(Snapped by a member of the paparazzi in downtown Moggill!)
The latest picture of Bruce Flegg clinging to power!
The latest, exclusive picture of Dr Bruce Flegg clinging to power - right to the very end:
(Snapped by a member of the paparazzi in downtown Moggill!)
(Snapped by a member of the paparazzi in downtown Moggill!)
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 20
Day 20 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Cameron Thompson: From cock-of-the-walk to feather duster!
After 9 years of neglecting the people of Ipswich as the Federal Liberal Member for Blair, Cameron Thompson has finally come out of his cave - displaying the very lack of credentials which induced voters to unceremoniously dump him last weekend.In a miserable letter of defeat to The Queensland Times, Cameron Thompson is still claiming credit for the so-called Goodna Bypass.
This Bypass never actually got off the ground except for the initial round of property resumptions which hurt many people at Riverview and Moggill.
The Bypass plan - which, along with WorkChoices, was the major reason for Cameron Thompson's defeat - would not have seen one red cent spent by the Howard Government on upgrading the 6km stretch of the Ipswich Motorway from Goodna to Dinmore.
This former member now has the temerity to claim that "local elected representatives of the Labor Party failed to support their own voters" over the doomed Goodna Bypass plan.
Well, Cameron besides being loose with the truth, your mathematical skills are proving extremely problematic as well.
On the latest count by the Australian Electoral Commission in Blair, the 2-party preferred vote is:
Shayne Neumann (ALP) - 42,274 (54.84%)
Cameron Thompson (Liberal) - 34,815 (45.16%).
Shayne Neumann has a commanding 7459 vote lead over the former Member.
Cameron Thompson's swipe at local elected representatives of the Labor Party is totally pathetic.
On Saturday night with the results rolling in, those same Labor Party representatives proved they were totally in touch with the local electorate over the Goodna Bypass issue - a fact which Cameron Thompson conveniently forgets.
Cameron Thompson might have been the cock-of-the-walk last week but now he is just the feather duster from Blair and if he had one ounce of commonsense he would stop blaming everyone but himself for the 10.53% swing against him - one of the largest swings against any sitting member in Australia.
The best thing Shayne Neumann could hope for is for Cameron Thompson to hang around for 3 years trying to win his old seat back.
I will make a prediction now that if Cameron Thompson stands as the Liberal candidate in Blair at the 2010 election, his vote will plummet even further than it did so spectacularly last Saturday night.
Say goodnight Cameron - and turn out the light in the Liberal Party bunker as you leave!
Shayne Neumann has a commanding 7459 vote lead over the former Member.
Cameron Thompson's swipe at local elected representatives of the Labor Party is totally pathetic.
On Saturday night with the results rolling in, those same Labor Party representatives proved they were totally in touch with the local electorate over the Goodna Bypass issue - a fact which Cameron Thompson conveniently forgets.
Cameron Thompson might have been the cock-of-the-walk last week but now he is just the feather duster from Blair and if he had one ounce of commonsense he would stop blaming everyone but himself for the 10.53% swing against him - one of the largest swings against any sitting member in Australia.
The best thing Shayne Neumann could hope for is for Cameron Thompson to hang around for 3 years trying to win his old seat back.
I will make a prediction now that if Cameron Thompson stands as the Liberal candidate in Blair at the 2010 election, his vote will plummet even further than it did so spectacularly last Saturday night.
Say goodnight Cameron - and turn out the light in the Liberal Party bunker as you leave!
Brendan Nelson will not say "Sorry"
Just when the people of Australia had thought that Dr Brendan Nelson might have ushered in a new era of Liberal Party politics in Australia, he confirmed on national television tonight that he would not be prepared to say "Sorry" to the Stolen Generation.
Welcome to Australia's new Federal Opposition Leader:
Dr Brendan Menzies Howard Nelson!
Welcome to Australia's new Federal Opposition Leader:
Dr Brendan Menzies Howard Nelson!
Bruce Flegg - Going, Going, Almost Gone!
Bruce Flegg - 3 months ago.
Bruce Flegg - 2 months ago.
Bruce Flegg - 1 month ago.
Bruce Flegg - 2 weeks ago.
Bruce Flegg - 1 week ago.
Bruce Flegg - This week .
Bruce Flegg - Next week!
