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Phone is still the best way to order pizza

dan.bulwinkle.net

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Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#271

Post by helsinkiandrew »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #23

Most of the comments here are focused on the question of why you would prefer an app to calling. The author's point is a great one though, and something I've wondered a lot. Why should I create an account to order a pizza? The app should reduce friction even from the very first order. Instead it adds, and adds for every order... Got to go look up coupon codes! On the phone I just ask the guy what their best deal is i…

Exactly, Just like going to a restaurant you visit regularly and the staff know you, you'll get better service and quicker food if you have a relationship with the people taking the order, and making and delivering the food.

Use an app for discovering new places and seeing what they offer and order direct by phone.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#272

Post by kritiko »

rustandstardust wrote: post #267
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You have an "account" regardless. I think this might differ if you're in the U.S or out, here in Europe often it is like this: In the app/website you have an "account" that you get by entering data into form fields which takes a while, and which then gets stored into a database and is saved forever unless you go through some extra steps to make sure it doesn't which will be complicated by how well the app / website…

You're right, I was thinking US-centric. Here in the US any pizza place you give your name and number to has an account for you, from my experience.

My local in NYC does a booming cash business (they offer a hugely popular cash special on Tuesdays & if you pay cash, tax is “included” - I think charging tax on card orders is to cover their transaction fees? But maybe a bunch of this is unreported.)

They’re on apps, but they write your order on a paper ticket if you are a phone, pickup order and only take your name.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#273

Post by ajuc »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #23

Most of the comments here are focused on the question of why you would prefer an app to calling. The author's point is a great one though, and something I've wondered a lot. Why should I create an account to order a pizza? The app should reduce friction even from the very first order. Instead it adds, and adds for every order... Got to go look up coupon codes! On the phone I just ask the guy what their best deal is i…

In my country there's a website that works in every major city and their suburbs that aggregates basically all restaurants, pizzerias, pierogarnias etc.

And you don't have to have an account, the address and payment details are filled in by the browser autocomplete.

So the friction is - click on the menu, click "order", type in the wireless transfer code.

Also - almost nobody orders "pick up" pizza here, so phone requires you to specify the address every time which is significantly more friction.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#274

Post by bennysomething »

Local pizza delivery place users Uber eats and dilveroo, they send a note with all orders saying that Uber and deliveroo take a 30 percent commission and to please use another service that only take 6 percent. How the hell do Uber and diveleroo expect businesses to survive when they are taking 30 percent of their revenue!?

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#275

Post by nsomaru »

sbaildon wrote: post #21

I bought a burrito during lockdown in the UK, but it was such a miserable experience. The menu wasn’t particularly intuitive, and took me a few minutes to pick out what I wanted — then I was greeted with a registration page. Email, password, phone, address, you name it, they wanted _everything_ — I only wanted to collect. They didn’t take mobile wallet payments either! Manual card entry! I feel like the restaurant re…

Your demo page does not work

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#276

Post by Too »

lizhang wrote: post #12
post_break wrote: post #9

I'm sorry but I don't agree. Dominos pizza has coupons, deals, etc. Trying to get those deals over the phone is a chore. Ordering specific toppings can be a chore since it's a relay back and forth vs a button. Multiple pizzas with multiple toppings? The delay just compounds. If you live alone and order one pizza or one style of specific themed pizzas then sure, it might be faster, if that's the metric of "best" but i…

The coupons are the biggest advantage to placing orders online. If you place your order over the phone, they aren't going to offer any promos - they'll gladly charge you $16 for a medium 1 topping. Gotta get the coupon to get the 5.99 special.

