As always, I firmly believe you can learn a lot of good ways to improve your business by studying where other companies seemingly fall dramatically short. It doesn’t matter if that company is in the same industry as you because there is always a more “general lesson” that we can walk away with. By looking at these mistakes it can help you “reframe” or see something you’re doing in a different light and that is a key goal!

Pizza Pizza (http://www.pizzapizza.ca/) is celebrating their 40th anniversary and is Toronto, Ontario’s #1 pizza chain. Their marketing is generally very effective as most people know their ‘phone number jingle’ (…even when drunk, my friends can order pizza…that’s brand loyalty you can’t even measure!!). But, their customer service policies seem a bit questionable.

Here was the scenario that happened:
– We ordered 3 pizzas from Pizza Pizza.
– Each one was completely different and was chosen off their pre-built pizza menu with little to no modifications.

• The Pizza’s were delivered around 40 minutes later. 
• Only 2 out of 3 were proper. The other one was a totally different pizza, not even close to what we ordered.At this point it’s important to realize that mistakes do happen. I’m not happy about it, and my friend who had ordered that pizza wasn’t too happy either. But, I can understand they process a lot of orders and while it’s not good, I can see how this could occur.

Of course, the important thing now is that it’s rectified. (Customer Service 101…)

I called Pizza Pizza and selected from their oh-so-friendly-and-always-annoying-like-every-other-auto-attendant that I needed customer service. They kept me on hold for around 10 minutes. [Note to Pizza Pizza: Keeping customers that are potentially angry on hold listening to lame music doesn’t help diffuse the situation, it usually makes it worse!)

When I finally spoke to someone they said their policy is to deliver the correct pizza and let you keep the wrong pizza, but it has to be done right away.

Now, here’s my problem with having to do this right away, which I explained to the customer service rep:

• Should we let the other two pizza’s get cold while we wait for the other person’s pizza?
• Should we make this person watch us eat (and savor) our pizza while he waits?(Keep in mind, we’re looking at another 40 minutes of waiting)

After explaining the predicament with the scenario they caused by accident, I said that the only thing we can really do is have my friend eat the wrong pizza. But, because they made a mistake, instead of delivering the pizza right away, they should deliver it the next time I order. After all, in either case they are making a new pizza and sending out someone to deliver it. Who cares if it’s now or later? And, if you force me to do it now, which of the above options should I choose?

I also want to say at this point that since I frequently order pizza, I know that almost all the other restaurants would have had no problem tacking on a free pizza to my next order if they made a mistake.

Pizza Pizza, however, said that is their policy. Final. No ifs, ands, or butts.

What the restaurant chain failed to realize is that the solution they provide to the customer is the dining experience. You can’t recover from that mistake if you get it wrong the first time. (If I eat out and the waiter spills coffee on me…no retakes either!) By not having a responsive and reasonable customer service policy, you extend this negative experience because of the above predicament.

There are a lot of competitors out there and Pizza Pizza’s key to success is loyalty to their brand. I know my friend wouldn’t order from them with so many other options. How many other people are going to start saying the same thing after a negative experience?

I don’t blame the phone rep because I know she really is just following a policy. But, to the folks at Pizza Pizza who created this wonderful policy and the ones who approved it… this is a huge customer service blunder! Seriously, what were you thinking? And, don’t say people would abuse the system because I understand that would be a concern, but don’t put it ahead of good customer service?

Just to end the tale…. Pizza Pizza called 45 minutes later and said they forgot to send the pizza. 40 minutes after that, the pizza got there.