CMC should investigate Doomben threat
The CMC should investigate the threat by Queensland Racing Limited Chairman Bob Bentley to cut funding to the Brisbane Turf Club because of its failure to back a merger with the Queensland Turf Club which operates the nearby Eagle Farm facility.The BTC operates the highly-successful Doomben racetrack and the members of the BTC have voted democratically to protect the interests of their club.
Bob Bentley immediately stepped in to the fray, threatening to withdraw $1 million of annual funding to the club as part of his grand plan to have only one racing club in Brisbane.
He is entitled to his opinion and he might be correct in his views regarding the benefits of a merger but it is outrageous to threaten a club's financial viability because the members have simply exercised their democratic right to vote against such a merger.
BTC Chairwoman Mary Collier should hotfoot it down to CMC Headquarters and lodge an official complaint against Queensland Racing Limited for making such dire threats.
If a Premier, Department Head or other government official made such threats, there would be calls for their immediate sacking and for a full CMC inquiry into the legality of their actions.
Bruce the Goose - still hanging on as Liberal Leader
Bruce the Goose - the Member for Moggill - is still masquerading as the Liberal Party Leader in Queensland despite the fact that he no longer has the majority support of his Parliamentary colleagues.Dr Bruce Flegg is the sort of leader who will still run around the Liberal Party barn yard after his head is well and truly chopped off.
And this is likely to happen tonight when the Liberal Party President is given unprecedented powers to exercise a casting vote in the event of a Liberal Parliamentary Party deadlock.
The Liberals seem to really enjoy tearing each other apart because their current performance is more spectacular than a river full of piranhas in the Amazon attacking some hapless soul crossing their path.
And lurking behind the shadows in this Liberal party fist-fight is none other former Senator Santo Santoro who should publicly reveal his hand and his involvement.The late Labor Party MP Kevin Hooper once described him in Parliament as Scrotum Scumbaro - no doubt, a description whole heartedly applauded by many people in the Queensland Liberal Party today.
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 19
Day 19 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Rudd Labor Government should establish Haneef Inquiry
The incoming Rudd Labor Government should establish a full inquiry, with the powers of a Royal Commission, to investigate the appalling treatment meted out to Indian Dr Mohamed Haneef.Dr Haneef was falsely charged - and then had his visa cancelled by the Liberal Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews - in one of the most-blatant cases of racism and political bastardy ever witnessed in this country.
The first witness should be the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty followed closely by Kevin Andrews whose actions should be closely scrutinised to see if he committed any offences under the Commonwealth Crimes Act while overseeing this matter.A jail sentence for Kevin Andrews would not be too much, if it is shown that he conspired to defeat the course of justice under section 42 of the Crimes Act, in a pre-determined decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa - effectively overturning the decision of Brisbane Magistrate Jacqui Payne to grant Dr Haneef bail.
Bruce Flegg abandons Dog and Goanna Rules for Marquess of Queensberry
This has been an extraordinary week in Australian politics.Five political leaders have gone in the space of 4 days:
Prime Minister John Howard
Deputy Liberal Leader Peter Costello
Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile
Democrats Leader Lyn Allison, and
NT Chief Minister Clare Martin.
And that now leaves the hapless political witch doctor from Moggill, Bruce Flegg - masquerading as the Liberals' Queensland Leader - whose tenure is at absolute breaking point.
The State Liberals are locked 4-all with half supporting Dr Flegg and the other half backing Tim Nicholls, the Member for Clayfield who was elected to the Queensland Parliament only a year ago.
Dr Flegg must have been suffering from short-term memory loss when he accused Mr Nicholls of "treachery" over his leadership ambitions because it was the same Bruce Flegg who undermined his own leader Bob Quinn last year, ambushing him in a leadership bid and finally ousting him.
It's funny how Dr Flegg was happy to play by Dog and Goanna Rules in 2006 but now insists on playing by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules when the plotters are coming after him!
For heaven's sake, why doesn't he just give up.
If Bruce Flegg had any sense of history, he would do what the highly-respected Australian Liberal Prime Minister John Grey Gorton did on 10 March 1971 when confronted with a no confidence motion in the party room as part of a bid by the Foreign Affairs Minister Billy McMahon to seize the leadership.
The vote was locked 33-all. Gorton then declared that as he lacked majority support in the Liberal Party, he would exercise his casting vote against himself and immediately stepped down as Party Leader and Prime Minister.
Bruce Flegg no longer has the support of a majority of his own Parliamentary Members and, if he had any sense of decency, he would step aside graciously so that the Liberal Party can start to rebuild itself.
