Papa John's Is Taking Your Theft Seriously, And Gets Offended If You Don't Believe Them
Mark didn't like how a Papa John's pizza delivery guy was acting, so he paid the delivery charge but marked through the tip line on his receipt. Two days later, he discovered an extra $6.42 had been tacked on. When Mark called Papa John's to report the theft, he spoke to someone who obviously hasn't gotten our memo that "taking it seriously" is about as reassuring as "your call is very important to us."
Here's Mark's story:
On Monday, July 28th I ordered a pizza from Papa John's Pizza. When the delivery driver showed up, he handed me my Visa slip to sign with an 'x' written next to the tip line. To me calling any kind of attention to the tip line on a credit card slip is akin to holding your hand out and asking 'where's my tip.' I didn't like the presumptive tip, and had already paid an almost $2.00 “delivery charge” so I wrote a line through the tip line, rewrote the total and signed the slip.
This morning while getting ready for work, my wife informs me that Papa John's Pizza had overcharged us by $6.42. Quite upset about Papa John's Pizza stealing six-and-a-half dollars from me, I immediately googled Papa John's Pizza corporate number. I was transferred to the finance department, and left a message expressing my extreme dissatisfaction. About 7 minutes later I got a call back from Papa John's Pizza and the gentleman asked for the details of the transaction, etc. After promising the difference would be reversed to my debit card, he said that “Papa John's takes this sort of complaint seriously.” To which of course I replied “Please do not 'take this seriously,' resolve the issue.” Then the Papa John's Pizza guy got all defensive and wanted to know why I was calling him a liar. Anyway he promised to have a 'field supervisor' look into the situation.
If my charge was off by a dollar, say because the person keying in the charge transposed a number, I may or may not have been so upset. I would have waited until the local Papa John's Pizza opened up and discussed the matter with local management. But I firmly believe that the delivery driver took it upon himself to give himself a 30% tip. I also wonder how many other people have been 'fleeced' by this driver.
I hope to email you with an update about how Papa John's Pizza refunded the difference and took steps to show me that I am a valued customer, but the day is still young.
Well, we're impressed that someone at Papa John's called him back as promised, and in less than 10 minutes—that sort of thing is far too rare with many companies, and makes us think that Papa John's actually means the phrase. But yeah, they might want to rethink using empty PR-speak if they want to reassure customers that employee theft is not tolerated. But you shouldn't blame your customers for being skeptical when they hear that phrase—there's a reason nobody believes it anymore.
(Photo: Getty)
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Comments:
They can never overcharge when paying with CASH.
If you don't get a satisfactory response from Papa John's, call up Visa. They would love to take care of this for you, especially since (hopefully) you have a signed copy of the receipt showing a different total.
I can't for the life of me find that CheckSum hack for restaurant receipts. Can you include it here? Might be helpful
K thanks.
At least they didn't thank him for his "generous" tip.
Come on dude, he promised a refund. Then he said he would take it seriously.
Save the sillyness until you find out he didn't keep his promise. If he does keep his promise, he took it seriously, now didn't he?
I understand the tiredness of "taking it seriously", but it sounds like the OP was kind of a dick to the guy on the phone. When presented with the problem, he said it would be debited back to his card. There didn't seem to be a need for the rudeness.
If they don't debit it back, call again and be more stern.
Charge it back. Visa will ask for the original signed slip, which will either have no tip or be obviously overwritten.
While I don't agree with delivery people or servers taking it upon them selves to give themselves a tip, shame on you for not tipping. That $2 charge goes to the driver for the gas he's not being paid for. That $2 charge is dolled out to everyone because cheap, lazy bastards like you don't tip delivery drivers. If you can't part with another dollar or two, drive out and pick up the pizza yourself.
I know we're not supposed to blame the OP in here, but this is most certainly a time where he was wrong in the 1st place. He even said he wouldn't have minded if it were off by a dollar. So tip him a dollar.
Again, shame on you.
@AD8BC: /agree. You got a callback within *10* minutes. That's fantastic customer service. I know you're angry but calling out the first person who tries to rectify the situation is douchy.
And they better take it seriously because it is theft/credit fraud.
"Delivery Charge" is just that. It doesn't all go to the driver, they get a percentage of the sale, a commision at Papa John's that is "supposed" to pay for their gas, tires, oil changes, etc. The tip is there to take there pay rate from $6.50-$7.50 an hour to something more livable. Since this isn't really a story about rather or not you should tip a pizza boy, I guess I should just wish you luck getting your money back.
ok, to be fair...i think it's not fair that you didn't tip...THAT DOES NOT MAKE THE CRIME OK, but just sayin'...I don't think the delivery man gets the fee, and they work on tips.
