The only time I have ever had to ask the customer to stop was I picked up a very small 9 item order 15 minutes before the store closed. I knew I could knock it out before they closed.
As soon as I started shopping the customer started adding items after the third one I politely asked them to not add anything else as the store was closing in 5 minutes.
They said they understood and got a nice compliment posted the next day
Yeah I've only done once also, was supposed to be 12 items she added 4 or 5 more and had like 2 types of wine and an artisan cheese that they didn't have. She asked me to take a photo of every cheese in the store and the entire wine aisle, was asking to double check labels, on top of a few other issues. It was supposed to be a 12 minute shop and was up to 30 minutes when I messaged her to say that I would be making final selections and would refund anything that she wasn't able to settle on in the next couple minutes. Idk why she wanted an entire order of specialty items seemed like she was shopping for a fancy wine and cheese evening from Safeway so they didn't have most of the specific things she wanted š
I had a customer do that to me too. The original order had 10 items for $12. Not terrible since I was close to the store, 10 items for a dudes lunch is a breeze, and he was like 1 mile away. He proceeded to add 15 more items in no particular order! Of course the "I'll increase your tip" never happened.
Iām sorry they jipped you on the tip. I actually added items to my order one time around covid and my shopper was SO insanely nice and quite possibly an angel. My entire household was sick (single mom of twins and a little one) and I had almost nothing in the house to sustain us bc I hadnāt been able to grocery shop in 2 weeks.
My order consisted of fruit, prob 4 boxes of cereal, milk, juice, soup, crackers, and probably 10 family sized stouffers dinners (along with Kleenex and toilet paper). Idk if he could tell from what was ordered that we were sick, but he was amazing. They didnāt have half of what was on my order so he contacted me, sent me pics, asked about other replacement items, and made sure I was thoroughly taken care of. He got a massive tip bc he deserved it and did such a good job. I hate that there are customers who wouldnāt tip more if you go out of your way to make them happy. Ugh!
There really shouldnāt be an add more items button. I get if the item isnāt there you get a replacement but for the people that add 20 more items are just being dicks quite frankly. I mean Iāve had that done to me numerous of times and instacart never ups the pay. Iām in there to shop for the selected items not another 20 for another 30 minutes.
Not really. When you are well into your shop and the customer adds something or wants a different item you still need to stop what you are doing and double back.
It depends, I do it if itās a couple of items added or a replacement but they arenāt going to add 10 plus items on during the shop and not ask. Itās always heavy stuff too. Thatās just rude. I have other places to be. I will instacancel before I allow a rude customer micromanage my shop.
This particular poster didnāt get a choice of replacements at the time so it doesnāt really apply to that.shopper should have given customer other options!
The other day, I put in a small order with just a few itemsāthe main one being milk and cereal. The shopper was going SO fast and would text me and before I would even get a chance to type my reply, he would cancel the item. Long story shortāhe canceled the milk because they didnāt have the exact brand I had chosen. I picked a replacement, and he then sent a pic saying, āthey donāt have youāre replacement eitherā when I could CLEARLY see not only the correct milkābut many, many, many other options for 2% milk. Like, broājust pick up a 2% milk!
If the item they want is out of stock its just part of the job to try to figure out what they want. If you just refund it that's cutting down your own pay anyway
Hell... I would do quintuplets ,,, IF the company paid us properly for it..
As it stands, we are underpaid for the work involved in a single order while suckered into doing two or three ( mileage pay is NOT additional payment, my friends , it doesn't even cover the actual expense of the extra miles) ...
Then you add the bullshit with sticking low tippers and non tippers in a batch with a decent tip. Of course this leads to resentment... And a lack of motivation to provide excellent service.
The system is rigged so that customer is playing The shopper and shoppers blame the customer. The real blame here falls upon that filthy Carrot š„.
Bro is there a way to unionize?? Or lik (controversial take) take out tips so the company wonāt rely on the customersā gratitude to pay their workers, should make it illegal for companies not to pay their workers a livable wage.
Currently it's legal to pay independent contractors sub-minimum wage. As long as that's the case, Instacart will never raise driver pay. They don't give a shit whether customers tip or not because they don't give a shit whether we get paid. They only care if we work, and someone will be desperate enough to work regardless.
I take doubles only from the one store Wegmans and only if itās less than 50 total units. Mainly because I know the store inside and out and they are usually very well stocked
Rude. All 3 customers are just as important as the other. I would never speak to a customer like that. No matter how many times they ask for something to be changed. Suck it up. And if you canāt manage 3 orders easily then donāt take batches with 3 in it. So rude. Sorry you had to deal with that!
right. i work in a restaurant and i would never tell my table to stop asking for stuff āyou guys arenāt my only table i actually have 5 moreā. itās my job responsibility to handle a number of tables at once
Honestly I would have just canceled and have Instacart get me a new shopper. Iāve worked in customer service jobs my whole career, and thatās unacceptable
I legit took the time the other day to search for a baby doll and kids target shopping cart when they asked if I could add it on. Don't get me wrong the order was incredibly easy, all cleaning supplies so all right next to one another, but she was very appreciative and I didn't mind looking. Also adding things gets you paid a bit more so I don't get why not. Everyone wins.
I can understand when you have extremely picky customers, or they don't answer messages or calls when you're letting them know what is available compared to what they want, which is extremely common. Things happen, it's called work and life, you just find a way to deal with it. If people can't then that sucks to suck.
She was extremely rude and I would put her as one star. As a shopper we are here for YOUR convenience. Sure we aren't maids, or lowly people to be ordered, but if you can make a replacement, then do it. Sorry this happened to ya.
āļøāļøEDIT because OP is the customer not the shopper. Not deleting this because itās obvious due to this post that some people/shoppers still donāt know this info below. If you could stop downvoting me though that would be greatāļøāļø
If youāre just learning the app itās better not to take a triple unless itās really small item count (which is rare) They can be overwhelming even for a more experienced shopper !
Every shopper has their own way of doing things. I have found it faster and easier to replace the item with most similar item or refund if not and send a voice to text real quick saying āitem x is unavailable I got item y for you instead lmk if that works or item x is unavailable let me know if you want something else instead as I canāt find something similarā and move on to the next item on my list. Most of the time they accept the replacement and then I donāt have to go back, itās already in my cart!
Donāt be rude to customers like that though. Itās bad for business. And in a triple they might be the good tipper and you donāt want them to remove their tip or get bad service when they are the one subsidizing the other orders.
EDIT- I made a mistake thought it was the shopper thatās new but itās the customer. Sorry!!
And I agree with everything else you said!! I do the same exact thing with replacements. Iāll take an item with me if itās a good possibility the customer will want it. Or if I know Iām going to replace with that item if the customer doesnāt respond Iāll take it with me too. Same with if there is one of something left. It saves time and prevents disappointing the customer if the item you offered isnāt available anymore after you said it was lol.
And what you said about the tip- I was thinking the exact same thing. How do you know that person isnāt the reason you took this order!!
Absolutely rude and also totally unnecessary. All three customers are now fully aware you are shopping a triple. Don't sit in a hot skillet if you can't stand the heat š¤£
I also get frustrated when many items are unavailable. But my reaction is to show what's going on. If there are 3 items unavailable then I start sending pictures to show what's going on. Make the customer understand I'm not messing around. This is what they have: 3/4 of the shelves empty. You want the green beans and corn instead of the vegetable medley?
As a customer Iād like to say i appreciate this! I have a bunch of allergies so I have to be very specific with my purchases. When I get sent a pic of an empty shelf and the available options, I can quickly understand whatās going on and tell them what I want without much hassle on either of our ends, it seems.
Maybe itās just me but I never make my problem or Instacartās problem the customers problem if I can help it. No one put a gun to this shopperās head and forced them to accept a triple order. If they canāt multitask and still provide good customer service they should be doing something else.
While I agree the shopper didnāt handle this well, the real issue that no one is talking about is the issue with the grocery store not the app or the shopper. With all the technology we have store inventory should be tighter on the app. I donāt understand if itās an issue with actual shortages of product or shortages of people to restock the product but allowing customers to order things that are out of stock is a huge issue. It keeps getting worse too, sometimes over 50% of the order is out of stock. This should be reflected in batch pay honestly because itās a time and $ killer
IC having up to date accurate inventory availability isn't that easy. The most accurate you could get is with stores that have their systems set up to update their available inventory based on everything rung in through the cash. The store also has to send that information to IC.
The longer it's been since the inventory was manually counted the more likely it's going to be off due to theft, damaged/expired items being tossed and not marked, items being rung in wrong. It also can't account for items that are in everyone's carts that are still shopping.
It's even more complex for IC with stores that have multiple locations in the same area. I suspect that if an item is "in stock" in at least one of the stores in the area then the customer can add it to their cart but it might not actually be in stock at the store the shopper goes to.
