2 and $5 gift cards.
01:02That was nice of them.
01:04McDonald's extra-value meals
01:06The whole point of ordering an extra-value meal is that it's convenient, and it's cheaper
01:10than ordering the components individually.
01:12But a lawsuit filed in Illinois in 2016 alleged that's not always the case.
01:17According to the Cook County Record, James Gurdie filed the complaint when he realized
01:21he was paying more for his extra-value meal than the components would cost individually.
01:25The meal was $5.90, he said, while ordering two cheeseburgers, a medium fries, and a medium
01:29soft drink came to $5.49.
01:32Gurdie told the Daily Herald it wasn't the money that prompted the lawsuit.
01:35It's because of the principle.
01:37That's the whole point of a value meal.
01:38I believe in the principle of true advertising.
01:41If a company advertises something to be of value, then it should be.
01:44As of early 2018, the case still hadn't reached a verdict.
01:48Chipotle's calories
01:50Chipotle's big bragging point is fresh ingredients, as well as their claim that they're a healthier
01:55dining choice than their competitors.
01:57But a class-action lawsuit filed in California challenges those claims, alleging that Chipotle
02:01was tricking customers with incomplete information.
02:04The confusion came when diners looked at a menu board that showed a picture of the chorizo
02:08burrito, a summary of ingredients, and a note that claimed simply 300 calories.
02:13Fortune reported that Chipotle's nutrition calculator actually gives you a total of 930
02:17calories for just a chorizo burrito with white rice and black beans.
02:21Turns out the 300 calories on the menu was just for the chorizo alone, with no other
02:26ingredients or fillings added.
02:28And that's a problem for Chipotle, as California law requires restaurants to make complete
02:32nutritional information available to customers.
02:35So far, no resolution has been reached, though Chipotle has dropped chorizos in favor of
02:39queso.
02:41Dunkin' Donuts imposter ingredients
02:43Everybody loves Dunkin' Donuts, right?
02:45Yeah, I can have a Dunkin' every day.
02:47Grab a Corolla, have an extra Lodge, three filaments, take a big dump.
02:50That's kind of the routine."
02:51Well, okay, not everyone.
02:54In fact, in 2017, the Dunks was hit with three different lawsuits alleging bogus replacement
02:58ingredients.
02:59In April, a Massachusetts customer got a settlement out of a lawsuit filed against the coffee
03:04and donut chain claiming customers at a group of 20 locations were being served margarine
03:08or butter substitute, even if they asked for butter.
03:11Then, in June, a lawsuit in New York accused the company of using ground beef instead of
03:16steak in their steak and egg sandwiches.
03:18And in August, another class-action lawsuit was filed claiming products labeled as blueberry
03:22didn't contain any actual blueberries, and instead used sugary-flavored crystals.
03:27Time to make the donuts
03:29Sure, it might be time to make the donuts.
03:32The question is, make them with what?
03:34Hmm.
03:35Best part of my day is when I'm at Dunkin'.
03:37Think that's sad?
03:38Yes, very.
03:40Real customers, no.
03:41The holidays run on Dunkin'.
03:44Jimmy John's sprout fiasco
03:46In 2014, a disgruntled customer sued Jimmy John's because she didn't get alfalfa sprouts,
03:52even though they were clearly listed on the menu.
03:54It turns out there was a pretty good reason.
03:56In 2012, there was an E. coli outbreak traced to sprouts served at Jimmy John's, among other
04:01places.
04:02Jimmy John's responded by removing the item entirely from their meals, but didn't alter
04:06their menus to reflect the change.
04:08Jimmy John's denied any wrongdoing in the case of the missing alfalfa sprouts, but still
04:12settled and agreed to give unhappy customers a voucher for $1.40 that could be redeemed
04:17for any side item or soft drink.
04:19But not a side of sprouts.
04:22McDonald's fry cheat
04:24If you think you've been shortchanged on your McDonald's french fry order, there might be
04:27a good reason for that, according to McDonald's employees who posted on Reddit.
04:31They say they were told to pinch the base of the cardboard carton so it would take fewer
04:35fries to make it look full.
04:37Other employees confirmed the practice, and that customers occasionally called them out
04:41on it.
04:42But a McDonald's representative told The Huffington Post no such policy exists.
04:46We'll let our stomachs be the judge of that.
04:49Subway's great footlong debate
04:50Finally, there's the infamous case of the subway footlong.
04:54In 2013, a customer at a subway in Australia posted a photo of his footlong sub next to
04:59a tape measure that showed it was only 11 inches long.
05:03The internet was not about to stand for that sort of thing, and a group filed a class action
05:07lawsuit against Subway.
05:09It turned out that the case of the disappearing inch was a result of how the bread baked,
05:12and since all loaves start from the same amount of dough, you're guaranteed to get a particular
05:17amount of bread.
05:18In spite of that, the case was settled for $525,000, and that should have ended it.
05:24One sub-loving plaintiff refused to settle, however, and kept the case going.
05:28It wasn't until August 2017 that the entire case was thrown out, because… the judge
05:33deemed it to be really stupid.
05:35So, while you might not be getting exactly 12 inches of bread, the courts say you're
05:39still getting your money's worth.
05:41Just think about that before you stick your footlong in your mouth.