Read this consumer review of a Subway in Ohio.
Just as demanding as the Seinfeldian Soup Nazi, I’ve dealt with many Subway Nazi “sandwich artists”. And it’s always about the minor things like a drink refill, a few extra olives, or like the guy in the link — arguing the finer points of a free sub card.
A Subway franchisee will argue that giving a free sandwich that comes out of his pocket/profit to a customer that may have never been in his store is not good business.
I would argue that keeping core Subway customers who are willing to eat 6 (or 12) sandwiches happy and content is good business. And if all the franchisees were willing (or forced) to participate, the money would all equal out in the end.
But here’s the bigger point for everybody. If a marketing promotion makes you irritate your customers and generates negative brand images and kills goodwill — maybe you shouldn’t do the promotion.
I guess in the world of fierce competition it’s hard to offer customers products those are actually much better than products of competitors. So companies have to give promises they can’t fulfill and use other tricks to attract customers by any means, event at risk of irritating customers and creating negative brand images.