What happened to customer service?!? - kind of long, sorry.

[danchez]

OK, It's Sunday, I am watching football and I ordered a pizza from a very well known pizza company. I log onto their website, they have a coupon for any large pizza with any toppings for $10. I'm sure you've seen the advertisement on TV. Anyway, the pizza shows up and it's a medium so I send it back. I call the local store and explain to the employee what has happened and I ask her if she can put in the order for a large instead of a medium. She has to get her manager on the phone. OK, so far I am ok with this. Then the manager gets on the phone, she says that I ordered a medium. I told her I clicked the coupon for a large pizza with any crust and any toppings for $10 and I would like to change my order to a large. She says that she can send out both pizzas but she will have to charge me. I don't want two pizzas, I just want my 1 large meat lovers pizza. She seems irritated that a mistake/error was made. Partly my fault, but partly the fault of the online ordering system. The manager is still hesitant to help me by getting me what I ordered. I remain very polite and ask her why it's so hard to get the correct pizza delivered to me. I told her that I already sent the driver back with the other pizza. I am not trying to get a freebie, I will pay for what I ordered, I just want what I ordered. She finally relents and says that she can make me another pizza but that it will be 90 minutes for delivery. Now I am feeling that I am being punished and I wonder if they are going to spit in my pizza. Well, at this point, I politely ask for the mangers names. She sighs and tells me her name. I then ask for the regional managers name. She takes a few deep breaths and gives me his first name. I ask for his last name, at this point she says that my pizza will be out to me within 30 minutes. I ask for his last name once again. All this time still remaining very polite and professional. She finally gives me his last name. I ask for his phone number, she tells me that I can just call back to the store tomorrow because he will be there. I plan on calling him tomorrow..... All she had to do was listen, correct the problem and say "we'll get that large meat lovers pizza out to you as soon as we can." and everything would have been hunky dory. Why is customer service so hard for people in the customer service field?!?

OK, I think I am done ranting.....

[SCone]

Gave up a long time ago trying to argue about take-out or delivery, just give me the corporate number (or better yet, an email address) and I'll handle it from there.......

[Cajungaltx]

I'm familiar with that particular place's $10 pizza....and sorry....but it wasn't the pizza places fault that you got a medium pizza. You ordered a medium pizza....so a medium pizza is what was delivered to you.

You have to click what you want - and you have to review the order - and it says plain as day 'medium' before you hit submit.

And then they send you an email with the order info - just to back it up - with a message that specifically says if you have any corrections/changes to call the store direct.

We order that same exact pizza (large meatlovers) about once a week - and the 'default' setting in the drop down bar is medium.

It's like someone ordering a 16x20 gallery wrap of image #4 through your website - and when you deliver it, they say 'oh.... I meant a 20x30 of #4' after your website requests that they review the order....and you call them to confirm everything. Are you going to take the hit on it? Who are you going to try to hold accountable for that error?

I disagree with blaming the restaurant for what you say is a poor customer service issue when the actual issue was that you ordered the wrong sized pizza and didn't review your order before hitting the 'submit' button.

[Angelo]

Dan, You should have called 911

[jeffkohn]

I have to agree with Donna, it's pretty clear we're talking about Pizza Hut here, and if you choose the right deal/coupon from the list it's pretty hard to mess up. It sounds like you just ordered the wrong item.

While many companies have a "customer is always right" policy, I've never really understood the attitude that the company should take a hit for a customer's mistake.

[danchez]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

I'm familiar with that particular place's $10 pizza....and sorry....but it wasn't the pizza places fault that you got a medium pizza. You ordered a medium pizza....so a medium pizza is what was delivered to you.

Actually, go to their website, all you see is large for $10, large for $10, large for $10. I clicked on that coupon, I clicked the crust I wanted and I clicked the toppings. I never chose a size. I figured since I clicked the coupon for a large for $10 that I would get a large.

So yeah, you click on that coupon, then it asks you what crust you want. Then under that it has 2 size choices and the medium is preselected for you. I admit that I didn't even see that when I placed the order. I thought that since I clicked the coupon for a large for $10 on the splash page of their website that I would get a large. I didn't think it would default to a medium in size.

[danchez]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

It's like someone ordering a 16x20 gallery wrap of image #4 through your website - and when you deliver it, they say 'oh.... I meant a 20x30 of #4' after your website requests that they review the order....and you call them to confirm everything. Are you going to take the hit on it? Who are you going to try to hold accountable for that error?

Even if it is their mistake I think that is poor customer service? I would order the new print for them and charge them the difference. I wouldn't be all ho hum about it and make them think that I didn't want to correct a mistake, even if it was there fault.

