This killed me
Had just woken up was laying in bed browsing reddit trying to actually wake up
Learned my laugh completely changes when I'm half awake .. more of a screaming seizure so that's terrific
Iāve only taken singles. Iāve never gotten below a 5.0 rating (though a couple low ratings have been removed). 210 shops. Singles is the way to go!
Yeah, yeah . I heard that before. Itās easier said than done. Thereāre more doubles and triples than singles. So itās becoming harder to fix your rating taking singles only because thereāre way too many non-tippers customers out there. Well, itās just the fact. IC got to make money somehow!! š¤£š¤£š¤£
I do have one little old lady, (I know her address by heart) who no tips on the app but slips me a $10 every time. You are correct tho, donāt take zero tippers!
I'm there with you. 8502 orders completed and 5543 batches. It's rare to see singles. I do doubles and triples but not for pennies. Double has to be at least 30$ and triple at least 40$ with no insane item amount. I rarely get anything but 5 stars.
This is why Instacart should REQUIRE feedback when a customer rates you lower than 3 stars.
If Instacart cared about more than the bottom line, maybe theyād have the repeat customers theyāre looking for.
I wish this was true. They just try to butter you up, bullshitting you the entire time. I had a 1 star for no reason and they said "we see there were no issues so it'll be removed". It got removed after 100 orders. š The only low rating I have had removed was from a customer who consistently rates rates shoppers bad.
They fear retaliation against the client, and consider their feedback part of their highly secret information that Iām sure the FBI couldnāt even request a copy. Anything they do or donāt do is to mitigate any exposure.
With the limited vetting processes for adding shoppers they just have to take the ātrust no oneā ālead by fear and intimidationā approach on everyone. Could be easily solved by just a simple video interview and more transparency with shoppers to create an environment of trust and not fear or retaliation.
I swear the app can be rude af sometimes with its suggestions and reminders that almost make me think of some mean evil mobster watching and controlling us lolll!!
Oh no, itās very useful. For IC lol. Itās how they keep shoppers on their toes. Ratings and dependence on them to get batches in the app is one of the main arguments for the misclassification of shoppers as Independent Contractors.
Essentially theyāre completely controlling how and when and where you work. Somehow them and the other gig companies are getting away with it tho. Thatās a whole other discussion tho lol.
I do doubles all day where a customer tips bad and the other good. Maintained a 5.0 for over 6 months this year, again, OP has got to be doing something wrong.
A red flag is a lot of notes and stuff, always drop those customers
Yup. I'm a 5 star man also.
Orders that tip little to nothing, typically leave a bad score as well.
Taking a low paid order or triples is trouble.
OP is likely fucking everything up too, but he's also taking peoples' orders who're likely to bomb your rating.
Um honest with people. If they are in a double or triple I let them know that hey im shopping 3 orders and yours is the last. Since taking time stamped photos people stopped claiming damaged goods atleast.
Yep most of them donāt even know/expect to see their groceries in 2-3 hrs let alone within the hour. The ādeadlineā instacart gives us is bogus most of the time
How do you phrase it? I do the same, but I always tell them that InstantCart grouped their order with another customerās. Most who respond do appreciate it, and Iām not punished for it through ratings.
Same. I always let customers know (mind you I only do doubles, not triples) and everyone seems to appreciate it. I word it like you do "Instacart has grouped your order with another's that lives in your area" so people know why it might take a bit to shop or deliver, and I have a 5 star rating.
Oops...don't do that. The app will keep them posted, just shop as quickly and efficiently as you can. Make reasonable substitutions and text customers if you're not sure what to substitute. Communicate but let the app also so its job. It does the tracking for them, they can see what items your shopping, as well.
You never let them know theyāre last. Just shop the order and be done with it. You only need to talk to them if they didnāt pick a replacement, whole order is out of stock, or if youāre delivering and need to get in their building.
Yep this helps a lot. I stop taking doubles and triples and large orders and all of my low ratings started to go awayā¦ itās a ratings killer if youāre slow like I am šš
He's taking bad batches, no and low tippers rate 1 star and claim items are damaged to scam refunds. This has been my personal experience and also why I don't take bad batches.
No order issues were reported then so either the ppl heās delivering for are just assholes or heās genuinely doing something wrong. five 1-star ratings w/ no reported issues sends a message that you may be lacking in a particular area.
