I ordered a pizza online from Pizza Hut for £13.95 and was told an hour later that it would not be delivered as there were no available drivers. Later they said it would take up to 16 working days to action a refund. It never arrived.
I was told the branch hadn’t passed on the correct information, so the refund had not been issued. It would take another 10 working days. Again it didn’t come. Eventually, I was told that the cashier responsible for refunds was working through a backlog and I could not be given a timeframe. Some 34 days after the failed order the company got in touch after I posted my experience on Twitter. I was promised my money back and a gift card of “substantial” value as compensation. I received it yesterday – its value is £10. That’s barely enough for a small cheese and tomato pizza with no additional toppings. JW, London
“We know what you want and we’ve made it faster and easier for you to get it,” boasts Pizza Hut’s website. Your experience of its take on fast food exposes the dismal corporate inertia caused by technological advances.
When an issue can’t be resolved by a computer program, human flesh lacks the wit or will to override it. Pizza Hut acknowledges it suffered problems with processing refunds. “We will make every effort to ensure a similar situation does not happen again,” says a spokesperson. It has refunded you and upped its “substantial” compensation to a £50 voucher, so you can savour the suspense of ordering another pizza.
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