The way the Liberals are going, if they start now, they might be in a position to win the State election - in 2030!
And that now leaves the hapless political witch doctor from Moggill, Bruce Flegg - masquerading as the Liberals' Queensland Leader - whose tenure is at absolute breaking point.
The State Liberals are locked 4-all with half supporting Dr Flegg and the other half backing Tim Nicholls, the Member for Clayfield who was elected to the Queensland Parliament only a year ago.Dr Flegg must have been suffering from short-term memory loss when he accused Mr Nicholls of "treachery" over his leadership ambitions because it was the same Bruce Flegg who undermined his own leader Bob Quinn last year, ambushing him in a leadership bid and finally ousting him.
It's funny how Dr Flegg was happy to play by Dog and Goanna Rules in 2006 but now insists on playing by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules when the plotters are coming after him!For heaven's sake, why doesn't he just give up.
If Bruce Flegg had any sense of history, he would do what the highly-respected Australian Liberal Prime Minister John Grey Gorton did on 10 March 1971 when confronted with a no confidence motion in the party room as part of a bid by the Foreign Affairs Minister Billy McMahon to seize the leadership.
The vote was locked 33-all. Gorton then declared that as he lacked majority support in the Liberal Party, he would exercise his casting vote against himself and immediately stepped down as Party Leader and Prime Minister.
Bruce Flegg no longer has the support of a majority of his own Parliamentary Members and, if he had any sense of decency, he would step aside graciously so that the Liberal Party can start to rebuild itself.
The way the Liberals are going, if they start now, they might be in a position to win the State election - in 2030!
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 18
Day 18 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Bruce Flegg - For whom the bells toll!
A message to Bruce Flegg, Liberal Party Leader in Queensland.If you walk past the Brisbane City Hall and hear the bells ringing, ask yourself: "For whom the bells toll?"
Well Bruce, I am sorry to say - "They toll for thee!"
Ex-Member for Blair Cameron Thompson on guilt trip
The ex-Member for the seat of Blair - based on the provincial City of Ipswich - has embarked on a massive guilt trip over his stunning election loss.Seventy-two hours after his well-deserved defeat, Cameron Thompson has finally emerged from his cubby-hole, blaming everyone but himself for being booted out by the perspicacious people of Blair.
Cameron Thompson has the hide to say that he was not defeated by local issues in the campaign and has the temerity to suggest that the electors of Blair were somehow duped after being overshadowed by national issues.
This ex-ABC rural radio reporter just doesn't get it.
Can't he see that WorkChoices was a real local issue for many locals in Blair?
Can't he see that his one-man opposition to upgrading the Ipswich Motorway Motorway affected 100,000 drivers a day - many of whom were from his electorate?
Can't he see by continuing to ignore important local issues in Blair such as health and education, he would be judged on judgment day?
Can't he see that his continuing brawling with the local Ipswich City Council had put him on the path to certain political destruction?
The people of Ipswich have traditionally shown great loyalty to their local sitting member. Bill Hayden was the only ALP Member in Queensland to survive the massive anti-Labor swing against Gough Whitlam in 1975 because he was a tremendous local member.When Pauline Hanson won the seat of Oxley in 1996 against the ALP's under-performing Les Scott, she was booted out 2 years later for not looking after the locals and concentrating on her dream of a totalitarian Australian regime under her dictatorship.
Cameron Thompson should stop taking swipes at all an sundry, blaming them for his defeat last Saturday.
Had he stuck to genuinely representing local people, he could still be the Member for Blair.
But this ex-politician who idolises Bob Menzies, supports the Queen of England as the Head of State for Australia and who dreams of the conservative parties one day ruling in perpetuity across the Commonwealth and the eight states and territories, should go back to his cubby-hole and contemplate what might have been, had he been prepared to work for the good of the local people of Blair rather than playing partisan political games for the past 9 years.
Now, he will have plenty of time on his hands to go back to Central Queensland for the ABC, along with his trusty tape recorder and do something important in his life such as reporting on the state of the dunnies in downtown Longreach!
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 18
Day 18 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Jim Lloyd - Another happy Coalition loss!
The man who tried to foist the Goodna Bypass proposal on the people of Ipswich, the Federal Roads Minister Jim Lloyd has lost his own New South Wales seat of Robertson in the Federal election with a 7.5% swing against him.Jim Lloyd would not listen to the people of Ipswich. He would not take a bi-partisan approach to an important local issue in southeast Queensland.
