I’m Bringing Pizza Back
(I work in a busy pizza shop in a college town. On a Friday night, a young woman makes a carry-out order for seven pizzas. It is picked up without incident, but later we get a call from the customer’s friend.)
Customer: “Hi, my friend ordered an extra pizza by accident; we only meant to get six pizzas. We’d like a refund, please.”
Me: “Okay, if you bring it back to the store, we can give you your money back for the extra pizza.”
Customer: “What? No, you’re going to send someone here to pick it up.”
Me: “I’m afraid that since this was a carry-out order, we can’t send someone to take it from you. You’ll have to bring it back yourself.”
Customer: “That’s incredibly inconvenient for me. Why can’t you just send someone?”
Me: “Because the drivers are paid through the tips and the delivery fees they get from delivery orders. Since it was a carry-out order, we can’t send a driver to go pick it up because they wouldn’t be compensated for their time, and we need them here to deliver other orders.”
Customer: “Well, then, I’ll keep the pizza, but you’re going to give me a refund.”
Me: “I can’t give you a refund if you keep the pizza. That would just be giving away a free pizza; I would get in trouble.”
Customer: “Then you’re going to give me a free pizza next time I order for making me go out of my way.”
Me: *starting to get angry* “Ma’am, you accidentally ordered an extra pizza and we made it exactly the way you ordered it. If you want your money back, you have to give the food back to us; we’re not just going to give you a refund. And we certainly can’t give you a free pizza because you made a mistake in your order.”
Customer: “So, you made a mistake and you won’t even take responsibility?”
Me: “We didn’t make a mistake; you ordered the pizza and we made it exactly how you asked for it. You then picked it up and brought it home.”
Customer: “This is unbelievably inconvenient. I’m just going to send someone to give you guys the pizza, but you’ll never get an order from me again!”
(She never sent the pizza back.)
Question of the Week
Tell us your story about a customer who couldn't understand the most simple concept.
