Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Domino's
Goshen, Indiana
United States

I posted a complaint on this board last week about a Domino's delivery driver running over and killing my dog. This is a letter to the editor I just wrote to the Goshen News after receiving no retribution for the puppy's death.

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On March 14 I ordered pizza from Domino’s in Goshen. Little did I realize that such an everyday occurrence could end in such tragedy.

My son had some friends over so I let him order Domino’s. I gave my son my credit card number to pay for the pizza over the phone, thinking ahead so I didn’t have to deal with our dogs barking or getting loose when the delivery man came. I also sent my son to stand in the driveway as another precautionary measure, as I had a 5-month-old Jack Russell puppy and a 3-year-old Jack Russell as well. I generally put them in my laundry room if I know I am going to go to have to open my door.

When the delivery man came my son opened the kitchen door, saying I needed to sign for the pizza, and handed me the credit card slip. I was not happy because I had purposefully ordered with my credit card thinking they would run it as a debit and not credit so that I could watch my dogs and not have to go to the door. I then had to look for a pen and sign the slip as my son struggled to hold back the dogs.

With the delivery man still standing in the open kitchen doorway, I asked my son where Odie, our puppy was. He said, “He just slipped out. I’ll go get him.” Then he said to the delivery man, “I need to go get our puppy, ” as the driver walked away. I looked out the dining room window, and saw my son chasing our puppy. As I went to get my shoes, it was only a matter of minutes that my son was screaming, “The delivery man just ran over Odie.” We live four houses from the end of a cul de sac in a subdivision with a 25 mph speed limit. The driver had went to the cul de sac, turned around, and drove at full speed past our house, hitting our puppy without even stopping.

I ran out to the street and picked up Odie as he died in my arms. The driver never even turned around to see what he had hit. It could have been a child. At that point I went into traumatic shock and cradled my bloodied dead puppy in my arms on the kitchen floor. My son, who had previously received a call from the driver’s cell phone as he had gotten lost on the way to our house, called the driver back on that number to let him know he had just ran over our dog.

The driver wouldn’t answer his cell phone. My son then called the Domino’s and they said that there wouldn’t be a manager there until 10 p.m. My parents came from nearly an hour away to come get me and take me and my dead puppy back to their home because I was so distraught and they were worried about me. I stayed there for three days.

During that time conversations went back and forth between my children, the Domino’s managers and the driver, who admitted to seeing my son running after our puppy. He said he didn’t even think that he should maybe either stay put until the puppy was back in the house or at least drive slowly and cautiously. It was his last stop and he had no need to rush back.

After two emails to an online complaint site about Domino’s, the franchise owner of this Goshen Domino’s called me, apologized, and asked if there was anything they could do. At which point I said I would call her back. When I called her back I requested if they wanted to do something they could pay for the purchase of a new puppy. She wasn’t very remorseful at this point and was not receptive to this suggestion, saying that she needed to speak to both the driver and her husband (who she owned the franchise with) and that she would call me back the very next day.

This was the last I have heard from her. That was Monday - two days ago at the writing of this letter. I’m not asking for much – just the minimum that I feel is owed to me. There is no real price to be placed on my grief or the loss of my puppy, who was like a child to me. It seems that they would be more receptive to my request since they offered to begin with. While it could be argued that yes, this was an accident, the driver was aware of the situation and he had to have known that it was our loose puppy that he hit. His failure to own up to his actions, and the further failure of the franchise to make amends is appalling. What are they going to tell a parent should this situation occur with a child? That it was just an accident? That they should have watched their child more closely? If my dog would have bitten the driver, I may have received a law suit. Shouldn’t the need to assume responsibility go both ways?

I finally called the Domino’s corporation today and they had the audacity to tell me that it was my fault -that I should have been watching my dog more closely. When I replied, “I ordered with my credit card and sent my son out to wait so that I could watch my dogs. How much more responsible could I be?” he then backed down and said he would call me back. I still haven’t heard back from him either.

You have probably seen the current Domino’s ads about what people are doing with the 30 minutes that it takes for Domino’s to come to deliver pizza. What are you doing with your 30 minutes? You should be locking up your pets, children and staying off the streets.

----Lisa McConnell