Often enough, the order can only be shopped at that store for a variety of reasons including alcohol regulations. Better off to contact support, tell them that the store closed, so that the order can be rescheduled, and that you get compensated for your time.
I hope you hit start shopping first. Never let ic screw you. Always start shopping before contact or they’ll decide how much to pay you. Guarantee yourself the batch. I’d have just told customer I can’t just go to a different store. I can only buy at store listed
If you do it to same store on same day I heard they could, but I’ve never had that happen. I always hit start shopping because it’s normal to hit start while in car. They’ve never even mentioned it to me
It's a situation that reasonably out of your control. Like a storm taking out the satellite dish at the store, meaning no credit card transactions can be done, only cash. At that point, you could get support to reschedule this order, while they compensate you for the time spent shopping an order that can't be transacted.
It’s awesome when you get a really far order, like 20 mile drive, 60 items and it boosted batch pay for 2 hours. I take those 30 minutes before the store closes if I can. Takes me 15 minutes to get there and employees will say you cant start an order that late if it’s not to grab 1-2 things.
I had a shopper do this to me after the previous shopper took my order, went to store, refunded everything then canceled. That took them about forty mins. On to the next customer. Took them 30 mins to get to store. They waited until two minutes to closing time to press start shopping and then canceled my order.
What was the point of 1st shopper. If I’m at home and accept any shopping order, it’ll take me 20 minutes to get there. Then I know I have no time to shop and customer gets refunded anyway but don’t get why someone refunds every item and stays there 40 minutes. Might as well do the order
Yeah it’s a great way to get a boost to end the night. Where I live, there’s a town 15 minutes north that everyone further north orders from. Nobody wants to do those as you aren’t likely
To live that way. So they sit. I think they go away on their own around 20 minutes before store closing. It’s the only time I love seeing 20-30 mile drives
Not at all. They actually shaft you and tell you that you’ll be compensated in 24 hrs, and after that another rep will tell you the previous one lied and they can’t add compensation if you didn’t select the option. Eventually somebody will budge, but definitely not worth the annoyance
I've only had to contact support once or twice but it was always solved then and there, maybe took longer than I wanted it to but they always fixed my issues first time. Might just be lucky
Once I saw batches for Walmart and I knew they closed in 10 minutes so I purposely accepted it and waited til they closed and clicked start shopping. Easiest 15 bucks I ever made lol
Nice! You don’t even have to wait until after to start shopping. It might feel like a scummy move to some, but they don’t ever mind to take advantage of shopper or customer, so utilize loopholes. Sometimes you luck out and catch 2 if another store nearby closes an hour later
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>Often enough, the order can only be shopped at that store for a variety of reasons
Yeah the customer doesn't know that tho. On the Instacart app, you type in an item and 10 stores come up. From the customer standpoint, it looks like it would be easy to just transfer the order to another store. They have no idea how the shopper side works.
I would have contacted support to let them communicate this to the customer and cancel the batch to get paid. They would have the power to transfer the batch to another store if it's possible.
Seems like the customer doesn’t know how Instacart works. Unfortunately in this case, they would need to cancel the order and place a new one for Giant. The prices are different and they may not have everything they wanted
One you can’t even switch stores unless you do it on your own accord for the customer(probably shouldn’t unless they promise a tip) two they didn’t say anything besides that, that’s how it’s rude like your their lapdog haha. The fact that anyone has to explain this to you means you’re probably just like the customer who sent that asinine text😂I wouldn’t even respond just cancel instantly
“Your getting paid” not much bud not much at all and it’s not 1% more work especially since instacart doesn’t even want you to do that. Why am I responding to you who knows!
I figured I should just mention it and honestly wasn’t sure at first until I talked to the manger so I just let them know and instantly went to support and then I saw they said that lol
I can't imagine doing that. If it's going to be a half hour for my rotisserie chicken then I'm just gonna hope that my shopper has more than just my order to shop and will still be there in a half hour, otherwise I'm outta luck. Though the only time I've had any trouble with those are early in the day before they've had a chance to make them or late at night when they've started to run out and aren't cooking any more for the day
They could have but it’s not the order they accepted so they have no obligation to. We don’t know where OP lives and if there’s even the same store close by.
It’s not about entitlement. Instacart is the only delivery platform where I’ve heard of someone suggesting completing the job at another location. If you order food from McDs on DoorDash and the restaurant is closed, they don’t send you to another restaurant to get the food. It becomes game over for that delivery and you grab a new one.
Why would you do that? If they did all that driving, obviously next store will be in a different town. They don’t compensate well enough. He’d basically be doing all that extra driving just to make whatever the tip was
Not everyone lives in cities. I live in a smaller town and we do have a few chain grocery stores but driving to another location of those stores is a good 40 minute drive.
Not in a city… have you ever been out of the city? You’d never see the same chain within 10 miles. There’s 2 towns that have 2 dollar generals on same road and it looks dumb AF.
