Customers who order a "Supreme" at Domino's

[snusbear1]

In addition to my regular day job (asst. manager at a cafeteria), I also help out part time in the evenings at a local Domino's as a customer service rep.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here could explain this phenomenon: at Domino's we are CONSTANTLY having customers call and order Pizza Hut products! I have friends who work at Pizza Hut, and, oddly, they say that this never happens the other way around. Believe it or not, customers are always calling Domino's and ordering a "Supreme" pizza, or a "Meat Lover's" pizza!! Since I want to make sure that customers are getting the products they actually want and are calling the right store, I politely explain that while we don't offer Pizza Hut products, our "Extravaganzza Feast" is somewhat similar to Pizza Hut's "Supreme Pizza," and our "Meatzza Feast" is somewhat similar to Pizza Hut's "Meat Lover's Pizza."

I had a customer call the other day and order a "Meat Lover's" pizza. I apologized and explained that we DO offer a similar product called the "Meatzza Feast," and would he like to give that a try instead, and the guy went off! He said, "No, G-ddamnit! I don't want some 'Meatzza' whatever! I SAID I wanted a MEAT -- LOVER'S -- PIZZA!!"

Funny thing, this: people who have enough common sense (or at least the IQ of a retarded gnat!) not to order a Whopper at McDonald's, or try to redeem a Sears coupon at Macy's, or go to a BMW dealership asking to test-drive a Mercedes, will call Domino's and insist on ordering a "Supreme," when we have never, in the entire history of the corporation, offered a product of that name!!

My questions:
1) Why do you think it is that people always order Pizza Hut products at Domino's, but apparently hardly ever order Domino's products at Pizza Hut (Pizza Hut has been around since 1958, and Domino's since 1960, so it's not like their brand is THAT much more established than ours); and

2) When people call and order a "Supreme" from me, should I just think "Oh, f--k it," and ring them up for an "Extravaganzza" instead? The only reason I don't is that I feel customers deserve to get what they want, and I feel funny about substituting one of OUR products, when what they obviously want is a Pizza Hut product instead.

I've actually heard about people who go to Burger King, order a "Big Mac" (with the CSR ringing them up for a Whopper instead), and the customer then demanding their money back because they didn't get what they ordered!!

IDIOTIC CUSTOMER QUESTION OF THE EVENING:
ME: "Good evening, thank you for calling Domino's. May I help you?"

CUSTOMER: "Yes. I'd like to place an order for carry-out. Is this the store on Tennessee Street?"

ME: "Yes, it is."

CUSTOMER: "OK. How far away is that?"

ME: "Ah . . ., how far away from WHAT, ma'am?"!!!!!!!!!

[moneymanmike]

Pizza hut has done a better job branding their pizza names. Also "Extravaganzza Feast" and"Meatzza Feast" are silly names where Supreme" pizza, or a "Meat Lover's" pizza are a lot easier to handle I feel.

I do think you should keep explaining the diff. in the pizza hut and dom. names to customers. If you do not Dom. has no hope in changing the pizza world branding.

BTW Pizza Hut and Domino's is really $hitty pizza IMO but ever since I moved to GA it is hard to find a good pie like I had in NJ so we order it every now and again. I had one of the new toasted subs last night and was very happy with it. Back in NJ we would order Dom. becasue they delivered but back in the day they had cold subs that where really good.

[snusbear1]

Pizza hut has done a better job branding their pizza names. Also "Extravaganzza Feast" and"Meatzza Feast" are silly names where Supreme" pizza, or a "Meat Lover's" pizza are a lot easier to handle I feel.

I do think you should keep explaining the diff. in the pizza hut and dom. names to customers. If you do not Dom. has no hope in changing the pizza world branding.

I agree about the rather "clunky" names of Domino's products. It's just frustrating. Imagine you work at Burger King and someone comes in and says, "I want a Big Mac." You explain that you offer no such product, and they say, "I want a Big Mac, damnit, and you'd better give me one!!" It's no big deal, but it's just kind of irritating personally.

