Pizza Pizza Ltd.‘s customer service is pathetic

Aug 24, 2009- Permalink

Commerce is an amazing thing in the internet age. With a few clicks of the mouse, I can buy airline tickets, book a hotel and have it all charged to a credit card that instantly shows the transactions in my account.

Apparently Pizza Pizza Limited in Toronto has not been briefed on this thing called progress.

Over 50 days ago, on July 2nd, I ordered a pizza via their online ordering system. They advertise a “40 minutes or free” guarantee and the pizza arrived 42 minutes after the stated delivery time. If you’re going to make such guarantees, I’m not about to quibble with you. I’m not about to go “42 minutes? You were so darn close that I’m going to give you the money anyway. And here’s some extra for the effort you made.”

As it is, the particular franchise near us must be populated with daredevils as they frequently arrive at my apartment building just under the wire. This time, though, the pizza was late.

The driver strolled out of the elevator.

“How are you today, sir?”

“Better now that my pizza is free,” I replied. This never pleases them. In my life, I’ve had them arrive late maybe three times and they really aren’t pleased when you go for the guarantee. Guess what? If you don’t want to honour the guarantee, don’t offer it. There are plenty of other pizza joints who don’t make that claim. If you do and you’re late, well, it’s YOUR guarantee.

He said it wasn’t late and said the guarantee applied to the time he buzzed in downstairs, not the time he was at my door.. I knew that and pointed out that he had buzzed in to the lobby two minutes past the guarantee time and he conceded the point.

He told me that it was my choice if I wanted it to be free. Gee, I could choose whether to pay or not? I’m sure the suspense as to what I decided must be gripping. I took his receipt, crossed out the price, wrote something like “Late. Free Pizza” on it and initialed the receipt. After he left, I called their order number and informed customer service that it was a free pizza. They said they’d indicate that in my account.

Days later, a charge appeared on my bill. It was for the base amount of the pizza, as if I paid for it and didn’t tip. I called customer service. They said that apparently the authorization amount had been charged. I asked how that could happen if I hadn’t signed and their system indicated it would be a free order. The rep said that he’d put a reverse request into accounting. It might take a couple of weeks. There’s be no additional compensation for the inconvenience.

A couple of weeks? A ridiculous delay in this day and age. But I waited. The charge was still there. I called Pizza Pizza customer service again. They looked into it and said that yes, it was sent on to accounting. The representative said that the reverse would happen “at any moment.” I’d love to see the Pizza Pizza dictionary because “moment” must be defined differently.

At the 48 day mark, yes, forty-eight days, I called again. The rep didn’t know what the delay was and said he’d personally make sure that management would look into it the next day.

So here we are, another week later, and the charge has still not been reversed. In this day and age, the speed and quality of Pizza Pizza’s customer service is truly pathetic. Where’s the hold up? Their system indicates it should be a free pizza. Why was the reverse not done immediately when I called the first time after seeing the erroneous charge? Why was it not handled “personally” the day after the last rep, at the forty-eight day mark, said he’d make sure it was brought to management’s attention? Why am I now paying interest on a pizza that was never meant to be charged to me in the first place?

Hats off, Pizza Pizza Ltd., you give customer service a bad name.