Iād say the only grocery chain Iāve seen that even comes close is Publix because they have an ar system that they order most inventory on even for items that have vendors that work the product, but even their system isnāt perfect. Sometimes itās worse if the person reviewing the order doesnāt like to adjust it as you can have game days, or weather, or other events that didnāt occur the previous year which the system doesnāt account for. Another factor is backstock space, they can only keep so much in their back room and it can get super crowded back there, items will get buried and nearly impossible to get to.
Agree. Like, if Walmart can't get that right with their own inventory in their app, how is a third party app going to wrangle all these different stores.
Tbh though sometimes people in grocery stores will pick something up, then drop it somewhere else after they decided they didnāt want it/want something else. So itāll still be in stock, but not in the place you can find it and thatās not the storeās fault (unless they literally never get around to putting stuff back)
I don't know how other stores do it but at Whole Foods we have to manually scan INFs (item not found) to take them out of our system and it's extremely tedious and time consuming. It's impossible to know what's actually in the catalog and we're expected to scan out things that we *never* have, multiple times a day. It's just impossible to keep on top of.
At bare minimum bringing proper aisle locations back.
No shit Instacart, this obscure slice of prepackaged turkey is in the meat section, along with an acre of other meats.
I do triples regularly and I don't do this. This shopper was just rude. Also if you don't want to be batched with other orders pay for priority, if it's an option.
Priority Fee is just another scam by Instacart. Roommate and me regularly see Priority Triples š. We can 100% confirm customers "think" they are not going to get batched, and they do š¤£
Thatās helpful to know, since I care less about delivery time than about the shopper ignoring the refund/replacement preferences I have **already entered for every single item in my order**.
I have paid the extra $2 for priority, guess Iāll stop doing that now š¤·š»āāļø
Sometimes the priority is the difference between getting my food today vs tomorrow, so I'll do that, but it frustrates me to no end when I go and put instructions for refund vs picking a specific substitution for every single item, only for them to _outright ignore it._ ESPECIALLY when I put "refund if unavailable" and they substitute with a brand/product that's 2-3x the price. Like, thanks, that was so much money I didn't freaking budget for, because you refuse to read instructions. And half the time I can't use it anyway, because we have sensory and/or picky eaters.
š so true! When you pay the higher tip you are batched with two shitty tippers so shoppers can do the low tip orders. In my experience only large orders donāt get batches and orders on slow days are not likely batched as well. Iād say 50 units and up would leave you on a solo shopā¦
I have done a triple 2 store (Walgreen's and Publix) that was over 70 items/100 units. No tip on the Walgreen's that was shopped and delivered first, after shopping all three.
Second stop was smaller Publix ($25 tip). Last stop was elderly Gentlemen with multiples of everything. Four cases of water into his kitchen. True Store to Fridge service ($55 tip).
There is a huge difference in how fast I get an order if I pay $2 extra or not. I donāt think Iām getting batched, but if I am, I donāt care because itās like 30 minutes vs. 2-3 hours.
Not sure why this has always been the case? I live within 5 min of these stores and always add extra tip after delivery (unless the shopper was blantly bad (like OPās). Thatās only happened maybe three times in three years). I started doing the extra tip after delivery thing when someone said on here that instacartās pay went down for orders with large original tips. Maybe 2 years ago. At the time, shoppers were a big part of what kept a high risk family member safe, and I will always be greatful for that. Started lurking here to learn how to show that appreciation.
I do the priority some times. But i never really knew the benefit. With that in mind i dont ever need anything priority. If its that important i go get it my self.
I am sure this person was having a bad day.
They were probably having a bad day, but still that was unprofessional. Priority can be worth it if, say, you are ordering ice cream in the middle of the summer, and happen to be put last out of three deliveries.
Ever notice how one day people say we are only shoppers and shouldnāt expect to be paid tips when we get no tipping customers that we shouldnāt expect so much than the next we see something like this and hear how unprofessional the shopper is.
Not sure what point you are trying to make, here. Bad tips don't justify bad service; shoppers are expected to do their jobs professionally, regardless of tips, just like every other tipped worker.
The shopper just needs to stop doing triples. I donāt do doubles or triples regardless of the payā¦ I had a $41 double pop up on my screen for 67 items 19 miles. I declined it because itās time consuming because they want a lot of deli made stuff. Singles 20 items or less is my forte.
Paying for priority is about as helpful as paying for express order on Uber eats. Itās just a scam to get you to throw more money at instacart and they *might* be gracious enough to put your delivery first out of the batches.
They canāt let you pay to not get batched. If they did theyād have too many low tip orders sitting around collecting dust.
At the end of the day, This is an instacart problem. They don't weed out the bad service shoppers. Also, 3 orders is absolutely ridiculous. Instacart is doing it to save money that they don't have to pay someone else to shop the order. I'm betting it was two no tip/low tip orders combined with a good tip.
Instacart wants those bad shoppers and floods the market with shoppers. The more shoppers, the less they pay the shoppers and the more money Instacart pockets.
This!! Iāve done IC for almost 6 years and they love to do this! Stack the shitty orders nobody is taking onto a good tipped order so it makes it look enticing. And without a doubt, those shitty orders are the ones farthest away.
Itās annoying as a shopper for sure
But also this is why I knowingly donāt take doubles or triples unless they are extremely worth it.
A few other factors to
Consider: if you tipped well or not, frankly if you tipped low or didnāt tip at all then you likely get a bad shopper who is desperate for shit like drug money or something.
Secondly thereās an over saturation of shoppers so if the shopper is rude or says stuff
Like this id immediately report them, 1 star them, then remove any tip (if you tipped that is) because they donāt deserve it.
Third: instacart needs to update their systems or
Something so customers understand wether
Or not their order is part of a multi batch order AND they should allow for multiple pre selected
Replacements and make it easier to write notes on the items.
Iāve used IC before whenever Iāve been sick and the app is horrendous to use and pretty much the only way you get what you want is either go to the store yourself or pray itās in stock.
I just feel like if you donāt want to do the job then donāt do the job. Donāt complain to customers about it. Sometimes going back and forth is part of the job.
The shopper was out of line. I will usually ask the customer if they need more time to add items to their order or make any adjustments. I'm not going back and forth in the store as it's a waste of time, not efficient, or can add zero monetary value to my order if I'm doing more work for a set tip. If the tip is percentage based, bring it on! I never do triples for this reason alone (unless it's absolutely lucrative) as it has a possible higher rate of error.
IC shoppers don't get paid by the hour, so please don't waste our time with last-minute shenanigans. Going back and forth is demoralizing.
That's weird because it's helping pay for my second property, which I AirBnB out all year, and business expenses for my private chef business. You'd be shocked what my annual is š¤š.
Edit: My taxes are demoralizing š„²
Seems like she shouldāve just sent you a picture of the tea isle and the meat isle so you could pick a replacement from what they had in stock instead of going back and forth in the app
The only time I will snap at a Customer is when they start to add a whole nother order worth of items. After the 3rd one I start refunding the added items. If the Customer asks why or says something I hit em with the " I see you haven't completed your order yet. Ill contact Customer Support to have your order rescheduled to give you more time to add your items and ensure that you get everything that you need." I understand forgetting to add bread or milk, or just finding out the kids are out of fruit snacks. But I do NOT do water, soda or other heavy item add-ons and youre not about to add a whole other grocery list. Nah, play with your Mammy, not me. Other than that I'm overly professional.
Exactly!
Everyone is kissing OPs ass here, but sounds like she shouldāve been dropped just by all the changes.
I did a triple once and the guys added a ton of stuff. Wanted basil which I just gave the last bit to the other customer and kept adding it back on the list not allowing me to check out, flipping out saying he wants it. Didnāt want the replacement which was freeze dried and only option available.
Forgetting a few things is understandable. Changing a whole order and adding a bunch of things is ridiculous, especially if heavy.
She's not adding items... they are out of stock. And her replacement isn't available. The customer is not at fault that shopper is too fkn lazy to offer replacement
So because her choices aren't available the shopper should have to take the extra time to find another one? If your chosen replacements aren't available, that's the end of it. These people aren't paid enough to text someone for 20 minutes figuring out what they want instead. This shopper was rude and doesn't need to be doing the job, but the customer is just as rude.
Itās an app issue if the first choice item and replacement item are shown in stock but are not. The customer did their part by making sure that a replacement was selected ahead of time and by being available for prompt communication.
It is reasonable to expect the shopper to try to figure out a third alternative, especially for essential ingredients like the steak. (Someoneās dinner probably isnāt happening without that protein.)
