The most bizarre complaint I've had yet...

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

Had a customer order tonight and use a coupon on a combo package - Pizza, Salad and Bread for $19.99. Full price would be $28.77, so the computer is set to discount the pizza $8.78 to arrive at the proper price. The menu price of the pizza is $16.29, so the pizza price shows up on the receipt as $7.51. The bottom of the receipt says “Total Discount: $8.78”

So the customer calls and says they have a problem with the coupon price. I figure we’re heading down the road of “you have to pay sales tax on top of the coupon price”, but it turns out we’re not.

The customer is upset because of the way her discount was calculated. She says the pizza wasn’t really $7.51, it was much more than that. I explain to her that the discount from the coupon was taken off of the pizza, and go through the steps of what telling her what the full menu price is and how much the discount was (it’s on the bottom of the receipt) to explain how we arrived at her subtotal. At this point I’m still thinking that I’m dealing with a “I was charged incorrectly” complaint.

She tells me that she knows she was charged correctly, she just doesn’t like the way our receipts show it. She needs to have the full menu price shown for the pizza, and then the discount subtracted at the end. I was of course very polite, said I that I appreciate the feedback but we wouldn’t be able to change the way the receipts print.

Now, the weird part was after I explained that to her she told me that her family wouldn’t be ordering from me as often any more. It’s hazy, because my head was spinning a bit at this point, but it was something to the effect of “We’ll probably only be able to order from you about half as often as normal because of this”.

WTF am I missing? First of all, we’re talking about the layout of a receipt for goodness sake. But to me, the odd part is that she didn’t tell me she would never order from us again as long as we have these insane receipts - just that she would order less often. I don’t understand the complaint, but I would at least understand if somebody had a crazy complaint and said the would never order again.

Seriously, what am I missing here? The only thing I can think of is she has some kind of reimbursement scam where she submits receipts for payment and maybe cuts off the bottom where the discount is, allowing her to get an over-reimbursement? I have no idea.

2

reminds me of the guy who sent back the pizza because it was cut into 8 slices instead of 12…
i guess he was more hungry and wanted more pizza
all you can do with these types is laugh at how pathetic their lives must be

3

I sure hate to lose a customer over something that isn’t my fault.

So…go to the dollar store and buy a pack of the receipt pads and hand write her a receipt
the next time she comes in.
Tell her that she is a valued customer and you always go out of
your way to please your best customers, in whatever manner is needed.

Then hand write the receipt to reflect the total as she wishes.

If you are so inclined, call her up and tell her you have solved her problem and would like to give her a free order of something you choose. This will get her in the store quicker and she will now remember you did something for her.

Bubba

4

I can always count on you guys to make me feel better about the crazy things my customers do or say :smiley:

The craziest complaint we had lately was when a lady ordered a steak sub and wanted lettuce and tomato on the side so she could put it on herself so they did not get warm. She called about an hour after she got the food to complain. The sandwich was great, along with the rest of her order, it got there sooner than she expected, but the fact that we put the lettuce and tomato in a small deli container was just not a real good presentation and she expected a little more from us! :?: :?:

You beat that one all to crap with the reciept deal.

5

I put a bit of a twist on your recommendation. I just programmed my POS receipt so that it will print only her receipt the way she wants it - everybody else’s will print the normal way. If she’s the type that just wants to complain about something then the joke’s on her now! If she has a legitimate reason for wanting it that way, the problem is solved at a level I could only call “extreme” customer service :slight_smile:

I forgot to mention in my previous post that this person has never ordered from us before as best as I can tell. I was just so thrown by the “not as often” part as opposed to the expected “I’ll never order again”!

6

This is a good example of a lesson I was slow to learn myself. Ask questions…We often feel we know the answer and are quick to assume but without asking her why she was bothered one will never know. Next time you get a call or an employee comes up to you…just ask an extra question it’s amazing what you learn and typically not what you assumed.

I could see it as she really enjoys your food and perhaps she gets somehow reimbursed for the full price and can keep any savings she has with a coupon she finds. So when ordering under the reimbursed scenario she doesn’t get reimbursed as much so she loses money by buying from you and not elsewhere. But will continue buying from you for personal use when not under the reimburse scenario because she likes the food (I too am grasping… lol) either way don’t giver a reason not to want to buy from you (even if it’s a weird reason)

7

I agree. Often, after a little digging, the real problem is completely different from what was originally stated. Problem here is that the “digging” causes the customer to get angry for not understanding their problem.