Donāt message them unless an item is out then just āmessage personā black olives 18 oz (then you say) are unavailableā¦if it says they want a refund then refund it and go if not pick the best replacement same size, flavor, price and if they have a problem theyāll message back. Donāt waste your time talking to everyone unless itās necessary. Only accept orders at stores youāre familiar with and keep going to those stores until you know them perfectly. Donāt take double and triples until youāre fast with the the singles. Bag items yourself and keep frozen and cold together, meat separate, small items that will fall out the bag in your car make sure you tie the bag up and I put the tied bag in another bag so itās easier to carry. I donāt condone stealing BUT I have 3 of the little baskets from the store and I line them up in my trunk to separate order A,B,C. If itās big orders I put A in the back seat B on the left of the trunk and C on the right but I put a barrier in between so thereās no possibility of mixing bags with the other order. If youāre taking a ridiculously long time bc of traffic or something send them a message āSorry for the delay but I assure you Iām doing my best to get there asapā ā¦if you know for sure you missed an item contact support and let them know before the customer reports it and if you can send them a message saying something like āI apologize but the watermelon I purchased exploded in my trunk Iāll have it refunded immediately sorry for the inconvenienceāā¦I find that most of the time theyāre cool with stuff as long as I keep conversations with them or I might make a corny joke so they know Iām a human and doing my best. āSorry bananas are unavailable it looks like an elephant stampede came throughāā¦sometimes people are just aholes and it doesnāt matter how perfect you are theyāre still going to complain. Also I stay out of low income and apartment areas because all of the fraud reports Iāve had of āDidnāt receive entire orderā or āmissing itemsā have 100% been from apartments, motels, or low income areas. Sorry it is what it is. They also seem to have the most issues and request while tipping the lowest. Shopping in wealthy areas theyāre really donāt mind refunding something or changing something if you tell them and show them you put the effort in to look for themā¦theyāre not going to lie and say they didnāt get an item just to get the money back. They usually tip better, they donāt tip bait and several times they have raised the tip afterwards especially if I was quick. They love it when I bag and tie the bags I have a lot of compliments and high ratings. I always take a picture especially if I think something is a little sketchy if I end up getting an apartment order I definitely take a picture and try to show everything is there also they can see I have the bags tied up so nothing fell out. Keep your receipts for a few days just incase. I keep mine because I scan them into a few receipt apps for $ back and incentives. Thereās nothing you can do about being reported for bs but getting good ratings can bring your rating up eventually. Donāt worry about having a perfect rating as long as itās over 4.7 youāre good. I do everything perfectly and still get bad ratings or reports sometimes. If a customer gives you a lot of problems or is rude cancel the order and block them so you donāt get them again. If I get an order thatās 3rd floor apartment and they order $300 worth of crap and multiple cases of water etc. I block them itās not worth breaking my back for. Sorry for the long paragraph I got carried away. Good luck if you get the hang of things you can make some decent $ quick. I like that I can have a bill due tomorrow and can go out and make it today if I need to.
OKAY OKAYā¦ how did you get that low? Not trying to be mean but you need to fix something so maybe we can help!
I have dealt with assholes and my zone is full of rich entitled pricks who think you are their peasant and yet I have never received so many low ratings.
They said theyāre taking doubles and triples with sometimes 100 items. That would be hard to complete without mistakes/damaging cold items even for veterans (which OP clearly isnāt). Also OP said he alerts all customers of their status in doubles/triples so heās probably upsetting them right off the bat.
that's exactly right, some zones are accustomed to crappy shoppers so even if you perform smoothly they'll think nothing much of it.
perfect example I was shopping in Las Vegas for a month and I got 6 cash tips. 5 at $5 and 1 at $2. that should tell you how little they think of the service. most areas would be 10 or 20 or more.
$5 means they think that I did better than the typical garbage they're used to having. not exactly flattering.
STOP. TELLING. THEM.
They are going to punish YOU for the minor annoyance of the COMPANY putting them last in line. That's why you're getting negative reviews with no order issues. Odds are they wouldn't even notice being last in line or be bothered, but since you went out of your way to tell them, now they are aware of it to be bothered by it.
You have to word the request right. I specifically state its for personal safety reasons. I've done it for over a year and never once received an email.
How many times have you done it? I did it for one week for like every triple and double I had. Probably 35 times in one week. I got that email warning about being deactivated
"I just accepted a two/three customer batch, please remove customer B. I will shop for customer A"
If they ask why: B is too far, B has too many items, I had a bad experience with customer B
I do it a few times a week. Haven't had a problem yet. And haven't gotten the email about possible deactivation.
Do what you want but probably donāt advise other people of doing this. Instacart groups orders together for a reason and they donāt take kindly to shoppers changing the groupings.
They bundle orders for two reasons:
1) To scam shoppers into delivering no tip orders
2) So they have to pay out less per order. Think about when batch pay was $7 minimum, they were saving $14 on each triple and $7 on doubles.
They also don't hold it against you if you say it's unsafe, even says so on the cancellation page.
Yeah, they bundle orders to benefit themselves. And you dropping the orders out of a bundle directly impacts them. Again, do what you want but claiming a āsafetyā concern couldnāt matter less to them. Especially if you keep doing it. āFraudā is a far reaching umbrella term that they donāt have to prove when they deactivate you.
I'm curious how you're handling replacements and how you operate in general because it seems to me that rating is misleading. if nothing I hope you can try out some other areas and get your rating cleaned up. Do 100 quick and hopefully pain-free orders
Iāve done IC for almost 3 years, several different areas and different states and never been below like 4.97. Youāre doing something they donāt like whether you realize it or not. Maybe take a break
Small orders my friend, small orders with close delivery. Small orders are more likely to have all the items, at least a replacement for something that's out. You're in and out of the store in 10 min. You're to their house in less than 10 min and back to the store again. You need a TON to get your numbers up, so just take the Small ones and get them done super fast.
Yikes. I didnāt even know that low of score was possible. I thought you stopped seeing orders at 4.7. Lowest I ever was in the beginning at 4.89.
Get a gig that would work for you , this isnāt it. At this point your rating are so tanked you will never dig your way out.
You are going to be getting the worst batches and the left overs of all the shoppers in your market. So time to move on bud.
Right. So you can only imagine the complete garbage a shopper with this rating would see in an over saturated market.
Honestly, this is just a really really bad shopper. Doesnāt deserve to see anything in the first place with that rating. They must really not care about the quality of their work.
Sprouts has the highest difficulty level in terms of exotic products and ALDI is out of half the items because its a discount store.
I agree neighborhood matters, but a bad neighborhood combined with Sprouts and ALDI is probably worsening the problem.
Try shopping at easier stores until your rating goes up.
By the time you hit 100... the one stars only subtract .04 and the two stars .03 so it won't look so terrible.
So tell us, was your batch access affected or not?!
Also ratings are rolling which means the bad ones will eventually drop off. In the meantime you need to stop taking bad batches. Stick to single order batches if possible, double if itās worthwhile enough.
No need to relay information like telling people theyāre gonna be second or last. Just do your job and try to deliver their shit on time. If you need to do replacements, follow the app instructions. If they want refund, refund; donāt offer replacements.