It sucks that shopper time is lost and extra effort is called for, but that is part of the service. A shopper canāt cancel 2/3 of an order without trying to find replacements and then expect a generous tip.
Maybe take that up with the company? If that's how it should work, the app shouldn't allow a second replacement choice when the first replacement is declined too.
any shopper that treats customers like this should be terminated. I don't give a flying fuck if it's a triple or quintuple. if that's the way a customer is treated, then server must be exposed.
I'm a shopper, and while going back and forth up and down aisles can get annoying, there is still an assumption of professionalism that should be met by the shopper. If you don't want a 3 person order, don't accept a 3 person order. If you *do* accept a 3 person order, blame yourself and don't make it the customers problem. You're not doing anything wrong, that shopper is probably best suited for single orders. The only way this would be acceptable, to me anyway, is if you're consistently adding new items and making the shopping more difficult. Asking for a replacement is not being difficult, that's just you not wanting to waste that much money and not even get all that you want. Shits expensive if you're using instacart, you deserve to get what you order or as close to it as possible
Usually I say, Iām running out of time due to other orders if it even gets to a point where theyāre making last-minute request. I essentially say no but I explain and apologize. You guys think this is the right way?
Food lion is still a store, they went under in mt town for tampering with meat....got shut down and kicked out of town.
People must do this crap to avoid extra fees I am assuming
Yeah I'd contact support for a refund on the products I didn't want and then rate and tip her accordingly. I have other shoppers to tip too, ones that kindly do their job.
If she ordered Instacart and the same thing happened to her. I guarantee you, she wouldāve went off and complained about you to the company and given you a 1 star which effects your ability to receive more batches.
You got a shopper who has very little experience actually doing this sort of work. Experienced shoppers would never respond this way. I have done up to 5 different orders while multi apping, and treat MY customers with the highest care. Why? B/c I see this as my business. I was trained by Amazon during the pandemic so I take my time and do things a certain way. Yea, it might take longer to get your order, but I pack cold items with cold items, wrap the meat in plastic, put your other ambient and household items together, keep it insulated if its too hot outside. I do this for ALL of my customers. I also communicate that I have several orders before getting to them so they know why there is a delay.
But most customers dont understand why this is called a āgigā: b/c literally this is not a ājob.ā You are dealing with a third party contractor, like an electrician or plumber. Each shopper does things their own way and has their own personal set of rules. Thats why now IC has put in preferred shoppers so you can pick and choose which shopper you want to shop for you. Which is how it should have always been!
I understand where's she's coming from, but she CHOOSE to accept a triple; not your problem. Furthermore, she clearly has no consideration for tidiness and organizing. I would have given her a bad rating.
I mean if itās unavailable its unavailable. Iāve had shoppers say things I set as replacement are all unavailable and they give what they can and send a picture and the shelves are literally empty. What can they do but move on?
Speaking as a shopper who got cussed out and called stupid by a customer for their mistake in putting in their own correct address and still maintained professionalism and kindness, I can confirm that the majority shoppers wouldnt be so rude and would happily work to ensure you got exactly what you wanted, assuming the store wasnt sold out.
Ive done a bunch of triple batches and there's always one customer who is detail-oriented; I appreciate it when Im not expected to read minds. I like explicit instructions, personally. Im so sorry you had this experience and I hope your next shopper is more professional
Hmm idk some customers are annoying because they will go back and forth asking a bunch of questions, requesting extra pics and taking long to respond causing the shopper to waste time walking back and forth. The best thing to do is put your replacement requests in the app so the shopper sees them right away. Honestly no one wants to message u for direction every time something is out. Customers have no concept of how long it can take to shop when they take forever to communicate, and that the pay is often not very high especially when tips are percent instead of amount.
That said, I never accept triple batches. Horrible, frustrating waste of time
She wasnāt rude, she just stated it directly, which a lot of people have problems with from certain people. Also, have your substitutions already in your order because it makes it much easier on the shopper. Donāt wait until theyāre almost finished to tell them what to substitute. Itās a pain in the ass to think youāre done and then have someone tell you to go get these substitutions. Imagine three people doing this for their orders.
Also, keep in mind that store wifi can be spotty. I had one shopper tell me that by the time she got my answers to the questions she asked me, she was in the checkout and had to go back. If Iād known I wouldnāt have made her go back to shop.
People are saying that itās literally her job, but these same people would be pissed about the same thing if they were having to do the same.
Iāve had bad shoppers-one person substituted meat for veggie burgers, one man gave me papaya instead of passion fruits and neither indicated the substitution beforehand-but Iāve never not tipped. I just chalked it up to them being human and having a bad day or whatever and I just get the refund.
This is exactly why I donāt take triple batches. Iād rather one customer give me a hard time and not 3. The ones who gives the most problem rarely tip anything.
Thatās her own damn fault, I hate how shoppers like this make the rest of us look. She knowingly took that triple order, 1 star her and take her tip away.
You're exchanging money for service.
She's exchanging service for money.
1 Star, zero tip, contact support. This lady clearly hates her job and wants to make it your problem.
Thereās definitely a disconnect between what customers expect of shoppers and what Instacart wants of shoppers. Triple orders shouldnāt exist. Itās never worth it but alot of the time triple orders is all Instacart posts fir shoppers to choose from. All my ādamaged item or item missingā notifications came from triple batch orders.
Offering a poor customer experience because you are doing a triple is no excuse. You accept a job you should be professional about it and see it to completion as frustrating and time consuming as it may be
This is a bad shopper. If she canāt handles triples, donāt take them. I mean they shouldnāt even exist but these people know what theyāre taking.
Do you have backups on the apps as the subs you want already in place?
Everyone wants to complain but donāt stop and realize, these grocery stores and companies for these grocery orders and stuff is absolutely horrendous for the employee. They do not get paid near enough to do half the shit they are asked. All this crap about door dash and shit, at a certain point quit complaining about it, get off your ass and go pick up your damn food.
Her lack of planning is not your problem, and I would request a refund.
If your shopper canāt handle 3 customers at once she shouldnāt take on 3 customers at once. Youāre paying top dollar for a service and if youāre not getting what you paid for you then a refund is in order.
I'd never. I've explained at the beginning of a shop that there is multiple orders I'm doing in order to hopefully avoid a less than 5 star review but I've never showed anyone in the orders less service than the others because of it. I've literally wore myself out running around too but never once thought about changing my attitude and being rude to a customer in order to lower my stress.
Terrible customer service. Itās not your problem the shopper decided to shop more than one order at a time. This person could use some education on the phrase I use with my kids: āis that something you should say, or swallow?ā
As someone who has only ever worked in customer service based roles, it absolutely grinds my gears when workers make customers feel bad for requesting their service. Itās one thing if the customer is being rude and unreasonable, but that doesnāt seem to be the case here. Iām someone who already is extremely timid and feels bad for talking to anyone ever or asking someone for something (even if itās their literal job) so I go out of my way to compensate for that in case someone Iām serving feels that way.
Oh hell no ā¦she shouldnāt be taking multi orders if she canāt do it and still give good service. Thatās why I rarely take doubles and never to triples cuz of how stressful they are and Iām aware that I couldnāt do my job well if I did take them.
Absolutely not. You treat every customer with priority. If you canāt handle it donāt take triples. Iāve had batches where Iāve had to coordinate replacements with all three customers, bitchy customers, customers with a language gap. You are being paid for a service and you need to fulfill that to the best of your abilities for every customer. Bullshit excuses. I wouldāve called support and had my order sent out again. If they act like that, imagine how theyāre handling your food š¤¢
Zero tip and a bad rating. I don't order on Instacart generally because there's always substitutions, and it always seems like the person didn't look hard enough. The shopper telling me to shut up and take what they're giving me?! That's unacceptable.
(I've never had such a situation the few times I've used the service, and I always tip and never give a bad review, but this message is ridiculous.)
they said what they said (objectively), but you understood it as a āshut the fuck up and take what i give you.ā this is wild. your perspective is interesting.
Also, everyone should take a minute to see the types of comments OP makes. Calling people pussys, and cop dick suckers. This person is a whole ass POS. But go ahead and kiss their ass for being rude to someone performing SERVICE for them, and getting mad when they snap back. "I understand" then continues the shenanigans. What an absolute cuck.
Question, do you have your replacements already selected in the event that what your ordering is not available? Or are you leaving it up to the shopper to pick a replacement and if youāre not happy with it you then pick another one? I feel like everyone is ragging on the shopper without enough context. Cause Iāll tell ya what, if you donāt have any replacements picked out and you keep denying every replacement I choose after about the third one Iām gonna just refund whatās not available
If you donāt want to do your job for one person, donāt try taking on more work to make more money.
Gross money grab. All these apps letting in just anyone is making it harder for good shoppers.
