If you order take-out and they screw up your order...

[kmack]

what do you do?? make them come back with the correct item? just suck it up?

i am 8 months preggo and DH has been traveling a lot or working late so i admit i have been heavily dependent on take-out these days. tonight i just ordered a chix sandwich and a garden salad, specifically asking if they could use romaine lettuce and not iceberg. sure enough i got a big salad with iceberg lettuce, which i loathe! i was so hungry i just ate my sandwich and figured if they brought me the right salad later i would just throw it away b/c at this point it is too late.

the other day i ordered a sandwich for lunch b/c DD was napping and i was famished - so i ordered 2 bottles of iced tea b/c i felt bad since it was such a small order. they ended up bringing me two bottles of diet iced tea which i ended up throwing out. i felt bad making them come back over to fix it and thought i would go out later and stop by the store and switch them but of course i never got around to it.

if DH is ever around when the order gets screwed up, he doesnt want to wait for them to come back and fix it - but when i think about how we're wasting money it annoys me.

so just curious as to what most people do, make them fix it or do you just deal?? or does nobody really eat take-out as much as i do??:o

[yby1]

They need to fix it if I catch it right away. Sometimes, if I don't check properly and I'm already comfortable at home and in lazy-mode, I'll suck it up.

[hub1176]

I always check before I drive away from the window or leave the resturant. Otherwise I suck it up. I tend to avoid places though where I can't seem them prepare the food (I LOVE Subway) for this reason.

[kmack]

guess i should clarify - i meant if you order take-out and have it delivered to your house...if i pick it up i usually check first to make sure everything is correct.

[ManteoChik]

I too always check before driving away. There is nothing more irritating than finding out your order is wrong....especially when you are a picky eater like me. I'm not someone that will just "deal with it" because I don't like a lot of things.

I even make them re-do and redeliver my delivery orders. I don't want anyone to think I'm a b*tch, but when I order something simple like a plain pizza and they bring me something wrong - you better believe they get a call to fix it and bring me a new one.

[yby1]

guess i should clarify - i meant if you order take-out and have it delivered to your house...if i pick it up i usually check first to make sure everything is correct.

ah. I don't get delivery often - mainly because I'm afraid they'll mess up my order. :p In this type of situation, I would see if I could get a discount on my food or I would refuse it completely.

[tenofcups]

I rarely get delivery now because most places around here don't deliver, but I got it all time when I lived in NYC. For something minor -- wrong kind of soda for example -- I wouldn't bother to correct it. It very rarely happened, but if it was something more major, like the wrong order or they forgot part of the order, I'd call and ask them to correct it.

[Scooter]

I usually call, unless it's something really minor (like they forgot pickles on my sandwich or something). If it's something I can't/won't eat or don't want, I expect them to come back with the right order.

If it's something that we won't just throw away, I still call because I want them to give me a credit for next time.

IMO, if the restaurant doesn't want to have to make return trips, they need to be more careful about their delivery orders.

[jennylou]

I usually don't say anything, but the next time I place an order, I'll specify - I wanted X last time and got Y, could you make sure I get X this time? Usually, they make sure I get X, plus throw in something extra. FWIW, we usually only order in from two places - Chinese or Pizza. And, since both seem to store all our ordering history (ie, they know we order from them X times per X) they're pretty good at taking care of us.

[JenniferEC]

I'd make them come back out. We ordered pizza that came undercooked. You could see the raw dough under the sauce. There was no way DH or I were going to eat that so I called and asked them to replace it. I hated waiting another 45 mins because we were starving, but we paid for it and I wasn't going to throw it away. They asked for the raw pizza back so we packed it back up and gave it to the driver.

[Ericka_Jarett]

For delivery, we had to call once since they forgot to bring something we ordered but we realized they also brought a wrong thing. They came back and fixed it and let us keep the mistake even.

I most definitely would call if they bring me the wrong thing, even if they don't fix it, it's the principle of the thing, you paid for something specific and they brought the wrong thing.

[LyLMyssChaos]

My husband delivers pizza for extra money and if he brings the wrong thing, he ALWAYS brings the correct item to replace it. If he forgets something, he leaves it up to the customer's choice if they want a credit, refund or they want the item. He offers up bringing the forgotten item first, but they are open to whatever the customer chooses.

