Goodbye Hello Tomato

Two weeks ago I bought two pizzas from Hello Tomato at Kyalami Corner. Halfway through my Kosmic Karma pizza I discovered it had no cheese. I thought, that’s strange, but then thought perhaps it was a vegan option that I had chosen. The next morning when I saw my son I asked whether he had cheese on his Hawaiian pizza and he rep**** that it also had no cheese. Now I knew there was a problem but thought ah well I need to check inside the box next time. A week ago, I happened to be at Kyalami Corner on another errand and as I passed Hello Tomato I thought let me pop in and tell them of my experience. I did not have my slip and was expecting nothing other than to make them aware of the problem. To my surprise, the lady at the counter offered to replace the pizzas for me there and then. I asked her if I could take a rain check as pizza did not fit it into my plan for the day and she said no problem I could come back another day. So yesterday I felt like pizza and decided to take up the offer. I was greeted by a friendly gent, and the lady that had given me the rain check, who remembered me and the rain check and said the replacement pizzas would be ready in 15 minutes. So off I went to do some other shopping whilst thinking that's a really great customer experience and I must share it on social media. However, when I returned to collect my pizzas I was told there had been a turn of events in that the manager, Gareth Illman had decreed I could only have one replacement pizza - the Hawaiian (which unlike my son, is not my preference). I declined the offer and said that the manager could enjoy the Hawaiian pizza while I tell Hello Peter about my experience. In situations like these, managers should really just get out of the way of their staff as they try to turn a bad customer experience (no cheese on the pizzas) into a bouquet worthy customer experience (replacement pizzas). So, what would have been a positive post about Hello Tomato is now a negative one. From my side it’s goodbye to Hello Tomato as I vote with my money and tell the story to others.