[Ainkor]

Re: Customers who order a "Supreme" at Domino's

In addition to my regular day job (asst. manager at a cafeteria), I also help out part time in the evenings at a local Domino's as a customer service rep.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here could explain this phenomenon: at Domino's we are CONSTANTLY having customers call and order Pizza Hut products! I have friends who work at Pizza Hut, and, oddly, they say that this never happens the other way around. Believe it or not, customers are always calling Domino's and ordering a "Supreme" pizza, or a "Meat Lover's" pizza!! Since I want to make sure that customers are getting the products they actually want and are calling the right store, I politely explain that while we don't offer Pizza Hut products, our "Extravaganzza Feast" is somewhat similar to Pizza Hut's "Supreme Pizza," and our "Meatzza Feast" is somewhat similar to Pizza Hut's "Meat Lover's Pizza."

I had a customer call the other day and order a "Meat Lover's" pizza. I apologized and explained that we DO offer a similar product called the "Meatzza Feast," and would he like to give that a try that instead, and the guy went off! He said, "No, G-ddamnit! I don't want some 'Meatzza' whatever! I SAID I wanted a MEAT -- LOVER'S -- PIZZA!!"

Funny thing, this: people who have enough common sense (or at least the IQ of a retarded gnat!) not to order a Whopper at McDonald's, or try to redeem a Sears coupon at Macy's, or go to a BMW dealership asking to test-drive a Mercedes, will call Domino's and insist on ordering a "Supreme," when we have never, in the entire history of the corporation, offered a product of that name!!

My questions:
1) Why do you think it is that people always order Pizza Hut products at Domino's, but apparently hardly ever order Domino's products at Pizza Hut (Pizza Hut has been around since 1958, and Domino's since 1960, so it's not like their brand is THAT much more established than ours); and

2) When people call and order a "Supreme" from me, should I just think "Oh, f--k it," and ring them up for an "Extravaganzza" instead? The only reason I don't is that I feel customers deserve to get what they want, and I feel funny about substituting one of OUR products, when what they obviously want is a Pizza Hut product instead.

I've actually heard about people who go to Burger King, order a "Big Mac" (with the CSR ringing them up for a Whopper instead), and the customer then demanding their money back because they didn't get what they ordered!!

IDIOTIC CUSTOMER QUESTION OF THE EVENING:
ME: "Good evening, thank you for calling Domino's. May I help you?"

CUSTOMER: "Yes. I'd like to place an order for carry-out. Is this the store on Tennessee Street?"

ME: "Yes, it is."

CUSTOMER: "OK. How far away is that?"

ME: "Ah . . ., how far away from WHAT, ma'am?"!!!!!!!!!

HAHA! You have hit on the what I call my "Greater theory of my fellow humans".

Here is the executive summary:

PEOPLE ARE STUPID!

There, now that we have that out of the way, there are many levels of stupidity out there. Currently, I am a multi-unit manager for a quick service company in North Carolina so I guess my job is to deal with stupid people all the time! Thank goodness they are not all stupid or I would go insane! In fact, most of the people that work with me are pretty smart, but some customers? I shiver at the thought of how they function on a day to day basis.

I've been in the quick service industry for over 18 years and I can say that with some certainty and some fact based experience.

That being said, I worked at Pizza Hut for 6 years as a GM and a trainer and their marketing is just better than Domino's :P

Lastly, a thought for you to think about. My wife and I were having almost this same conversation over dinner last night at our favorite mexican food restaurant..... We came to the conclusion that we just don't like other people. We spend a large percent of our day kissing other peoples asses, making sure they get exactly what they want that we just don't have much more to give to humanity as a whole outside of our immideiate family.

Sounds rather bitter, but I think there is a nugget of truth there!

I realize I didn't really answer your questions :P

-Ainkor

[deebocools]

I've delivered food for about 3 years, I started at dominos and moved to papa johns cause they have a better deal for drivers. I now work somewhere else I'd rather not advertise for

In my experience taking orders, It seemed like because dominos was the "go-to" delivery pizza place, alot of infrequent and inexperienced customers would call, and ask for the deals of any number of pizza places in the area. Dominos is most often the pizza delivery guy in movies, it's just part of the culture. When I worked at papa john's, almost never did anything similar happen. It was all repeat business.