[dwilliams35]

I had my own trainwreck with them the other day: ordered it online, (no drop-down menu kept it from being a large as I remember) they came back with "will be ready at 7:22": It's currently 7:11. (I'm well beyond any delivery area). I jump in the jeep, head over there, as I remember I pulled in at 7:30 or so. No pizza, "it'll be ready in ten minutes". "What about the 7:22?" The website isn't hooked to our store, and we've been real busy". Meanwhile, ONE other guy waiting for HIS online pizza, and ONE table occupied with three people in the store... About a half dozen high-school girls sitting around behind the counter laughing and texting their friends... I had to explain the issue three times to three different people, and finally got it just after eight o'clock. Which apparently was about five minutes before it should have been, since it wasn't done yet...

[KenJulio]

Dan - sorry to hear about your episode with minimum wage employees who doesn't give a rat's arse about the customer.

Not to rub it in, Pizza Hut messed up my order by providing larges instead of mediums. I guess they were making up for it with your order.

[texkam]

My wife was 16 years with YUM Brands (Development). PH corporate is good about welcoming constructive feedback from customers. They're pretty good at identifying problems and fixing them when they they are made aware of them. Sounds like they might have issues in 2 areas, IT (website) and Operations (customer service). Contact the Regional Manager and/or his/her Director of Ops.

[danchez]

Originally Posted by texkam

My wife was 16 years with YUM Brands (Development). PH corporate is good about welcoming constructive feedback from customers. They're pretty good at identifying problems and fixing them when they they are made aware of them. Sounds like they might have issues in 2 areas, IT (website) and Operations (customer service). Contact the Regional Manager and/or his/her Director of Ops.

Yeah, I was going to contact the regional manager tomorrow and have him look at the way the website is set up and also talk to him about the manager and try and present this to him as an opportunity for learning/teaching instead of one of punishment.

[texkam]

Yes, YUM tries to "coach" instead of punish.

[StevenGWebb]

No defence for the store manager. A real pro should handle it like any other transaction and ought to expect it. And that's where I begin to have some empathy for the manager and staff of the store. It should be obvious that this exact thing is happening regularly. If the website has banners all over it and click-on cupons for a large pizza, any toppings, for $10 I'll bet the majority of people overlook the default size as Med. To their defence, Grandpa always said, "Never assume anything". I digress.

So the poor manager is getting eaten alive with returns and his food expense is going through the roof. These are areas where his evaluation and incentive pay comes from. He's been saddled by corporate with the website flaws he can do nothing about, attacked by dissatisfied customers who can't image the stupidity involved with large pizza cupons resulting in medium pizza production, and no doubt counselling from a dist. manager who doesn't care about the issue from any angle just making the numbers say what corporate wants them to say.

No, it wasn't great customer service. Unfortunately you weren't talking to the person responsible for your disatisfaction, you were only talking to another person in the chain of disatsified people. Franchised, I'm sure, there isn't any support for managers to be outstanding in customer service. Maybe as long as we are forced to talk only with folks who sign the backside of checkes, and they person who signs the front is tucked safely away it will be like this.

Steve

[mmuhlenkamp]

I hate ordering that kind of stuff online, I find it's quicker to call anyways and it's the store specifically getting the order not going through a call/web service. That sucks on the not so great customer service, but there are a lot of people out there trying to get freebies. Sounds like you were nice about it at least.

I used to deliver for Dominos and every once in a while someone would bitch at me (a lowly driver) about delivery charge or not quite making it in 30 minutes. Sorry for the convenience of delivering food to your door that you didn't want to go out and get, save yourself 5 bucks (delivery charge and tip) and get carryout. Or if you don't want to tip me that's fine, just pay me fast so I can go out and maybe get a tip on my next order.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by mmuhlenkamp

I hate ordering that kind of stuff online, I find it's quicker to call anyways and it's the store specifically getting the order not going through a call/web service. That sucks on the not so great customer service, but there are a lot of people out there trying to get freebies. Sounds like you were nice about it at least.

I much prefer ordering online, far less chance for confusion or mistakes by someone on the other end of a telephone. I've never had a problem with an order from PH placed online, except for a few cases where the wait was longer than what the online system predicted.

I used to deliver for Dominos and every once in a while someone would bitch at me (a lowly driver) about delivery charge or not quite making it in 30 minutes. Sorry for the convenience of delivering food to your door that you didn't want to go out and get, save yourself 5 bucks (delivery charge and tip) and get carryout. Or if you don't want to tip me that's fine, just pay me fast so I can go out and maybe get a tip on my next order.

I also prefer pick up my order, since I've found it has a far greater chance of arriving at my house hot that way (and if it doesn't, I have no-one to blame but myself). Carryout will pretty much always be faster than delivery, especially when they're busy.