Given the recent spotlight put on web based “incentive” programs, I thought I’d share what I heard from Pizza Hut when I asked about this very topic back in September.

On September 19, I was having my typical Saturday night at home and decided to order pizza for dinner. Since Papa Johns doesn’t deliver to my area and Dominoes is well..Dominoes, I went with Pizza Hut. Standard operating procedure, I ordered the pizza and afterward, I was “qualified” to sign up for some scheme or another. I didn’t take a screenshot so I can’t remember which. I was annoyed enough by it to tweet about it since I knew Pizza Hut was at least paying some attention on twitter:

Pizza Hut wasn’t going to explain itself in public and responded:

I sent them my e-mail address via DM and they responded:

Turns out that correct information was a carefully crafted email response claiming that “the Web Loyalty program provides value to customers at a time when they need it most.” To quote Amy Poehler, REALLY?

Here is the full text of Pizza Huts email response:

Hi Erica,

Thank you for your question.

The Web Loyalty program provides value to customers at a time when they need it most. Pizza Hut customers who are members of the program receive $10 cash back every month and that’s just one example of many companies and services that offer discounts and specials through the program. To enroll, our customers complete a three-step opt-in process upon checking out online. If at any time they wish to discontinue membership or if they feel that they inadvertently signed-up, customers can call 1-800-889-8776 for a full refund.

Sincerely,

Alexa Robinson
Pizza Hut

Now, forgive me, but I don’t fully believe this. Why would Pizza Hut claim this scam is good for consumers even after its been targeted for a Senate investigation and settled a class action lawsuit for potentially hundreds of millions?

Well apparently there are up to 10 million reasons why Pizza Hut keeps it around. Ah, the almighty dollar wins over consumers again. While Pizza Hut falsely claims that these scams are valuable for customers, in reality, they are most valuable for Pizza Hut, customers be damned.

Remember that next time you’re ordering pizza. Frankly, I’ll be ordering from Pizza California. They’re local and they don’t try to scam me for the sake of their bottom line. Their Gold Rush pizza is pretty damn good too.

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I just got back from a week in Chi-Tucky. Suffice to say, I had a less than stellar trip. It started with 2 good days, then the next 4 days were ass, followed by a good afternoon (thanks J!). We won’t go into details about that roller coaster, for the sake of your faith in humanity.

Moving on, in case you weren’t already aware, Chicago pizza is a far cry from the floppy slices I enjoy in NYC. I tried the much hyped Giordano’s first and was not impressed. Thankfully my Chi-Pizza experience was saved by my fast acting coworkers. Sensing my displeasure with Giordano’s (okay I told them about it), they took me to lunch at Gino’s East. To say it was a far cry better is an understatement. The sauce:topping:crust ratio was almost perfect which is key, though this was helped by an experienced Windy City dweller suggesting we get extra sauce. All in all, I like that city a lot and would consider moving there if it didn’t get ridiculously cold.

Right, so I’m home now. I must say, I love flying Jet Blue. One crappy experience aside (I think the rude flight attendant may have had PMS) it is the one airline I look forward to flying. They really aren’t lying about the extra leg room. My 6’1″ self can sit in a seat and not have the seat in front of me touch my knees, even when its reclined. Anywho, my flight home got mega delayed due to fog overtaking NYC. No big deal, we boarded an hour and a half after the scheduled time and once we’re all aboard the captain comes out of the cockpit and tells us why we’re delayed and how long we’re going to be on the runway. He said an hour but “I wanted us to board just in case we can get out of here any earlier than that.” Turns out he made a good call and we were in the air in about 20 minutes. Bonus: I ordered my customary white wine (calms the nerves) and as I offered the flight attendant a Lincoln she gave me a smile, held up her hand, and KIM. Jet Blue would do well to implement an in flight survey system. The survey could run while the plane is taxiing with survey choices displayed on the headrest TV screens while using the volume buttons as an input method. They could collect instant, relevant feedback about passenger experiences. That idea is a freebie Jet Blue, please make it a reality so I can give props where they are due.

Meanwhile, in online life, 4 former Googlers released FriendFeed. Can I just say, loves it? Okay thanks, LOVES IT! Remember way back when I used Pipes to make a huge mash of all my feeds? Yeah so FriendFeed does just that for most of the major social services (glaring omission: Facebook). The difference is that FF makes it easy and it looks waaaaay better doing it. It also adds in a social feature in that you can follow the FriendFeeds of well…your friends. I think this thing has huge potential. Imagine, if you will, that there is a person out there who listens to the same things on last.fm as you do, shares the same Google Reader stories, Diggs the same stories, and reviews the same places on Yelp. Imagine if FriendFeed allowed you to find that person and recommended them for you. Just imagine…

Its nice huh? You like it don’t you? I know you do. Too bad its in beta (real beta, there are lots of bugs) so you have to sign up to get an invite or be invited by someone. Do you know anybody who already has an account?

Finally, Ron Paul is Pro-Life (or anti-choice whatever you want to call it). Just in case you didn’t hear me the first 500 times I said it.

Have a Happy European Invasion Day peeps! Enjoy the extra day off if you get it.

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I flew home from NY the other day and I got my hand sanitizer and my tube of lip gloss taken from me going through security. No matter, I still had my backup jar of lip gloss in my purse. Well, I had it until the TSA came to our gate before boarding and had people randomly going through all carry-ons. So they came to my backup jar and said it couldn’t go. I didn’t understand so the TSA guy and I had a little conversation. This is how it went:

Me: So how come this can’t go?

TSA: Because its a liquid.

Me: No, its pretty solid actually. Here feel it (this was acceptable because he had gloves on).

TSA: No, its a gel so it can’t go.

Me: I thought they said that lipstick and the like were okay.

TSA: Solid lipstick in a tube is okay, other stuff is not.

Me: This is the same as lipstick though. Like if a took a tube of lipstick and smashed it into a jar, it would be the same consistency as this.

TSA: Yeah but its not in a tube.

Me: So what you’re saying is, if I were to take all my lipgloss out of this jar and put it into a tube, it would be okay?

TSA: Yeah.

Me: Ooookaaaay.

I figured I wasn’t going to get anywhere in this conversation and I wasn’t about to argue logic with a kid who was just repeating the foolishness passed down by the US Govt. I got on the plane and licked my lips the whole way. Ugh. Thank goodness I have backup backup lipgloss at home. Yes, I have a lot of lip gloss because my lips tend to get dry. I should probably drink more water or something.

Meanwhile, I ended up doing the touristy thing while I was in New York. Statue of Liberty, Empire State, the WTC site, then finally dinner in Times Square. You can check out my touristy pics if you like:

BigApple

Aug 21, 2006 – 186 Photos

Of course I got my New York Pizza the night before tourist day. Pizza 33 (Thoity-thoid and thoid) is the best pizza I’ve had in NY. Everyone was telling me to go to a Ray’s pizza but I couldn’t find one in the area I was staying in. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, speaking of pizza, remember my post about pizza and chocolate? Well it looks like Domino’s took that post to heart (yes of course Domino’s monitors my blog, thank you very much) and have introduced brownie bites as a dessert. Three cheers for chocolate!

Tags:

• pizza
• chocolate
• New York
• lip gloss

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