So that's why idiots do that at dominos... they think "I want some meaty food here! dur!" and call up the dominos(often the wrong location), and say they want some offer they just happened to unconciously learn of through a television ad, paying no attention to the actual company.

Truly stupid. They'll probably follow up by not knowing their address(amazingly common), criticizing the 35 minute delivery time and tipping $2 on a $40 order.

[luckysealy]

well my guess is that supreme has become a generic term for a pizza not just pizza hut. go to the frozen pizza section almost every brand has a supreme, but none of them have one called an Extravaganzza Feast. just my theory. cheers

[Starcadia]

I don't know if it's still the case but the fact that Pizza Hut was an actual restaurant where you sat and ordered and ate your food probably makes a difference too in how the brands were absorbed.

This is how my personal timeline went back in the day (late '80s to early '90s):

1. Get great pizza at Pizza Hut restaurant, with Coke in one of those dark red plastic cups. Play Ms. Pac Man before and after pizza.
2. Order delivery from Domino's. Convenient.
3. Wish Pizza Hut would deliver because their pizza is better.
4. Little Caesar's has some serious deals. Pizza pizza.
5. Pizza Hut delivers. Hooray.
6. Moved to Chicago, where real pizza is. Made Domino's pizza taste like cardboard and air.

[Jason]

well my guess is that supreme has become a generic term for a pizza not just pizza hut. go to the frozen pizza section almost every brand has a supreme, but none of them have one called an Extravaganzza Feast. just my theory. cheers

That's it exactly. People are just using terms that they are better acquainted with. Most smaller pizza joints have a "supreme" and "meat lover's" choice on the menu also.

[holnrew]

I love hearing stupid customer stories.

This is a great site

http://notalwaysright.com/

I used to work as a customer service guy in a supermarket, I never really had any stupid customers, but the people who were nice never got as much as the people who were nasty and wanted to talk to the manager etc. It's like rewarding bad behaviour in kids. But they do say if somebody has a good experience with an establishment they tell 10 people, but if they have a bad one they tell 100.

[bakerbarber]

if somebody has a good experience with an establishment they tell 10 people, but if they have a bad one they tell 100.

My microwave caught fire Saturday. We'll see when the company that made it calls me back Monday. I might be spending the night Monday posting reviews on the net.

I saw some videos somewhere about Burger King's drive through telling people they didn't have Whoppers. Hilarious.

[snusbear1]

Great replies, everyone!! Thoughtful, helpful, and humorous! Thanks.

I'm glad we have this "People & World Around Us" section, because I can go to you all with occasional non-snus-related questions without clogging up the snus sections, knowing I'll get great responses!

Anyway, good points all. I especially agree with the suggestion that Pizza Hut products have more "common sense" names than the unwieldy (and faintly ridiculous-sounding) names of Domino's products. I guess Pizza Hut got into offering the more elaborate types of pies before Domino's did, and thereby got "first dibs" on branding the more generic-sounding and easily-remembered product names, and we're then stuck with having to give our products somewhat cartoonish labels that no one can remember.

In fact, I've long had disagreements with the marketing company Domino's switched to a few years back. A lot of the time, they really make our job harder, and not just because of the juvenile product branding (that Oreo pizza commercial a while back was just plain stupid). For example, after having abandoned the 30-minute time guarantee on delivery years ago after the company kept getting sued by people hit by Domino's drivers racing to make their run in time, they're now marketing this whole "You Got 30 Minutes" thing. If you read the FINE print, it's made clear that 30 minutes is a goal, an estimate, a challenge to our customers for THEM to be ready in 30 minutes, but NOT a time guarantee, in the interest of safety. But who reads the fine print at the bottom of the TV screen?! Regardless of the fine print, to CUSTOMERS it sounds like the old guarantee is back, and my drivers are getting stiffed out of their tips, and customers are demanding free pizza, because the delivery took 35 or 40 minutes -- during rush hour! in the pouring rain! during supper crunch when seemingly everyone in North Florida is calling our store and orders are backing up from here to the moon!!