The problem is that the coupons exist in the first place. It's a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist at all.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#277

Post by waste_monk »

hilbert42 wrote: post #219
mvid wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber Eats sent my order to restaurants that were absolutely not open. After two times, and two refunds, they stopped refunding me because of a “pattern of suspicious behavior”. No way to escalate review to a human. None at all. So maybe be aware of your choice

Moreover, you can't even phone Uber Eats! I had a huge delivery of Chinese food left on my doorstep (it was still quite hot). Obviously, delivered to the wrong address. The bill was fully itemized and stapled to one of the Uber bags and it came to just short of $200 but there was no correct address and no telephone number to be found on it anywhere. Anyway, I did my best to contact Uber Eats to get the delivery perso…

Even if the bag was sealed, I don't think they could take it back once it left the delivery person's custody. That's usually how these operations work (but not sure about Uber Eats specifically). Too much risk of food tampering or other mischief.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#278

Post by walty8 »

jimmyswimmy wrote: post #23

Most of the comments here are focused on the question of why you would prefer an app to calling. The author's point is a great one though, and something I've wondered a lot. Why should I create an account to order a pizza? The app should reduce friction even from the very first order. Instead it adds, and adds for every order... Got to go look up coupon codes! On the phone I just ask the guy what their best deal is i…

> The app or website should make my life better but instead it's harder.

This is the sub-goal, but not ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to maximize the profit, with accounts created, all the analytics will work out, and they could do all kinds of promotions or targeted ads.

I guess that's the same reason why you are asked to install a mobile app whenever you visit Reddit mobile WEBSITE. It does not attempt to make your life better. At least it's not the ultimate goal of ecosystem.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#279

Post by paranoidrobot »

oxplot wrote: post #177
jimmyswimmy wrote: post #23

Most of the comments here are focused on the question of why you would prefer an app to calling. The author's point is a great one though, and something I've wondered a lot. Why should I create an account to order a pizza? The app should reduce friction even from the very first order. Instead it adds, and adds for every order... Got to go look up coupon codes! On the phone I just ask the guy what their best deal is i…

I use Uber Eats for ordering food exclusively exactly because when there is a screw up and I receive the wrong item or none at all, I get refunded immediately by Uber with a few taps.

To add more anecdata to the pile...

I've been using UberEats for years.

It meant a much larger range of restaurants became available to me - I don't drive, and these restaurants would otherwise not get my business.

Uber Eats has often been very good about giving me refunds for restaurant screwups.

However they sent me an email after a string of restaurants fucking up orders - missing whole meals, or significant parts thereof. At the time, they didn't ask for any kind of supporting evidence, just click through the app and it would instantly refund you.

Then they sent me an email saying that they've detected an "unusual" number of problems, and that they'd like to remind me that fraud is illegal and they may take further action if they detect it. No way to appeal, no way to say "Hey, if you're going to subtly accuse me of being a fraud, at least let me have an opportunity to provide some information".

Uber Eats now (sometimes) asks for some evidence, and it apparently goes off to some human for review (or they just stick a ~30-90 minute delay timer on the processing queue to make it look like a human reviewed it).

Now, most restaurants around me no longer have their own delivery options, and direct you to Uber Eats or a whitelabelled service that just submits the order through Uber Eats or Menulog anyway.

There's a number of fake restaurants now listed on Uber Eats around me, even some chains of fake restaurants. One of these fake-chains is operating out of low-quality hotel kitchens and is clearly heating up commercial cook-chill/frozen meals. Another is operating out of a residential apartment building from someone's home (not a commercial kitchen).

Good luck trying to report these to Uber. They don't give a shit.

While I'm dumping these on Uber, they're unfortunately not the worst.

Menulog are IMO worse - they have all the same problems as Uber in terms of fake listings, but also work with restaurants that keep getting bad reviews to wipe out the bad reviews and re-list them as New. All the business has to do is say they've been sold to new owners, delete the old listing and re-add and hey presto, those 500 1-star reviews saying you've got a shit product are turned into 30 5-star reviews about this amazing "new" restaurant, rinse and repeat every few months when business drops off.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#280

Post by sbaildon »

nsomaru wrote: post #275
sbaildon wrote: post #21

I bought a burrito during lockdown in the UK, but it was such a miserable experience. The menu wasn’t particularly intuitive, and took me a few minutes to pick out what I wanted — then I was greeted with a registration page. Email, password, phone, address, you name it, they wanted _everything_ — I only wanted to collect. They didn’t take mobile wallet payments either! Manual card entry! I feel like the restaurant re…

Your demo page does not work

Thank you — the demo restaurant wasn’t set to be open 24h
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