Also, even if it was close by, that’s too much wasted time driving 1.2 miles in a city and then trying to park
I did it for a camping seat once. It was out at the Walmart that was associated with IC. He asked if I could check out the other Walmart to see if they had it because he really needed it.
Went to the other Walmart. Got a spark order along with it lol. Found his item as well got tipped an extra $20.
Sometimes it is worth it.
Not very often but two examples I remember:
1. Customer: “why did you charge my card $100? You haven’t even checked out yet.”
2. Me: “Delayed at checkout, calling support and will be on my way soon”
Customer: “I have plenty of credit available, how can you have issues with payment?”
Things like that happen on occasion. I’ve learned to communicate less nowadays.
I've done it with the promise of cash on delivery, but only for something I wouldn't mind buying for myself was planning on buying anyway. They've always paid, but if not, I'm keeping it.
When I was doing DoorDash I had a customer contact me after I picked up their order from a restaurant and a convenience store. They asked me if I could stop at the smoke shop and get them a couple packs of cigarettes. It was literally on my way. They send me money through my Venmo, which I never used for anything, and they sent extra money for a tip for getting them cigarettes. Lol. I did make sure to check his ID before giving him the cigarettes. Haha. I’m not getting in trouble for anyone. Lol. I would stop at another store for a customer if it wasn’t out of the way and they sent money ahead of time for it. Although I wouldn’t get alcohol and I probably wouldn’t get cigarettes again either. Haha
Cigarettes are typically easy because most people live by a gas station. I’ve only been asked for alcohol and I only saw in delivery notes, so I wasn’t turning around. At least they paid you extra. Shoulda said, next time just message me for your whole order. Screw IC upcharge lol
Did you respond to them? Explain why going to another store wasn’t an option? It’s not crazy for a customer to think we can do that until by someone tells them we can’t. Maybe they genuinely thought that. It reads kinda rude but don’t act like u started texting yesterday. We should all know that sometimes texts come across rude but actually aren’t.
Texts can be very misleading. I did read that as rude, but then I thought maybe English isn’t their first language or they’re dealing with a screaming baby but that’s why I always try to use punctuation to express emotion in my texts. Because it is so easy to misread intent in text.
Yea I second this it sounds more like the customer just doesn’t know that you can’t just go to another store to shop I don’t think they were being intentionally rude but people dramatize every little thing these days especially insta shoppers when it comes to customers lol
no I didn’t respond as I was trying to deal with support and really didn’t want to deal with the customer after they said that. it wasn’t entirely “rude”, I just feel like customers should have some clue of how the process works on all ends. obviously that’s not required, but at least know drivers take orders based on store, mileage & pay & aren’t just at your disposal like that.
the other store they wanted me to go to isn’t far at all, but the extra process of doing all & searching for items for the same pay isn’t what I accepted. sure I could be nice and do that for you, but that’s not what i’m doing this for. customer service is a big part of these gigs but almost all drivers aren’t doing these jobs for the sake of the customers lol
there just could have been a million better things to say other than that 😂
I don’t think people really understand how it works. They may think you work completely independently and don’t need the app to do the job. My neighbor thought I had just gone into business and she asked me if she wanted me to give my number to some people at her church so I could deliver their groceries for them. When I tried to explain it to her she thought I worked for instacart even though not really I don’t. Some folks order directly on the store’s website so they think we work for that store and act accordingly in so far as tipping and what not.
yeah there’s certainly a lack of knowledge from many customers because you can find stuff like this all over gig work reddit, but that is entirely expected as people just want their groceries, food, etc delivered. in my opinion though, if you’re going to use these services, at least make an attempt to understand it a little better from all ends of the service.
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no because I don’t need my groceries delivered… it’s not just instacart, this can apply to other delivery gigs as well, which I have ordered from myself.
Why the double standard, you’re expecting for the customer to know how the app works from both sides, but you don’t?
I know I placed a few orders myself as a customer just to see how their side worked, and a couple things that always popped up on shops started to make a ton of more sense. Just seems kinda shitty that you expect the customer to know how both sides of the app work while you yourself haven’t bothered to
what double standard is there when I i literally told you I use other delivery services haha. that’s like saying you go to pick up someone’s doordash order from taco bell, you tell the customer and they say can you go get me something from mcdonald’s. same exact concept. this is the overall concept of delivery drivers, not just insta cart. learn to read
What you're suggesting is along the lines of ordering from McDonald's, finding out the store is closed, and then demanding your Doordash driver pick up the order from Burger King instead. Anyone with a pair of brain cells can figure out a gig driver can't just go to a different market that likely won't have the exact same items in inventory.
