Pizza Hut's Super Supreme Customer Service

246-50-50 Pizza Hut delivery ready to go.

That is the jingle I remember playing on the radio back in the days of middle school.

For the longest time, Pizza Hut (here) had been the dominant force to be reckoned with in the pizza pie industry, before there was a Papa John's or a Peppe's Pizza in Kuwait. They were the first to bring the stuffed crust onto the market here.

Whether or not they are the greatest pizza makers in Kuwait is debatable, I myself am more of a fan of Domino's Pizza, their dough is much lighter. However, Pizza Hut will always be Pizza Hut, just like Pepsi will always be Pepsi, despite the emergence of several other competitors.

Last thursday we were hosting a family member over and decided to go for Pizza Hut's Mighty Variety offer; this is not a food critic's blog, so I will not dive into the details of the meal, suffice to say it contained four different pizza toppings, cheese-garlic bread, chicken rollers, chicken wings and wedges.

I placed my order @ roughly 9, the pizza came in due time.

I was put off by the fact that the following happened:

1) The pizza topping was stuck to the top of the box.
2) The pizza bottom was also stuck to the bottom of the box.
3) The dough felt raw, and upon inspection, a clear white middle could be seen in the pizza slice, with the bottom a healthy beige colour.

We had a guest over, so the evening continued as previously planned, and when it came time to bid him farewell, at the stroke of midnight, I felt compelled to call up Pizza Hut and inform them of my comments.

I believe the number on the receipt was 22244555, which is their customer service hotline, I called up and immediately had my call answered by a charming fellow who noted my complaint, my phone number and the time of my order. He told me he would have the branch manager of the branch which sent out the pizza call me back in 10 minutes.

10 minutes later, I receive a call from another charming fellow who asks me what had happened, and I informed him, he inquired as to whether there were any pieces remaining of the pizza for "analysis", and I told him that yes, there had been a few pieces left over, and that I would have called them earlier had I not been entertaining a guest, as it seemed preposterous to wait twice as long for food to arrive.

What was the managers solution?

He sent me a whole other pizza (offer without the additions), for FREE, in exchange for the remaining pieces to be analysed at their restaurant.

Despite having said earlier that I would boycott Pizza Hut for their failed standards, never-the-less I still remain a Pizza Hut enthusiast at heart, and will continue to use order, if simply for the fact that they know how to treat a customer.

This reminds me of another fast-food incident I had, once upon a time I was addicted to KFC's "Big Filler" chicken sandwich. As I work close to Al-Shamiya, I decided to pay the branch there a visit and quell my hungry taste buds desire for a Big Filler. I was informed at the counter that the branch had "run out" of Big Filler sandwich buns, and that they (KFC Shamiya) can make the same sandwich in a different sandwich bun. Being an auditor at heart, I asked if the other sandwich bun was the same size as the Big Filler, for those of you who have tried it, it is a Big Filler indeed. I was told the size difference was negligible. So I agreed and paid and waited.

What I found out when I got home was that the sandwich was MUCH smaller than it should have been, and that the chicken used was stale i.e. had no moisture, dry, tasteless.

I called up the management to voice a complaint, and at the time I had fed the chicken to my cat, so when they asked whether or not the sandwich was still available, and I said no, they replied along the lines of "tough".

Since then, I have never gone back to the Big Filler.

So Pizza Hut, I commend their efforts on listening to their customers, and applaud the fact that a customers voice does indeed carry weight in the State of Kuwait.

Sorry Colonel, the Hut always wins ;)