The complaint behind this story was not, at its core, a serious consumer problem. Chris ordered a pizza that was missing a few toppings and on the wrong type of crust. What’s notable is that the regional management of Papa John’s treated it like it was. Well, eventually. After the local store manager insisted that the error was Chris’s fault, he fired off a quick complaint on the website. And that’s when corporate solicitousness and free pizzas rained down upon him. Not literally. That would be kind of scary.

Papa Johns messed up my order, nothing big, but they missed some toppings and I got the wrong type of crust. I called my local store to complain and see what could be done. I didn’t need a whole new pizza, and I would have been happy if I just got some toppings slapped on my already made pizza. The manager at Papa Johns told me that they fulfilled the order they received, blaming me for the mistakes, and refused to correct the order or even give me an apology for the errant pizza.

I was very disappointed with the interaction as I’ve always had great relationships with PJs in the past. I went on their website to complain about the situation and to voice my distress over the poor way the manager handled my call. Within two hours, I received a phone call from the branch manager, apologizing for my experience and offering me three coupons to redeem for free pizzas in the future. Thirty minutes later the district manager of all [large Midwestern city] Papa Johns’ called me to ensure that the first manager had reached out to me and wanted to confirm that I felt I was treated well. I was blown away by their promptness and humility. Fantastic Customer Service.

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