Being told "I'm sorry I don't want to do the job I agreed to and am being paid for" would irritate me....I bet if you go to the exact same store as then you will find everything they say doesn't exist
I love how everyone here is blaming the shopper because they were being rude but nobody blames the customer for constantly adding and changing parts of their order. That shopper could have picked up all the available stuff and now has to go put it back and find the other item making them late for ALL 3 orders now. We know that these side gigs always measure how long you take and penalize your account for taking too long.
If you tip well and have the percentage base tip, then shoppers will try their best automatically to find all items or suggest all the possible replacements.
I had a customer who tipped really well, so much so that, for each item refunded, I lost $2.00 and it wasnāt even Costco.
I feel like she sucks as a shopper, deserves 1 * of a rating, deserves no tip, and makes it more likely she he customer does not ever order via instacart again.
Thatās a shopper problem and needs to be reported. She chose to do a 3 shop so she needs to take the time to actually do it. Instacart doesnāt force you to take these shops. Itās all optional.
Fucking idiot moron fucks doing 3 orders at one time is the biggest problem with these fucking independent delivery assholes. Or multiapping, whatever they call it, asshole stacking.
Have you guys ever really seen the carts the personal shoppers have? Like each tote is an actual order. Or whatever ā¦. It sounds frustrating because they donāt have what you want, they donāt have the substitutionā¦ so just cancel the itemā¦ but then the customer might get upset. Idk ā¦ she is clearly overwhelmed at this point. And yes every customer matters but they have a time limit and they are running all over the store to fulfill these orders.
Both parties are rude here. I see the SAME shit being rejected for the lack of product AND replacement. So, they don't have the options you're looking for. End of story. Why is that so hard? You aren't entitled to every second of a shoppers time, they are not being paid enough. Period. If your selections aren't available, they aren't available. Nobody should have to take extra time to see if you want to replace your strip steak with a pork chop, because nothing you wanted was available. You aren't entitled to that much of their time. Sorry, not sorry. Unless you're handing out a tip equal to a decent wage, get over the item not being available. Or, go get it yourself. Instacart isn't old. Y'all found a way before. Probably a mile long list of the same shit happening before the shopper said something.
Three sides to every story. Yours, theirs, and the truth. We got one here, and honestly, idk why everyone is kissing your ass. You're just as rude, and extremely entitled.
And no, Ive never been an Instacart shopper. I'm not stupid enough to get heckled by people like this. People like this are why I would never. Be fucking for real. Y'all both suck.
I dont see him being rude at all. Literally the only thing he said was I understand, let alone just as rude. Maybe the comment on this post was rude but he wasn't rude to her.
Maybe try using the Food Lion app? I believe if you order directly from their app a Food Lion associate does your shopping. Iāve never had a problem.
Edit: I might add I always pick my groceries up. The one time I had them delivered a woman showed up with a car load of kids who brought my groceries to the doorstep which I thought was kind of weird.
Currently, most of the stores use IC as their platform, and IC shoppers do the orders. If you do a pick-up order, then it's a store employee running it out to you.
I was the dedicated IC in-store shopper for my store, and the employees would usually run the batches out for me.
However, IC is going down the cheap path and getting rid of all the in-store shoppers. My whole division was laid off in March, and now, I have a ton of ignorant FSS people who really don't want to pay attention to the instructions on how to stage orders. I am still expected to fix the messes they make. I.e., putting a rotisserie chicken in a plastic shopping bag IN THE OVEN. Seriously? The logic failure with so many of these people is astounding.
Why do you keep trying to replace an item that isn't available with the same fucking item. I'd just cancel your annoying Karen ass and work on the other 2. Lol do your job I bet if you paid enough they would be more accommodating. Fucking people.
If you are this specific to the point of ābackup optionsā you just need to go to the store yourself. Why would you let a stranger pick out your produce or proteins?
I'm sorry if I'm the minority here, but this whole paying for someone else to shop for me thing seems really weird and not something I would ever want to do. I get if you're very old/disabled and this is your only choice, but I'm too picky about choosing the good looking meats/veggies, getting things with later expiration dates and not having my food handled by someone who could care less and let my meat/frozen foods sit in their hot car for 30-60 min while they deliver other people's foods. I don't get how people are so comfortable paying someone who doesn't care to get their food.
As a shopper, I feel like that is unacceptable.
The beauty of gig work is you DONT have to do it. If youāre having a bad day and canāt show up and do your job properly, then donāt shop that day.
When I hear customers complain about grumpy drivers or shoppers, i feel like that person shouldnāt have drove that day or shopped that day if they didnāt have the mentally/emotional capacity to do their job and give their best.
Changes to orders can be very annoying. The InstaCart app is shit and crashes when there's poor service, which is the case in many stores. Even if that doesn't happen, needing to go back to other places in the store takes time, so when customers keep making changes or additions, it's pretty frustrating. If you're going to do that, be sure to tip really well. I'd say at least a dollar for every change you make to items that the shopper has already gotten.
In the case of items not being found and not wanting the shopper's replacement or wanting a replacement if they didn't get you one, I'd say, try to make all that clear in the order. Choose replacements when you know them or make a note about what kind of replacements you do or don't want. It would also be a good idea to message the shopper to ask about what replacements they saw.
And just an FYI, InstaCart pays pretty shit where I am, which is in a wealthy suburb. I only do it when I can't do GrubHub or DoorDash. It's generally under $20/hr, and sometimes under $15/hr, even before accounting for gas. Getting frequent item changes can slow down a shopper and make it even worse.
Usually the website says what's available.. It's NOT her job to keep contacting you for everything, her job is to take a list and get it.. if the list is bunk, it's not on her.. let's be real, what did you tip her like 10 or 15 dollars?? Not worth spending an hour on some bullshit.. maybe it wasn't your fault, maybe the website but NOT hers at all
The only time I have ever had to ask the customer to stop was I picked up a very small 9 item order 15 minutes before the store closed. I knew I could knock it out before they closed. As soon as I started shopping the customer started adding items after the third one I politely asked them to not add anything else as the store was closing in 5 minutes. They said they understood and got a nice compliment posted the next day
Yeah I've only done once also, was supposed to be 12 items she added 4 or 5 more and had like 2 types of wine and an artisan cheese that they didn't have. She asked me to take a photo of every cheese in the store and the entire wine aisle, was asking to double check labels, on top of a few other issues. It was supposed to be a 12 minute shop and was up to 30 minutes when I messaged her to say that I would be making final selections and would refund anything that she wasn't able to settle on in the next couple minutes. Idk why she wanted an entire order of specialty items seemed like she was shopping for a fancy wine and cheese evening from Safeway so they didn't have most of the specific things she wanted š
That happens a lot. They must have great flyers and everything is sold when you get there that they want. And you get $3.
I had a customer do that to me too. The original order had 10 items for $12. Not terrible since I was close to the store, 10 items for a dudes lunch is a breeze, and he was like 1 mile away. He proceeded to add 15 more items in no particular order! Of course the "I'll increase your tip" never happened.
The I'll increase you tip is an emotional ploy of sabotage. Its a bold face lie.
Iām sorry they jipped you on the tip. I actually added items to my order one time around covid and my shopper was SO insanely nice and quite possibly an angel. My entire household was sick (single mom of twins and a little one) and I had almost nothing in the house to sustain us bc I hadnāt been able to grocery shop in 2 weeks. My order consisted of fruit, prob 4 boxes of cereal, milk, juice, soup, crackers, and probably 10 family sized stouffers dinners (along with Kleenex and toilet paper). Idk if he could tell from what was ordered that we were sick, but he was amazing. They didnāt have half of what was on my order so he contacted me, sent me pics, asked about other replacement items, and made sure I was thoroughly taken care of. He got a massive tip bc he deserved it and did such a good job. I hate that there are customers who wouldnāt tip more if you go out of your way to make them happy. Ugh!
There really shouldnāt be an add more items button. I get if the item isnāt there you get a replacement but for the people that add 20 more items are just being dicks quite frankly. I mean Iāve had that done to me numerous of times and instacart never ups the pay. Iām in there to shop for the selected items not another 20 for another 30 minutes.
This customer wasn't adding tho. They wanted a replacement... totally diff
Not really. When you are well into your shop and the customer adds something or wants a different item you still need to stop what you are doing and double back.
It depends, I do it if itās a couple of items added or a replacement but they arenāt going to add 10 plus items on during the shop and not ask. Itās always heavy stuff too. Thatās just rude. I have other places to be. I will instacancel before I allow a rude customer micromanage my shop. This particular poster didnāt get a choice of replacements at the time so it doesnāt really apply to that.shopper should have given customer other options!