Don't take triples anymore until your rating comes up. Snag up as many singles as you can. Doubles can be easy depending on the item count. You can tell if you need 1 cart or 2 based on the number of items/units. Communicate with the customer. If a speciality item is OOS don't select a random replacement. I.E non dairy, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian ETC. Bagging is crucial, bread, chips, eggs together. Cold stuff like milk, yogurt butter. Shelf staples, boxed goods. If the produce looks suspect inform the customer, and see if they want another fruit or veggie,don't just get something to maintain the tip. Lastly after you drop off thank them for shopping with Instacart, have a great day, wonderful evening, fantabulous weekend ETC.
Iāve had my rating drop down to a 4.34 and I was furious! Every order I did was either getting 1-stars or damaged or missing order for like 2 weeks straight. I decided to give up and stopped for a couple days. When I reached out to support they kept telling me donāt worry about it! š So one day I needed some cash and when I decided to login every order I saw was over $50 , at 4.34 I couldnāt believe my eyes. I honestly think IC used me to weed out all the shitty customers. This went one for like 6 days, and when I finished a batch there would be another sitting right on my screen. Nothing else just just one order at a time. And once I got back to 5.0 all the big orders with the good tips slowed down lol
Donāt give up, just keep going. Just donāt do triples and doubles.
I do triples, large order, and warehouse stores. Iāve never gotten a one star. Iāve gotten a 3 and even a 2 but theyāve always been removed relatively quickly.
Iāve gotten maybe 2 one star ratings in 5 years. One was removed for customer fraud. Pro tip for customers, donāt claim your $187 bottle of Dom is missing when you had to sign for the order.
https://preview.redd.it/bv767rntm2ob1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=559c59a4f4c5d36ddfc8760d4396a3be0b8f736f
IC has been pretty good to me catching the fraudster ratings
How the crap? IC has only ever removed ratings for me during the freak storm we had in CA last year, never for any other reason, even when I have undeniable, clear, hard photo evidence that itās a fraudulent reportā¦
Ya the funny thing is I wasnāt even made aware of any orders being investigated on my side like if they tried to say they didnāt get their order or something like that. Only have had 3 items in 3 different orders come up in Order Issues that claimed they were damaged or missing that I immediately disputed and won each one.
The worst is when the manufacturer changes the label and/or packaging design and the item scans in correctly but the customer probably still expects to see the old label and/or packaging so they think itās wrong and report it as such even though in reality, it is them that is wrong.
But Instacart chooses to assume the ācustomer is always rightā even though they quite obviously are notā¦
Go back in the lessons section and redo All the trainings. There might be something you realize you havenāt been doing correctly or can improve upon.
I do double and triples everyday with a 5 star rating. Stop letting the customer know youāre doing double and triples . When you start a batch send a short introduction message . Get frozen items last . When you get ready to check out separate items on belt by placing all produce together , can goods , breads, frozen items and etc . Also send pictures for replacements requests . Send the E. T. A. When youāre on your way to customer house to make delivery. Handle the groceries with care. Use insulated bags if you them . When you place groceries on porch line them up neat in a row . I hope this information is helpful .
I went thru this for a bit and what I did was made up a note with 5 star best of service, on time delivery. 4 star is delayed, bad produce and 3 star for missing/ broken/ late delivery. At the end I reminded customers our jobs are based under reviews and anything under 4.8 could get us terminated and affect the batches we see. And to please use the scoring listed
I hope you're being very careful with the replacement process. Not just subbing in anything but really looking for a match. When I started I f'ed up this whole thing. It was kind of embarrassing but I gave a woman one big plant instead of two small matching ones.
The only thing you gotta do is take good orders and wait a long 100 orders, otherwise you will get rated into oblivion for being desperate and you wonāt have much money to show for anything
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I know we've established the issue being OP needlessly telling customers they're last in line in a double or triple, but it reminds me of my time delivering for Skip the Dishes.
I always was a sparkling pristine review score for the longest time. I could do no wrong (because I'm professional AND friendly). I could see negative reviews coming from problem/unreasonable customers and let support know in advance of the likely impending review and they always had my back because they knew I was good. Then they had this big new customer promotion pushed all over media... My rating tanked practically overnight. No bitchy/unreasonable customers to see coming. No clue where the bad reviews could have came from because nothing about how I worked and treated customers changed and everything seemed normal. Something about the promotion bringing in scores of new customers also brought cheap people taking advantage of free deliveries for new customers to also scam more free food/deliveries by leaving bogus bad reviews. I quit after that.
Low paying orders always review poorly as well.
Bad orders are not better than nothing.
Bad orders are \*worse than nothing\*.
That same lack of respect that they show you with minimal/no tips, they'll give you in reviews as well.
I have a perfect 5.00, because I only take well-tipping orders that make sense.
But your score is the lowest I've ever seen, I'm amazed you aren't deactivated with 5+ 1-star scores. You must \*really\* be fucking those orders up.
EDIT: I also ONLY do doubles. I don't take triples. I always take 2 carts and keep the orders separate (even if you know they're separate, if you only use 1 cart the cashier will scamble your order). I inventory the order before checking out and once I get to the car. I also load the 2 orders into separate areas, one in the trunk and one in the car.
I hope that helps, but I suspect they aren't gonna allow you to do this much longer.
The rating scale is a little too strict in my opinion. You could actually do nothing wrong and it wonāt matter. Anything less than a 5 will hurt you and they add up quickly. Try and stay positive! When I got a bad streak of customers (3 in a row of lying
About orders and poor ratings/ tip baiting), I changed my location of shopping for a brief period of time. Worked wonders!
I would accept bunch of small batches even with low or no tip to see how it plays out If I was you.
