Pizza Today - May 2018 - 3

Commentary

Delivery Woes

I
JEREMY WHITE

JWHITE@PIZZATODAY.COM

n David LaMartina's article on page 40, we
get perspectives from a handful of operators
on how they handle delivery errors that irk
the customer. I recently had an interesting experience, and I really wish the store owner/manager
in question would have talked to the operators in
the article before taking my call.
I had an $80 order delivered to my house. The
order included multiple pizzas and multiple side
items. One of the side items was a large $12.99
order of chicken wings. The wings were THE
meal for one of the kids visiting my sons (he
doesn't eat pizza due to allergies).
The driver arrived, took my money, handed me
a mountain of boxes and various side packages
and thanked me kindly. A few moments later, as
we were unpacking it all, we realized the order of
wings was missing. So I called the store. The
employee who answered the phone got a manager on the line for me after hearing the nature of
my complaint. What the manager did surprised
me. It started off with a nice gesture, but then
went downhill.
"Ok, hun, I'm sorry. I'll refund the cost of the
wings to your debit card right away."
"Thank you for that," I said. "But I'd much
rather get the wings delivered to me, please."
"Oh, you want the wings?"
"Yes, please."
She sighed.
"Okay, the soonest I can get them out to you is
8:40 p.m."
It was 7:30 p.m.
"The driver just left my house five minutes ago,
and the wings are probably in his car. Can you
call him really quick and have him turn around
and come back?"
"Sorry, but no. I have no way of knowing if the
wings are in his car or if they never got made. He

may not have them."
"Okay, I get that. So put me on hold real
quickly while you call him to find out. Deal?"
"No, hun, I can't. He's got other deliveries he's
gotta get to. I can't have everyone else waiting
forever on their pizzas while he fetches your
wings, then we'll have even more customers
calling in and complaining. I'll tell you what: I'll
refund you the price of your wings right away
and also give you a $15 credit here in the store.
I'll put it in the system. You just need to mention
it next time you call in."
"That's very generous of you," I said. "But it's
really not necessary. I'd really just still prefer the
wings. Here's the problem: one of the kids here
can't eat pizza, so this is his meal for the evening.
Everyone else in the house has a meal tonight.
I don't want to make this poor kid eat peanut
butter and jelly. So, can you get an order of wings
delivered to me quickly? Please?"
This is where it got really good.
"We're just so slammed, hun (my third 'hun'
of the call!). I mean, I'm not even supposed to be
here right now. I was supposed to leave at 4. But
some people called in sick and so I'm still here
working to help out for a while."
Huh? Ooookayyy ... I gave up and ultimately
fetched the kid a burger from a nearby fast-food
restaurant.
If you have a great - or nightmarish -
delivery story from your pizzeria, I'd love to hear
about it. My e-mail address is below my photo to
the left. Give me a shout.

JEREMY WHITE
EDITOR IN CHIEF

CLICK.EXPLORE.CONNECT. @PIZZATODAY

COVER: TOPP'T
PHOTO & LAYOUT:
JOSH KEOWN

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Pizza Today - May 2018

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