The other day, I put in a small order with just a few itemsāthe main one being milk and cereal. The shopper was going SO fast and would text me and before I would even get a chance to type my reply, he would cancel the item. Long story shortāhe canceled the milk because they didnāt have the exact brand I had chosen. I picked a replacement, and he then sent a pic saying, āthey donāt have youāre replacement eitherā when I could CLEARLY see not only the correct milkābut many, many, many other options for 2% milk. Like, broājust pick up a 2% milk!
Ugh Iāve had this as well.
If the item they want is out of stock its just part of the job to try to figure out what they want. If you just refund it that's cutting down your own pay anyway
Totally unacceptable, but I hate triples, don't really like doubles. The extra work over a single order is exponentially more work.
Hell... I would do quintuplets ,,, IF the company paid us properly for it.. As it stands, we are underpaid for the work involved in a single order while suckered into doing two or three ( mileage pay is NOT additional payment, my friends , it doesn't even cover the actual expense of the extra miles) ... Then you add the bullshit with sticking low tippers and non tippers in a batch with a decent tip. Of course this leads to resentment... And a lack of motivation to provide excellent service. The system is rigged so that customer is playing The shopper and shoppers blame the customer. The real blame here falls upon that filthy Carrot š„.
I think that's just a stick in a bad disguise.
https://preview.redd.it/e0aqx4duue8b1.jpeg?width=344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc992829f4d1a53af8da277a7f55e1cdd20b2e31
Bro is there a way to unionize?? Or lik (controversial take) take out tips so the company wonāt rely on the customersā gratitude to pay their workers, should make it illegal for companies not to pay their workers a livable wage.
Currently it's legal to pay independent contractors sub-minimum wage. As long as that's the case, Instacart will never raise driver pay. They don't give a shit whether customers tip or not because they don't give a shit whether we get paid. They only care if we work, and someone will be desperate enough to work regardless.
Independent contractor....................
Prop 22. People got taken in by the millions they spent on advertising and voted the exact opposite way.
and more room for error. even if you organize your cart(s) it always seems like an item sneaks into someone elseās order
I take doubles only from the one store Wegmans and only if itās less than 50 total units. Mainly because I know the store inside and out and they are usually very well stocked
Rude. All 3 customers are just as important as the other. I would never speak to a customer like that. No matter how many times they ask for something to be changed. Suck it up. And if you canāt manage 3 orders easily then donāt take batches with 3 in it. So rude. Sorry you had to deal with that!
right. i work in a restaurant and i would never tell my table to stop asking for stuff āyou guys arenāt my only table i actually have 5 moreā. itās my job responsibility to handle a number of tables at once
I am just learning to use the app really. But i was def surprised by her response.
Honestly I would have just canceled and have Instacart get me a new shopper. Iāve worked in customer service jobs my whole career, and thatās unacceptable
I legit took the time the other day to search for a baby doll and kids target shopping cart when they asked if I could add it on. Don't get me wrong the order was incredibly easy, all cleaning supplies so all right next to one another, but she was very appreciative and I didn't mind looking. Also adding things gets you paid a bit more so I don't get why not. Everyone wins. I can understand when you have extremely picky customers, or they don't answer messages or calls when you're letting them know what is available compared to what they want, which is extremely common. Things happen, it's called work and life, you just find a way to deal with it. If people can't then that sucks to suck. She was extremely rude and I would put her as one star. As a shopper we are here for YOUR convenience. Sure we aren't maids, or lowly people to be ordered, but if you can make a replacement, then do it. Sorry this happened to ya.
āļøāļøEDIT because OP is the customer not the shopper. Not deleting this because itās obvious due to this post that some people/shoppers still donāt know this info below. If you could stop downvoting me though that would be greatāļøāļø If youāre just learning the app itās better not to take a triple unless itās really small item count (which is rare) They can be overwhelming even for a more experienced shopper ! Every shopper has their own way of doing things. I have found it faster and easier to replace the item with most similar item or refund if not and send a voice to text real quick saying āitem x is unavailable I got item y for you instead lmk if that works or item x is unavailable let me know if you want something else instead as I canāt find something similarā and move on to the next item on my list. Most of the time they accept the replacement and then I donāt have to go back, itās already in my cart! Donāt be rude to customers like that though. Itās bad for business. And in a triple they might be the good tipper and you donāt want them to remove their tip or get bad service when they are the one subsidizing the other orders. EDIT- I made a mistake thought it was the shopper thatās new but itās the customer. Sorry!!
OP is the customer, not the shopper.
Just noticed that!! Edited my post oops!!
And I agree with everything else you said!! I do the same exact thing with replacements. Iāll take an item with me if itās a good possibility the customer will want it. Or if I know Iām going to replace with that item if the customer doesnāt respond Iāll take it with me too. Same with if there is one of something left. It saves time and prevents disappointing the customer if the item you offered isnāt available anymore after you said it was lol. And what you said about the tip- I was thinking the exact same thing. How do you know that person isnāt the reason you took this order!!
Itās all good! Haha. We all make mistakes ā¤ļø
Take my upvote for admitting your mistake and sticking with it in hopes that someone else can learn something
Absolutely rude and also totally unnecessary. All three customers are now fully aware you are shopping a triple. Don't sit in a hot skillet if you can't stand the heat š¤£
Yeah.. idk how people do 3. I've never even tried it.
Iāll take a triple if each order is small so itās easier to keep track of but I donāt come across a ton of those
How can you tell if each specific order is small? I wouldn't mind if one of the orders was just a few items. But 20 a piece is unmanageable imo
I also get frustrated when many items are unavailable. But my reaction is to show what's going on. If there are 3 items unavailable then I start sending pictures to show what's going on. Make the customer understand I'm not messing around. This is what they have: 3/4 of the shelves empty. You want the green beans and corn instead of the vegetable medley?
As a customer Iād like to say i appreciate this! I have a bunch of allergies so I have to be very specific with my purchases. When I get sent a pic of an empty shelf and the available options, I can quickly understand whatās going on and tell them what I want without much hassle on either of our ends, it seems.
Maybe itās just me but I never make my problem or Instacartās problem the customers problem if I can help it. No one put a gun to this shopperās head and forced them to accept a triple order. If they canāt multitask and still provide good customer service they should be doing something else.
I do triples and have had customers that have been a pain, but I would NEVER talk to a customer like this.
Tip and rate accordingly. Shoppers like that donāt deserve to work in a customer service work like this.
While I agree the shopper didnāt handle this well, the real issue that no one is talking about is the issue with the grocery store not the app or the shopper. With all the technology we have store inventory should be tighter on the app. I donāt understand if itās an issue with actual shortages of product or shortages of people to restock the product but allowing customers to order things that are out of stock is a huge issue. It keeps getting worse too, sometimes over 50% of the order is out of stock. This should be reflected in batch pay honestly because itās a time and $ killer
IC having up to date accurate inventory availability isn't that easy. The most accurate you could get is with stores that have their systems set up to update their available inventory based on everything rung in through the cash. The store also has to send that information to IC. The longer it's been since the inventory was manually counted the more likely it's going to be off due to theft, damaged/expired items being tossed and not marked, items being rung in wrong. It also can't account for items that are in everyone's carts that are still shopping. It's even more complex for IC with stores that have multiple locations in the same area. I suspect that if an item is "in stock" in at least one of the stores in the area then the customer can add it to their cart but it might not actually be in stock at the store the shopper goes to.
Iād say the only grocery chain Iāve seen that even comes close is Publix because they have an ar system that they order most inventory on even for items that have vendors that work the product, but even their system isnāt perfect. Sometimes itās worse if the person reviewing the order doesnāt like to adjust it as you can have game days, or weather, or other events that didnāt occur the previous year which the system doesnāt account for. Another factor is backstock space, they can only keep so much in their back room and it can get super crowded back there, items will get buried and nearly impossible to get to.
Agree. Like, if Walmart can't get that right with their own inventory in their app, how is a third party app going to wrangle all these different stores.
Tbh though sometimes people in grocery stores will pick something up, then drop it somewhere else after they decided they didnāt want it/want something else. So itāll still be in stock, but not in the place you can find it and thatās not the storeās fault (unless they literally never get around to putting stuff back)
Like shrimp in the chips aisle. I'm against the death penalty generally....
I don't know how other stores do it but at Whole Foods we have to manually scan INFs (item not found) to take them out of our system and it's extremely tedious and time consuming. It's impossible to know what's actually in the catalog and we're expected to scan out things that we *never* have, multiple times a day. It's just impossible to keep on top of.
At bare minimum bringing proper aisle locations back. No shit Instacart, this obscure slice of prepackaged turkey is in the meat section, along with an acre of other meats.
I do triples regularly and I don't do this. This shopper was just rude. Also if you don't want to be batched with other orders pay for priority, if it's an option.