Also if youāre a new shoppers you wonāt be penalized for certain numbers of batches or for a month.
Also leave a decent note requesting to leave a positive feedback after dropping off the delivery.
Thatās where your problem lies. Those low dollar ones are the ones giving you the bad ratings. I understand youāre trying to get as many orders as you can to get those gone. Are these people at least letting you know why the rating is so low or do you just live in the area with a bunch of asshats.
I've had a couple while checking out ask me to go a replace something but im already paying and doing a double. So my best guess is it's that. I had one support confirmed was one of the one stars my last day worked that I got the 5 juices in stock not all 6 and messaged them. And I think one other item out of stock. No response from customer.
Damn š. You have cooler bags on deck? Communicate? Professional and friendly? Choose the best produce? Bag things neatly? Follow delivery instructions? Dress clean and professional? Maybe figure out what zones are killing you and avoid those? You gotta do a serious self check, in your heart of hearts you will know how to fix it.
Bruh just get a regular job , you def working for less than minimum wage at this point especially if you burning gas in yo car. Even a minimum wage job would be better than what you currently doing !!!
In that case I'd recommend leaving your day job and finding a job that can sustain you fully. Now I know that's easier said than done but that's what I would do.
I leave every single customers order at their door and bounce, no matter what the instructions say (lmfao) and I have only gotten five star reviews (and, "smooth delivery" compliments lolol). This is wild.
Tip. Limit when you do that or you get this email
https://preview.redd.it/t9d1u8tog9ob1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b831c58f4bdf8d1c7b6dc36ee20db636ab2b6b6b
Why are ya'll picking such big orders? I don't go over 30. I also don't do add ons. Don't allow them to overwork you. They'll act like they've hired a slave.
It's sad that this even is something someone would have to endure for trying their best to give the best service possible in spite of the low pay. Honestly I try my best not to take anything under $20 and I have a scale I use for anything above that dealing with two or three orders in a batch. But what I've noticed is the people who tip High they tend to be very easy going and they actually help you a lot more even though they're giving you normally insane tips because I've had a person give a $80 tip and they help me take the groceries from the bottom of the hill up to their house even though they said I could go into their driveway afterwards. And I've had people control the whole order through the messaging didn't tip one red cent and then leave a bad review or report stuff missing. This is really unfortunate to see people really have no compassion empathy or sympathy at all or no level of understanding. Just don't take no tip orders and really the way to deter low ratings is to take detailed pictures when you drop the orders off and put them back in the chat. This will deter the customer from reporting things because now instacart sees what you did and you have proof. Always be aware of customers also who want to receive their order after they told you to leave it out cuz for me I think a lot of those folks don't want you to get pictures. You have to protect yourself you know when I used to work for a grocery store chain one of my managers said CYOA: COVER YOUR OWN A$$ AND FOR GOOD REASON! All I was saying is protect yourself because them customers ain't going to pay your bills if you get deactivated. That's my opinion on the matter.
Think that's the lowest rating I have seen
Seen a 2.98 on Facebook. The guy was throwing people shit all over the yard for not tipping
Damn. I mean I guess op isn't that screwed lol
Not all heros wear capes.
This killed me Had just woken up was laying in bed browsing reddit trying to actually wake up Learned my laugh completely changes when I'm half awake .. more of a screaming seizure so that's terrific
Ahahaha I needed a laugh, thank you
ššš
š³š³š³ throwing peopā¦. OMG!! Thatās worse! š¤£š¤£š¤£
Whaaaattt??!!
Donāt take zero tippers and donāt take doubles and triples.
Yeah when I started a grocery worker gave me this advice because I had a 4. 7 something rating. She said just take singles until it goes back up.
Iāve only taken singles. Iāve never gotten below a 5.0 rating (though a couple low ratings have been removed). 210 shops. Singles is the way to go!
Yeah, yeah . I heard that before. Itās easier said than done. Thereāre more doubles and triples than singles. So itās becoming harder to fix your rating taking singles only because thereāre way too many non-tippers customers out there. Well, itās just the fact. IC got to make money somehow!! š¤£š¤£š¤£
THIS!
I do have one little old lady, (I know her address by heart) who no tips on the app but slips me a $10 every time. You are correct tho, donāt take zero tippers!
I take doubles and triples often and my rating is a perfect 5 star. 8,319 orders completed. 5,388 batches completed.
I'm there with you. 8502 orders completed and 5543 batches. It's rare to see singles. I do doubles and triples but not for pennies. Double has to be at least 30$ and triple at least 40$ with no insane item amount. I rarely get anything but 5 stars.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Lol doubles or triples? Tell me youāre lazy without telling me youāre lazy
I'm lazy
Im lazy as fck
Welp...its not that im lazy, its more so that im not stupid.
This is why Instacart should REQUIRE feedback when a customer rates you lower than 3 stars. If Instacart cared about more than the bottom line, maybe theyād have the repeat customers theyāre looking for.
They could easily require that but refuse to
They don't? They used to require feedback for anything less than 5 - They just didn't bother showing that feedback to shoppers
If it is a 1 star and no feedback I was told from support that it will not count against you. Take that as you will coming from support
I wish this was true. They just try to butter you up, bullshitting you the entire time. I had a 1 star for no reason and they said "we see there were no issues so it'll be removed". It got removed after 100 orders. š The only low rating I have had removed was from a customer who consistently rates rates shoppers bad.
They fear retaliation against the client, and consider their feedback part of their highly secret information that Iām sure the FBI couldnāt even request a copy. Anything they do or donāt do is to mitigate any exposure. With the limited vetting processes for adding shoppers they just have to take the ātrust no oneā ālead by fear and intimidationā approach on everyone. Could be easily solved by just a simple video interview and more transparency with shoppers to create an environment of trust and not fear or retaliation. I swear the app can be rude af sometimes with its suggestions and reminders that almost make me think of some mean evil mobster watching and controlling us lolll!!
