This is a long account, but if you're interested to hear about Terrible Customer Service, Incredibly Long Wait Time, Cold Food, and a Delivery Person Ripping a Front Door Right Off the House, then you should read this.
This is an accurate account of how the evening of Friday February 13th, 2015 played out at my house.
6:00 - we decide to order some dinner instead of going out, and settle on East Side Mario's. They have a deal where you get a large pizza and a bunch of salads for $25, so we call and order. Kids pick a movie, we get comfortable, excited for our food to arrive.
6:45 - (45 minutes in) Someone from East Side Mario's calls us back, and says that they input the order wrong and prepared 2 small pizzas instead of 1 large, asks if that's OK. We say no problem, kids are really starting to complain about how hungry they are.
7:15 - (1 hour 15 minutes in) Still no order. We call to make sure everything is OK. We’re told that they are really backed up, but all the deliveries had gone out a few minutes earlier. To apologize they are including some vouchers in the bag.
7:30 - (90 minutes after ordering) A delivery lady shows up. I open the door and put the little lock on the mechanism that holds the glass storm door open. I take all the bags from her and thank her, and then she starts to pull on the door to close it for me. I told her it was OK I would do it... you just have to give it a little push and it unlocks and then closes itself.
She is so determined to close the door for me that she continues to pull harder on the door…
SHE PULLED IT RIGHT OFF THE DOOR FRAME!
I couldn't believe it. I grab the door so it would fall down and smash and try to prop it up as it was still attached at the bottom by the shock that pulls the door closed.
Delivery lady apologizes and runs off.
7:35 - By now everyone is so grouchy and hungry that we open all the food up. At this point we notice the $5 off voucher that is in the bag. What a kind gesture.
The pizzas are stone cold. The cheese even has that look that pizza cheese gets when you take the leftovers out of the fridge the next day. We microwaved it and ate anyway, my 7 year old daughter saying that this could be one of the worst nights of her life :)
I know this is long winded but its not over yet.
After eating a bit (I wasn't very hungry anymore) I gather a bunch of tools and bundled up to go out and fix the door. I couldn't leave it because a gust of wind could come along and pull the whole thing down and smash the glass. All of the nails had been pulled out of the door frame and the closing mechanism was all bent up. After a half hour of messing around in the -18c cold, I get it all fixed up. I go back in the house, frost bitten fingertips and all.
8:15 - My wife informs me that she had called East Side Marios while I was working, to let them know what had ensued, and they said they would mail us some more vouchers?!?!?! Anyhow they would have the owner call us back the next day, Saturday.
8:20 - The phone rings again, this time it is the guy from the delivery company. East Side Marios had given them my phone number! The guy sounded like a thug: I immediately was concerned that he would send some guys around with crowbars & baseball bats to "fix my door".
He proceeds to tell me that his driver is sitting right behind him, and that she has a different story: I had ripped my own door off its frame, and that when I did it she could see behind that the wood was all rotten! He asked me what I wanted him to do.
I told him that I was not going to argue with him and I did not know why he was calling me. The door had just been installed in the summer, there was no rotten wood. Beside, I had called East Side's for food, they had hired his company to deliver it, not me. I would take up my issues with them when they call me back Saturday. He mutters something about "whatever, he tried" and hangs up.
Saturday, Sunday & Monday all passed without a call from anyone wanting to make the situation right, and so today I decided to go forward with the post.
I run my own business as you know, and my livelihood is based on client satisfaction. When something happens that upsets a client, we immediately find a way to make it right. Shouldn't East Side Mario's be doing the same thing?
We don't go out to eat in restaurants a lot, maybe once every other week or so, and for a long time ESM's has been one of the few places that we enjoyed going.
Would you go back?