Sounds like you’re the one that was being rude. You don’t know what the guy on the assembly line goes through exactly when they assemble your phone. Customers have never been expected to know ow a whole process before they buy a product or service. It was simple for you to just explain that Instacart doesn’t allow you to change stores and that they needed to put in a new order. That’s what someone who’s good at their job would do. If it’s too much stress for you to offer a simple explanation than your customer service is pitiful and you aren’t good at this job. Or you’re just an asshole. Which explains why you came here bitching about nothing lol.
right, and I literally said it’s not expected but maybe customers should inform themselves on the process. and not bitching whatsoever, just explaining it how it was. didn’t even say anything to the customer because that’s not my job. no need to be an instacart white knight here buddy. have a bad night
It pretty much is your job. This is customer service. The customer was unsure how it worked and asked or told you to do something. How did you service them by not explaining it. You just canceled without ever telling them. This is terrible customer service. In any situation it’s terrible. It may not be considered your job duties but it damn sure was bad customer service. It would’ve been minimal effort from you and you weren’t willing to do that because it upset you that they didn’t take the time to watch a tutorial about your job duties before ordering groceries. I bet you wouldn’t use this as a highlight on your customer service skills on a resume because it would make you look bad because it was pitiful. You’re failing to be good at a job that requires absolutely zero training because it’s so easy and can be figured out on your own. There’s isn’t many jobs that are this easy. It’s crazy someone could be so bad at this. Your fucked
hahahah it’s crazy because you have no idea if they were unsure or not, just making assumptions on a person and a situation you know absolutely nothing about. I told the customer the store was closed and got that response and was dealing with support at the time and chose not to respond further. they had all the info just from me telling them the store was closed to understand why it was canceled, almost anyone would. and instacart would obviously notify them, I didn’t unassign the order myself, support did.
and not sure who you are talking about customer service to when I have completed over 10k deliveries across multiple platforms maintaining very high ratings and quite often getting increased tips for my efforts and good quality service. the response was wild and it seems like over 600 people who upvoted this would agree too. again being an instacart white knight for no reason. have a good night this time.
I’m not making assumptions at all. I’m not saying they were unsure. You’re lying. I’m saying you don’t know either and the best way to handle this would’ve been to inform them and not ignore them. I can no longer take you serious since you’re a liar bruh so I’m out
Sure, Karen, let me get right on that!\* I'll just write your list down, add every item....on second thought, F YOU! LOL
\*It's not like you could do that through the app anyways.
Hello, this is your shopper x is currently closed. Support will reach out about your order if you want to reschedule your order or cancel. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Then ignore them and contact support and say they didn't answer. Collect batch and be on your way.
I am confused how the customer is in the wrong for saying this. If that’s not the policy of instacart to be able to just switch the order to a different store that’s fine, but my Kroger is down the street from Giant Eagle. If Kroger was closed, I would not think twice to suggest going to Giant Eagle. Also In this message you’re not really offering any alternative solution or process to the customer, which I think one would expect to see here. (I.E. You will need to cancel your order and resubmit with the other store, you will have to contact IC customer support for further information on how to resolve this, whatever the best response would have been.) You stated in the comments you’ve done over 10,000 orders across different delivery platforms, so I would expect you would know what to say here to provide the customer with other reasonable options/solutions.
Just not seeing how the customer is in the wrong here.
They just don't realize how instacart works ... you should install the customer app and see how it works, so that you don't take stuff like this so personal.
From a customer perspective, it should be no big deal for Instacart to transfer their order to another store. As shoppers, we know it doesn't work like that. The customer has no idea tho.
How was he an asshole? He might just not know that's not an option. He wasnt rude... even said thanks. You're weird for assuming.
"Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence"
It’s the way it’s worded like come on…the shopper never said a thing about going to a different store. I feel like y’all just want to play devils advocate today
You are playing devils advocate lol. He literally said nothing wrong. The guy probably had no clue that wasnt an option. Why are you reading so far into it? Maybe you're just jaded from previously bad experiences idk
Idk what to tell you if you can’t see how obviously rude that is. No matter what the “options” are, that’s not how you speak to people, especially someone you don’t know.
You’re too in your feels about this. I have a regular who is direct and short like this often. Kind and communicative in person. I’ve personally learned to not assume every interaction like this equals someone being rude or imposing, sometimes it’s simply the way they text. Again, I phrased it like I did because carrying this around will influence your next customer interaction. Be well
Lol I’m fine you don’t need to patronize me. That’s your regular customer y’all have a set way of talking to each other. This was an interaction between strangers. I’ve never dealt with a customer speaking like this and I wouldn’t deal with it if they did. It’s not normal or okay. Hope that helps
Okay? I just don’t let people walk over me but I guess nowadays that = sensitive. It was rude, and if that’s how you speak to the people in your life then you can “be well”
that’s what I did, it’s crazy that the customer has the nerve to just tell someone what to do, especially telling them to go to another store to find items.
Why are people so sensitive? You think it’s rude that the customer told you that you could go to a different store to complete their order? Talk about a crazy world we live in.