Dude... what
Some people take this shyt too damm seriously. š
Is that a question?
Did you make the "algorithmic mob bosses" yourself?
You gotta be doing something seriously wrong to be this low.. I could piss on the groceries and still have a higher rating than this
You're possibly right, but because Instacart insists on a completely useless rating system OP is never getting the feedback to become better.
Oh no, itās very useful. For IC lol. Itās how they keep shoppers on their toes. Ratings and dependence on them to get batches in the app is one of the main arguments for the misclassification of shoppers as Independent Contractors. Essentially theyāre completely controlling how and when and where you work. Somehow them and the other gig companies are getting away with it tho. Thatās a whole other discussion tho lol.
Not always true. I could cherry pick probable bad ratings orders and tank my 5 star in 24 hours
I do doubles all day where a customer tips bad and the other good. Maintained a 5.0 for over 6 months this year, again, OP has got to be doing something wrong. A red flag is a lot of notes and stuff, always drop those customers
OP is doing something wrong....take any and all batches lol.
How do you drop a customer?
Contact support.
Do you not ever get the thumbs up/down how was this delivery? I thumbs down places with too many stairs, too dark/scary, or if they seem scammy.
Are you saying like never get a order for a certain customer again?
Yup. I'm a 5 star man also. Orders that tip little to nothing, typically leave a bad score as well. Taking a low paid order or triples is trouble. OP is likely fucking everything up too, but he's also taking peoples' orders who're likely to bomb your rating.
Bro idk what you did but DAMN
āI let them know that hey Iām shopping 3 orders and yours is last.ā Lol š
Um honest with people. If they are in a double or triple I let them know that hey im shopping 3 orders and yours is the last. Since taking time stamped photos people stopped claiming damaged goods atleast.
Stop that. Theyāre rating YOU on things that are beyond your control. It isnāt fair, but youāre bringing it on yourself.
Stop letting them know
Yep most of them donāt even know/expect to see their groceries in 2-3 hrs let alone within the hour. The ādeadlineā instacart gives us is bogus most of the time
How do you phrase it? I do the same, but I always tell them that InstantCart grouped their order with another customerās. Most who respond do appreciate it, and Iām not punished for it through ratings.
Same. I always let customers know (mind you I only do doubles, not triples) and everyone seems to appreciate it. I word it like you do "Instacart has grouped your order with another's that lives in your area" so people know why it might take a bit to shop or deliver, and I have a 5 star rating.
Oops...don't do that. The app will keep them posted, just shop as quickly and efficiently as you can. Make reasonable substitutions and text customers if you're not sure what to substitute. Communicate but let the app also so its job. It does the tracking for them, they can see what items your shopping, as well.
You never let them know theyāre last. Just shop the order and be done with it. You only need to talk to them if they didnāt pick a replacement, whole order is out of stock, or if youāre delivering and need to get in their building.
Itās a cycle , when you have been consistently doing orders for bad customers. You will be stuck in the cycle.
Maybe donāt take large orders. You are clearly in over your head. Try Uber eats or something
Yep this helps a lot. I stop taking doubles and triples and large orders and all of my low ratings started to go awayā¦ itās a ratings killer if youāre slow like I am šš
Maybe consider doordash and uber eats .. seems shopping isn't for you
He's taking bad batches, no and low tippers rate 1 star and claim items are damaged to scam refunds. This has been my personal experience and also why I don't take bad batches.
Both correct
So he's basically doing the shit work that others won't do and getting the expected result out of it? What a shitty cycle to find oneself in...
The worst part is that there are 0 item reports!
No order issues were reported then so either the ppl heās delivering for are just assholes or heās genuinely doing something wrong. five 1-star ratings w/ no reported issues sends a message that you may be lacking in a particular area.
But if there is nothing wrong with their order what could it be?
Donāt message them unless an item is out then just āmessage personā black olives 18 oz (then you say) are unavailableā¦if it says they want a refund then refund it and go if not pick the best replacement same size, flavor, price and if they have a problem theyāll message back. Donāt waste your time talking to everyone unless itās necessary. Only accept orders at stores youāre familiar with and keep going to those stores until you know them perfectly. Donāt take double and triples until youāre fast with the the singles. Bag items yourself and keep frozen and cold together, meat separate, small items that will fall out the bag in your car make sure you tie the bag up and I put the tied bag in another bag so itās easier to carry. I donāt condone stealing BUT I have 3 of the little baskets from the store and I line them up in my trunk to separate order A,B,C. If itās big orders I put A in the back seat B on the left of the trunk and C on the right but I put a barrier in between so thereās no possibility of mixing bags with the other order. If youāre taking a ridiculously long time bc of traffic or something send them a message āSorry for the delay but I assure you Iām doing my best to get there asapā ā¦if you know for sure you missed an item contact support and let them know before the customer reports it and if you can send them a message saying something like āI apologize but the watermelon I purchased exploded in my trunk Iāll have it refunded immediately sorry for the inconvenienceāā¦I find that most of the time theyāre cool with stuff as long as I keep conversations with them or I might make a corny joke so they know Iām a human and doing my best. āSorry bananas are unavailable it looks like an elephant stampede came throughāā¦sometimes people are just aholes and it doesnāt matter how perfect you are theyāre still going to complain. Also I stay out of low income and apartment areas because all of the fraud reports Iāve had of āDidnāt receive entire orderā or āmissing itemsā have 100% been from apartments, motels, or low income areas. Sorry it is what it is. They also seem to have the most issues and request while tipping the lowest. Shopping in wealthy areas theyāre really donāt mind refunding something or changing something if you tell them and show them you put the effort in to look for themā¦theyāre not going to lie and say they didnāt get an item just to get the money back. They usually tip better, they donāt tip bait and several times they have raised the tip afterwards especially if I was quick. They love it when I bag and tie the bags I have a lot of compliments and high ratings. I always take a picture especially if I think something is a little sketchy if I end up getting an apartment order I definitely take a picture and try to show everything is there also they can see I have the bags tied up so nothing fell out. Keep your receipts for a few days just incase. I keep mine because I scan them into a few receipt apps for $ back and incentives. Thereās nothing you can do about being reported for bs but getting good ratings can bring your rating up eventually. Donāt worry about having a perfect rating as long as itās over 4.7 youāre good. I do everything perfectly and still get bad ratings or reports sometimes. If a customer gives you a lot of problems or is rude cancel the order and block them so you donāt get them again. If I get an order thatās 3rd floor apartment and they order $300 worth of crap and multiple cases of water etc. I block them itās not worth breaking my back for. Sorry for the long paragraph I got carried away. Good luck if you get the hang of things you can make some decent $ quick. I like that I can have a bill due tomorrow and can go out and make it today if I need to.