He called corporate, they promised to call back, they did, in 7 minutes, they never disputed or argued granting a refund. In this case, I think the OP is unreasonable. He is scolding PJ's for not using the language he deems appropriate? Save the snarkiness for companies that don't comply with reasonable requests.
People like this are perhaps part of the reason why most CSR's are uncaring and rude. Even when they do everything the caller wants, they still get attitude.
What should have happened? 7 free pizzas? The CEO hand write a letter of apology?
@AD8BC: I mean the guy called him back in 7 minutes re: a 6 dollar overcharge.
Yeah, that is serious enough for me.
Wow, I really hate blaming the victim and all, but this guy just sounds like a jerk. He doesn't tip because there's an "X" next to the tip line? He's rude to the person who calls him back right away (!!) to resolve the issue? And he's shameless enough to brag about this behavior on Consumerist?
To paraphrase the old joke, give him back his $6.42 and tell him to go to hell.
Yeah, so you didn't tip because someone wrote an "X" on your receipt, and then you acted like a douche on the phone to someone who is giving you great customer service in a timely manner. Boy, I'm so sympathetic to your cause. A-hole.
I don't care if I'm violating the comment rules with this post. This is just stupid. Go ahead and ban me.
You don't leave a tip to the poor pizza guy coz he left a simple X on the slip, and then get mad that that they aren't really taking the issue seriously because they said so, even after promising to refund you?
Uhm.
@IC18: Not helpful. I pay for a lot of things with my credit card and debit card, because I get benefits and points for each and in the case of my credit card, I pay it off in full every month. So I get free stuff. He shouldn't be overcharged as a "punishment" for using a credit/debit card.
If my charge was off by a dollar, say because the person keying in the charge transposed a number, I may or may not have been so upset.
This guy would have lost it if they transposed a number. He seems to have been looking for any reason to get upset. Is he the kind of guy that goes to a restaurant and wants to be unhappy so he doesn't have to give a tip?
While I think what the Driver did was wrong I think that the OP is a huge douche.
I'm not sure why this is a story since it looks like Papa Johns is taking care of it.
Most of the drivers get paid crap and have to use their own car and pay for their own gas.
The $2.00 delivery charge doesn't cover that by a long shot.
Yes they get a per mile reimbursement but come on, does that really cover anything any more.
If your Pizza was there in the promised time you should have tipped.
The OP seems like the kind of person who also doesn't believe in tipping in restaurants.
@B: The point of a tip is to reward good service. Someone demanding a tip is tactless and the opposite of good service.
It's a personal call, but I don't blame the OP wishing to withhold his tip. However, he may wish to reconsider any future attempts to order from Papa John's again unless he wants his order sabotaged.
My understanding is that most pizza places do not give the delivery fee to the driver, only the amount on the tip line. If Mark took the pizza without paying the delivery guy for his work, I'm not exactly clear on who stole first.
And the x next to the tip line is probably to call attention to the line so you don't forget to fill it in.
I don't see the problem. They called back faster than any company I've ever dealt with and they said they were taking it seriously.
His objection is about semantics. I didn't get the impression that they weren't going to do anything.
This seems like a none issue, not the stealing part. I've had the same thing happen to me and they credited the funds back into my account. But being upset about the word choice of the person trying to help resolve the issue is just silly.
I agree with the fact that the customer was way too rude in the beginning. I understand something bad happened, but the person he had called had nothing to do with it so there is no reason to get snarky. AND he called him back in 7 minutes. Temper, temper.
I agree. The guy sounds like a douche. The delivery guy was attempting to be as tactful as possible - probably already been screwed that night.
We placed a Papa John's online order last week, then realized upon delivery we had no cash in the house.
We were headed out later than night and told the delivery guy we'd stop by the store after hitting an ATM. We did, and he was surprised that we followed through.
Just f-ing TIP - especially if he got your pizza there on time...
When I see the "X" by the tip line I fill in an appropriate amount, not tipping is more rude. Zero(unless provoked)is in bad taste, and speaking of taste, don't use them again, you might get montezuma's revenge.
I agree with many posters here...the OP was indeed a turd with with phone call.
An employee of Papa John's stated they will look into it and you say something stupid? Why? Let them do their job first and if they then don't you can get all snotty.
