Chemical Smell on Tacos - Taco Bell, Citrus Heights California

6031 Greenback Lane, Citrus Heights, 95621 California, United States

This happened this evening around 8pm since we bought our food at 7:48 and only live about two miles away from the location and ingested the food as soon as we got inside our place. Two of our items were missing from our order, we did not notice this until we got home about two miles away which happens often with Taco Bells around this area. Typically I don’t usually complain or return to them seeking a refund but once we ate the hard shell tacos in our order after getting home we noticed something off…as it turned out there were chemicals on them that my wife, son and I all ingested. She threw up her taco, and I began to feel sick as well as my son. Since I spent $39.25 on our order and we all got sick from the food I decided to return it for a refund and let the staff know about the situation. One of the team members agreed that the remaining uneaten tacos smelled like chemicals, he said it was likely their sanitizer and not something else, but he was not sure. He called over the manager to process the refund. The managers , who gave the impression he was both annoyed with my request and said this had never happened before. In the process of issuing my refund, he said the system was new and it took nearly ten minutes to process the refund, which he claimed required him to punch in the order item by item, he then asked if I wanted cash or it to be put back on my card. I said I’d like it on my card. So he told me to swipe my card so I did. When the machine beeped and requested I inset the card and I informed him of this he did not listen to me and instead said it was processing. I stood there a few minutes while he cursed at the machine, until he asked what it said on my side, so again I repeated that it asked to insert, slide or tap. Then I asked him which one I should do and he responded “I don’t care”. I then inserted my card since the machine had asked me to do this earlier. There was just one more problem. The total refunded was 15 cents less than the total I paid. So in essence, I paid 15 cents for me and my family to be sick, and treated like I was an annoyance for coming in and informing them about the missing items and chemicals on our food. Suffice to say, we will not be returning to Taco Bell, not only because of this incident, but because there always seems to be an issue with any order we place that is more than three items. My wife and I are both in our thirties, and have enjoyed the ease and quickness Taco Bell has been over the years. It’s unfortunate that this will be the experience of our last trip. But we will be glad knowing that we won’t be losing any more money to missing items, or potentially getting sick from tainted food from these establishments. I made sure to keep both receipts that were issue to me, along with the taco my wife threw up in case we find ourselves seriously ill from this experience. The most hurtful part of this experience wasn’t the tainted tacos or missing items, but the fact that the manager, who I can understand has a difficult job to do, reacted so unprofessionally. As a manager myself, these incidents are an opportunity to connect with the community and show we care more about people than the money they spend, even though a business cannot be a business without focusing on making profits. I sincerely hope this information finds you well, and creates an opportunity to teach teams situational awareness. One last thing to note, when I did come inside the store I noticed parts of the workstations unkempt, pans in places they shouldn’t be, as at one point in my life, Taco Bell was actually the first job I ever held. We do thank you for the good times and wish your establishment the best moving forward.  | Symptoms: Nausea, Something else