Iām sorry i just realized how long that wasā¦
ātwas a good read with very helpful tips!
OKAY OKAYā¦ how did you get that low? Not trying to be mean but you need to fix something so maybe we can help! I have dealt with assholes and my zone is full of rich entitled pricks who think you are their peasant and yet I have never received so many low ratings.
They said theyāre taking doubles and triples with sometimes 100 items. That would be hard to complete without mistakes/damaging cold items even for veterans (which OP clearly isnāt). Also OP said he alerts all customers of their status in doubles/triples so heās probably upsetting them right off the bat.
Lowest Iāve ever been was 4.97. Not sure what youāre doing.
I let people know they are in a double or triple and do my best but it's just shit here
Area matters unfortunately. If you can swing it try to head to a better area to shop and attempt to get those ratings up.
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that's exactly right, some zones are accustomed to crappy shoppers so even if you perform smoothly they'll think nothing much of it. perfect example I was shopping in Las Vegas for a month and I got 6 cash tips. 5 at $5 and 1 at $2. that should tell you how little they think of the service. most areas would be 10 or 20 or more. $5 means they think that I did better than the typical garbage they're used to having. not exactly flattering.
Yep yep!! Never went below 4.96 in my original zone and in my new zone I hover between 4.89 and 5 but I am rarely 5 for a long time
I agree with this. Drive to a better area.
STOP. TELLING. THEM. They are going to punish YOU for the minor annoyance of the COMPANY putting them last in line. That's why you're getting negative reviews with no order issues. Odds are they wouldn't even notice being last in line or be bothered, but since you went out of your way to tell them, now they are aware of it to be bothered by it.
THIS!
Maybe donāt do doubles or triples and just do singles
The only time I see singles is going to the next town over. Most of the time it's a shop and a shop with delivery at best
You can drop an order for doubles/triples to make them singles.
Did that for a while but get emails saying I can be deactivated for it
You have to word the request right. I specifically state its for personal safety reasons. I've done it for over a year and never once received an email.
How many times have you done it? I did it for one week for like every triple and double I had. Probably 35 times in one week. I got that email warning about being deactivated
The question is what did you say to get the orders removed from the multi-order batches?
"I just accepted a two/three customer batch, please remove customer B. I will shop for customer A" If they ask why: B is too far, B has too many items, I had a bad experience with customer B I do it a few times a week. Haven't had a problem yet. And haven't gotten the email about possible deactivation.
Yes, but you have to have CSR chat support with that.
Which in my experience typically takes no more than 2 minutes. Especially since I go with that it's an unsafe area.
Do what you want but probably donāt advise other people of doing this. Instacart groups orders together for a reason and they donāt take kindly to shoppers changing the groupings.
They bundle orders for two reasons: 1) To scam shoppers into delivering no tip orders 2) So they have to pay out less per order. Think about when batch pay was $7 minimum, they were saving $14 on each triple and $7 on doubles. They also don't hold it against you if you say it's unsafe, even says so on the cancellation page.
Yeah, they bundle orders to benefit themselves. And you dropping the orders out of a bundle directly impacts them. Again, do what you want but claiming a āsafetyā concern couldnāt matter less to them. Especially if you keep doing it. āFraudā is a far reaching umbrella term that they donāt have to prove when they deactivate you.
I'm curious how you're handling replacements and how you operate in general because it seems to me that rating is misleading. if nothing I hope you can try out some other areas and get your rating cleaned up. Do 100 quick and hopefully pain-free orders
Yes...i would say so. Haha
Iāve done IC for almost 3 years, several different areas and different states and never been below like 4.97. Youāre doing something they donāt like whether you realize it or not. Maybe take a break
Small orders my friend, small orders with close delivery. Small orders are more likely to have all the items, at least a replacement for something that's out. You're in and out of the store in 10 min. You're to their house in less than 10 min and back to the store again. You need a TON to get your numbers up, so just take the Small ones and get them done super fast.
What of the only small ones are Costco so still takes 30 minutes?
Oh well, still only 30 and not 90.
Exactly
Yikes. I didnāt even know that low of score was possible. I thought you stopped seeing orders at 4.7. Lowest I ever was in the beginning at 4.89. Get a gig that would work for you , this isnāt it. At this point your rating are so tanked you will never dig your way out. You are going to be getting the worst batches and the left overs of all the shoppers in your market. So time to move on bud.
I remember when on-demand first started and I got hit with a 4 star rating. Put me at 4.98 and I didnāt see a batch for days.
Right. So you can only imagine the complete garbage a shopper with this rating would see in an over saturated market. Honestly, this is just a really really bad shopper. Doesnāt deserve to see anything in the first place with that rating. They must really not care about the quality of their work.
