Pizza Hut's billing

On Aug. 29 at 1.20 PM, my friend and I ordered two PPP (ML) ILP (Lunch Pizza) in the Pizza Hut, Pasar Raya.. The price, Rp 3,900 each. However, in the bill we were charged Rp 5,200 each (price for a different item) but from this, rather gratuitously, Rp 1,300 was deducted under "Promotional discount" and the amount to actually be paid came down to Rp 3,900.

This gave the impression that there was a mistake: instead of giving the promotion discount on the item we had ordered, it was given against an item not ordered.

When we asked about this there was no satisfactory answer. We called the manager for help.

Probably he was briefed. So he approached us bristling. He too had no explanation for the peculiar billing: which by this time seemed not in error, but an oddity. He attempted a cover up the blunder which did not go well for him. So he freaked out saying "you need not pay; you can go." Was this a belligerent surrender? Or some billing scam going on, making innocent customers victims?

There was also one more thing, definitely fishy. We had ordered two drinks (melon). It was not listed on the menu. Then how did we know about it? The waiter plugged it, but conveniently forgot to mention its price. We were billed Rp 4,500 each as against the list price of Rp 3000 for the other four comparable listed drinks. When this rip-off failed because of our vigilance, the price was corrected to Rp 3000. This time the tactic was different--tail between the legs, no bluster.

Lastly, the promotional discount seemed a weird operation. No posters, no visible gimmicks around, and no advertisement of any sort to promote it! Manna, secretly and selectively dispensed? We got no discount on the item we ordered. Is this one more oddity in a place abounding in oddities!

A simple dining out turned into a luncheon mishap, needing the preparation of three bills to see the end of it. I have these bills; proof of our disagreeable experience and the extent to which the Hut chose to fight and ultimately did the right thing, only because it failed otherwise.

G.S. EDWIN

Jakarta