Chinese Even Fake Coupons, and Then Bitch When Promotion is Cancelled

This place is a trip. Here is the skinny on the story below.  KFC ran a promotion, probably worth maybe 2-3 U$ per meal. All the Chinese had to do was to print a coupon and redeem it, much like we in the rest of the world do on a daily or weekly basis- it really presents no problem, but then again like they ssay here, “It is China.”

So, they run the promo and people are redeeming coupons before they have been officially released ( something like that, the piece is not clear). But in a nutshell, the Chinese faked the coupons worth a few US dollars, and KFC shut down the promo 3 days early. The Chinese were up in arms, they actually sat at the KFC demanding their food, police had to be called. Now, if you live in China, you would not be surprised, after all, Jackie Chan has said that these people cant handle democracy, but for someone overseas, this may seem as low class and ridiculous. But, you have to remember , this is China.  Now, it makes a bit more sense to see companies like Godaddy, Google, Dell, and others pulling up their stakes, and the US getting closer to India.

chinadaily excerpt:

SHANGHAI – KFC, the US fast food giant, is under widespread criticism in China after it cancelled a promotional activity on Tuesday, claiming that some customers had fake coupons.

The restaurant chain had planned to issue three types of coupons at 10 am, 2 pm and 4 pm on Tuesday to the first 100 netizens who registered at each interval through its official Chinese website.

The coupons were supposed to be accepted through Friday and copies of them were also allegedly intended to be valid.

However, starting at 2 pm on Tuesday, customers who wanted to use the coupons in KFC stores across the country were told the promotion had been stopped following an order from its China headquarters.

Some customers in Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai had bitter quarrels with KFC staff, resulting in police rushing to the scene to maintain order.

The cancellation was due to fake coupons, KFC China said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the company, at 10 am on Tuesday 100 netizens successfully retrieved the first round of coupons. But before the second and third round of activities began in the afternoon, stores across the country had already received many customers with the additional two types of coupons.

A preliminary investigation revealed that some other websites had made these two coupons available for downloading without the authorization of KFC China, the statement said.

The company claimed it had made it clear in its promotion that only coupons issued by its official websites would be valid.

“KFC has reported the case to local police and we’ll cooperate with the investigation,” the statement said. “KFC is sorry for the disturbance. If consumers insist that their coupons are from official sources, they are required to show evidence.”

However, the explanation failed to satisfy the disappointed customers. At a KFC store on Wujiang road in Shanghai on Wednesday, about 30 customers whose coupons were rejected sat on tables waiting for an explanation, while a McDonald’s delivery boy was called in with their lunch.

“The McDonald’s delivery was ordered on purpose, in protest to the unfair treatment we received,” said a customer who declined to be named.