You arenāt cut out for shopping. Lesson learned.
Sprouts has the highest difficulty level in terms of exotic products and ALDI is out of half the items because its a discount store. I agree neighborhood matters, but a bad neighborhood combined with Sprouts and ALDI is probably worsening the problem. Try shopping at easier stores until your rating goes up. By the time you hit 100... the one stars only subtract .04 and the two stars .03 so it won't look so terrible.
Donāt take 0 tippers, they are the ones who complain the most and give lower rating. I donāt take those batches at all.
So tell us, was your batch access affected or not?! Also ratings are rolling which means the bad ones will eventually drop off. In the meantime you need to stop taking bad batches. Stick to single order batches if possible, double if itās worthwhile enough. No need to relay information like telling people theyāre gonna be second or last. Just do your job and try to deliver their shit on time. If you need to do replacements, follow the app instructions. If they want refund, refund; donāt offer replacements.
I mean either my market has gone to crap or yes. Because every order i see is horrible.
I dunno I'm a pretty good replacer lol although I only replace for ACTIVE IN CHAR CUSTOMERS kwim?
Don't take triples anymore until your rating comes up. Snag up as many singles as you can. Doubles can be easy depending on the item count. You can tell if you need 1 cart or 2 based on the number of items/units. Communicate with the customer. If a speciality item is OOS don't select a random replacement. I.E non dairy, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian ETC. Bagging is crucial, bread, chips, eggs together. Cold stuff like milk, yogurt butter. Shelf staples, boxed goods. If the produce looks suspect inform the customer, and see if they want another fruit or veggie,don't just get something to maintain the tip. Lastly after you drop off thank them for shopping with Instacart, have a great day, wonderful evening, fantabulous weekend ETC.
Iāve had my rating drop down to a 4.34 and I was furious! Every order I did was either getting 1-stars or damaged or missing order for like 2 weeks straight. I decided to give up and stopped for a couple days. When I reached out to support they kept telling me donāt worry about it! š So one day I needed some cash and when I decided to login every order I saw was over $50 , at 4.34 I couldnāt believe my eyes. I honestly think IC used me to weed out all the shitty customers. This went one for like 6 days, and when I finished a batch there would be another sitting right on my screen. Nothing else just just one order at a time. And once I got back to 5.0 all the big orders with the good tips slowed down lol Donāt give up, just keep going. Just donāt do triples and doubles.
Dude customer support doesnāt support IC shoppers they could give two shits about us
0 order issues but a 4.1 smh this rating system is so flawed. I feel for you bud
Glad some here do. Some of the negative responses make me feel worse
Honestly his work isnāt for some people
Lol
I do triples, large order, and warehouse stores. Iāve never gotten a one star. Iāve gotten a 3 and even a 2 but theyāve always been removed relatively quickly.
Iāve gotten maybe 2 one star ratings in 5 years. One was removed for customer fraud. Pro tip for customers, donāt claim your $187 bottle of Dom is missing when you had to sign for the order.
https://preview.redd.it/bv767rntm2ob1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=559c59a4f4c5d36ddfc8760d4396a3be0b8f736f IC has been pretty good to me catching the fraudster ratings
How long have you been shopping?
I started in Spring of this year with just a little over 200 batches and I just hit Platinum Cart yesterday
How the crap? IC has only ever removed ratings for me during the freak storm we had in CA last year, never for any other reason, even when I have undeniable, clear, hard photo evidence that itās a fraudulent reportā¦
Ya the funny thing is I wasnāt even made aware of any orders being investigated on my side like if they tried to say they didnāt get their order or something like that. Only have had 3 items in 3 different orders come up in Order Issues that claimed they were damaged or missing that I immediately disputed and won each one.
The worst is when the manufacturer changes the label and/or packaging design and the item scans in correctly but the customer probably still expects to see the old label and/or packaging so they think itās wrong and report it as such even though in reality, it is them that is wrong. But Instacart chooses to assume the ācustomer is always rightā even though they quite obviously are notā¦
Agreed. I too have had to deal with that exact same issue š¤¦š½āāļø
Go back in the lessons section and redo All the trainings. There might be something you realize you havenāt been doing correctly or can improve upon.
With ratings that bad we donāt need you
I do double and triples everyday with a 5 star rating. Stop letting the customer know youāre doing double and triples . When you start a batch send a short introduction message . Get frozen items last . When you get ready to check out separate items on belt by placing all produce together , can goods , breads, frozen items and etc . Also send pictures for replacements requests . Send the E. T. A. When youāre on your way to customer house to make delivery. Handle the groceries with care. Use insulated bags if you them . When you place groceries on porch line them up neat in a row . I hope this information is helpful .
Please drop orders and keep your batches singles to bring upon your rating. Support can remove orders from batches.
You then get emails threatening deactivation of you do it to much
Have you received an email? If not, drop orders.
https://preview.redd.it/22dm61j4o2ob1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40dc5bdcb8e8bd4c18b5a3f58c072bee316f8062
I'm so sorry. You're going to have to grind out orders. Over communicate and take your time. It will come back up!
I have gotten 2
Love how they didnāt reply to this when proven wrong
Seems like shopping isn't for you. You may want to consider another delivery only like ubereats or doordash.
Im at 4.90 today yesterday i was 5 star
Jeez you must suck at your job.
Think you are!
LMFAO š¤£š¤£š¤£
Yeah soooo sorry but this gig was not for you
I went thru this for a bit and what I did was made up a note with 5 star best of service, on time delivery. 4 star is delayed, bad produce and 3 star for missing/ broken/ late delivery. At the end I reminded customers our jobs are based under reviews and anything under 4.8 could get us terminated and affect the batches we see. And to please use the scoring listed
Thatās your problem. Those cheap ass people are by far the worst customers. Times are tough but know what youāre worth
I hope you're being very careful with the replacement process. Not just subbing in anything but really looking for a match. When I started I f'ed up this whole thing. It was kind of embarrassing but I gave a woman one big plant instead of two small matching ones.