8

Genius. May be a waste of time in the long run, but it may save you a customer found. Is that a Point of Success user I see?

You gonna call her and let her know you “had your computer system reprogrammed” so that you can now meet her needs? I would not pass up the chance for A. announcing the service commitment you showed, and B. getting a little appreciation (or guilt) motivation going. She asked for it, now she needs to avail herself of it.

9

ok since you started it

got back from the airport tonite my CSR tells me she was taking an order and the pie was 1/2&1/2 (which i charge a little more for it because of the extra hasle,its only like 25cents) the customer ask her to explain the pricing so she does then the customer states “Dennis is a friend of mine and i am going to call him tommorow and talk to him just cancel the order” so my statement is WTF kinda of friend are you to just cancel an order over 25cents so if this person comes to me tommorow i’m gonna let them have it

i have family that have went off on my staff,i give them a discount after all they are family(my sister and her kids)
but on several occasions i have had a new employee working and they don’t give them the discount they start yelling I’m his sister or his nephew I turn around and let them have and tell them off.

whoa got a rant there

dennis

10

I agree fat boy. What kind of friend is going to stick you with a order over .25?

I find it funny when customers drop my name when I’m not around.

Lets face it, people feel owed something. Profit is not a dirty word.

pt

11

This has kind of gotten off topic, but I love firing customers. Mr. X calls me to tell me he got food poisoning because my tomatoes were cold…I feel the need to needle him as long as I can. This guy threatens to sue me 3 times and I bust him every time, then fills out a job application and THEN CALLS ME ABOUT HIS APPLICATION.

I’m a small business owner in a recession, do you really think I don’t have some creative ways to release my stress? My other favorite is salesmen. Learned to destroy phone calls and frustrate them to death “I don’t understand…(add any random comment)” and have google voice so you can block their number if they decide to call back anyway.

12

We just had a lady that ordered a pepperoni and jalepano pizza and called back the next day wanting a refund because it was spicy and she could not eat it

Some people need to be taken out back and shot for there own good

13

Can you believe this one:
Customer: I would like a Diet Coke
Staff: I am sorry we don’t have Diet Coke but we do have Diet Pepsi would you like that?
Customer: I want Diet Coke so if I take the Diet Pepsi it would be free right?
Staff: No I am sorry it will not be free.
Customer: I am going to tell everyone you are ripping me off.

Customer then post on Facebook: Don’t buy from those guys they will rip you off if they get a chance.

14

Hey Daddio… I would like a 16 1/2" pizza… what… you have 14"… hmmm, free? :wink:

You know, after having them post that about you I would post on your facebook a comment about it. Don’t use their names but I would inform your more intelligent customer base what really happened. We had a customer ask for Diet Coke, we only have Pepsi products and we offered her one…she then asked if it would be free…no it would not… We are not here too supply free drinks to people, sorry we have a business to run…and she now thinks we ripped her off and will do so too others. I would like to offer a free pizza and a 2 ltr of DIET COKE to anyone that can justify how I ripped her off in anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

15

We had a guy come into our shop tonight and wanted a phone book to look up number for the sherrif’s dept. We don’t have a phonebook anymore. He said he ordered at the chicken place next store and they did not give him a biscuit so he was calling the cops. We told him the grocery store probably had a phone book :smiley:

Evidently according to the manager, the guy ordered a special that was just a leg and a thigh, and then went beserk after he ate because he did not get a breast piece or a biscuit. He wanted a biscuit and his money back. the manager said he could not get his money back because he already ate what he paid for. After the guy raised enough heck they told him to leave. The cops actually showed but never spoke to the guy because he was in our parking lot waiting instead of waiting in their lot so the cops dd not know where to look for him. They went into the chicken place and spoke to the manager, and regional supervisor who happened to be observing the shift and then left. I told the manager that I was glad he got that food customer instead of me.

16

Wow, they should have just given the guy a biscuit. How much does a biscuit cost them, 5 cents?

Never fails to amaze me when businesses would rather be “right” instead of doing everything they can to take peoples money.

17

No kidding.

“Here, have two biscuits.”

18

Not too mention the fact that if you have a customer that is getting that out of control over a biscuit why not give them the biscuit and refund the $4 to put an end to a potentially eruptive situation. Is the couple of dollars and a biscuit really worth the time lost and potential injury if this guy really is a nut case? What about the other customers that just witnessed this all unfold? How are they going to tell the story to others? All the potential customers driving by that now see the police hanging out front… is it safe for my family to even stop there anymore? Geez… give him a biscuit and throw in a leg or two! :!: