DoorDash driver stole my dinner

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was going to post this in the monthly mini-rants thread in the Pit, but it’s kind of a long story, so here we are in MPSIMS.

I ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut the other night. They aren’t my favorite, but it’s either them or Domino’s because nobody else delivers to our part of town. So, general timeline:

5:50pm - order online, confirmation email says to expect delivery around 6:18.

6:30pm - no pizza, but the web page (which I usually leave up after ordering) shows a delivery time of 6:29.

6:35pm - I get a phone call from DoorDash customer support. The guy has such a thick Indian accent that I can barely understand him. Took me three repeats just to figure out he was asking if he was talking to [my first name]. Then another three or four repeats to figure out he was asking if I had received my order. Nope, still waiting for it, I said. He thanked me and said he’d follow up.

6:45pm - Another call from DoorDash customer support, this time a woman I could understand much better. Same question, did you receive your order? I said no, and you’re the second person to call me and ask me that. She says “The driver says he delivered the pizza and you’re trying to scam him.” I said “I don’t know where he delivered the pizza to, but it’s not here.” I even walked out on the front porch while I was on the phone with her to make sure they didn’t just drop it off out there (although you’d think if they did that they’d at least ring the bell.) I assured her I didn’t have the pizza and she also told me she’d follow up.

6:55pm - I decide that unless I drive to Pizza Hut and pick it up myself, I’m not going to get a pizza. I told my wife to call me if the pizza showed up while I was gone.

7:00pm - I’m about two blocks away from Pizza Hut when the phone rings. It’s Pizza Hut! They want to know if I’ve received my order. I told the girl no, it never showed up, and I figured it wasn’t coming and I’m on the way to the store, and I’ll be there in about two minutes. She said she’d get a new order started, and the conversation ends as I pull in.

I go in and talk to the girl in person that I talked to on the phone. Now, I’ve seen restaurants that do DoorDash where they have the orders out on a table or shelf and the driver comes in, finds their order, and walks out with it. Which doesn’t seem very secure to me. Pizza Hut Girl (who I will refer to as PHG to save some typing) says the driver gets an order on their app, they come in, say they’re picking up an order for [name], and there’s a sheet on the counter they have to fill out with driver’s name and signature, customer name, number of items, time, and a couple other things. They basically “sign out” the pizza, PHG hands them the pizza, they clicked “Picked up” in the app, then click “Delivered” when its delivered.

PHG says a driver came in, picked up my pizza, and left. Then about five minutes later another driver came in, looking for my order. And she told him someone else already picked it up. Which I’m guessing is the point that DD customer service got involved.

While I’m talking to PHG, another DD driver comes in looking for my order! PHG tries to explain what’s going on, DD driver #3 walks out looking confused and pissed off.

PHG thought what happened was that DD#1 clicked “Picked up”, then after he left he just took it home and clicked “Delivered”. But I don’t think that’s what happened, because that doesn’t explain why other drivers came in looking for the order, or why DD CS would get involved. I think what happened is driver 1 got the order on his app, came in and picked up the pizza, but never clicked “picked up”. So after a while DD reassigned it to driver 2, who came in to pick up the order but it was already gone. And then it somehow also got reassigned to driver 3, who came in while I was waiting.

While I was waiting for my pizza I took a look at the sign out sheet, and every line was completely filled out except for mine, which only had my name and an unreadable scrawl under driver’s name. So I think PHG kinda dropped the ball by not making sure the pizza was checked out properly before handing it over.

Anyway, 7:30pm I’m finally back home and eating pizza. I felt like I should have been comped the pizza, but I was at least able to get them to refund the delivery fee and driver tip.

I was telling a coworker this story yesterday and he laughed and said “That sounds like a Seinfeld episode!”

2

Or drivers 2 and 3 were the “follow ups” from you saying you hadn’t received the order?

3

That’s my guess. Although I don’t have much experience with DoorDash*, so I’d be happy to hear from anyone who does, either as a customer or a driver, for more insight into what may have actually happened.

* Most times when I order from Pizza Hut, it’s a PH employee making the delivery, not DD.

4

So I just go to Pizza Hut, say I’m from door dash and say I’m picking up a pizza for John (or some other common name) and I might get a free pizza? I know at Panara Bread I see the orders just sitting out on a rack and that no one checks who is picking this up. Guess I’m too honest to enjoy a stolen meal.

5

Yes, I’ve noticed at various restaurants that no one is checking who is picking up orders left for delivery drivers or customers who placed orders for pickup.

6

I accidentally ordered food from a restaurant that was about to close. I never get the food. I guess the couldn’t be bothered to actually prepare the food. What gets me is they have the nerve to charge me. I nearly forgot to check my card statement. It took me months to clear the charge from my credit card.
Mr. Beast was almost as bad, took over 2 hours to get my order.