All he could do was to listen to his political mate Cameron Thompson, the Member for Blair who dreamt up the hare-brained Goodna Bypass plan, after all of the public consultation on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade had been completed in 2002.Five years later, all the people have left are the hollow promises of the Liberal Party but - on the positive side - the political carcasses of Jim Lloyd and Cameron Thompson!
The voters of Blair and Oxley have spoken in unmistakable terms.
The new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the local Federal Member for Oxley, Bernie Ripoll will now formally unveil their commitment to 6-laneing the 6km stretch of the Ipswich Motorway from Goodna to Dinmore.And the people of Ipswich will be proud for the first time to have a first-class Motorway linking Ipswich with Brisbane.
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 17
Day 17 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Frenchman tops Australian political honours
The only Frenchman ever to enter the Australian Parliament has done it again.Labor's Bernie Ripoll - in the Ipswich-based seat of Oxley - has trounced his opponents with a 7.4% swing.
On the overnight count, Bernie Ripoll secured 40,331 votes to the Liberals 21,668, followed by the Greens and a particularly poor performance by Family First.Oxley is the seat won by Bill Hayden in 1961 for the Labor Party and, for a short time from 1996 to 1998, by One Nation's Pauline Hanson.
Bernie Ripoll has now turned Oxley into a Labor stronghold with 64.5% of the vote, a margin built up by hard work and understanding his community.
The 5-year old little boy from France who landed in Australia 36 years ago - unable to speak a word of English - has been remarkably impressive as one of our nation's rising political stars.
The 5-year old little boy from France who landed in Australia 36 years ago - unable to speak a word of English - has been remarkably impressive as one of our nation's rising political stars.
Cameron Thompson deserved to lose Blair
The outgoing Liberal Member for Blair Cameron Thompson fully deserved to lose his seat in yesterday's election.This man has treated the people of Blair with absolute and utter contempt and has now been justly punished for his failure to represent the local people.
His own newspaper The Thompson Tribune has thankfully published its final edition.
When local people were hurting over WorkChoices, health, education and a host of other local issues, Cameron Thompson stuck like a political fool to only one issue.
Cameron Thompson turned his re-election bid into a referendum on the dreaded Goodna Bypass as his solution to the problems on the Ipswich Motorway.
And the people of Blair clearly rejected his plan for a $3 billion Bypass, opting to support Labor's proposal for an immediate upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway at a third of the cost.
And what a thumping Cameron Thompson received from the people.
They well and truly gave him his own political bypass.
This ex-rural ABC radio reporter from Central Queensland had a 10.4% swing against him - one of the highest swings against a sitting member in Australia.
His worthy opponent, Labor's Shayne Neumann stuck to his guns throughout the campaign on important local issues, never wavering from his commitments on Workchoices and the Ipswich Motorway in particular.Over 9 years, Cameron Thompson proved himself a superbly supercilious politician, too-clever by half in his divisive dealings with the people, the press and the Ipswich City Council.
And now that he is gone, a new era of representative democracy has been unveiled in the City of Ipswich.
Cameron Thompson - Gone and soon forgotten!
Roll on the Australian Republic!
IT'S TIME TO GO QUEEN ELIZABETH!With the last of the Queen's men in Australia thankfully gone from public office forever, the prospect of an Australian Republic has suddenly come back onto the national political agenda.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should have another Constitutional Convention as soon as possible to cut our ties with Mother England forever.
Whatever lingering sentiment there might still be for Queen Elizabeth, the ever-looming prospect of King Charles and Queen Camilla of Australia is surely enough to put the real shudders into average Australians, guaranteeing an Australian Republic with an overwhelming majority of punters giving their thumbs-up for a constitutional change.
Kevin Andrews out as Immigration Minister - Mick Keelty should go too
Now that Kevin Andrews has been booted out as the Immigration Minister, it's time for Kevin Rudd to get out his sharpest meat-axe and put the head of the Australian Federal Police Mick Keelty on the chopping block for his role in the Dr Mohamed Haneef affair.
Howard deserved the Royal Order of the Boot
John Howard had lost touch with reality.He had lost touch with the people of Australia.
He had lost touch with providing a decent, fair go for all Australians.
Now, he has lost his own seat of Bennelong after 33 years.
This is one politician who well and truly deserved the Royal Order of the Boot!
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 16
Day 16 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Where is Bruce Flegg? - Day 47 of the Search
IT'S OVER AND HE'S BEEN FOUND!!
