Dominos Fail

Last month I wrote about a pretty bad screw up by Pizza Hut by which a coupon on their site disappeared. To summarize, I saw a good deal on the home page (and then again inside the site), went to take advantage of it only to be unable to actually find the coupon.

It was a pretty good disappearing act, I grant Houdini nor even Chris Angel would be impressed, but it certainly was better than any of my attempts at magic.

However, I really have to tip my hat at Dominos, not only did they manage to make a coupon disappear, but a whole dammed pizza. By that I don’t just mean that they made MY pizza disappear, but an entire menu item and not just any menu item, but the menu item they had been pushing down my throat for the past week month.

How did they do it? I’m not exactly sure. But I’ll gladly tell you how the trick went down.

It Began With a Text…

The whole saga began with a text message. Though I am not sure how Dominos got my cell number or why they think it’s ok to text me with special deals, they seem to love calling and texting my line at their leisure. Granted, they don’t do it so much that it’s annoying and I have an unlimited text plan that keeps me from paying for their ads, but I still find the whole idea of text message advertising to be worrisome, especially when I don’t recall clearly giving my approval.

Still, a text message yesterday from them actually caught my eye. They were offering their new XL Brooklyn Style Pizza for $12. Since my wife and I are eager to save money (needing to make some cutbacks thanks to some slowdowns), the idea of eating three meals for $12 sounded pretty good.

So, I took the code from the text message and begrudgingly (I didn’t want to show my support for txt ads) gave it a try online without completing the order. It worked perfectly at a little past noon.

When it came time to decide what to get for dinner that night, I mentioned the deal and we agreed to get it. Once again, the online ordering system took the code, my credit card and ordered the pizza as a carryout.

I was actually very happy with my experience, too bad it didn’t just end there.

Signs of Trouble

The first sign of trouble came within five minutes of ordering the pizza. Domino’s has a very cool notification system that lets you track your order as it is being made. However, for some reason, this order seemed stuck at the “prep” phase, never getting past my confirmation.

I was convinced it was just a an error with the online ordering system and, after waiting about 20 minutes drove down to the nearby Dominos to pick up the pizza. As usual the line at the Dominos was long, cluttered with people who haven’t heard of the invention of the telephone and think they have to order pizza face to face, but when I got to the front and gave my name, the reaction was swift.

“Did you order the XL Brooklyn?”

Though I wouldn’t call the tone hostile, I could tell something was wrong and that the people behind the counter were upset about it. I looked at the woman working the counter, “Yes.”

A woman I believe was the manager spun around “We don’t have that pizza here.”

I was a bit stunned. Though I realized it was a somewhat new product and would require some new equipment to make, but the fact was that I had received a text about the deal, it was heavily advertised on their Web site, the online ordering system, which knew which location I was sending it to, took my order and, 20 minutes after I made the order, this was the first I had heard about it.

The manager then promised to “specially make” something for me and that it would take five to ten minutes. Though it didn’t seem like an ideal solution, I was hungry and had already made the drive so I agreed. However, what was supposed to be a five or ten minute wait stretched into 15. The only consolation I got was that the manager did provide me we a free 2 liter drink.

I figured that, while a 2-liter for fifteen minutes was a bad trade, especially if I billed Dominos for my face value time, it showed an interest in making things right. However, when I got home, the two-liter felt like an outright insult. The pizza was not “specially made” at all, it was a regular large pizza, well short of the advertised 16 inches, and was far greasier and slimier than any pizza I had ever ordered from there.

We choked it down, but even after only eating one meal’s worth only a few small slices remain, maybe enough for one of us to take for lunch.

In the end, it was $14 wasted. What was supposed to be a great deal turned out to be a time wasting nightmare. Though I can’t fault the local location for trying to make things right, their efforts fell well short and, in the end, actually made things worse. If they had just called me up immediately, given me money back and apologized, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

Some Pointers

Real fast, let’s take a look at all of the places the customer experience broke down in this one story:

1. I should not have received a text message for a deal that was not available at my local Dominos.
2. The pizza should not have been offered online if it was not available at my local Dominos (It was available with or without the code.)
3. Once the order went through, I should have been called immediately and either offered a refund or an alternative (perhaps two medium pizzas)
4. Barring that, I should have been offered that at the store, rather than being forced to accept something specially made.
5. If the pizza had to be specially made, it should have been comparable to the advertised product in every way, especially size.
6. If it can’t be comparable, it should at least be a good pizza.

In short, there are at least six ways that the customer experience broke down in this one order, starting at the highest levels of corporate and then crashing and burning at the local store.

This isn’t a situation where you say that Dominos “could have done better”, it is an outright crash and burn, what the cool kids might call an “Epic Fail”.

Conclusions

So now I am jaded with both Pizza Hut and Dominos. It might actually be a good thing we’re facing some budget cut backs at home because that means more eating in and less pizza. That will spare me from having to make ethical and personal choices about where I want my next pie to come from.

I don’t like being tormented about choosing where to get my dinner and that’s exactly what will happen the next time I think about getting pizza. With bad experiences at both Pizza Hut and Dominos, I’ll be forced to choose between a restaurant I have a grudge against and paying far more and getting delivery (I prefer carryout) from Papa Johns.

These are the types of situations that make me lose my appetite.