Panda Express left me with cake on my face

Next time it might be worth a drive to the restaurant

Q

My wife and I hosted a birthday party for my 3-year-old daughter at a public park. We had about 30 guests, and ordered catering through Panda Express’ catering website, to be delivered at noon, at the cost of $169. On the morning of the event, we called the restaurant to confirm the order and to add items to the order, for which we paid an additional $57.

At noon, the delivery did not arrive. I called Panda Express. A representative told me that the delivery had been picked up about 30 minutes earlier and should be on its way.

Time went by, and when the delivery didn’t arrive, I called Panda Express again. After spending much time on the phone, instead of enjoying the party with my guests, I was told by Panda Express that its delivery service is through GrubHub and that it has no way of tracking the delivery. The food never arrived.

By the time it was clear that the delivery wasn’t arriving, it was close to 1 p.m., and there was no time left to find an alternative way to provide lunch for my guests.

What was supposed to be a special, joyous event turned into the most embarrassing day of my life. I couldn’t provide my guests lunch, as promised. I called Panda Express and wrote a complaint through its website. The company refunded the $169, but not the $57 charge. The only compensation it offered was to repeat the same catering order free of charge. To this day, Panda Express hasn’t been able to explain what happened to the delivery.

I am considering contacting an attorney regarding this issue, but thought I would contact an advocacy group first. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I appreciate your help. — Benjamin Alpert, Sunnyvale

A

How thoughtful of you to buy lunch for your daughter’s birthday guests. Panda Express is one of my kids’ favorites, too. But when it not only failed to deliver your food, and also decided to keep some of your money, the experience left a bad taste in your mouth.

Clearly, the emails you sent to Panda Express’ site were reaching the wrong people. You sent your query through its site, to no avail.

Disputes like yours are best handled in real time, and in person. If your food doesn’t show up as promised, you might consider driving to the Panda Express and retrieving it yourself. Ask to speak to a manager, if necessary. A supervisor could authorize a refund or compensation, or could add to your order to make up for the delay. You also could have appealed your case to an executive with a brief, polite email. Panda Express lists all of its executives on its website: https://www.pandarg.com/ about-us/leadership.

If this had been my daughter’s birthday, I probably would have preferred a short drive to the restaurant to set things straight, rather than waiting — and having to feed my guests cake for lunch.

Something tells me your delivery service either got seriously lost or had a free lunch for himself and 30 of his closest friends, at your expense. I contacted Panda Express on your behalf. It refunded the remaining $57. Its offer of a free do-over still stands. Christopher Elliott’s latest book is “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic). You can get realtime answers to any consumer question on his forum, elliott. org/forum, or by emailing him at chris@elliott.org.