It's a widely held belief that if you buy something online, it's going to be cheaper. This tends to hold true for a wide variety of items. Your CDs and books are cheaper from Amazon than from high street HMV and Waterstones stores, buying train tickets from the National Express are 10% cheaper than from your local train station, buying musical equipment from somewhere like Dolphin Music is always cheaper than going into your local music store and through the use of tools like Froogle Google products you can undercut the high street cost of most household electricals. However, beware of ordering Pizza online! The other night in a dramatically lazy moment, I ordered pizza online from Domino's Pizza. 2 small pizzas, one being their rather interesting sounding "half and half", cost me nearly £25 quid. I raised my eyebrows at the cost, but being as a) They'd totally sold me on the concept of a half Pepperoni Passion and half chorizo, olives and green peppers pizza and b) We really like the pot of sauce you get for dipping your crusts in I went for it. The next day, when talking about my remarkable half and half discovery, I learned a shocking truth. Not only was my pizza more expensive online than by ordering over the phone or in person, I'd been fleeced by missing a 3 small pizzas for £15 offer! That certainly left a bad taste in the mouth, as well as a few extra centimetres around the waist! I can't help but wonder at the strategy behind this? The Domino's Pizza online experience is very good and deals quite well with a couple of tricky ordering concepts and so obviously has had a lot of time and effort put into it. They are offering good ideas to make the whole food acquisition process easier, allowing you to pre-order meals, set up favourite meals and even order by text so what is the rational behind charging more for its services online? I'm never going to order online from them again now; why would you if the experience leaves you feeling duped? Perhaps Domino's need to have a read of the Company-Customer Pact and remember to respect their customers in future. (Original Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/giovannijl-s_photohut/459381964/)
When online isn't cheaper!