[kristin]

I never order anything for delivery at home (except for the occassional pizza) but I work per diem, and most days there are at least a handful of people who want to order lunch. When we order there is an agreement among all of us that no one sends anything back or complains. We work in an ER, and are all terrified that whatever they send back will be uhhh, "tampered with". So you get what you get. It's not that any of the places we order from are dirty or anything (and they mostly get the orders right), but I could see how a guy making minimum wage would be pissed that he had to make another trip (likely without a tip) and want to blow off some steam. Gross.

[DisneyGirl]

Depending on what is was. If it were soemthing dumb like a drink I would most likely let it go. However, if it were something that I totally needed to have then I would call and tell them they forgot X or they gave me the wrong thing...then I would request they bring me the right item.

[Dotsie]

Depending on what it is I'll call the place and tell them. My DH is the exact opposite. If they screw up his order he'll eat it anyway. He doesn't want to call the place and then do somehting nasty to his food. He's the same way at restaurants too. He will NEVER send his food back.

[rileyandfredsmom]

I want to know where I can get a sandwich delivered!!! The only delivery around here is Chinese and Pizza....and I'm sick of those!

I called and complained once because our pizza was over an hour late (that is an hour after the standard 45 minute wait)...then 45 minutes later I went to the store myself to just pick it up and complained again and got my pizza. The next time we called for delivery, they wouldn't deliver to us because we were 'unreasonable' customers. Whatever :rolleyes:

So, I don't order in too often.

[1_mommy]

we usually call and let them know we got the wrong/messed up order. we either get a credit, or they bring us the fixed order

[bluberry]

i was so hungry i just ate my sandwich and figured if they brought me the right salad later i would just throw it away b/c at this point it is too late.

I'm not criticizing here, just honestly curious...why would you throw away a fresh salad? I figure it would keep well until the next day's lunch/dinner.

[salysaturn]

sigh...not many places deliver in the boonies. When we used to live in an area that delivered, we pretty much stuck to the same place that delivered. They knew our order by heart, and knew us well, but we stuck to the menu. If we went somewhere, I always go back.

On the occasion they forgot something, we'd call back. I hate wasting money too.

[Kimberland30]

You bet your @ss I'd call them to redeliver the right thing. I don't care so much if it's a drink, but if it's food - I'm going to get what I ordered. There is a local pizza place that DH loves, but everytime we order from them my order is wrong. How hard is a pepperoni roll with olives instead of onions? But they screw it up every.single.time. Once we ordered a pizza with pepperoni and sausage. Well they forgot the sausage. I called them and they were going to credit me for the topping they didn't provide (like $1.50). I told them that I wanted what I ordered, so they brought out another pie, but took the mistake one back with them. Even when we go pick it up, they've screwed up the order. I once had to wait over 45 minutes for another pizza to replace the one they messed up (it was a very busy night) but I got our whole order for free because I b!tched like a wild woman. I'd throw this place to the curb by DH loves them so we continue to order there. :(

[Fenway]

It depends on the item. If I order round fries but get steak fries, no big deal, I'll settle for steak fries. If I order a burger with no onions, but i was delivered with onions, I'd pick them off and eat my burger. If I order a vegetarian pizza, but they deliver a meat lovers pizza, I'd call.


If I'm ordering an item with substitutes (like the salad that usually comes with iceberg, but I want romaine) I'd rather pick up my order, that way, if something goes wrong, I don't have to wait for the delivery time for it to be corrected.

[hub1176]

Oh, we have one place that delivers in our area, but it's always faster for us to go and get it (15 minutes instead of an hour) so we never get delivery. But like another poster said - I would be leary of calling to complain because you never know what "special sauce" gets added to the corrected order:eek:

[thedoorchick]

Eh, unless it was something I just really dislike and wouldn't eat, I'd probably just let it be. But I do that in restaurants too. If I order french fries and they bring me a baked potato, I just eat it.

Yes, I realize they owe me to get my order right, and I should get what I paid for, but in the end I just don't care that much, assuming the "wrong" item is something I would willingly eat. I am just not that picky.

