You know how it is. You’re hungry after a long day at work. You place your order with Domino’s or Pizza Hut and they tell you it’ll be 30 minutes until delivery arrives. You take a seat while you wait for your pizza to arrive.
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But what if arrives very late or cold?
Can You Refuse a Pizza Delivery?
Yes, you absolutely can refuse a pizza delivery if it is not delivered in a timely manner or if it is cold when it gets to you.
What Are Some Common Reasons a Pizza Is Refused?
Some common reasons why a pizza may be refused delivery are:
- It arrives cold.
- It arrives very late, which can sometimes mean that it will also be cold. It depends on if the lateness was caused by the kitchen or the delivery driver.
If the pizza is delayed because the kitchen is backed up or otherwise slow, you can claim a credit for late delivery. If the delay is caused by the driver and they are not able to deliver in a timely fashion, it’s totally up to the restaurant on how much they reimburse you.
You can try to work it out with them, but there is no legal action you can take to force them to reimburse you – assuming you paid ahead.
What Steps Should You Take If a Pizza Is Late?
The first thing you should do is contact the restaurant and let them know the situation. Let them know how this affects you and why you are upset or inconvenienced.
Ask them if they can reship you a free pizza to make up for the lateness. Ask them what steps they will take to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
What if the Pizza Is Cold?
If the pizza is cold, contact the restaurant and let them know. Ask them why this has happened and give them your reason why this is not acceptable to you.
If they have not yet offered you a free pizza, ask them if they can ship you one and redo the delivery. If they refuse, inform them that you will send the bill to their corporate offices and they will reimburse you for the pizza.
If you receive no reaction from the restaurant, call their corporate office and let them know. They will then have to figure out whether they will eventually have to reimburse you or not.
What Happens If You Order a Pizza and Don’t Get It?
Let’s say you ordered a pizza and it didn’t arrive for whatever reason. You’ll need to talk to the restaurant as soon as possible and tell them what has happened and when you expected the pizza to arrive.
You might be able to claim a late delivery credit, if your order arrived later than scheduled. Many restaurants will give a credit if you contact them within 24 hours of placing your order. Sometimes even a little longer. If the delivery driver was the reason for the delay, they can’t give you a credit, but you can ask the restaurant to refund your money. Again, there’s no legal action you can take if the restaurant doesn’t reimburse you, but you could try to talk it out with them.
What Happens to Food Orders That Don’t Get Picked Up?
When a pizza order is refused, the food either gets thrown away or taken back to the restaurant and the staff can eat it. When food orders that are paid for but not picked up, the restaurant will usually not reimburse you and you won’t be able to claim a refund from your credit card company on your credit card statement if the restaurant accepts credit cards for payment.
Who Pays for the Pizza If It Is Late?
If the pizza is late because of an issue with the delivery driver and not the restaurant, it’s totally up to the restaurant if they want to pay for reimbursing you for any food you didn’t get to eat – or if they give you any pizza for free at all. You could try to convince the restaurant to refund you some money, but again, there’s no legal way to enforce them.
Conclusion
It’s up to you whether you want to accept the cold pizza or not. If you absolutely have to refuse the pizza, it’s best if you let the restaurant know about the lateness and the cold pizza when they deliver it the first time and try to work out some sort of solution with them before you get the pizza a second time. If they’re not willing to work it out with you, you have two options: You can give the cold pizza away or you can wait for them to give you a refund or give you free pizza the next time they show up.