HELL has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign highlighting its pricing procedures, following Consumer NZ lodging a formal complaint with the Commerce Commission over misleading food delivery fees from the company’s Kiwi competitors.
The digital and billboard campaign features the tag line “We won’t trick you into paying more … unlike our competitors. No service fees. No hidden costs,” – pointing to what it calls ‘HELL’s simple and straightforward pricing’.
Consumer NZ uncovered hidden costs for online orders made at HELL’s competitors, including charging more for delivered items and charging a ‘service fee’, with both charges hidden from its customers.
HELL founder Callum Davies says they’ve always called a spade a spade and have been completely upfront about menu pricing since making the first pizza in 1996.
“At HELL, we’re proud of our pizzas, and we know they’re great value, so there’s no need to hide the cost from our customers. We think our loyal fans appreciate this transparency as it helps them to make an informed decision regardless of whether they get their order delivered or choose to pick it up,” he says.
As well as the formal complaint to the Commerce Commission, Consumer NZ is calling on businesses to be upfront about their pricing so customers can make informed choices. Callum Davies says despite another prominent brand saying a service fee is standard in our industry, ‘it isn’t and should never be’.
“We know that other companies make it difficult to understand the price of their products – at one of our competitors, you can’t even find out how much a pizza costs for delivery until you add it to your basket.
“We don’t think that’s fair or trustworthy. We’ve had no hidden service fees and no hidden costs for 26 years and we don’t have any plans to change that,” he says.
Established in Wellington in 1996, HELL pizza has become one of New Zealand’s most infamous and well-known brands. With 76 franchises throughout New Zealand and more than 1100 staff, it produces more than 75,000 free-range pizzas every week.
