I can count on one hand the number of deliveries that have been successful (that is, the person has delivered the pizza to us without having to call and tell us s/he can't find the house.
To help you better understand the placement of the house (and because I'm bored) I've put together a visual.
The pizza delivery person would be coming from the left side of this map:
The mailboxes will be on the left side of the road. Ours is the first one the person sees, and has the house number in huge letters on the side. The driveway is on the opposite side of the road, and then our house is across the suspended bridge over the creek. At night, we turn the lights on along the bridge so that it can be seen from the road (ours is the only house with a suspended bridge with lights).
These are the instructions we gave Papa John's when we called the first time to deliver pizza. Every time we've called, we remind them of these directions. The house itself is not visible from the road but the numbers on the mailbox clearly are, OR at night the lights on the bridge can be easily seen.
Nevertheless, most times we've ordered a pizza, we get a call from the delivery person saying they've driven the length of the road and can't find the house, or they try to deliver to the neighbors' house. (Note: the houses themselves aren't numbered, but whenever I call I'm sure to say ACROSS THE BRIDGE.) Usually, if it's during the day one of us will go out and stand at the end of the driveway, or at night we'll flash the lights on the bridge to get the person's attention.
Usually it's only a minor annoyance, because one way or another we get our pizza (even if it usually isn't hot anymore because the person's been driving around for 10 minutes extra), but the fact that it keeps happening even though we've given them instructions every time is starting to get frustrating. I know the place is harder to find than a house in the suburbs, but that's why we gave the instructions in the first place. It seems like a person would look stuff like that up, especially if they're familiar with the area and know that roads on the outskirts of town tend to get more rural.
A couple weeks ago for lunch, we ordered a pizza again. Sure enough, after 45 minutes (we had been quoted a 30-40 minute delivery time) the delivery boy calls to say he can't find the house. We give him the instructions again, and he finally made it over to the house.
He then starts giving us shit for... Living in a difficult house? I wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. But he said, "YOU need to give them better directions, this place is almost impossible to find. And what's with that bridge? I'm a little guy (note: my fiance is like 5'6 so I don't know what he was getting at with that) and I don't feel comfortable walking across that thing.* If you can't see the house from the road you need to be more clear on where you are."
He went ON AND ON for a few minutes. Every once in awhile he'd throw in a half-sincere "I'm sorry, I know it's not your fault, but..." and then go on complaining. It really pissed me off.
I called the manager and complained as soon as the guy had left, and the manager thanked me for telling him and added "this isn't the first time I've had problems with that guy, so this information is helpful." I should probably mention that the guy had delivered to us before and gave us some attitude about not being able to find the house then, as well.
What made me remember this today was I was out running errands and the guy cut me off in his car, with the delivery thing on top of it. I was surprised that he still had a job -- it seems like applicants would be a dime-a-dozen nowadays, and from what the manager had said, the guy had been rude to more customers than us.
Not that I want him fired. I just want my pizza on time without a side of rudeness!
*note about the bridge: It was just constructed a couple years ago and it is rock-solid. We're not asking him to cross some rickety old thing.