I USED to drive for Domino's, but I gave that up last July when I was robbed at gunpoint taking a delivery to the "hood" at 1:00 in the morning, punched in the face, and pistol-whipped on the back of the head. Fortunately, the police arrived, traced the call, and arrested these four young gentlemen, who are now enjoying an extended "government-paid vacation" for armed robbery, all for three pizzas and 15 bucks in cash. I'm strictly an in-store employee now!!

[moneymanmike]

I USED to drive for Domino's, but I gave that up last July when I was robbed at gunpoint taking a delivery to the "hood" at 1:00 in the morning, punched in the face, and pistol-whipped on the back of the head. Fortunately, the police arrived, traced the call, and arrested these four young gentlemen, who are now enjoying an extended "government-paid vacation" for armed robbery, all for three pizzas and 15 bucks in cash. I'm strictly an in-store employee now!!

Dude that sucks. I always respect and tip my food transport techs good. They give me the ability to be lazy and I am willing to pay them for it. So if we have any drivers here on Snus On I want to thank you for allowing me to be lazy.

[snusbear1]

I love hearing stupid customer stories.

This is a great site

http://notalwaysright.com/

Thanks for the link! I found this on that website related to this topic:

Me: “Thank you for calling [pizza place], may I take your order?”

Customer: “Yes, I’d like a one of those large philly cheesesteak pizzas you’re advertising on TV.”

Me: “Sir, that’s not us. That’s [competitor].”

Customer: “What do you mean that’s not you? I just saw the commercial.”

Me: “I don’t know what commercial you saw, but we don’t have that pizza. Only [competitor] does.”

Customer: “Let me talk to your manager, because you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Me: “Sir, I am the manager.”

Customer: “Well, obviously you don’t know what you’re talking about. I want your bosses number. I’m gonna tell him about this and then we’ll see.”

Me: “You’re welcome to call him, but he’ll tell you the same thing I did: that’s not our pizza.”

Customer: “Then I’ll call his boss and their boss and keep going till I finally get someone who agrees with me!”

Me: *sarcastically* “Must be nice to have that much time on your hands!”

[deebocools]

I have also been robbed while delivering- luckily the only violence was being threatened with a (probably fake) gun and getting smacked. They got a whopping $15 dollars from me(my food had been delivered)

what a waste, for everyone involved. I remember being asked if I would want them to go to jail, I said I'd just want to sit down with them and ask them what the hells the matter with them

[snusbear1]

Here's my all-time favorite example of brand confusion in my line of work. This is from last Friday night:

Customer calls up, I answer "Thank you for calling DOMINO'S; how may I help you?"

The customer says they'd like:
1) a Tuscan Six Cheese pizza (nope!-that's PAPA JOHN'S) with
2) Butter Cheese Crust (nope!-that's HUNGRY HOWIE'S), a side order of
3) Churros with caramel sauce (nope!-that's LITTLE CAESAR'S), and an order of
4) Hershey's Chocolate Dunkers (nope!-that's PIZZA HUT)

Amazing! They ordered four different products featured by four different franchises, not ONE of which is featured by the franchise they actually called! They'd probably have had more luck statistically by throwing darts at a dartboard blindfolded! (I won't even mention the ones who ask if we have "General Tso's chicken" or "taco salad," or the guy who called a couple of months ago and insisted, quite adamantly, that he wanted "duck cheese" on his pizza. I am to this day googling like mad trying to figure out what the hell "duck cheese" is.)

You can understand why for me, "service with a smile" is often accompanied by a great deal of teeth-gritting!! You wouldn't believe how frustrating it is when I've got four phone lines on hold, pizzas and sides coming out of the oven, order labels spewing out of the printer, and a customer calls and either 1) doesn't know what they want and asks ME to "hold on" while they decide, or 2) knows what they want, but they're products we don't carry! Aaaarrggghh!!!!!!