Another thing is if I am really hungry, I doubt I want to wait another 30 minutes to an hour for them to take my food back and bring me the right thing.

[kindermom]

It depends on the error. If it is something that makes the meal unedible, I will call. If it is something that is minor, or is a $1 or 2 that is wasted, no big deal.

I have also called when there is something wrong with the actual meal. Our Chinese place gave us a dish with chicken that tasted funky. I called them and ended up getting a new one within 30 minutes. There was no way I was eating the original dish.

[Anna Low]

The last 2 times we ordered pizza, it was screwed up in exactly the same way. We always order spinach, mushrooms and feta. And the last 2 times we ended up with spinach, feta and anchovies. Anchovies automatically render it inedible for me. And it isn't like it is one or two anchovies - it is jam-packed with them. (Makes the gag reflex kick in just to think about it.....) The second time it happened, the manager kind of gave DH a hard time about it - as if it were somehow our fault that this has happened more than once. But, when the order was pulled, there was no mention of anchovies so it wasn't anything we ordered and then suddenly changed our minds about. (BTW, this pizza place is pretty spendy - we pay about $22 for the pizza and for that price, it needs to be at least edible.)

[amwilson615]

Most often, I make them fix it and redeliver. The one time I didn't was when I was brought two Diet Cokes instead of the regular Cokes I ordered. The driver offered to go to the convenience store about 1/2 mile away and get regular, but I was gonna have company that drinks Diet, and it was a rainy night, so I sucked it up and drank :eek: water :eek: with my Turkey Wedgie. lol.

[heather 8^)]

I have *never* had anything redelivered to my house, and I had no idea that people did that! Little mistakes I let go, figuring that's what I get for not speaking up with I got an extra breadstick or something. If it's really wrong (i.e., not just a little mistake), then I call and either get it for free or get credit for a freebie next time.

[camberne]

Oh, you'd better bet your booty that I call!! If I'm paying for something, it had better be what I ordered!! The restaurant is offering a service, and if they can't provide adequate service (getting the orders right) then they need to not be doing it anymore!

I was pissed beyond belief on Wednesday when I was an hour from home for a meeting and stopped by "Cheers" across from the building where the meeting was on my way home to get cheese sticks to eat in the car. I'll be damned if there wasn't a bit of cheese inside the breading which tasted like it had been fried with a bunch of onion rings. So, I had onion ring-tasting breading which was supposedly cheese sticks. I can't believe that the cook let them leave the kitchen!! I'm sure they figured "it's a to-go order, what will happen?" Well, I called and raised HELL! It was a disaster to begin with, because the stupid bartender ignored me for a full 7 minutes before taking my order... but then the food was awful. I'll never walk in that restaurant again!!

[cynder]

I would call and have them correct the order and redeliver.

And if this has happened more than once at the same place, I would call to politely tell the manager the issues that you have been having and them stop getting take out from there.

[kedzieb]

We order delivery all the time in NYC and if something is wrong or missing, we have them fix it. We order from tons of different places and not often the same stuff so I try to be specific on the phone and have them read it back to me.

If it's really minor I let it go but the places around here are used to having to fix orders and have no problem with it. They'd rather fix it than have you order from someone else instead. I've never had any place me annoyed about it - maybe because everyone is so close-by.

[Neen]

oh heck yea I call! It doesn't happen too much anymore, because where we live no one delivers!! But when we lived in town, we'd always call if they screwed up. They were usually pretty good about fixing the problem or giving a free pizza next time we ordered!

[AttyGrl74]

I'm so terrified of retribution that I just suck it up. I'd hate for someone to 'retribute' in my food before giving it to me because they were crabby with me for being picky.

[laura]

We don't order delivery anymore, but my answer is, I suck it up unless it inedible [to me], like the anchovies someone mentioned, or if I order something vegetarian and it comes with meat.

However, I used to deliver pizzas/food in my hometown when I was a kid, and we had no problem correcting the orders, and as a delivery driver, it didn't annoy me to correct it. When we were busy, sh!t happens, and that includes things being accidentally left out of orders, etc. It never occurred to me to spit in the food of someone who requested what they ordered when 95% of the time it was our [the restaurant's] fault. I think what would entice retribution is the manner in which one complains.