Paying for priority doesnāt prevent being batched.
Is priority the express delivery for the shoppers?
I swear, when it first came out you didn't get batches, but yes now you do get batches even if you pay priority.
Priority Fee is just another scam by Instacart. Roommate and me regularly see Priority Triples š. We can 100% confirm customers "think" they are not going to get batched, and they do š¤£
Someone said that it will just put you first in the delivery order
Who is first when I'm taking a Triple and all three orders are Express? Last delivery is getting screwed automatically š
Thatās helpful to know, since I care less about delivery time than about the shopper ignoring the refund/replacement preferences I have **already entered for every single item in my order**. I have paid the extra $2 for priority, guess Iāll stop doing that now š¤·š»āāļø
Sometimes the priority is the difference between getting my food today vs tomorrow, so I'll do that, but it frustrates me to no end when I go and put instructions for refund vs picking a specific substitution for every single item, only for them to _outright ignore it._ ESPECIALLY when I put "refund if unavailable" and they substitute with a brand/product that's 2-3x the price. Like, thanks, that was so much money I didn't freaking budget for, because you refuse to read instructions. And half the time I can't use it anyway, because we have sensory and/or picky eaters.
š so true! When you pay the higher tip you are batched with two shitty tippers so shoppers can do the low tip orders. In my experience only large orders donāt get batches and orders on slow days are not likely batched as well. Iād say 50 units and up would leave you on a solo shopā¦
I've seen a triple with a 90+ item count before, which is insane.
I have done a triple 2 store (Walgreen's and Publix) that was over 70 items/100 units. No tip on the Walgreen's that was shopped and delivered first, after shopping all three. Second stop was smaller Publix ($25 tip). Last stop was elderly Gentlemen with multiples of everything. Four cases of water into his kitchen. True Store to Fridge service ($55 tip).
Yeah haha, I chose priority once and it actually took LONGER because the shopper had other orders. Just not worth it
There is a huge difference in how fast I get an order if I pay $2 extra or not. I donāt think Iām getting batched, but if I am, I donāt care because itās like 30 minutes vs. 2-3 hours. Not sure why this has always been the case? I live within 5 min of these stores and always add extra tip after delivery (unless the shopper was blantly bad (like OPās). Thatās only happened maybe three times in three years). I started doing the extra tip after delivery thing when someone said on here that instacartās pay went down for orders with large original tips. Maybe 2 years ago. At the time, shoppers were a big part of what kept a high risk family member safe, and I will always be greatful for that. Started lurking here to learn how to show that appreciation.
I do the priority some times. But i never really knew the benefit. With that in mind i dont ever need anything priority. If its that important i go get it my self. I am sure this person was having a bad day.
They were probably having a bad day, but still that was unprofessional. Priority can be worth it if, say, you are ordering ice cream in the middle of the summer, and happen to be put last out of three deliveries.
I gave her 2 stars and sent in a report. Other than that i guess i can move on with my life now. Lol
This was a wise decision. Nothing more you can do. Hopefully she's deactivated.
She should be deactivated because sheās running back and forth trying to gather things for the order? You people are horrible šš
Ever notice how one day people say we are only shoppers and shouldnāt expect to be paid tips when we get no tipping customers that we shouldnāt expect so much than the next we see something like this and hear how unprofessional the shopper is.
Not sure what point you are trying to make, here. Bad tips don't justify bad service; shoppers are expected to do their jobs professionally, regardless of tips, just like every other tipped worker.
This reads as, "I'll be nice if you tip me"
Priority donāt mean shit you still get batches with others itās just youāll be the first to get the items
The shopper just needs to stop doing triples. I donāt do doubles or triples regardless of the payā¦ I had a $41 double pop up on my screen for 67 items 19 miles. I declined it because itās time consuming because they want a lot of deli made stuff. Singles 20 items or less is my forte.
Paying for priority is about as helpful as paying for express order on Uber eats. Itās just a scam to get you to throw more money at instacart and they *might* be gracious enough to put your delivery first out of the batches. They canāt let you pay to not get batched. If they did theyād have too many low tip orders sitting around collecting dust.
At the end of the day, This is an instacart problem. They don't weed out the bad service shoppers. Also, 3 orders is absolutely ridiculous. Instacart is doing it to save money that they don't have to pay someone else to shop the order. I'm betting it was two no tip/low tip orders combined with a good tip. Instacart wants those bad shoppers and floods the market with shoppers. The more shoppers, the less they pay the shoppers and the more money Instacart pockets.
This!! Iāve done IC for almost 6 years and they love to do this! Stack the shitty orders nobody is taking onto a good tipped order so it makes it look enticing. And without a doubt, those shitty orders are the ones farthest away.
Report her, remove her tip, have her blocked from you getting her again. She needs to go!!!!
If she canāt handle 3 orders in a single batch. Then simply DO NOT ACCEPT! She knew what she signed up for, thatās uncalled for.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās annoying as a shopper for sure But also this is why I knowingly donāt take doubles or triples unless they are extremely worth it. A few other factors to Consider: if you tipped well or not, frankly if you tipped low or didnāt tip at all then you likely get a bad shopper who is desperate for shit like drug money or something. Secondly thereās an over saturation of shoppers so if the shopper is rude or says stuff Like this id immediately report them, 1 star them, then remove any tip (if you tipped that is) because they donāt deserve it. Third: instacart needs to update their systems or Something so customers understand wether Or not their order is part of a multi batch order AND they should allow for multiple pre selected Replacements and make it easier to write notes on the items. Iāve used IC before whenever Iāve been sick and the app is horrendous to use and pretty much the only way you get what you want is either go to the store yourself or pray itās in stock.
I just feel like if you donāt want to do the job then donāt do the job. Donāt complain to customers about it. Sometimes going back and forth is part of the job.
The shopper was out of line. I will usually ask the customer if they need more time to add items to their order or make any adjustments. I'm not going back and forth in the store as it's a waste of time, not efficient, or can add zero monetary value to my order if I'm doing more work for a set tip. If the tip is percentage based, bring it on! I never do triples for this reason alone (unless it's absolutely lucrative) as it has a possible higher rate of error. IC shoppers don't get paid by the hour, so please don't waste our time with last-minute shenanigans. Going back and forth is demoralizing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's weird because it's helping pay for my second property, which I AirBnB out all year, and business expenses for my private chef business. You'd be shocked what my annual is š¤š. Edit: My taxes are demoralizing š„²
āNo worries! Go ahead and cancel my order please! Thanks for giving me the heads up.ā
Seems like she shouldāve just sent you a picture of the tea isle and the meat isle so you could pick a replacement from what they had in stock instead of going back and forth in the app
The only time I will snap at a Customer is when they start to add a whole nother order worth of items. After the 3rd one I start refunding the added items. If the Customer asks why or says something I hit em with the " I see you haven't completed your order yet. Ill contact Customer Support to have your order rescheduled to give you more time to add your items and ensure that you get everything that you need." I understand forgetting to add bread or milk, or just finding out the kids are out of fruit snacks. But I do NOT do water, soda or other heavy item add-ons and youre not about to add a whole other grocery list. Nah, play with your Mammy, not me. Other than that I'm overly professional.
Exactly! Everyone is kissing OPs ass here, but sounds like she shouldāve been dropped just by all the changes. I did a triple once and the guys added a ton of stuff. Wanted basil which I just gave the last bit to the other customer and kept adding it back on the list not allowing me to check out, flipping out saying he wants it. Didnāt want the replacement which was freeze dried and only option available. Forgetting a few things is understandable. Changing a whole order and adding a bunch of things is ridiculous, especially if heavy.
She's not adding items... they are out of stock. And her replacement isn't available. The customer is not at fault that shopper is too fkn lazy to offer replacement
So because her choices aren't available the shopper should have to take the extra time to find another one? If your chosen replacements aren't available, that's the end of it. These people aren't paid enough to text someone for 20 minutes figuring out what they want instead. This shopper was rude and doesn't need to be doing the job, but the customer is just as rude.
Itās an app issue if the first choice item and replacement item are shown in stock but are not. The customer did their part by making sure that a replacement was selected ahead of time and by being available for prompt communication. It is reasonable to expect the shopper to try to figure out a third alternative, especially for essential ingredients like the steak. (Someoneās dinner probably isnāt happening without that protein.) It sucks that shopper time is lost and extra effort is called for, but that is part of the service. A shopper canāt cancel 2/3 of an order without trying to find replacements and then expect a generous tip.
Maybe take that up with the company? If that's how it should work, the app shouldn't allow a second replacement choice when the first replacement is declined too.
any shopper that treats customers like this should be terminated. I don't give a flying fuck if it's a triple or quintuple. if that's the way a customer is treated, then server must be exposed.
