Mum and I bought two pizza slices at the food court for lunch, but when they were served up they were cold and horrible. We took them back and the manager said she would reheat them for me, which we did not accept. We did not want soggy, reheated pizza and asked for two fresh pieces. The manager declined, saying I could have my money back. We took the money and rejoined the queue to order more pizza. When we got to the counter to make our order, the manager refused to give us a new order saying, she had to throw the first lot in the bin and that wasn’t fair”. Was it unfair of me to ask for fresh pizza?
Oh dear! Just when I think New Zealand is making giant strides in terms of service – and I think it is – a story like this emerges. Of course you were within your rights to order fresh pizza and if the manager had any brains or business sense she would have given it to you for free. The fact that she would not give it to you, even if you paid, is a terrible indictment on her business acumen. This is a classic case where the customer should always be considered right. Even if the manager could not work out why the pizza was cold, the fact you thought it was should have been all that mattered. And the way to deal with that was to apologise for the pizza, give you your money back, and offer to make you some fresh pizza that is hot, apologising again for the hold up. I urge you to write to the owner of the firm or the company and tell her or him your story. They have the business equivalent of a dodgy anchovy in their pizza outlet.
Do you have a consumer question for Kevin? Email [[email protected]](mailto: [email protected]), or post to Weekly Consumer, PO Box 90119, Victoria St West, Auckland 1142.
