It’s quite common for fast-food restaurants to issue a refund or replacement whenever a customer is unhappy with their order. After all, food is prepared by humans, and mistakes are bound to happen.
In a recent viral video posted to TikTok, however, when a Papa John’s customer attempted to return three “burnt” pizzas, the worker made it clear which scenarios make refunds a no-go.
Why Did The Papa John’s Manager Reject The Return?
In the clip, which got over 947,700 views, TikTok user Rachel Simon (@rachel.simon03) films the interaction with a Papa John’s manager.
Right off the bat, he seems frustrated by the request to return the items, pointing out Simon is only returning “25%” of one pizza, “less than half of another,” and an empty box of a fully eaten third pie.
“No, they didn’t like it ’cause it’s very dry,” Simon tells him.
The manager isn’t having it. “Again, ma’am, there’s nothing I can do for you,” he states, also giving an example. “That would be like me going to McDonald’s, eating three-fourths of a meal, and bringing them a bite of a burger and a couple of fries, and expecting that…”
Simon interrupts him. “We ate burnt food,” she says.
“But then you shouldn’t have ate it,” the Papa John’s manager responds. “Especially when it was explained to you.”
He appears to be referencing a previous phone call where the customer complained about the quality of the pizzas and was informed of the store’s policy.
“I didn’t stop them,” she says.
“Right… So there’s nothing I can do for you,” he repeats.
At that point, Simon asks to speak with someone higher up, requesting “a supervisor or corporate.”
“I’m the manager,” the man says. “You can make a complaint if you like, but that’s the policy set by corporate.”
Simon then walks out of the store, speaking to her sister in what appears to be Haitian Creole.
“I don’t know but I was returning pizza at a (Papa John’s) that was burnt and not getting favor returning it back,” she wrote in the caption. “The pizza was burnt and he didn’t even care about it. anything just business stuff, not a happy or loyal customers.”
What Is Papa John’s Policy About Returns And Refunds?
According to Papa John’s Quality Guarantee policy, refunds aren’t available for items purchased. Instead, customers who aren’t satisfied with the quality of their pizzas can get a free replacement of “equal or lesser value.”
However, there are a few caveats to claiming the Quality Guarantee, one of which is that “no more than two slices of the original pizza may have been eaten.” This is likely the policy the Papa John’s manager was referencing.
In Simon’s case, none of the three pizzas she attempted to return met that condition. As the manager pointed out, one was completely gone, another had four slices left, and the third only had two.
We’ve contacted the company via email for more information.
TikToker Shares Close-up Photos Of The Pizza
In a follow-up post, Simon shared a closer look at what she described as a burnt Papa John’s pizza.
The image shows two slices already missing. While the cheese has a slight char to it, the pizza does not look burnt at first glance.
“This is the burnt pizza exactly how I got it,” she wrote in the caption. “Such an unhappy customer because of a manager not wanting to do his job properly.” Simon also shared that this happened in Jacksonville, Florida, and the manager’s name was Chris.
Commenters Aren’t On Her Side
In the comments section, viewers didn’t think she had a strong case to return the pizzas, to say the least.
“I can’t believe you posted this,” one commenter wrote.
“Yall tore that food up and brought it back?!” another exclaimed. “Nah this is next level.”
“That pizza isn’t burnt at all,” stated a third. “What are you even talking about?”
BroBible has also reached out to Simon via TikTok messages for comment.