I agree that the OP was being a bit of a dip, but the delivery guy is STEALING. Hell, he might even be turning all of the "0"'s in people's tips into "6"'s and adding additional decimals, he needs to be caught.
I'd say the police - and not just PJ's - needs to be involved in this.
@COELACANTH: The point of the tip is so that businesses can't offload wages from their books to the employee. Unfortunately that means that the point of the tip in many cases is simply to pay for the service at all. Therefor, demanding a tip is no different than demanding pay for any other labor.
@Dead Wrestlers Society: actually the guy sounds kinda like a jerk overall (from stilling the delivery driver to complaining about a completely reasonable (and quick) response to the problem). It sounds like he wants the delivery drivers tared and feathered.
Natually the next time he orders from papa john's i doubt he'll get an untainted pizza.
Douche indeed... The kid makes, what, a buck an hour, and you refuse to tip him because he wrote an "X" next to the tip line? Bad karma, dude, bad karma!
This guy may have a good point. Most receipts I have seen the tip line is about 1/2 inch away from the signature line. There is no way that someone could just quickly write a big X and it just happen to be closer to the tip line than the signature line.
It would be great if this chain told all their delivery customers that there is an extra charge or it will take longer for the pizza to be delivered because they had to hire an experienced "X" writer for their receipts. Then call this their new "Customers Name" Policy.
So what could they have said that would have been acceptable to the OP? Understanding that the phrase "taking it seriously" is occasionally over used, it is still something that they immediately called back, and seemed willing to resolve the issue. I'd be pissed off and defensive too, after acting quickly to respond to his complaint and getting a condescending smartass remark like that in return.
So if the guy had said "Papa John's is genuinely concerned", the OP would have said "don't be concerned, resolve my issue"? I think the anti-"taking it seriously" crowd is a little silly, frankly. I'm not sure at what point the mere use of this turn of phrase changed from the literal meaning of the words to somehow mean the exact opposite. In the end he'll probably get a couple of free pizzas from Papa John's too, although he may want to go the pickup route instead of delivery when he orders them.
@malraux: That may be the case, but I think the businesses should pay their employees a living wage, and if a service is particularly costly to the business, then charge a delivery fee, which I believe happened here.
Other than that, build it into the cost of the product. When a tip is truly *voluntary*, perhaps it'll encourage customer-effacing employees to go the extra mile... and provide exceptional service.
Not that I expect the economy to function in that manner anytime soon. Until taht point, I'll continue to tip the standard rate.
no the driver does get all but 25 or 50 cents of the delivery fee, and since they started pulling this crap, I too have adjusted the tip to include the delivery charge. If your delivery charge is $2.00, I'll give you another $2 plus the change (coins). I look at it like even if they don't get the delivery charge, and I know they do, that's still $2 and some change to literally drive 5 blocks. Still not a bad deal.
I am actually usually a reasonable tipper.. %20 or $5 whichever is higher.. However in the case of pizza delivery I absolutely hate those delivery fees. If the fee doesnt go to the driver then I dont see any point in charging the fee.
I consider the tip my delivery fee, and if they charge it right on the receipt then I consider my tip already given.
Not my fault that the pizza company rips off their employees.
Delivery should be free, or at least factored into the price of the meal.
Can I throw out a thought? What if the X on the charge slip was put on by the people in the store who took the order? It's unlikely the driver has access to a credit card terminal.
So the initial 'offense' that ticked off the OP and caused him to decline to tip the driver might have not even been the driver's fault.
The adding of a tip was of course stealing, but would the OP have tipped the driver if there wasn't the evil, horrible 'x' on the receipt?
The pizza guy does not get a tip from me. What I do give the guy is a few bucks for himself to help him out with his expenses (like 2 or 3 bucks).
I dont agree with tipping, so lets call this a service fee.
Agreed that this isn't sufficient justification to not tip. Never mess with the people who prepare your food!
That being said, I deal with this sort of thing via chargeback. Once I actually tipped quite well at a restaurant, and they apparently decided to tack on even more. I simply called my credit card company, explained the discrepancy, and let them deal with it. I got a credit instantly, and the merchant likely was hit with a chargeback fee. The fee is a much bigger incentive for them to actually "take it seriously" and figure out which of their employees just cost them $25 or whatever their acquiring bank charges now.
Well...seems Papa John's did contact the OP almost right away. I am not sure the "attitude" by the OP on the phone call was really needed. The fact they called back so quickly seems to have indicated they were in fact going to do something about it.
