Big Al's Pizza Tecoma — Restaurant in Melbourne

Ordered and paid for 3 pizzas for pick up over the zwift app, which seems to be the default if ordering through the big Al's website. Estimated time of pick up was 15 minutes. around the 20 minute mark as i was driving there i got a call saying they were out of one ingredient and if i want to cancel the order i will need to chase zwift for reimbursement. i agreed to go ahead with the order and stopped at the shops on the way to pick up the missing ingredient to just add myself when i got home. I got to the shop and the pizza was only just going in the oven (the shop was absolutely dead with only one other order on the rack). All up the '15 minute wait' took a whisker under 50 minutes on a dead night. when i was given the pizza i enquired if they were going to refund me the money i paid for the extra topping that they didn't have - as the topping was an add on it shouldn't be hard to calculate. The guy behind the counters response in the most condescending of tones was: "Nah bro, not my problem. you got a problem with zwift, you take it up with them". When i told him my problem was with him wanting me to chase another company for Big Al's mistake he got shouty and refused to refund money which will ultimately end up in their till from zwift in the end anyway. Big Al's is an absolute rubbish business these days. To top it all off Pizza was sub par at best. won't ever buy...

This current incident isn't my first poor experience with Big Al's Tecoma, it will be my last as I've learned my lesson.

27/01/2025 - stuck at home with child asleep, so ordered online for delivery as other options were closed. Advised of 45 minute wait.

1 hour 30 minutes later, called them - "Yeah, your order is next, we've had a busy night." (funny how convenient that is that I called and it just so happened my order was being processed when I called, 45 minutes AFTER the estimated delivery time.)

At the 2 hour mark, pizza finally arrived - I was then advised that the extra ingredients I had requested were out of stock and that they had put extra other toppings on.

Ultimately for the time I waited, the quality of the pizza and the price I paid (totalled $31 for delivery and large half/half pizza), there's nothing to encourage me to come back to Big...

Three hours and counting, but still no pizza. We weren't told there would be a delay when we ordered. Nor did we get any updates or information about why we were waiting so long. Eventually I called and spoke to Sam, who owns three franchises of the Big Al's pizza chain. He claims the reason for the delay is that they're understaffed. I understand that, these are tough times. But at no point was any of this explained to us. In fact, Sam claimed that it was too much to ask of the "small business" to let customers know that their orders might be over 3hrs late. I asked if a discount might be warranted considering the circumstances, but this King of Customer Service behaved as though I was in the wrong for even suggesting it. I have learned my lesson and will never trouble Sam with an order ever again. Also I'm pretty sure this pizza is just never...