Long wait for fish and chips

A Kapiti Coast man had a long wait for his birthday fish and chip order after a Manila-based 018 call centre gave him a number for a store based 50km away.

Shaun Killalea called the directory service on Monday and asked for a local fish and chip shop number, the Dominion Post reported.

The operator gave him the number for Go Fish, based in Petone, north of Wellington, and about an hour's drive away.

It was not until family members went to pick up the order at a Paraparaumu shop - a 40th birthday treat - that the mistake was discovered.

Earlier this year, the owners of the Yellow Group moved the 018 call centre to the Philippines.

"They obviously don't know how far Petone is to Paraparaumu," Mr Killalea said.

When Mr Killalea called 018 to find the number for a takeaway store, he was asked if he wanted the number for a shop called Go Fish.

"I asked if it was in Paraparaumu. He said, 'Yes'."

But when his sisters went to collect the food from the shop they mistakenly thought was called Go Fish, the owners knew nothing about it.

Mr Killalea rang the number again and told the Petone shop of the error and that it was too far for them to pick the order up.

"I feel bad for them, they're out of money," he said.

Go Fish owner Jacky Zhi said it was the second time in a year he had been forced to ditch an order because a customer had been given the wrong number by the 018 service.

A spokeswoman for 018 said Mr Killalea had been refunded the cost of his call, which 018 did every time a mistake was made, and would be offered an $80 fish and chip meal at some point during the Christmas holidays.

- NZPA