7

All the places used to be like that around here because of the uptick of DD/GH/etc during COVID. When people started passing around that you could just walk in and grab a mystery meal as if you were a delivery driver, most of them moved the orders behind the counter again and require the delivery screen on their phone to check.

8

I use DoorDash enough to be embarrassing. I’ve only ever had one experience close to yours, when an order was delivered to probably confused people just a short trip down the street. DoorDash quickly resolved and re-delivered my meal, no fuss.

9

Pizza pirates?

I had a mystery meal show up on my front porch once. I hadn’t ordered anything. Can’t remember if it was DoorDash or Uber Eats. The bag it was in had the delivery address on it, but it wasn’t mine. It wasn’t just down the street; it was a different street name, but similar (like “Summer St.” and “Sumner St.”)

I’ve wondered how that mistake came about. It’s possible the driver, or someone, mistyped the address in a navigation app, but why would there even be an opportunity to make that kind of mistake. If I were creating an app for a company like that, the driving directions would come up automaticallly without needing to be typed a second time.

10

Years ago, before ubiquitous delivery companies, my brother ordered a large Chinese meal to be picked up from the nearby Lucky Dragon. When he got there they had not made up his order and he had to wait while it was prepared. After he got home he received a call from the Lucky Dragon asking when he was going to come and pick up his order. Unfortunately this Lucky Dragon was 200 miles away.

11

Heck, it doesn’t even need to be a delivery order. I was at a bagel shop this morning. When my order was ready, they placed a bag at a random spot on the counter (in the middle of the line - not at the pick up area) and called out my name. Someone else picked it up and walked out the door. A friend of mine chased them down outside and got the bag back.

12

I’ve never had an issue with DoorDash/GrubHub/UberEats but I did once place a pickup order at McDonalds and come in to be told someone had grabbed it already (they just put the bags on the counter most of the time). I showed my screen, she muttered about food stealin’ n’er-do-wells and they remade my order within a minute or two. I still see food on the counter so I guess the cost of replacing a bag now and then isn’t offset by the hassle of having to tend to individual pick-up drivers and customers.

Once upon a time, a driver came to my door with a bag of food. I just assumed my older kid had ordered it and carried it inside and set it on the counter. Three minutes later, the driver was back asking for the food. I handed it back unopened and untouched but figured that guy really got of lucky.

13

One time I came home after a night away and found eleven very cold Taco Bell tacos on my porch. There was no indication of where it should have gone.

14

When I lived in Taiwan, the McDonald’s just had a rack of shelves for order for UberEats and Food Panda (the other main deliver service). The drivers would wear uniforms but it looked really easy for someone to grab the wrong order or for someone else to take something.

That happened in reverse in college. Our group grabbed the wrong order.

A group of us went to the popular pizza place on a Friday night. It was really crowded, loud and difficult to hear the order when it was called out.

At some point, someone at our table said our order was ready and went up and got the “ultra” sized pizza. Sometime later, our order was clearly called so it was obvious that the person from our table grabbed the wrong order the first time.

Sorry whoever was inconvienced.

I wish that were the worst thing I’ve done in my life.

15

A lot of restaurants lately have started asking for a name for the order instead of just giving you a number, which makes it so much easier for orders to get mixed up. You could have two or three "Bob"s waiting for an order, but you’re only going to have one order #123. In fact this is why I don’t go to Panera anymore, after an order name mix-up resulted in a manager literally throwing my bag of food at me. Their old pager system was much better.

16

I’ve seen the same thing in restaurants in the United States. The same rack holds orders placed by customers for pickup, so I’ve taken my orders from there.

17

I suspect that DoorDash had some other reason to suspect this driver. Possibly they’d had other incidents with them, or possibly they have GPS information for drivers that didn’t show him getting anywhere near your address.

18

Last time I thought I’d order a pizza to be delivered the bill - with all the fees, taxes, etc. - came to about $60. For a fucking pizza! Cancelled.

19

Pizza, Chinese food and subs like Jimmy John’s seem like the worst time to be using these services since most places still have their own drivers and aren’t charging you a $15 “Service fee” on top of higher base prices. I see places like Domino’s on DoorDash and wonder who is ordering that versus just ordering from Domino’s (where you also get points towards free food).

Food services are more useful if you want a burger or Mexican or some other option that usually doesn’t have in-house delivery.

20

I use door dash. My bags always have a seal at the top. Preventing anyone from enjoying a few fries or whatever is in the bag.

I would call customer support if the seal was broken.

That doesn’t help if the driver takes the whole bag and doesn’t deliver.

They can eat the Onions on my Quarter pounder. :see_no_evil:

I did have a Driver that had the bag rip open as she got out of the car. Cheap bags. The drink spilled on my food. She called me and then went back to the restaurant. I added $5 to her tip. I felt so bad for her. That’s happened to me and I wasn’t working for anyone. It was my own meal.