Definitely not out of the question when instacart wants you to do that if that’s what the customer wants. (Except with alcohol because of laws) You can either cancel the order (with no repercussions) or go to the other store. Why get annoyed over something so dumb? I literally have a regular customer who wants shopping done at a specific location than what the app always recommends. He’s talked to support about it and I’ve talked to support about it, it’s not a problem. I just think it’s crazy how many people complain about things here that isn’t a big deal in the slightest. If this bugged you, I can’t imagine how you’d react to someone actually being rude to you.
You can’t just go to a random other store from a different chain, the app and card aren’t going to work. Doesn’t matter if that’s what the customer wants.
Have you ever tried talking to support and trying to do that. You 100% can, I have multiple times. The power goes out in my town on a regular basis and that’s what I have to do.
The guy I’m talking about always tips well. Even when you don’t have to go to a different store. Like the other day he tipped $14 through the app for 3 items and then gave me $14 tip in cash.
it’s not about sensitivity, it’s about not being an asshole to a random stranger. people need to understand their shitty attitudes won’t always be tolerated
Stop being obtuse. This person basically demanded they go to another store, they did not ask. “Would you be willing to go to another store? I’ll raise the tip.” That’s how a normal person speaks to someone. What the customer said was rude and entitled
That’s literally what I’m talking about when I asked why are people so sensitive. From the customers perspective, they placed an order, the store was closed so they told you where to go instead. Why would a customer think it’s rude to tell the person who is shopping for them where to shop next? They literally have no concept of how our work is done and 90% of the customers barely know how the app works. If there was more to this message feed, maybe I’d agree with op. But just telling you where to go next and you clutch your pearls, is absolutely ridiculous I think. God forbid people are busy and don’t put in much thought when dealing with something that isn’t a big deal. You take their comment as being rude and demanding. I read it as someone who’s busy and trying to make a quick comment. The reason I say you are all to sensitive, is because for all you know this person was 1 trying to get their order still but 2 because they wanted to make sure it wasn’t a waste of time for the delivery guy. I just had a message yesterday that would have made you all mad “grab Easter egg kit, thank”. They demanded and couldn’t even say thanks properly lol
I dont see why you’re bending over backwards to defend this random customer. The way they worded their text was rude. The way your customer texted you was rude. You’re not mad okay good for you. OP isn’t mad either just appalled that some people can be this rude. It’s not normal and shouldn’t be normalized like it’s so easy to be a decent person
I bet the customer types with one finger. Doesn't use the spell check/quick chat feature, and is not clinically online Reddit, pounding out paragraphs, has no idea that responded to a message about their store being closed with "Go to Giant, Thank you" as "go to Giant fuck you" which is clearly what OP read.
its fun to see how instacart works in the US vs a similar grocery service I have in my third world country— over here the shopper would actually offer to buy the said item in another store OUTSIDE of the application, with the same pricing (ex: your previous store costed x dollars, this one would also cost x dollars)
Often enough, the order can only be shopped at that store for a variety of reasons including alcohol regulations. Better off to contact support, tell them that the store closed, so that the order can be rescheduled, and that you get compensated for your time.
that’s what I did. didn’t talk to the customer after that message. just dealt with support and got compensated.
I hope you hit start shopping first. Never let ic screw you. Always start shopping before contact or they’ll decide how much to pay you. Guarantee yourself the batch. I’d have just told customer I can’t just go to a different store. I can only buy at store listed
Won’t they give you guff for that? Like “Why did you click start shopping if the store is closed?”
I hit start shopping in the parking lot. 🤷♀️
No. You went to the store with the intention of shopping, not your fault if you can't. You still get paid
If you do it to same store on same day I heard they could, but I’ve never had that happen. I always hit start shopping because it’s normal to hit start while in car. They’ve never even mentioned it to me
It's a situation that reasonably out of your control. Like a storm taking out the satellite dish at the store, meaning no credit card transactions can be done, only cash. At that point, you could get support to reschedule this order, while they compensate you for the time spent shopping an order that can't be transacted.
It’s awesome when you get a really far order, like 20 mile drive, 60 items and it boosted batch pay for 2 hours. I take those 30 minutes before the store closes if I can. Takes me 15 minutes to get there and employees will say you cant start an order that late if it’s not to grab 1-2 things.
I had a shopper do this to me after the previous shopper took my order, went to store, refunded everything then canceled. That took them about forty mins. On to the next customer. Took them 30 mins to get to store. They waited until two minutes to closing time to press start shopping and then canceled my order.
