Last night I decided to order some pizza from Pizza Hutt. I rang their 0800 number on my cellphone, and got a pre-recorded message saying that I should try out their new text message pizza delivery service. Now, normally I’m not a big fan of text messaging. It might cost less than a phone call, but in my experience doesn’t save any time. Maybe I need a dialing wand. Still, I like to support new technology and initiaitives, so texted the word PIZZA to 8383.

This was the reply:
“PZA HUT TXT: 2 Ordr 4 delivry Snd the TXTcode to 8383. Chk out our $5 discount deal! Snd the word MENU to 8383 for Deals and TXTcodes. Qs? 0800838383″

I’m already a little bit annoyed (it doesn’t take much, as you can probably tell). Why didn’t they just tell me to text MENU to begin with? By this stage I was a little dubious about how they could offer all their options in just 160 characters of a text message. But, dutifully following instructions, I texted back, and received a 2-part message in return.

The first part looked like this:
“PZA HUT TXT Menu: Lg Pan Hawain $11.95 (HAWI) / Lg Pan Meat Lvr + Garlc Brd + Pepsi $16.95 (LMDL) / Lg Pan Meat Lvr + Sup Suprm $19.95 (PAIR) cont…”

And the second:
“Lg Pan Sup Suprm+Hawin+Garlc Brd+Pepsi $24.95(PMDL) / Lg Pan Vege Suprm $11.95 (VEGE). 2 chnge base add word THIN 2 yr msg. Snd code in brackt to 8383.”

This is where things get tricky. I was wanting 2 pizzas, so PAIR looked good enough, but I also had a free voucher for a regular pizza. So I hopefully texted “PAIR. And a free regular Sup Suprm”. Sure enough, I got a text back saying that my order couldn’t be recognised, and that I should ring 0800838383. Back where I started. So I rang through, and said I was having a few problems. She asked me for my cellphone number and then told me that even if I had just texted PAIR through, it would have been no good. My details weren’t in the computer, didn’t I read the brochure properly? What brochure?! Apparently that’s where all the instructions were. Of course.

Defeated by technology again, I ended up placing my order over the phone.

Trent