30 minutes or FREE

I found ordering-in very convenient if there are random situations and you don't have time to whip up something to serve for yourself or for friends visiting. And since relocating to Vietnam, food delivery has been a part of our routine at home. And so, when some friends visited, I have decided to call and order pizza for us. We have been loyal patrons to Domino's Pizza since it opened its first branch here in HCMC. I think we still have one branch back home and I grew up enjoying their food. Domino's Pizza is love for us especially on Tuesdays when they do have a promotion of Buy 1 Take 1 pizza. Anyway, I love how they are able to serve their customers with great pizzas and be able to deliver in no time! However, today was different, it took them more than 30 minutes to deliver my orders :( I was wondering why at the beginning, because like I said, I am a loyal customer and i applaud their delivery system (no hassle of repeating or spelling your name or address) because they already do have their customers' information saved so when you call, your details will be shown straight away.

30 Minutes or Free - this is what you will see on their packaging, store, website etc. And so, when my order came in late, I asked the lady about this. She seemed clueless about what they have been telling people. My orders were received at 5.07pm and she came in almost 45 minutes late - and as a paying customer who believes on what is due for me - I asked her politely as she gave me a startled look. She just told me how sorry she was that it took her a long time looking for my place and she was just new to her job. I told her i will just call their hotline to ask about it and if she could wait until I speak to someone who can give clarification on this "30 minutes or Free" tagline. Those 4 word phrase was somewhat straightforward to me - "my pizza came in late, so was it free then?"

Unfortunately, this was not the case. I was made to believe that if orders came in beyond 30 minutes - you need not pay. I intended to pay them as I am concerned that the cost of my order will be on the staff and i don't want that to happen. I called the hotline, just to let them know that this situation arose and I would like to know how they would respond to it. I must say that they have a very clever marketing strategy - it is indeed 30 minutes or FREE but ....

Instead, it's 30 minutes or FREE - Medium Pizza voucher on your next purchase. Their tagline which you can easily see on every packaging is misleading in my opinion. But who am I to say? Had I not called them to clarify, would i know that my orders aren't free - NOT! The manager told me that i need to pay (which I did) and they will only give me a FREE voucher instead.

This post is not meant to tarnish their brand because i will still be ordering from them. I actually applaud their response to the situation and to my call. It was very quick! it did not take 30 minutes or so for them to come back to my place and hand me the Free medium pizza voucher. I don't know anything about advertising or marketing - I am just a paying customer who believes on every thing I read from brands, products that I use. For me To See is To Believe but after this incident, I learnt a lesson - Not all things I see or read is real - there is an underlying truth behind it - and I just needed to ask.