Thats just my 2 cents on that aspect of it anyhow, since the point of the post was not really about the tip the delivery guy added ( which was wrong) but more about how the supervisor calling the OP was acting.
@kable2: You "don't agree with tipping"? If you eat out at the same places (in the U.S.) much, I bet people spit in your food. I don't like the practice of tipping, either, but I can't change the world. I'm not going to punish a service employee because of my distaste for their employer's business practices.
@snoop-blog: May I add that I use to tip a five spot faithfull,... until they started this delivery charge crap. That's a smak in the face to good tippers like me. I was tipping a dollar per block that they had to drive. To hit me for another $2, is just greed, and now has forced me to reduce the amount I tip to make up for the delivery charge. If your store doesn't give you that charge, not my problem. All I know is they use to NOT charge it, so...
Jeez, my spelling and grammar is barbaric today!
While I usually tip fairly well just out of courtesy, it shouldn't be a requirement to tip. Also to those people saying that it's terrible that delivery drivers make so little without a tip, maybe they should get a better paying job then. There are plenty of people that don't make very much money that we don't tip. If there weren't enough people willing to do the job for the current wage, the wages would go up.
A word of warning to this guy and whoever else thinks delivery drivers don't deserve a tip. Drivers remember who doesn't tip or who is a light tipper. Yes, light tippers are just as bad as no tippers. Ordering a pizza which costs $9.95, giving the driver a ten and saying, "Keep the change", is a real kick in the coin purse. My usual response was to give them the nickel and mention they obviously need it more than I do. Drivers can and will do any number of things to 'punish' you in the future. I delivered pizza for 3 years in college and here's a few items in the delivery drivers retaliation handbook:
Take your time on the delivery. Don't be surprised if your next delivery takes an extra 30-45 minutes. For those of you who say, "Well, I'd just send it back and get a new pizza!", the driver doesn't care. You're the one now waiting 2 hours or more for your dinner. He already knows there is no chance of a tip from your past history, so why should he be bothered by your inconvenience.
Don't put the pizza in a heat bag. I delivered in a pickup truck. In the winter, non-tippers pizzas would be put in the truck bed without the usual insulated bag. Enjoy your frozen pizza, cheapskate.
Use 'questionable' toppings. Our topping area was pretty common, toppings in containers over a grated area where the pizza was placed. When topping pizzas, toppings will inevitably not make it on the pizza, but fall off through the grates and into a container. These containers are usually not emptied until the end of the night. If a known non-tipper ordered pizza with toppings available in the container, these were used regardless of how long they had been there. If it has been a slow day and the containers are empty, toppings can be dropped on the floor or in some other way contaminated. Also, these container toppings are commonly used when a customer orders a pizza with "The Works".
Treat their pizza like it owes you money. Drop the pizza, throw it around, carry it under your arm like a book, etc. The goal of this is to make sure the pizza is a mess when delivered.
One other thing to remember is delivery drivers and generally all people in the service industry (waitresses, bartenders, etc) don't get paid the usual minimum wage. I delivered when the minimum wage was $5.25, but delivery drivers got $2.22 +.25 cents a delivery + tips. As you can see, your tips make a huge difference in their salary. In order to deserve no tip whatsoever, the driver better show up using the corpse of my dead mother as a handpuppet.
@johnva: You know, that trend could change if some restauranteur opened a place and advertised their waitstaff receive decent pay, and that the entire establishment absolutely refuses tips.
The food may be more expensive, but it sounds ethical and could start a trend if enough people are willing to support it.
We had the same exact thing happen with a Papa Johns in our area. My husband forgot to give the delivery driver a tip, so the next day he went back to give the poor guy a tip. There we found that the driver took it upon himself to write in a (large) tip on the CC slip.
Needless to say we were not enthused and contacted the local manager. The apologized profusely and fired the driver.
Chatsworth Georgia Papa Johns does this. We paid with credit card and tipped the driver with cash. Later, when checking the statement, they had added a tip to the charge. I called the manager and he said it didn't happen. He said they only billed the credit card company the pizza price. Funny how the next day it was corrected on our bill. It is a scam and I think Papa Johns is doing it automatically or the manager is.
Cash works best.
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So, the OP didn't tip because the delivery guy asked for a tip? That makes sense.... Still, theft is theft, and I hope Papa John is really taking this seriously, as it's a serious offense by their employee.