Why Are You Still Accepting Orders When Your System Has Been Down for Months?

Shouldn't It Be Common Sense to Shut Down the Server?

Certain people continue to work my nerves due to the fact that common sense never links to their cerebral cortex. I had to experience another form of stupidity. This was at the pizza shop.

My partner and I decided one day to order takeout for dinner. We chose to order from two different locations. I wanted pizza while he wanted teriyaki chicken bowls. We lived near many restaurants, so it was always easy for us to order whatever we wanted. I ordered pizza from this pizza place two blocks away while Darryl ordered some teriyaki chicken rice bowl from Teriyaki Madness restaurant that recently opened and was newly discovered on the same block of our apartment complex.

I decided to go pick up the food instead of ordering delivery. We live near these places after all. What's the point in paying extra money for delivery when all you have to do is get off your butt, go for a little walk, and pick up the food? I consider it a personal accomplishment. When Darryl ordered his food, I went down to head to the pizza place first. I believed that as soon as I pick up my pizza, his food will be ready by the time I get back.

I walked over to the pizza place, went in, and that's when the madness began at my restaurant.

I informed the restaurant that I ordered the food online. The debit card was processed and I received an email and text message about the estimated time of readiness for the food. The chef working there looked at me very confused. He told me "How did you make an online order? Our system is down."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "I went on your company website. I made an online order. My card was processed and they gave me a receipt."

I showed the receipt.

"We never received it," said the chef. "Our system is down. It's been down for months. So there's no way this should've gone through."

I stood there in complete shock, but I didn't show it on my face. I was very frozen and purposely acted like a dumb blonde.

"Ok," I responded. "Well, I'm going to come back after I figure this out."

I left the restaurant and checked my phone. There I discovered that while I was talking to the chefs, my online order and recalled and a refund was issued on my account. Due to this particular location's computer system having been down for months, the other end couldn't submit the final order into the database. In conclusion, the customer service representatives issued an automatic refund, which was scheduled to arrive in a week.

As soon as I got home, I decided to order Chinese food at the nearby place that was also near us. Instead of picking it up, I decided to order delivery because I wasn't in the mood to step outside again. I couldn't let it go and I went through this whole situation for nothing. This was out of the blue, unprofessional, and borderline disrespectful. If you know your computer is offline and it's been offline for months, why is your website up, and it's still processing online orders before rejecting it, and later refunding it for a week?

What did I do? I called the company and told them about the situation that happened at that location. Call me a BBB (Better Business Bureau) representative if you wanted to. I felt like I did the right thing. If this happened to me and it wasn't reported, it would happen to someone else, and unlike me, someone else wouldn't be as kind as I was that evening.