By: Revanche

Shame on you, Domino’s Pizza

January 10, 2013

Specifically, the Dominos in Millbrae.

Last Friday, I had an overwhelming craving for pizza. This happens. What hasn’t happened in a while is that I specifically wanted to give Domino’s up here in the Bay Area a try. I have a tried and true place in Southern California and that’s what gave me the idea: we have several Domino’s competitors much closer to us but I remembered my good old days of ordering a Domino’s pizza (or two … I was a hungry teenager) once or twice a month and it felt like a good time to go back to the classics.

Bad Call.

We went well out of our way during a night full of errands to pick up two pizzas (because two people, two pizzas, right?)

It took us a fair while to finish the errands, get home, unload the car, walk the dog, get the rest of dinner on the table. When we finally sat down to eat, it was pretty cold but best of all: PiC found hair in the pizza!

All together now: GROSS. I couldn’t believe I’d sent positive reviews via the online app before eating but I’d never ever had this happen over a lifetime of a whole LOT of pizzas so I didn’t think to wait until we were done. Almost bemusedly, mostly horrified, I watched him pick out the hairs, and I sent a new message about the hair, nearly automatically.

After a few minutes I realized, well, that’s not going to do anything. I called the store, explained what happened and asked for a refund.

The female taking the call interrupted me to talk to someone else, then came back: what?

I couldn’t tell if the “what?” was for the explanation, the refund, or just a general ambiguous blanket “I really wasn’t listening,” so I asked if she’d caught anything I’d just said at all. “Umm, no.”

There were four or five males in the shop and one female when I left it, none of them wearing hairnets mind you, she picks up the phone but can’t be bothered to listen to the caller?

I explain again: we picked up our order about an hour and a half ago, but we found hair in the pizza. I’d like a refund.

“Well, first of all, we don’t give refunds anyway, but you waited two hours to call.” 

Oh, yes, I delayed my call because I wanted to spend some time with my hair laden pizza. And that totally invalidates the fact that there was hair in my pizza. That ticked me off. And she wasn’t really listening to me anymore so I doubt she noticed I got frosty when she asked if I wanted to talk to the manager. I just took the number and hung up. At that point, I was livid.

Because, hi, fine print of Dominos:

What’s that?  You have a guarantee?

“If you are not completely satisfied with your Domino’s Pizza experience, we will make it right or refund your money.”

I’ll tell you what, what I like even better than unhygienic pizza? Being lied to. 

It was late, I was fed up with that crap. I didn’t want to speak to another person over the phone so I (politely) wrote to Corporate. And I get a response saying (summary):

Oh we’re so sorry, we have to let the location know, so please wait three days for them to respond. If you don’t hear back, let us know.

I was angry but not totally unreasonable. I waited three days. Silence. I wrote back to Corporate informing them of the silence. The onus was now on them to “make it right.” By refunding my money at this point. A “we’ve passed this note on” confirmation came back.

Days later: still silence. I’m done waiting.

Domino’s: This location definitely no longer has my business or my support. But since the company has gone silent and hasn’t bothered to honor their guarantee I don’t see why they should have my business either. Considering my household spent over $3000 eating out alone last year, a cut of that might have been nice but in this booming economy, who needs another customer, right?

And I’d like my money back, thanks.

31 Responses to “Shame on you, Domino’s Pizza”

  1. Michael Martin says:

    Damn. I’ve had bad customer service before, but that’s a whole new level of low.

  2. Jenn says:

    They will lose my business too, that is gross!

  3. I confess that I haven’t eaten there in years, but this doesn’t give me any incentive to try them ever again.

  4. Be sure to review them on yelp.

  5. Sunny says:

    That’s horrible. You would think in this day and age of social media that they would jump quickly to resolve the situation.

  6. And hence why I never buy pizza from Dominoes. Eck!

  7. Shelley says:

    I don’t think I’d ever had a D’s pizza until sometime last year when I was STARVING and it HAD to be pizza. I thought it was pretty nasty and disappointing (even without hair). I’ll not bother them again.

    • Revanche says:

      A shame, isn’t it? I wonder if they’re significantly different overseas. (Are they overseas? I just assumed you had it at home.)

  8. Ms. S says:

    That is just ridiculous. Even corporate is acting the fool? Next!

  9. Quest says:

    Oh ewww hair in the pizza …. GROSS!!! Dominos lost my business a while back, specifically when I realized that their ‘Artisan’ pizzas looked NOTHING like the pics in the ads. I was expecting something delicious and instead received a soggy mess. Those misleading ads did it for me.

  10. Yuch.

    I didn’t know anyone still ate Domino’s pizza. Last time I had the dubious privilege of tasting the stuff was years ago. Have managed to avoid it ever since. Even other chain pizzerias do better than that.

  11. Kris says:

    About once a semester (usually during exams), I have ordered from Dominos because it was the least expensive delivery pizza. Now I know why. EWWW!!!

  12. Katie C. says:

    The last time I ordered from Domino’s (very rare because David doesn’t like it) it was very bland. After reading about your experience, I think I’ll stay away from them for good. That is so disgusting, both the hair in the pizza and their response to your call. I guess this was an instance where Twitter didn’t help a customer service issue at all.

    Definitely remember to review that specific location on Yelp so others in the area can avoid. Your business alone obviously doesn’t matter to them, but maybe word will get around. And maybe a manager will see your review and contact you. That’s ridiculous.

  13. Vanessa says:

    I was shocked when I read about it on twitter and I’m still shocked now… Have you gotten a reply yet? Can you write another Yelp review — maybe from PiC’s account?

  14. sewpetitegal says:

    EW. I’ve had that happen before at a local pizza place in Ohio. The hair was WOVEN through the cheese and I retched when I saw it. I called them up and they seemed very nonchalant and unapologetic about it. Said they’d give us a new one if we came back. Um, what? I don’t want another one of your dirty pizzas, give me money back!

  15. […] with the exception of a few pizza nights. Not surprisingly, we’ve got decent alternatives to the travesty of a Domino’s run: Zachary’s in Berkeley and Di Napoli in the Peninsula. Both were unanticipated treats from […]

  16. […] result: supporting our favorite restaurants, retaining some sanity, discovering new delicious restaurants. Unless they’re not. […]

  17. corey says:

    i think the way these people handled this was just an outright disgrace. i am an assistant manager with a dominos we are all about the costumer its either remake or refund we always go for the remake or also a costumer credit for free food and usually a free drink or something extra but we are more than happy to give a refund to a disgruntled costumer if it makes it right. its part of what we call wowing the concern step 1 apologize step 2 give them what they want step 3 give them something extra. also as for the hairnet thing its not policy to wear one we do have to wear hats

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