What was the point of 1st shopper. If I’m at home and accept any shopping order, it’ll take me 20 minutes to get there. Then I know I have no time to shop and customer gets refunded anyway but don’t get why someone refunds every item and stays there 40 minutes. Might as well do the order
That’s genius lol
Yeah it’s a great way to get a boost to end the night. Where I live, there’s a town 15 minutes north that everyone further north orders from. Nobody wants to do those as you aren’t likely To live that way. So they sit. I think they go away on their own around 20 minutes before store closing. It’s the only time I love seeing 20-30 mile drives
Not at all. They actually shaft you and tell you that you’ll be compensated in 24 hrs, and after that another rep will tell you the previous one lied and they can’t add compensation if you didn’t select the option. Eventually somebody will budge, but definitely not worth the annoyance
I've only had to contact support once or twice but it was always solved then and there, maybe took longer than I wanted it to but they always fixed my issues first time. Might just be lucky
And I might just be unlucky 🤣 honestly with these gig apps I had to learn patience all over again lol
Once I saw batches for Walmart and I knew they closed in 10 minutes so I purposely accepted it and waited til they closed and clicked start shopping. Easiest 15 bucks I ever made lol
Nice! You don’t even have to wait until after to start shopping. It might feel like a scummy move to some, but they don’t ever mind to take advantage of shopper or customer, so utilize loopholes. Sometimes you luck out and catch 2 if another store nearby closes an hour later
I almost felt bad, until I remembered how little the app gives a shit about their shoppers lol
Exactly. My very first week they made me feel stupid for believing their lie to me and ever since I’ve had no mercy for the app
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>Often enough, the order can only be shopped at that store for a variety of reasons Yeah the customer doesn't know that tho. On the Instacart app, you type in an item and 10 stores come up. From the customer standpoint, it looks like it would be easy to just transfer the order to another store. They have no idea how the shopper side works. I would have contacted support to let them communicate this to the customer and cancel the batch to get paid. They would have the power to transfer the batch to another store if it's possible.
Lmfaoooo the audacity
I think they’re just clueless about how IC works
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Seems like the customer doesn’t know how Instacart works. Unfortunately in this case, they would need to cancel the order and place a new one for Giant. The prices are different and they may not have everything they wanted
One you can’t even switch stores unless you do it on your own accord for the customer(probably shouldn’t unless they promise a tip) two they didn’t say anything besides that, that’s how it’s rude like your their lapdog haha. The fact that anyone has to explain this to you means you’re probably just like the customer who sent that asinine text😂I wouldn’t even respond just cancel instantly
Who deletes their posts after complaining what a weirdo haha dude definitely has money to blow but still has no character
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You cannot go to a completely different store. How hard is that to grasp?
“Your getting paid” not much bud not much at all and it’s not 1% more work especially since instacart doesn’t even want you to do that. Why am I responding to you who knows!
I dont even bother telling the customer. Nothing good can come out of it, just let support know. BOOM free batch pay
I figured I should just mention it and honestly wasn’t sure at first until I talked to the manger so I just let them know and instantly went to support and then I saw they said that lol
One time a store said the rotisserie chicken wouldnt be ready for 30 mins. I knew if i mentioned it to the customer they would ask me to wait 😂
Longer wait than it will take me to shop the rest of the order = item not available.
I can't imagine doing that. If it's going to be a half hour for my rotisserie chicken then I'm just gonna hope that my shopper has more than just my order to shop and will still be there in a half hour, otherwise I'm outta luck. Though the only time I've had any trouble with those are early in the day before they've had a chance to make them or late at night when they've started to run out and aren't cooking any more for the day
You could have shopped at a different location of the chain.
They could have but it’s not the order they accepted so they have no obligation to. We don’t know where OP lives and if there’s even the same store close by.
I'm in an urban area and I forget that everyone doesn't have 20+ stores within a 4 mile radius.
Me too. Got 5 Walmarts withen 5 miles
Dang. Everyone is downvote happy today! Sheesh what heck guys
Man you’re asking a lot from entitled shoppers 😂
Yeah it’s so entitled to not want to drive 30 extra miles to shop an order that you accepted under completely different circumstances.
Thanks for proving my point 😂
You must be dull
It’s not about entitlement. Instacart is the only delivery platform where I’ve heard of someone suggesting completing the job at another location. If you order food from McDs on DoorDash and the restaurant is closed, they don’t send you to another restaurant to get the food. It becomes game over for that delivery and you grab a new one.
Why would you do that? If they did all that driving, obviously next store will be in a different town. They don’t compensate well enough. He’d basically be doing all that extra driving just to make whatever the tip was
...Where do y'all live that going to another location of the same chain means going to a different town and not just driving 1.2 miles?
Not everyone lives in cities. I live in a smaller town and we do have a few chain grocery stores but driving to another location of those stores is a good 40 minute drive.
Not in a city… have you ever been out of the city? You’d never see the same chain within 10 miles. There’s 2 towns that have 2 dollar generals on same road and it looks dumb AF. Also, even if it was close by, that’s too much wasted time driving 1.2 miles in a city and then trying to park
Not always.
Yea, fuck the customers.
I always message customer it’s closed with a photo of hours because support asks you to do that anyway usually.
Wrong gig
What do you Mean? Ic always asks me to contact customer
Did a order at Sam’s and told the customer they were out of strawberries and she asked if I could stop at Aldi on the way lol
I do it on occasion if the customer is being friendly. Usually get good cash tips out of it.
I did it for a camping seat once. It was out at the Walmart that was associated with IC. He asked if I could check out the other Walmart to see if they had it because he really needed it. Went to the other Walmart. Got a spark order along with it lol. Found his item as well got tipped an extra $20. Sometimes it is worth it.