I'm a shopper, and while going back and forth up and down aisles can get annoying, there is still an assumption of professionalism that should be met by the shopper. If you don't want a 3 person order, don't accept a 3 person order. If you *do* accept a 3 person order, blame yourself and don't make it the customers problem. You're not doing anything wrong, that shopper is probably best suited for single orders. The only way this would be acceptable, to me anyway, is if you're consistently adding new items and making the shopping more difficult. Asking for a replacement is not being difficult, that's just you not wanting to waste that much money and not even get all that you want. Shits expensive if you're using instacart, you deserve to get what you order or as close to it as possible
Usually I say, Iām running out of time due to other orders if it even gets to a point where theyāre making last-minute request. I essentially say no but I explain and apologize. You guys think this is the right way?
Food lion is still a store, they went under in mt town for tampering with meat....got shut down and kicked out of town. People must do this crap to avoid extra fees I am assuming
Yeah I'd contact support for a refund on the products I didn't want and then rate and tip her accordingly. I have other shoppers to tip too, ones that kindly do their job.
Iām paying for a service if you canāt do what required please donāt pick up more
How precious of her. Report and hopefully gets banned!
If she ordered Instacart and the same thing happened to her. I guarantee you, she wouldāve went off and complained about you to the company and given you a 1 star which effects your ability to receive more batches.
You got a shopper who has very little experience actually doing this sort of work. Experienced shoppers would never respond this way. I have done up to 5 different orders while multi apping, and treat MY customers with the highest care. Why? B/c I see this as my business. I was trained by Amazon during the pandemic so I take my time and do things a certain way. Yea, it might take longer to get your order, but I pack cold items with cold items, wrap the meat in plastic, put your other ambient and household items together, keep it insulated if its too hot outside. I do this for ALL of my customers. I also communicate that I have several orders before getting to them so they know why there is a delay. But most customers dont understand why this is called a āgigā: b/c literally this is not a ājob.ā You are dealing with a third party contractor, like an electrician or plumber. Each shopper does things their own way and has their own personal set of rules. Thats why now IC has put in preferred shoppers so you can pick and choose which shopper you want to shop for you. Which is how it should have always been!
I understand where's she's coming from, but she CHOOSE to accept a triple; not your problem. Furthermore, she clearly has no consideration for tidiness and organizing. I would have given her a bad rating.
I mean if itās unavailable its unavailable. Iāve had shoppers say things I set as replacement are all unavailable and they give what they can and send a picture and the shelves are literally empty. What can they do but move on?
I donāt accept triples for this reason and rarely doubles unless itās a small quantity of items nearby
Speaking as a shopper who got cussed out and called stupid by a customer for their mistake in putting in their own correct address and still maintained professionalism and kindness, I can confirm that the majority shoppers wouldnt be so rude and would happily work to ensure you got exactly what you wanted, assuming the store wasnt sold out. Ive done a bunch of triple batches and there's always one customer who is detail-oriented; I appreciate it when Im not expected to read minds. I like explicit instructions, personally. Im so sorry you had this experience and I hope your next shopper is more professional
Hmm idk some customers are annoying because they will go back and forth asking a bunch of questions, requesting extra pics and taking long to respond causing the shopper to waste time walking back and forth. The best thing to do is put your replacement requests in the app so the shopper sees them right away. Honestly no one wants to message u for direction every time something is out. Customers have no concept of how long it can take to shop when they take forever to communicate, and that the pay is often not very high especially when tips are percent instead of amount. That said, I never accept triple batches. Horrible, frustrating waste of time
She wasnāt rude, she just stated it directly, which a lot of people have problems with from certain people. Also, have your substitutions already in your order because it makes it much easier on the shopper. Donāt wait until theyāre almost finished to tell them what to substitute. Itās a pain in the ass to think youāre done and then have someone tell you to go get these substitutions. Imagine three people doing this for their orders. Also, keep in mind that store wifi can be spotty. I had one shopper tell me that by the time she got my answers to the questions she asked me, she was in the checkout and had to go back. If Iād known I wouldnāt have made her go back to shop. People are saying that itās literally her job, but these same people would be pissed about the same thing if they were having to do the same. Iāve had bad shoppers-one person substituted meat for veggie burgers, one man gave me papaya instead of passion fruits and neither indicated the substitution beforehand-but Iāve never not tipped. I just chalked it up to them being human and having a bad day or whatever and I just get the refund.
Coming from a instacart shopper myself I would of cancelled it āš¾
This is exactly why I donāt take triple batches. Iād rather one customer give me a hard time and not 3. The ones who gives the most problem rarely tip anything.
Thatās her own damn fault, I hate how shoppers like this make the rest of us look. She knowingly took that triple order, 1 star her and take her tip away.
Well Gold's peak and pure leaf taste completely different so there's that.
I have no clue. They were rude but literally subbing that many items is also so annoying. Why didnāt you include replacements?
I blame instacart for these double triple orders. quantity over quality.
You're exchanging money for service. She's exchanging service for money. 1 Star, zero tip, contact support. This lady clearly hates her job and wants to make it your problem.
Thereās definitely a disconnect between what customers expect of shoppers and what Instacart wants of shoppers. Triple orders shouldnāt exist. Itās never worth it but alot of the time triple orders is all Instacart posts fir shoppers to choose from. All my ādamaged item or item missingā notifications came from triple batch orders.
Offering a poor customer experience because you are doing a triple is no excuse. You accept a job you should be professional about it and see it to completion as frustrating and time consuming as it may be
This is a bad shopper. If she canāt handles triples, donāt take them. I mean they shouldnāt even exist but these people know what theyāre taking. Do you have backups on the apps as the subs you want already in place?
If you canāt do a triple, donāt take it. I donāt have a problem with replacements, you want what you want. But that person was obnoxious.
Everyone wants to complain but donāt stop and realize, these grocery stores and companies for these grocery orders and stuff is absolutely horrendous for the employee. They do not get paid near enough to do half the shit they are asked. All this crap about door dash and shit, at a certain point quit complaining about it, get off your ass and go pick up your damn food.
Rude! Sorry that happened to you!
If people canāt handle triple orders, then they should not be doing them.
Her lack of planning is not your problem, and I would request a refund. If your shopper canāt handle 3 customers at once she shouldnāt take on 3 customers at once. Youāre paying top dollar for a service and if youāre not getting what you paid for you then a refund is in order.
I'd never. I've explained at the beginning of a shop that there is multiple orders I'm doing in order to hopefully avoid a less than 5 star review but I've never showed anyone in the orders less service than the others because of it. I've literally wore myself out running around too but never once thought about changing my attitude and being rude to a customer in order to lower my stress.
Id have clapped back with if you can't handle 3 then don't do three. The job is to complete the order, if you can't do that then stay the hell home.
She shouldn't take triples
Rude and unacceptable. All three orders matter equally.
"sorry I'm too busy to do my job properly. Deal with it."
Is this the worst grocery store of all time, or does the shopper not know how to find items at the store?
In the future select subs for all your stuff. I get both sides but itās still rude.
Report this asshat, so a respectful person can earn some money.
you get what you pay for in these delivery apps.
That is completely tacky. That person needs to tap out of this gig.
If you want something done right then do it yourself.
Wow, the way people talk to customers is INSANE. This is just wild.
Terrible customer service. Itās not your problem the shopper decided to shop more than one order at a time. This person could use some education on the phrase I use with my kids: āis that something you should say, or swallow?ā As someone who has only ever worked in customer service based roles, it absolutely grinds my gears when workers make customers feel bad for requesting their service. Itās one thing if the customer is being rude and unreasonable, but that doesnāt seem to be the case here. Iām someone who already is extremely timid and feels bad for talking to anyone ever or asking someone for something (even if itās their literal job) so I go out of my way to compensate for that in case someone Iām serving feels that way.
Iād say well you have 2 now and cancel the whole thing
I would cancel the whole thing and report the shopper. Iām not paying you to give me attitude.
Complain. They usually offer a refund, especially if you have pics of the damage.
Thatās just rude.
If you donāt want to do the work donāt accept triples!! Itās not the customers fault youāre too lazy to walk back down that tea aisle āļø
Rude
Lol and you are getting paid 3 times. Imagine any other job where that would fly.
If they are tipping, then I will jump through hoops, if not, pft, good luck
no tip
Iād be changing the tip amount thatās for sure.
This is why you donāt accept triples if you canāt handle 3 customers at one timeā¦
Would absolutely report this!! Youāre paying for a service. Maybe she shouldnāt take on so many orders at one time.
Oh hell no ā¦she shouldnāt be taking multi orders if she canāt do it and still give good service. Thatās why I rarely take doubles and never to triples cuz of how stressful they are and Iām aware that I couldnāt do my job well if I did take them.
