Domino's pizza arrives half-eaten

A Blackpool woman had an unwelcome surprise when she ordered a pizza from Domino's - it arrived half-eaten.

Karen Carman, 60, ordered the pizza and garlic bread to celebrate a win at bingo. But when she opened the box, she was horrified to discover that much of it had already been eaten.

"Along with it was an empty container of the garlic dip, the lid of which was stuck to the top lid of the box,' she told Metro, adding that it was "obviously someone's half-eaten meal".

A Domino's spokesperson confirmed that the pizza was, indeed, someone's leftovers - a member of staff who had placed it on a holding rack to keep warm. It had become confused with the new orders, and sent out by accident.

The company's offered Mrs Carman a £20 refund and vouchers for a charity donation.

Domino's has a less-than-exemplary reputation for customer service, with its Facebook account filled with complaints about wrong orders and cold food.

It was recently forced to apologise after delivering a pizza covered in mould to a Surrey man and his five-year-old son. While Matt Hewett eventually received a refund, no explanation was given. A couple of weeks earlier, a Newport teenager was accidentally charged £180,000 for an order.

Both the half-eaten pizza and the pizza covered in mould were sent out from Domino's branches that had previously received top hygiene ratings - showing that something can always go wrong. If customers believe that food from a restaurant or takeaway is of poor quality, they should of course first approach the outlet itself; if this fails to get results, they can take them to court. Where it's a question of food safety, people should make a complain to their local food standards department.

In a recent survey, packaging company Versapak found that more than half of takeaway customers had successfully received a refund during the last year. The most common complaint was cold food, at 37%, followed by the wrong order being delivered, at 21%, and undercooked food at 17%.

"I wish I could say the results of our findings were a shock but, unfortunately, the truth is that many takeaways establishments are simply not taking the best measures when delivering hot food to their customers," says group managing director Leon Edwards.

"With such a wide array of takeaway options available for customers, their loyalty to one establishment will no doubt be compromised if they are continually delivered cold food."

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