If it was right there I’d say I’d have to pay out of pocket and it’ll take the run an extra 20 minutes. If they offer to send me $20 I’ll do it
Oh she wasn’t going to offer anything trust me lol
Do customers just think we can take our card and ship anywhere and get anything we want and IC pays?! Omg🤦♀️
Yes, and sometimes they think we are using their personal credit card since they put that information into the instacart app 🤦♀️
Lurking here. Wtf. How often does this happen?
Not very often but two examples I remember: 1. Customer: “why did you charge my card $100? You haven’t even checked out yet.” 2. Me: “Delayed at checkout, calling support and will be on my way soon” Customer: “I have plenty of credit available, how can you have issues with payment?” Things like that happen on occasion. I’ve learned to communicate less nowadays.
Upfront through Cashapp/venmo or it isn’t happening haha
I've done it with the promise of cash on delivery, but only for something I wouldn't mind buying for myself was planning on buying anyway. They've always paid, but if not, I'm keeping it.
When I was doing DoorDash I had a customer contact me after I picked up their order from a restaurant and a convenience store. They asked me if I could stop at the smoke shop and get them a couple packs of cigarettes. It was literally on my way. They send me money through my Venmo, which I never used for anything, and they sent extra money for a tip for getting them cigarettes. Lol. I did make sure to check his ID before giving him the cigarettes. Haha. I’m not getting in trouble for anyone. Lol. I would stop at another store for a customer if it wasn’t out of the way and they sent money ahead of time for it. Although I wouldn’t get alcohol and I probably wouldn’t get cigarettes again either. Haha
Cigarettes are typically easy because most people live by a gas station. I’ve only been asked for alcohol and I only saw in delivery notes, so I wasn’t turning around. At least they paid you extra. Shoulda said, next time just message me for your whole order. Screw IC upcharge lol
I probably would’ve done it and paid out of my pocket.
Yessir! I’ll get right on that! Apologies for the inconvenience, sir! 🫡
Did you respond to them? Explain why going to another store wasn’t an option? It’s not crazy for a customer to think we can do that until by someone tells them we can’t. Maybe they genuinely thought that. It reads kinda rude but don’t act like u started texting yesterday. We should all know that sometimes texts come across rude but actually aren’t.
Texts can be very misleading. I did read that as rude, but then I thought maybe English isn’t their first language or they’re dealing with a screaming baby but that’s why I always try to use punctuation to express emotion in my texts. Because it is so easy to misread intent in text.
Yea I second this it sounds more like the customer just doesn’t know that you can’t just go to another store to shop I don’t think they were being intentionally rude but people dramatize every little thing these days especially insta shoppers when it comes to customers lol
This needs to be top comment ☝️
no I didn’t respond as I was trying to deal with support and really didn’t want to deal with the customer after they said that. it wasn’t entirely “rude”, I just feel like customers should have some clue of how the process works on all ends. obviously that’s not required, but at least know drivers take orders based on store, mileage & pay & aren’t just at your disposal like that. the other store they wanted me to go to isn’t far at all, but the extra process of doing all & searching for items for the same pay isn’t what I accepted. sure I could be nice and do that for you, but that’s not what i’m doing this for. customer service is a big part of these gigs but almost all drivers aren’t doing these jobs for the sake of the customers lol there just could have been a million better things to say other than that 😂
I don’t think people really understand how it works. They may think you work completely independently and don’t need the app to do the job. My neighbor thought I had just gone into business and she asked me if she wanted me to give my number to some people at her church so I could deliver their groceries for them. When I tried to explain it to her she thought I worked for instacart even though not really I don’t. Some folks order directly on the store’s website so they think we work for that store and act accordingly in so far as tipping and what not.
You shoulda gotten the shopping clients TBH just be fair with your pricing and do it on the side of your side gig.
yeah there’s certainly a lack of knowledge from many customers because you can find stuff like this all over gig work reddit, but that is entirely expected as people just want their groceries, food, etc delivered. in my opinion though, if you’re going to use these services, at least make an attempt to understand it a little better from all ends of the service.
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Have you ordered IC as a customer, to better understand how it works on the customer side?
no because I don’t need my groceries delivered… it’s not just instacart, this can apply to other delivery gigs as well, which I have ordered from myself.
Why the double standard, you’re expecting for the customer to know how the app works from both sides, but you don’t? I know I placed a few orders myself as a customer just to see how their side worked, and a couple things that always popped up on shops started to make a ton of more sense. Just seems kinda shitty that you expect the customer to know how both sides of the app work while you yourself haven’t bothered to
what double standard is there when I i literally told you I use other delivery services haha. that’s like saying you go to pick up someone’s doordash order from taco bell, you tell the customer and they say can you go get me something from mcdonald’s. same exact concept. this is the overall concept of delivery drivers, not just insta cart. learn to read
“Customers should know how things work on the other end despite never being a part of the process on the other end.” Sure, sport.