URGENT MESSAGE FOR DR BRUCE FLEGG
Calling Bruce Flegg. Calling Bruce Flegg.
Has anyone seen Bruce Flegg?
Yes - After 47 days, he's been found behind a rock in the back blocks of Pullenvale, contemplating his navel as the biggest Liberal Party disaster in Queensland history sinks in.
John Howard wanted your help so badly in the Federal Liberal campaign in Queensland.
Where were you Bruce during the past 6 weeks?
After all, you are the Queensland Leader of the Liberal Party, aren't you?
Bruce, where are you?
Who are you?
With your help, John Howard might have won the 2007 election!
Now, let's turn to your own leadership.
Bruce, with your flair and style, your sophistication and demonstrated grasp of key political issues, your political mates will ensure that you are safe to continue as the Liberal Party Leader in Queensland.
At least until tomorrow!
URGENT MESSAGE FOR DR BRUCE FLEGG
Calling Bruce Flegg. Calling Bruce Flegg.
Has anyone seen Bruce Flegg?
Yes - After 47 days, he's been found behind a rock in the back blocks of Pullenvale, contemplating his navel as the biggest Liberal Party disaster in Queensland history sinks in.
John Howard wanted your help so badly in the Federal Liberal campaign in Queensland.
Where were you Bruce during the past 6 weeks?
After all, you are the Queensland Leader of the Liberal Party, aren't you?
Bruce, where are you?
Who are you?
With your help, John Howard might have won the 2007 election!
Now, let's turn to your own leadership.
Bruce, with your flair and style, your sophistication and demonstrated grasp of key political issues, your political mates will ensure that you are safe to continue as the Liberal Party Leader in Queensland.
At least until tomorrow!
Travesty of Justice if Howard Survives Today
It would be a national travesty of justice if John Howard were to survive today's election.This is the politician who has treated the people of Australia with disdain for 33 years.
This is the Australian Treasurer under whose stewardship interest rates rose to 22%.
This is the Prime Minister who promised no GST and promised no interest rate rises and who later categorised election promises into "core" and "non-core" promises - the latter being able to be ignored with impunity!
This is the Prime Minister who created and falsified the Tampa "Children Overboard" scandal.
This is the Prime Minister who has used Australia's immigration laws to imprison children, detain innocent foreign nationals and deport Australian citizens unlawfully.
This is the Prime Minister who couldn't even have his Deputy around to his home for dinner in 11 years .
This man is a phone, a fraud and a dud who is well and truly passed his use-by date.
The only fitting send off for this rogue politician is for him to lose the election and to be unceremoniously dumped by the good people of Bennelong.
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 15
Day 15 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
Where is Bruce Flegg? - Day 46 of the Search
IT'S ALMOST OVER AND HE'S STILL MISSING IN ACTION!
URGENT MESSAGE FOR DR BRUCE FLEGG
Calling Bruce Flegg. Calling Bruce Flegg.
Has anyone seen Bruce Flegg?
John Howard wants your help in the Federal Liberal campaign in Queensland.
After all, you are the Queensland Leader of the Liberal Party, aren't you?
Bruce, where are you?
Who are you?
URGENT MESSAGE FOR DR BRUCE FLEGG
Calling Bruce Flegg. Calling Bruce Flegg.
Has anyone seen Bruce Flegg?
John Howard wants your help in the Federal Liberal campaign in Queensland.
After all, you are the Queensland Leader of the Liberal Party, aren't you?
Bruce, where are you?
Who are you?
2007 Election Prediction - A prediction the major parties wouldn't dare make!
Psephology - the prediction of election outcomes - is a very difficult science.I have successfully predicted the outcomes of many elections over the years - with one or two "wobbly" predictions along the way as well!
That's something we all have to endure, because at the end of the day, all voters are psephologists as we routinely predict the outcome of every election which comes along!
For those who recall, I won the Inaugural Crikey/Glug Psephology Competition in predicting the outcome of the last Queensland State Election.
Thank you to Glug, the winner's 2 dozen bottles of wines have all been well drunk!With more polls due overnight for tomorrow's papers, predicting the outcome today - of tomorrow's election - is like guessing how many bites you might get if you put your hand into a bag of King Cobras.
My assessment is that any chance the Government had of pegging back Labor's lead evaporated with the anti-racist scandal perpetrated by the Liberal Party in New South Wales in the last 48 hours. It is also clear that the Liberal Party's advertising campaign of scaremongering has been a monumental flop.
