Several weeks ago my wife and I went to a local pizza hut. (1144 Gallatin Pike South, Madison, TN – (615) 870-0413) . This wasn’t our first time with bad service at this location, infact I had visited a few weeks prior and ordered pizza to go. I also got 2 side salads and the salad bar was anything but fresh. Plus the “Ranch” salad dressing as it was labeled was actually “creamy Italian” which was a let down when I got home and discovered this. And I wasn’t the only upset customer that night, one old man was literally yelling at the cashier for the amount of time it took for his order to be ready, there was another guy sitting there and he was not looking very happy. So this location in the past was a disappointment, but I thought what the heck and decided to try them again.
Well it was approx 1:35pm when we got inside. Literally a few minutes past 1:30 which happened to be the stop time for the lunch buffet. When we went in the lunch buffet was still up, in fact it was loaded with food and only one family inside eating. I asked the man behind the counter if we could get the lunch buffet and he refused, said it stopped at 1:30. I pointed out that there was food on it still and he said it was not available. I knew that meant that they would throw the food away which is their choice. I personally would have as the manager said “well you are welcome to it, but we will not be putting any more food out so what’s there is all that is available.” Make a customer happy, save the location a few bucks by not throwing away perfectly good food. But that wasn’t the route this guy took, he just refused and said we had to order from the menu.
So my wife and I sat at a table and ordered a pizza, salad bar and some drinks. I’d like to say that the initial guy that walked up and was wearing a jacket, sipping on a drink and asked if he could take our order, it looked like he didn’t even work there. Then a lady came up and took over.
We waited for the pizza to arrive and while waiting watched another couple come in and ask for the buffet which was still sitting on the counters being heated. The manager told them no so they got up and left. Sale lost… Way to go pizza hut… Then two guys came in and sat down and ordered a pizza. While we sat it was now about 1:45-1:50pm and they FINALLY started cleaning up the buffet. You know that food my wife and I wanted to pay for but they wouldn’t sell to us. Well the lady cleaning it up started moving pans of pizza to the back and when she grabbed the tray of bread-sticks the guys at the table near us said “if your just going to throw those away you should bring them over here.” Well, to my surprise she brought them over to them!! So the same food we wanted to buy they got for free, and instead of them having to order bread-sticks and pay for them they got them for free. Sale lost! Way to go pizza hut!! And to be honest I would have been fine if the lady asked my wife and I if we wanted any of the bread-sticks as well since it was a large pan of them and there was only these guys and us in the restaurant but she didn’t even offer.
Finally our pizza arrived and we ate it and then left. I got home and contemplated writing a complaint to the main pizza hut company and finally decided I would. The next day around 10:30am I got a call on my phone which went to voicemail and it was from the local pizza hut from a lady saying she wanted to talk to me and she worked until 1pm that day, could I call her back ?.. Well…. I like most people work and had meetings that day so I couldn’t call her by 1, and since she didn’t leave me any other times when I could talke to her I didn’t call. I thought perhaps she would call me back and no such luck. I guess it’s up to me as a the customer who already is upset to call, ask for her work schedule and get in touch with her. I mean why on earth would SHE, the manager attempt to follow-up, it should be the customer to figure out when she works and solve their restaurants problems for them.
It’s great to see such great service at a company that charges a premium for their products. I don’t think we ever are able to order dinner without spending $40 on pizza which would cost $10-$30 elsewhere ($10 at little c’s, $22 at Sbarro, $25 at papa j’s)) I admit I like pizza hut, but you sure don’t get good service when you go. Does that mean I won’t ever eat pizza hut again? No, but I won’t be going back to this particular location again….EVER. It’s very frustrating that they call you and give you a 2 and a half hour window to call back to resolve your problem. And if you don’t call they don’t try again to reach you, follow up with a letter or email or anything. Sure I COULD call them back, but as a customer who is very irritated you would think they would take a complaint serious rather then try to get in touch with just enough effort to say “we contacted the customer.” Yes they did, but they put as much effort into contacting me to resolve my problem as they did running this location.
And don’t get me wrong, the food is good, and the location has promise. It’s fairly clean, it’s very nice inside and could be successful. They just need a major overhaul in their staff, get some people with basic sense and intelligence and understand how to offer proper customer service. Perhaps it’s the poor management which is the root of this locations problems.
On a positive note, my wife and I went to Destin FL last week and when we were there we ordered pizza for delivery and that service was excellent, so I’m not blasting every pizza hut for this local one’s problems. I know I’m repeating myself but I want to make it clear. This service seems to be tied directly to the location at 1144 Gallatin Pike South, Madison, TN – (615) 870-0413.
And if anyone from pizza hut sees this. I am NOT interested in talking to this location any longer, there is no need in you having them contact me directly. That being said, if anyone from Pizza Hut’s main office wants to talk with me I would be more then happy to discuss this matter with you. I think this location that I have had problems with needs to under-go a serious management change and I would be happy to visit this location as a consultant or “secret shopper” and report back on if the levels of service have been improved. But I am NOT interested in talking to the management at this location directly, that has already failed miserably and I have no confidence talking to them will yield any results.
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