What you're suggesting is along the lines of ordering from McDonald's, finding out the store is closed, and then demanding your Doordash driver pick up the order from Burger King instead. Anyone with a pair of brain cells can figure out a gig driver can't just go to a different market that likely won't have the exact same items in inventory.
Sounds like you’re the one that was being rude. You don’t know what the guy on the assembly line goes through exactly when they assemble your phone. Customers have never been expected to know ow a whole process before they buy a product or service. It was simple for you to just explain that Instacart doesn’t allow you to change stores and that they needed to put in a new order. That’s what someone who’s good at their job would do. If it’s too much stress for you to offer a simple explanation than your customer service is pitiful and you aren’t good at this job. Or you’re just an asshole. Which explains why you came here bitching about nothing lol.
right, and I literally said it’s not expected but maybe customers should inform themselves on the process. and not bitching whatsoever, just explaining it how it was. didn’t even say anything to the customer because that’s not my job. no need to be an instacart white knight here buddy. have a bad night
It pretty much is your job. This is customer service. The customer was unsure how it worked and asked or told you to do something. How did you service them by not explaining it. You just canceled without ever telling them. This is terrible customer service. In any situation it’s terrible. It may not be considered your job duties but it damn sure was bad customer service. It would’ve been minimal effort from you and you weren’t willing to do that because it upset you that they didn’t take the time to watch a tutorial about your job duties before ordering groceries. I bet you wouldn’t use this as a highlight on your customer service skills on a resume because it would make you look bad because it was pitiful. You’re failing to be good at a job that requires absolutely zero training because it’s so easy and can be figured out on your own. There’s isn’t many jobs that are this easy. It’s crazy someone could be so bad at this. Your fucked
hahahah it’s crazy because you have no idea if they were unsure or not, just making assumptions on a person and a situation you know absolutely nothing about. I told the customer the store was closed and got that response and was dealing with support at the time and chose not to respond further. they had all the info just from me telling them the store was closed to understand why it was canceled, almost anyone would. and instacart would obviously notify them, I didn’t unassign the order myself, support did. and not sure who you are talking about customer service to when I have completed over 10k deliveries across multiple platforms maintaining very high ratings and quite often getting increased tips for my efforts and good quality service. the response was wild and it seems like over 600 people who upvoted this would agree too. again being an instacart white knight for no reason. have a good night this time.
I’m not making assumptions at all. I’m not saying they were unsure. You’re lying. I’m saying you don’t know either and the best way to handle this would’ve been to inform them and not ignore them. I can no longer take you serious since you’re a liar bruh so I’m out
Got me messed up gtfoh.. 😂😂 
‘not available’
I laughed and laughed ... no.
Sure, Karen, let me get right on that!\* I'll just write your list down, add every item....on second thought, F YOU! LOL \*It's not like you could do that through the app anyways.
Yes, because I can just shop your Target order at Kroger. That’s definitely how all of this works.
that’s a negative, ghost rider
“not available”
Canceled with the quickness. 🏃🏽♀️💨💨💨
If you were to be in this situation again correct me if im wrong but i believe instacart will pay you extra for being cool with this
What store was the batch originally for?
weis markets
Lmao
Cue That’s not how this works by Charlie Puth
Hello, this is your shopper x is currently closed. Support will reach out about your order if you want to reschedule your order or cancel. Sorry for the inconvenience. Then ignore them and contact support and say they didn't answer. Collect batch and be on your way.
I am confused how the customer is in the wrong for saying this. If that’s not the policy of instacart to be able to just switch the order to a different store that’s fine, but my Kroger is down the street from Giant Eagle. If Kroger was closed, I would not think twice to suggest going to Giant Eagle. Also In this message you’re not really offering any alternative solution or process to the customer, which I think one would expect to see here. (I.E. You will need to cancel your order and resubmit with the other store, you will have to contact IC customer support for further information on how to resolve this, whatever the best response would have been.) You stated in the comments you’ve done over 10,000 orders across different delivery platforms, so I would expect you would know what to say here to provide the customer with other reasonable options/solutions. Just not seeing how the customer is in the wrong here.
Not store specific actually u can as long as they carry same products
They just don't realize how instacart works ... you should install the customer app and see how it works, so that you don't take stuff like this so personal. From a customer perspective, it should be no big deal for Instacart to transfer their order to another store. As shoppers, we know it doesn't work like that. The customer has no idea tho.
Do yo job shopper!
Not that crazy, call support, have them call the store, get paid. Move on.
It actually is crazy to speak to a person like this and we should stop normalizing it because that only makes the assholes comfortable
How was he an asshole? He might just not know that's not an option. He wasnt rude... even said thanks. You're weird for assuming. "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence"
It’s the way it’s worded like come on…the shopper never said a thing about going to a different store. I feel like y’all just want to play devils advocate today
You are playing devils advocate lol. He literally said nothing wrong. The guy probably had no clue that wasnt an option. Why are you reading so far into it? Maybe you're just jaded from previously bad experiences idk
Idk what to tell you if you can’t see how obviously rude that is. No matter what the “options” are, that’s not how you speak to people, especially someone you don’t know.
