A Kiwi pizza chain is taking buy now, pay later to a whole new level, announcing an “AfterLife Pay” campaign.
Hell Pizza said the campaign would involve a selected number of customers – totalling 666, in fact – who will be invited to make a real amendment to their wills specifying that their pizza tabs will be paid once they die.
The company said no interest or fees would apply – and the agreement is reportedly legally binding. But the campaign also has a rather more pointed aim – taking a stand against the growing popularity of buy now, pay later schemes.
Hell Pizza chief executive Ben Cumming said the pizza chain had been approached by numerous BNPL companies to offer the scheme but “it just never really sat well with us”.
“We’re seeing a growing number of people using the schemes to buy essential items like food,” he said.
“We think it’s taking it a step too far when you’ve got quick service restaurants like ours being asked to offer BNPL for what is considered a treat – especially when you consider people are falling behind in their payments and 10.5 per cent of loans in NZ are in arrears.”
Mr Cumming said debt in the right circumstances was a “totally normal part of life”. But it came with assessments of a customer’s financial means and a level of understanding that were not features of BNPL credit.
“The industry [in New Zealand] is unregulated at the moment, so there’s no affordability assessment carried out and getting approved for one of those schemes is supposedly a lot easier than with a credit card,” he said.
“It can lead to late fees and penalties, which puts people into a bit of a spiral of debt if they can’t pay it back on time.”
There are similar concerns about buy now, pay later schemes in Australia. Earlier this week, the federal government announced an industry-wide crackdown that will – among other things – require companies to undertake “unsuitability tests” on customers to help stop people falling into debt spirals.
The New Zealand government has also flagged similar measures amid fears, mirrored in Australia, that a growing number of people are falling into debt traps amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Cumming said the AfterLife Pay campaign was a way to “promote financial responsibility with our customers by making a stand against those schemes with our business”.
He said Kiwi consumer authorities described the schemes as “addictive”, and said it was easier to get approved than for a credit card.
“When you add in the late fees and penalties, people can get into debt fast. We don’t think people should do this for their pizza – we would prefer they purchase Hell within their financial means,” he said.
“AfterLife Pay is a light-hearted campaign that reinforces Hell’s stance on buy now pay later schemes – you can have your pizza and eat it too without any pesky late fees or penalties.”
Hell Pizza is a New Zealand-wide chain, known for its cheeky marketing.
A trial of the latest campaign went live on Thursday, capturing plenty of attention within hours.
“We might get completely inundated with people taking us up on this and it could be unfeasible for us to continue it for a long period of time,” Mr Cumming said.
At this stage, the trial is due to end on June 17.