[jajacobsen]

Is it all from the same place? Because if it was, well I would just quit ordering from that place if they kept messing up so much!

But if it was from different places, well they all can't be idiots, so I would probably try to think about HOW I was ordering and maybe be a little more clear. Ordering over the telephone is never as easy as ordering in person, and so understanding on both sodes can be lost.

For example, I HATE all condiments. Literally, I will not eat a sanswich if it has mayo or mustard on it. Scraping it off is not good enough. Similarly, I hate all salad dressing. So a salasd to be is ruined and I wil not eat it if it has any sort of dressing.

So, knowing I already have these non-standard requests, I would order a sandwich and salad and ask the they leave off alll condiments and dressings. I would repeat that request, and ask that the order taker repeat my order back to me, making sure they mention it.

But what I would not do is make any additional change sor substitutions with the sandwich or salad. For example, if I were in a restaurant, in addition to the no condiment or dressing request, I might ask to substitute a different kind of bread or cheese or lettuce from what was offered. I would not do that with a takeout order. I would just be happy to get my sandwich and salad with no condiments or dressig.

I'm not saying the OP is doing the above, but if she is consistently having problems with gettig what she ordered, she may want to reconsider both the places from which she orders and the manner in which she places the order.

[ladybug777]

It depends on the situation. If they got my main dish wrong, I always call and ask them to redeliver. If it's something like a drink or they forgot a side dish/desert, I call and ask them to credit my account back.

I think my situation is unique, in that I'm a vegetarian, so when they mess up my order, that usually means that there's meat in it. So I CAN't just suck it up and eat it.

In all honesty, I don't feel bad at all when I ask them to redeliver. It would be the same as if I were sitting in a resturant. I would ask the waiter to take my food back to the kitchen and bring me the correct order. Plus, a lot of places either charge you for delivery, or expect you to tip the driver, so I feel well within my rights doing this.

[kmack]

I called and complained once because our pizza was over an hour late (that is an hour after the standard 45 minute wait)...then 45 minutes later I went to the store myself to just pick it up and complained again and got my pizza. The next time we called for delivery, they wouldn't deliver to us because we were 'unreasonable' customers. Whatever :rolleyes:

So, I don't order in too often.

wow, i can't believe that!!

I'm not criticizing here, just honestly curious...why would you throw away a fresh salad? I figure it would keep well until the next day's lunch/dinner.

well....i hate to say it but i don't eat leftovers. for some reason they make me gag, no matter what kind of food it is (okay, maybe i can heat up a piece of pizza from the night before but only if i am starving and that's all there is). and now that i am preggo most all veggies make me gag anyway, i ordered the salad b/c i am trying to eat healthy and i was planning on forcing it down anyway so there was definitely no way i would have eaten it the next day.

anna low adding anchovies seems like a huge screw-up to me, i would definitely send that back!!

jajacobsen:

Is it all from the same place? Because if it was, well I would just quit ordering from that place if they kept messing up so much!

But if it was from different places, well they all can't be idiots, so I would probably try to think about HOW I was ordering and maybe be a little more clear. Ordering over the telephone is never as easy as ordering in person, and so understanding on both sodes can be lost.

nope, they were 2 different places. yeah the people who own one of the places don't speak great English, but that's the place that sent me 2 diet snapples. i don't know how else to order a regular snapple other than to ask for a snapple iced tea?? the funny thing is i just called in an order to this place today and DH picked it up on his way home. they forgot to even add a drink (again i ordered a snapple iced tea) but he figured i would want one so he got me one. when we got home we looked at the order ticket and they had put in for a diet snapple?? i don't understand why they keep assuming i want a diet one when i am not specifically asking for one? so next time i will be sure to specify that I DON'T WANT A DIET SNAPPLE! also, they screwed up his sandwich, he ordered a grilled cheese and they added a tomato to it so he wouldn't eat it. :rolleyes: luckily DD ate it!

as for the other place, i just asked to substitute romaine for iceberg lettuce so i honestly don't think i am being too vague or confusing with my ordering. but maybe i will start having them read it back to me from now on...seeing as DH is going away for 2 weeks starting monday so i am sure i will be ordering a lot of take-out again!