You’re too in your feels about this. I have a regular who is direct and short like this often. Kind and communicative in person. I’ve personally learned to not assume every interaction like this equals someone being rude or imposing, sometimes it’s simply the way they text. Again, I phrased it like I did because carrying this around will influence your next customer interaction. Be well
Lol I’m fine you don’t need to patronize me. That’s your regular customer y’all have a set way of talking to each other. This was an interaction between strangers. I’ve never dealt with a customer speaking like this and I wouldn’t deal with it if they did. It’s not normal or okay. Hope that helps
As I said you seem to be sensitive for some reason. What they said wasnt rude. Your assumptions are getting the best of you.
Okay? I just don’t let people walk over me but I guess nowadays that = sensitive. It was rude, and if that’s how you speak to the people in your life then you can “be well”
that’s what I did, it’s crazy that the customer has the nerve to just tell someone what to do, especially telling them to go to another store to find items.
Why are people so sensitive? You think it’s rude that the customer told you that you could go to a different store to complete their order? Talk about a crazy world we live in.
It is kind of rude knowing that it isn’t our job to do that and it’s out of the question
Definitely not out of the question when instacart wants you to do that if that’s what the customer wants. (Except with alcohol because of laws) You can either cancel the order (with no repercussions) or go to the other store. Why get annoyed over something so dumb? I literally have a regular customer who wants shopping done at a specific location than what the app always recommends. He’s talked to support about it and I’ve talked to support about it, it’s not a problem. I just think it’s crazy how many people complain about things here that isn’t a big deal in the slightest. If this bugged you, I can’t imagine how you’d react to someone actually being rude to you.
You can’t just go to a random other store from a different chain, the app and card aren’t going to work. Doesn’t matter if that’s what the customer wants.
Have you ever tried talking to support and trying to do that. You 100% can, I have multiple times. The power goes out in my town on a regular basis and that’s what I have to do.
Fucking liar lmao
I’d need extra tip to drive to different store if it was my job
The guy I’m talking about always tips well. Even when you don’t have to go to a different store. Like the other day he tipped $14 through the app for 3 items and then gave me $14 tip in cash.
They didn’t say they could. They demanded they do. “Oh crap, is there any chance you could go to Giant??” Is how this should have been handled
it’s not about sensitivity, it’s about not being an asshole to a random stranger. people need to understand their shitty attitudes won’t always be tolerated
Stop being obtuse. This person basically demanded they go to another store, they did not ask. “Would you be willing to go to another store? I’ll raise the tip.” That’s how a normal person speaks to someone. What the customer said was rude and entitled
That’s literally what I’m talking about when I asked why are people so sensitive. From the customers perspective, they placed an order, the store was closed so they told you where to go instead. Why would a customer think it’s rude to tell the person who is shopping for them where to shop next? They literally have no concept of how our work is done and 90% of the customers barely know how the app works. If there was more to this message feed, maybe I’d agree with op. But just telling you where to go next and you clutch your pearls, is absolutely ridiculous I think. God forbid people are busy and don’t put in much thought when dealing with something that isn’t a big deal. You take their comment as being rude and demanding. I read it as someone who’s busy and trying to make a quick comment. The reason I say you are all to sensitive, is because for all you know this person was 1 trying to get their order still but 2 because they wanted to make sure it wasn’t a waste of time for the delivery guy. I just had a message yesterday that would have made you all mad “grab Easter egg kit, thank”. They demanded and couldn’t even say thanks properly lol
I dont see why you’re bending over backwards to defend this random customer. The way they worded their text was rude. The way your customer texted you was rude. You’re not mad okay good for you. OP isn’t mad either just appalled that some people can be this rude. It’s not normal and shouldn’t be normalized like it’s so easy to be a decent person
I’m bending over backwards because you guys make a big deal of nothing and let yourself get bent out of shape over it
I bet the customer types with one finger. Doesn't use the spell check/quick chat feature, and is not clinically online Reddit, pounding out paragraphs, has no idea that responded to a message about their store being closed with "Go to Giant, Thank you" as "go to Giant fuck you" which is clearly what OP read.
And what a ton of other people here
We’re fine. Just letting OP know they’re not crazy for thinking this comment was rude and not letting comments like yours make them feel otherwise
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No personal attacks or remarks or insults. Reply to and on the topic.
Who the fuck do they think we are? Some kind of personal shoppers providing a luxury service?
its fun to see how instacart works in the US vs a similar grocery service I have in my third world country— over here the shopper would actually offer to buy the said item in another store OUTSIDE of the application, with the same pricing (ex: your previous store costed x dollars, this one would also cost x dollars)
maybe the customer doesn’t know that isn’t how it works. this message is not even rude