No more Domino’s for me
August 20th, 2008 . by Andy (TANcast's #1 Ear-Rapist)I got two calls today from 877-565-8456 almost exactly 15 minutes apart. I missed the first and the caller did not leave a message, but when a second call came through so soon I thought it might be important and answered.
It turned out this was a goddamn automated dialer system calling me to tell me about a great special at my local Domino’s Pizza franchise.
Since my phone is on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call Registry, I went ahead and filed a complaint with the FTC. The notes on the complaint page and the form reminded me that, since I have done business with Domino’s in the last 18 months, the Do Not Call terms don’t apply, but I went ahead and filled out the form (completely truthfully) anyways to get the events registered.
I did a little more digging and found out that, since the number they called was a cell phone and they were using an automated dialer and prerecorded message, they are in violation of Federal Communications Commission regulations. As this is a different law and a different governmental agency, I filed a complaint with the FCC as well.
They were probably within the FTC’s rules, but the FCC’s page seems pretty iron-clad. I also hit all the keys that Domino’s recording prompted me to so I could get on their Do Not Call list (unsurprisingly, the machine wouldn’t take “NO!” for an answer and made me confirm my confirmation before it would take me off) so at least I don’t have to wait for the 18 months to expire. If they call again they will be violation of the FTC rules.
All bitching to the government aside, any company that is going to repeatedly cold-call me in the middle of the workday to play me an automated pitch can go get skull-fucked: I’m done with Domino’s.
Because I’m an asshole, I also called the local Domino’s, asked for the manager, and informed him (Michael) that I’d received prerecorded marketing calls on my cell, that such calls violate FCC regulations, that I’d filed a formal complaint, and that the calls had cost Domino’s any future business from me. I know he probably could give a shit, but getting chewed out generally pisses people off (especially when they have to be polite afterward) and who knows, maybe he’ll complain up the ladder about the retarded marketing driving customers away.
Did I mention that I LOATHE telemarketing and telemarketers?
August 20th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
People order from Domino’s? The only pizza place where I’ve had a worse experience, is Pizza Guys (Never getting my pizza within two hours of ordering from them). Just about the only pizza place that doesn’t drive me up the wall, is Pizza Hut, and they piss me off most of the time too. Can’t they all just put someone competent in charge? Is that too much to ask?
August 20th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Andy, do you realize you wasted more time complaining and filing complaints and calling in complaints and talking about complaining than you ever would by simply pressing the button on your cell phone to ignore a call?
August 21st, 2008 at 7:44 am
Geoff, the problem was that I was getting repeated calls from an unrecognized number, and there happens to be some personal shit going on right now that makes me more likely to pick up unknown callers, just in case. Because of that, I did pick up and at that point the damage was done.
The rest of my actions were pretty much guaranteed after that: first, screw them over (give them consequences), second, make at least one person in some level of power pissed off (take some revenge), third, blog about it (get catharsis).
I wouldn’t call the official complaints a waste of time, either. FCC fines are typically fucking huge.
The bottom line is that some fucktard asshat at Domino’s decided that auto-dialing anyone who has ever ordered a pizza from them, and re-dialing until a live person answered was in any way acceptable. I’ll say this nice and loud and hope that maybe it gets through their thick telemarketing skulls:
MY PHONE EXISTS FOR MY OWN USE AND CONVENIENCE, NOT YOURS.
As I mentioned in the comments on Tim’s “Why so much hate?”, I’m a big, angry guy and people who fuck with me don’t even get the one strike.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I guess I should tack on one more comment to finish this off:
I answered the unknown call that day because my wife was in the hospital and there was a non-zero chance that they would be calling to tell me they were taking her to surgery to deliver our son.