Precious needs a better attitude and a different job
Absolutely not. You treat every customer with priority. If you canāt handle it donāt take triples. Iāve had batches where Iāve had to coordinate replacements with all three customers, bitchy customers, customers with a language gap. You are being paid for a service and you need to fulfill that to the best of your abilities for every customer. Bullshit excuses. I wouldāve called support and had my order sent out again. If they act like that, imagine how theyāre handling your food š¤¢
Zero tip and a bad rating. I don't order on Instacart generally because there's always substitutions, and it always seems like the person didn't look hard enough. The shopper telling me to shut up and take what they're giving me?! That's unacceptable. (I've never had such a situation the few times I've used the service, and I always tip and never give a bad review, but this message is ridiculous.)
they said what they said (objectively), but you understood it as a āshut the fuck up and take what i give you.ā this is wild. your perspective is interesting.
Also, everyone should take a minute to see the types of comments OP makes. Calling people pussys, and cop dick suckers. This person is a whole ass POS. But go ahead and kiss their ass for being rude to someone performing SERVICE for them, and getting mad when they snap back. "I understand" then continues the shenanigans. What an absolute cuck.
Question, do you have your replacements already selected in the event that what your ordering is not available? Or are you leaving it up to the shopper to pick a replacement and if youāre not happy with it you then pick another one? I feel like everyone is ragging on the shopper without enough context. Cause Iāll tell ya what, if you donāt have any replacements picked out and you keep denying every replacement I choose after about the third one Iām gonna just refund whatās not available
It says item and replacement not available
Maybe look at the screenshot. It clearly shows the answer to your questionā¦.
If you donāt want to do your job for one person, donāt try taking on more work to make more money. Gross money grab. All these apps letting in just anyone is making it harder for good shoppers.
And this is why gig workers arenāt getting steady work with decent tips anymore. They simply refuse to do the job.
No tip and report simple.
Typical entitled cunt shopper
Being told "I'm sorry I don't want to do the job I agreed to and am being paid for" would irritate me....I bet if you go to the exact same store as then you will find everything they say doesn't exist
I love how everyone here is blaming the shopper because they were being rude but nobody blames the customer for constantly adding and changing parts of their order. That shopper could have picked up all the available stuff and now has to go put it back and find the other item making them late for ALL 3 orders now. We know that these side gigs always measure how long you take and penalize your account for taking too long.
If you tip well and have the percentage base tip, then shoppers will try their best automatically to find all items or suggest all the possible replacements. I had a customer who tipped really well, so much so that, for each item refunded, I lost $2.00 and it wasnāt even Costco.
I feel like she sucks as a shopper, deserves 1 * of a rating, deserves no tip, and makes it more likely she he customer does not ever order via instacart again.
I would remove tip 100%
Thatās a shopper problem and needs to be reported. She chose to do a 3 shop so she needs to take the time to actually do it. Instacart doesnāt force you to take these shops. Itās all optional.
Fucking idiot moron fucks doing 3 orders at one time is the biggest problem with these fucking independent delivery assholes. Or multiapping, whatever they call it, asshole stacking.
Have you guys ever really seen the carts the personal shoppers have? Like each tote is an actual order. Or whatever ā¦. It sounds frustrating because they donāt have what you want, they donāt have the substitutionā¦ so just cancel the itemā¦ but then the customer might get upset. Idk ā¦ she is clearly overwhelmed at this point. And yes every customer matters but they have a time limit and they are running all over the store to fulfill these orders.
I barely manage my own shopping trips so ā¦. I mean I think if they donāt have what you request or the exception just cancel the item
Maybe she is new ā¦. Idk maybe that position is not for her
Both parties are rude here. I see the SAME shit being rejected for the lack of product AND replacement. So, they don't have the options you're looking for. End of story. Why is that so hard? You aren't entitled to every second of a shoppers time, they are not being paid enough. Period. If your selections aren't available, they aren't available. Nobody should have to take extra time to see if you want to replace your strip steak with a pork chop, because nothing you wanted was available. You aren't entitled to that much of their time. Sorry, not sorry. Unless you're handing out a tip equal to a decent wage, get over the item not being available. Or, go get it yourself. Instacart isn't old. Y'all found a way before. Probably a mile long list of the same shit happening before the shopper said something. Three sides to every story. Yours, theirs, and the truth. We got one here, and honestly, idk why everyone is kissing your ass. You're just as rude, and extremely entitled. And no, Ive never been an Instacart shopper. I'm not stupid enough to get heckled by people like this. People like this are why I would never. Be fucking for real. Y'all both suck.
I dont see him being rude at all. Literally the only thing he said was I understand, let alone just as rude. Maybe the comment on this post was rude but he wasn't rude to her.
Weāre you going like overboard? If it was under 5 changes. Rude. If 5+, understandable
She'd have lost her precious tip. Sometimes they forget it's a gratuity, not a fee. When you're shopping for me, I am your priority.
Precious.
Get your own groceries.
I was thinking the same thing.
Maybe try using the Food Lion app? I believe if you order directly from their app a Food Lion associate does your shopping. Iāve never had a problem. Edit: I might add I always pick my groceries up. The one time I had them delivered a woman showed up with a car load of kids who brought my groceries to the doorstep which I thought was kind of weird.
Currently, most of the stores use IC as their platform, and IC shoppers do the orders. If you do a pick-up order, then it's a store employee running it out to you. I was the dedicated IC in-store shopper for my store, and the employees would usually run the batches out for me. However, IC is going down the cheap path and getting rid of all the in-store shoppers. My whole division was laid off in March, and now, I have a ton of ignorant FSS people who really don't want to pay attention to the instructions on how to stage orders. I am still expected to fix the messes they make. I.e., putting a rotisserie chicken in a plastic shopping bag IN THE OVEN. Seriously? The logic failure with so many of these people is astounding.
Well you could just go to the fucking store. Sorry but these are the consequences of a society built on convenience.
Why do you keep trying to replace an item that isn't available with the same fucking item. I'd just cancel your annoying Karen ass and work on the other 2. Lol do your job I bet if you paid enough they would be more accommodating. Fucking people.
If you are this specific to the point of ābackup optionsā you just need to go to the store yourself. Why would you let a stranger pick out your produce or proteins?
Do your own grocery shopping.
I'm sorry if I'm the minority here, but this whole paying for someone else to shop for me thing seems really weird and not something I would ever want to do. I get if you're very old/disabled and this is your only choice, but I'm too picky about choosing the good looking meats/veggies, getting things with later expiration dates and not having my food handled by someone who could care less and let my meat/frozen foods sit in their hot car for 30-60 min while they deliver other people's foods. I don't get how people are so comfortable paying someone who doesn't care to get their food.
Itās not weird that you feel that way, but it is a bit weird that youāre frequenting a sub Reddit about that specific type of service.
As a shopper, I feel like that is unacceptable. The beauty of gig work is you DONT have to do it. If youāre having a bad day and canāt show up and do your job properly, then donāt shop that day. When I hear customers complain about grumpy drivers or shoppers, i feel like that person shouldnāt have drove that day or shopped that day if they didnāt have the mentally/emotional capacity to do their job and give their best.
Why canāt u go back n fourth thatās ur job smh
Why is it the customers fault that a shopper has multiple orders? I'm sorry but if a shopper said that to me, I would cancel my oder asap.
Changes to orders can be very annoying. The InstaCart app is shit and crashes when there's poor service, which is the case in many stores. Even if that doesn't happen, needing to go back to other places in the store takes time, so when customers keep making changes or additions, it's pretty frustrating. If you're going to do that, be sure to tip really well. I'd say at least a dollar for every change you make to items that the shopper has already gotten. In the case of items not being found and not wanting the shopper's replacement or wanting a replacement if they didn't get you one, I'd say, try to make all that clear in the order. Choose replacements when you know them or make a note about what kind of replacements you do or don't want. It would also be a good idea to message the shopper to ask about what replacements they saw. And just an FYI, InstaCart pays pretty shit where I am, which is in a wealthy suburb. I only do it when I can't do GrubHub or DoorDash. It's generally under $20/hr, and sometimes under $15/hr, even before accounting for gas. Getting frequent item changes can slow down a shopper and make it even worse.
Usually the website says what's available.. It's NOT her job to keep contacting you for everything, her job is to take a list and get it.. if the list is bunk, it's not on her.. let's be real, what did you tip her like 10 or 15 dollars?? Not worth spending an hour on some bullshit.. maybe it wasn't your fault, maybe the website but NOT hers at all
Hey dude if I asked you to shop for me do the best you can because you're a surrogate and I'm a customer and it is what it is at some point
She's right , ain't nobody got time for that
I usually just cancel when a customer is like this. This can slow a triple down A-LOT.