An Open Letter to Dominos Pizza India

Dear HEAD/s OF Domino's Pizza India,

• A Sunday afternoon, I ordered for Pizza and I live in an area which is a secure area and most often than none, your guys deliver the pizzas in say about 45 minutes, which I don't mind at all... They also clearly say that 30 minutes offer only stands valid till the gate... Not that I really care about, in fact I tell them it doesn't matter, just send me the pizza...

• Now this Sunday, the Pizza didn't come for 2 hours. Which again is not the core issue, I was wondering and probably assuming it might have been an order mismatch or order didn't go through issue as it was an online order. So out of curiosity I called in and realized that the person had left a while ago... So I waited.. After a while I get a call from the store manager, who was genuinely concerned about the delivery and the well being of his employee as he wasn't able to get through to him. I immediately figured, there might have been some problem... Maybe a flat tire, could be that he did not find his way or he might have gone to the wrong address or even the worst....an accident.

• And after a while when I called, I found out, that was the case... The delivery guy was in an accident. Who knows how and why or was it cause of the speeding as he wanted to deliver the pizza on time or was it cause of a reckless driver or some other issue. But all I knew was that he was in an accident... Must have hurt himself... Thankfully, the guy who finally delivered the pizza said that he was okay, which I presume he was telling me the truth.... Nonetheless, before I ask you my question here's some of your own History for you:

• "Starting in 1973, Domino's Pizza had a guarantee that customers would receive their pizzas within 30 minutes of placing an order, or they would receive the pizzas free. The guarantee was reduced to $3 off in the mid 1980s. In 1992, the company settled a lawsuit brought by the family of an Indiana woman who had been killed by a Domino's delivery driver, paying the family $2.8 million. In another 1993 lawsuit, brought by a woman who was injured when a Domino's delivery driver ran a red light and collided with her vehicle, the woman was awarded nearly $80 million, but accepted a payout of $15 million."

• And you still continues to offer "30 minute or Free" guarantee for orders placed in its stores situated in Malaysia, Mexico, India, Singapore and Turkey. Now I don't know what the scene is on ground in other countries, but certainly in our country the offer still holds true... Sad... very sad

• So my real question isn't this particular or similar such issues and neither is it targeted towards the store or the delivery boys and girls, who I must say are real gems in your organization... They are the ones who put two and two together, pun intended. Neither is my question about whether you guys do this to maintain an internal discipline among your employees so that your customers are happy. It's not like this is a life or death situation for the customer. But it could be for your employees and many other people involved. My fundamental question to you is 'Why would you want to risk peoples lives? Why?

• Is it cause the people and the legislation in our country is so flawed that you exploit this to your advantage?

• You don't expect me to believe that people like this guy pushes the accelerator tries to get to the delivery only cause he has high standards in your so called 'Domino's family' And they are trained well enough to protect / take care of themselves and others, just like say cops get trained or any other professional does for his job. Also don't tell me that this is an occupational hazard.

• You use The 'Dominos Family' campaign so well in your stores to show the people that you care about them and eventually might be a recruitment benefit to potential future employees.You don't expect me to believe that it's about maintaining or exceeding expectations of customers which by the way is nothing but a product of your own marketing imagination way back in the 70s only to gain you more profit. Or don't tell me it was just an accident and accidents happen... The fundamental question is why create that 'risk opportunity' especially when lives are involved, period.

• Or are the people in this country so easy to convince that a free Pizza probably costs potentially more than, say, 'a human life?'

• Is this really 'Khushiyon Ki Home Delivery?' I agree Customer is the King, so aren't your employees your 'Internal Customers'?

Disclaimer: I have never worked for Dominoes neither have I been a delivery boy or speaking on behalf of them... I'm just asking a question as a rightful and concerned customer.

Do share this if possible and see if we get a response...