And going to strip clubs in downtown New York is an obvious positive boost for aspiring Prime Ministers!
Labor will pick up a swag of seats in Queensland and New South Wales plus a good clutch in Victoria, 2 in Tasmania, at least 2 and possibly more in South Australia, 1 in the Northern Territory and probably 2 in Western Australia.
I don't detect any last-minute swing back to the Government on this occasion although anything is possible as undecided voters firm up their views.
Looking at the various polls in the past 7 days - with the exception of today's Galaxy Poll which seems to be at the outer limits of a 2% margin of error - and analysing all of Australia's 150 Federal seats on a seat-by seat basis as well as applying a modicum of political "intestinal feeling", my final prediction for the 2007 Australian Federal Election is:
Labor to win at least 24 seats.
John Howard has never told a lie !!!!!!!!
With a day to go to the most-important Australian election in decades, John Howard is now boasting that he has never told a lie in politics during the past 33 years!Come to think of it, he's never told the truth either.
With statements like that John, it's not too hard to work out who'll be drinking toasts and who'll have a big, red nose come Saturday night.
With statements like that John, it's not too hard to work out who'll be drinking toasts and who'll have a big, red nose come Saturday night.
Pizza Hut Ripoff - Day 14
Day 14 of this saga and Pizza Hut Australia has still not responded to my complaint of 10 November 2007 which appears in full below:
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.
Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
You can bet your stuffed crust that the American-based Pizza Hut chain is making lotsa mozza in Australia, yet cannot offer a humble apology or any form of redress when caught out ripping off customers.Pizza Hut opened its first store in Australia in Sydney in April 1970 but after 37 years, their corporate approach to handling customers' complaints needs to be seriously beefed up, as it leaves a lot to be desired.
It's not as if this corporate giant is not protective of its name and corporate image. On 13 June 2001, Pizza Hut rushed off to the Federal Court of Australia to stop the genuine Aussie brand of Eagle Boys Pizza from highlighting Pizza Hut's foreign ownership in Eagle Boys' television advertising.
The case was quickly thrown out by the Court in a decision which upheld the right of free speech in Australia and sent Pizza Hut packing back to their corporate headquarters in downtown Dallas, Texas.
When a complaint is received about service or a ripoff - accidental or otherwise - you would think that a company like Pizza Hut would do something quickly to rectify a customer's complaint.
My complaint - for which I am still awaiting a promised callback - is over a $38.40 telephone order picked up from Pizza Hut's Goodna store who gave me $9.10 change from a 50 dollar bill. In other words, I was charged $40.90 for a family meal with various add-ons.
When I queried the price and asked for the receipt, I was told that it was in the box which I was already holding and piled up with drinks and chicken wings and garlic bread, so I decided to check it when I got home.
And how much was the receipt for? - $38.40! So, I had been charged an extra $2.50 which I suspect was for a second bottle of soft drink, which was already included in the $38.40 bill.
They had given me a wrong receipt and double-billed me for a second bottle of soft drink as well! This was the third time that I had been asked to pay more at the Goodna store than the price I was quoted over the phone.
In the past, I had not bothered to query this, as I figured that I may have misheard the figure given to me by the telephone operator or there had been a miscalculation of the price by the operator which was rectified - upwards - at the point of sale.
Not so on this occasion. I knew that I had been ripped off and by exactly how much! I rang back Pizza Hut central call centre an hour later and suggested that they credit my "account" $2.50 because the Goodna store was closing for a week for renovations and it was too much of a hassle to go an collect the missing $2.50.
Although the operator was pleasant, she offered no apology and told me that they could not credit me the $2.50 as it was the "store's mistake"!
Don't they all work for the same company?
She offered to take down the details and forward them electronically to the Goodna store for them to call me back immediately to sort it out. Pizza Hut can promise pizzas within 15 minutes of a telephone call but a day later, I am still sitting by my phone for a call back from the Goodna store.
Pizza Hut should not think that I will give up over this issue.
I fought a case in 1990 against an Ipswich Night Club ripping off customers for $2 a head - and won! It was a case against the Jungle Attic Night Club and is reported in the law reports as Tully v Ceridale P.L. [1990] HREOCA 6.
Even with inflation, a $2.50 court case against Pizza Hut would be well worth it.
Have you been ripped off by Pizza Hut? Email me with your story.
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