Why Papa John's Sucks

Brian E.,

You, sir, are a being without sympathy, and, therefore, will not
receive mine. Are you one of those people that compress their horn for
an unrelenting twenty seconds when you're stuck in traffic, with hope
of your inane commotion uprising a constructively functioning result?
Learn some patience, and try to understand both ends of the situation.
What if you were on their end? How would you feel if some idiot called
corporate and requested that you were fired (despite your car
payments, or living expenses), merely due to an issue generally out of
your control? Can someone give me an, "Amen," at least?

Just because they are short staffed is not the customers problem.
Granted illness/call ins do occur, but all assistant/shift managers
should have been called in if the drivers and general staff were not
available. This is a business and this business depends on their
customers satisfaction to keep it going. The manager would have done
better to hang a sign saying closed due to uncontrollable
circumstances.

As a customer, had I walked into a mess such as that I would have told
them to cancel my order, left and gone to a competitors pizza place
and ordered. Its not worth adding to their aggravation or mine by
standing there for 45mins waiting on an order that was supposed to be
ready in 15mins.

I am a bit surprised that you did not recieve any communication from
them. After all John does drive around in his Camero on commercials
telling them that his stores are the best.

I do agree for the most part with people below, it does sound like the
employees were trying their best to rectify the situation in regards
to being short staffed. Here's what I don't understand. Everyone is
cutting PJ's slack for making the guy stand around for 45 minutes and
then telling him "20 more minutes". IF, as people are suggesting,
PJ's had all these orders to fill that came in before this guys, why
was he given a 15 minute time frame? That makes absolutely no sense.
As far as I'm concerned, the least PJ's could do was clear off the
bench for those waiting and keep everyone updated on what was going
on.

They sound short staffed. Thus the reason they were calling people
in, shutting off internet orders, etc. I hate to say it, but with the
flu becoming more prevalent and the media (rightly so) encouraging
sick employees NOT to go to work, many retail and food chains will be
hurting for staff.

Did they give you a discount on your order? Any time I've had to wait
for a pizza far longer then anticipated, I've gotten at last half off.
If they did not, I don't think it was unreasonable for you to ask for
one.

Sounds like they have pride in the work--they were simply swamped and
understaffed. I hate it when people call retail/fast food workers
"robots." Spend a couple of days in our shoes and then judge us.

i went to pick up a pizza one time and i didn't have any problems. the
man working was very nice. the only problem i saw was that he was the
ONLY PERSON working. he was the phone answerer, pizza maker, cashier,
all of it! there were no other employees!

the drivers were out on deliveries. it was insane! i was amazed by the
way he treated me because he was so nice. i would've been FED UP!

papa john's had a promotion one time that if you made an online order
for the first time, you'd get a FREE medium cheese pizza. they were
supposed to send the code in an email. well, i signed up...logged
in...ordered, etc. i never did get an email. i called the store and
told them i didn't get it, and the only reason i ordered what i
ordered is because of that free pizza offer. they told me they
couldn't do anything and i'd have to contact corporate. they gave me a
phone number. i called the number and never could get through. i sent
an email and never got a response. i never got my free pizza. i ended
up spending $20 with tip for a medium one topping pizza.

that was not a good deal because we order from pizza hut about twice a
week. we get two medium one toppings for that price by using a coupon.
the only reason i didn't order from pizza hut this time is because
they were closed. papa john's stays open late.

about 10 months later, i ordered from papa john's again (because of
the time...pizza hut was closed) and i ordered online because once
again if you ordered a large one topping online, you got a large
cheese for 25 cents! they are supposed to send an email
confirmation...i never did get one! the pizza did show up...and i did
get my 25 cent pizza so all was well.

the point is: papa john's has lots of problems! they need to have more
staff on hand and they need to honor their offers. they are a MESS!

A bunch of clowns?
It sounds like they were swamped, short staffed, and doing the best
they could.
If they were feeding the pizzas in to the oven off the orders that
were printing out, it sounds like they were just doing what they were
supposed to - make the orders as they come in. Maybe the other ones
came in before yours...
Also, if they were calling more people, it sounds like they realized
they were short staffed, and were making efforts to find someone else
to show up - reasonable to me.
Finally, they turned off the "internet" which further shows they
realized they were swamped, and were cutting off the orders until they
could get caught up.
An unpleasant, inconvenient, situation? Sure. But sometimes things
happen, and this seems like one of them. If this is not a consistent
situation, I do not see it reasonable to fire the entire staff. If
this happened a lot, then it would be different.

What if the person or people who called in had the flu or the H1N1
flu? Would you rather get your pizzas in 15 minutes and get sick
later? Sometimes waiting patiently is necessary as unexpected
circumstances arise, and as you state, it sounds like they were trying
to get it fixed asap by calling people and putting all the pizzas in.

It honestly sounds like a huge order was placed first thing in the
morning. Lack of a driver probably meant someone called in sick, or
no showed.

Just from your letter it appears they were scrambling to get pizzas
made, trying to call in extra help and get the orders filled. Calling
them idiot robots just shows your lack of knowledge of service work.
They cant just STOP making pizzas. They have to fill orders, they
know who you are, they know you are waiting on your pizza, what more
do you want? a backrub while in line? You want them to stop making
your pizza and instead wander over to where your standing and ask how
your day is going?

While they should have explained to you the wait, and given you an
estimated time, they were probably quite flustered esspecially if
there was no manager present (you dont say you saw one or asked to
speak with one).

While I am sure you have never had a rough day like that, try to cut
some slack for something that was not in their control.

What a terrible experience, first to be tired after work and have the
only place to sit blocked, shows they don't care about their customers
comfort. A small thing but it's the small things that often matter
the most.

The part about asking your name 3 times, I am wondering if it was so
chaotic they simply didn't hear you or if they just kept forgetting?
Not hearing you would be understandable given the commotion of
customers, workers, and the phone.

The part where they couldn't give you a time is inexcusable, I don't
see how they didn't know or couldn't at least give a worst case
scenario. This is an industrialized pizza shop, I am sure it's almost
a science, x amount for preparation and y for baking should equate to
a pretty accurate estimation. They should have given you at least a
worst case scenario.

At least they were using their personal cellphones to get extra help
and not socialize. I would have appreciated that. I think firing
everyone is way over the top, if the store was short staffed it isn't
the fault of the employees who sound like they were at least trying.
I'd say the management there needs assessing and the staff needs
additional training.

I to, have had it with Papa Johns, as soon as I call they put me on
hold without even asking...they lack basic phone etiquette. Being
from Jersey and transplanted down to Virginia, in a fairly small city,
I cannot find a decent mom and pop place with real pizza! I will give
honorable mention to their garlic sauce, which is superb. Good luck,
but please rethink taking away someone's livelihood as part of your
request.

Sounds logical except for the part when they said the order would be
ready in 15 minutes

Maybe all the orders that were coming out before you were the people
the ordered a large order a day before, to have them ready when they
opened.

I worked at a pizza place when I was 16, and this was not uncommon.
Schools, churches, large events, or parents who wanted to pick up
pizzas for their children at school, placed the order A DAY EARLY.

Those orders come out first, and then the ones placed that morning
come out second, and so on and so forth.

I guess that is why they kept feeding the oven was to get the order(s)
that were placed a day in advance out.


Good Day



Good Day