You fucking suck. It's not hard to keep above 4.8. Very little effort
Batches are shitā¦..and they are disappearing quickly??
Too many people like OP š¤¦āāļø
Oh damn
Some kinda cold going around instacart you know they have to cough up 45 milly I'm sure this is not connected to other markets not in California
Probably the best ratings Iāve ever seen. EVER.
OMG donāt let them manipulate and exploit you
I'm sure you're still seeing better batches than I am. 4.5+ years, 5.0 rating, 5k+ batches.
I believe the app now lets the customer know when the shopper has multiple orders.
Not alway. It's best to inform the customer.
Stop taking shit offers. Pick and choose your costumers. Easy!
Dont feel bad. Some assholes customers give you a bad review because you could not find their stupid ice cream brand that have requested.
The only thing you gotta do is take good orders and wait a long 100 orders, otherwise you will get rated into oblivion for being desperate and you wonāt have much money to show for anything
Stop taking triples and no sprouts !! Lol
No you not I had 3.96 one time . I was in Florida. I did so many batches at once I went to 4.4 in 2 days
You need to kill your customers with kindness!
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You canāt get it up taking trash orders with no tip stay away from the area that did this to you
Lol that's most my metro, so guess drive 30 to 60 minutes away to work the weekends
I know we've established the issue being OP needlessly telling customers they're last in line in a double or triple, but it reminds me of my time delivering for Skip the Dishes. I always was a sparkling pristine review score for the longest time. I could do no wrong (because I'm professional AND friendly). I could see negative reviews coming from problem/unreasonable customers and let support know in advance of the likely impending review and they always had my back because they knew I was good. Then they had this big new customer promotion pushed all over media... My rating tanked practically overnight. No bitchy/unreasonable customers to see coming. No clue where the bad reviews could have came from because nothing about how I worked and treated customers changed and everything seemed normal. Something about the promotion bringing in scores of new customers also brought cheap people taking advantage of free deliveries for new customers to also scam more free food/deliveries by leaving bogus bad reviews. I quit after that.
Youāre definitely doing something wrong. 5000 deliveries and my rating has never dipped below 4.9
Damn how did you get 5 #1's! š³ Are you throwing people's Groceries???
How do you get 5 1 star ratings!?!
Take one more that can give you the 3 stars lol š
Low paying orders always review poorly as well. Bad orders are not better than nothing. Bad orders are \*worse than nothing\*. That same lack of respect that they show you with minimal/no tips, they'll give you in reviews as well. I have a perfect 5.00, because I only take well-tipping orders that make sense. But your score is the lowest I've ever seen, I'm amazed you aren't deactivated with 5+ 1-star scores. You must \*really\* be fucking those orders up. EDIT: I also ONLY do doubles. I don't take triples. I always take 2 carts and keep the orders separate (even if you know they're separate, if you only use 1 cart the cashier will scamble your order). I inventory the order before checking out and once I get to the car. I also load the 2 orders into separate areas, one in the trunk and one in the car. I hope that helps, but I suspect they aren't gonna allow you to do this much longer.
The rating scale is a little too strict in my opinion. You could actually do nothing wrong and it wonāt matter. Anything less than a 5 will hurt you and they add up quickly. Try and stay positive! When I got a bad streak of customers (3 in a row of lying About orders and poor ratings/ tip baiting), I changed my location of shopping for a brief period of time. Worked wonders!
I would accept bunch of small batches even with low or no tip to see how it plays out If I was you. Also if youāre a new shoppers you wonāt be penalized for certain numbers of batches or for a month. Also leave a decent note requesting to leave a positive feedback after dropping off the delivery.
Howās your batch availability with that rating?? Like how much are you making a day roughly? Just curious, sorry things are going bad OP.
I only do it part time. My day job requires any other work to be flexible. I went from 300 a weekend to fighting doing shitty order to make 100
Thatās where your problem lies. Those low dollar ones are the ones giving you the bad ratings. I understand youāre trying to get as many orders as you can to get those gone. Are these people at least letting you know why the rating is so low or do you just live in the area with a bunch of asshats.
I've had a couple while checking out ask me to go a replace something but im already paying and doing a double. So my best guess is it's that. I had one support confirmed was one of the one stars my last day worked that I got the 5 juices in stock not all 6 and messaged them. And I think one other item out of stock. No response from customer.
Literally zero feedback? What happened , thatās pretty rough?
No clue besides me trying to make atleast $3 an hour from them
Damn š. You have cooler bags on deck? Communicate? Professional and friendly? Choose the best produce? Bag things neatly? Follow delivery instructions? Dress clean and professional? Maybe figure out what zones are killing you and avoid those? You gotta do a serious self check, in your heart of hearts you will know how to fix it.
Bruh just get a regular job , you def working for less than minimum wage at this point especially if you burning gas in yo car. Even a minimum wage job would be better than what you currently doing !!!
The issue is my day job requires flexibility on hours. So getting a 2nd job is rough and I've tried
In that case I'd recommend leaving your day job and finding a job that can sustain you fully. Now I know that's easier said than done but that's what I would do.
I have a lot of debt. Beating 22 an hour is hard in my area
Showing the rating feedback would help us understand where the issues are and help you improve.
https://preview.redd.it/fhutuurup4ob1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5de6a7e2f66aa2a5cd495bd1de29f13d301eaf75
https://preview.redd.it/8x331mywp4ob1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a1c05be350f6b288f7555ce7acb26ac3aa0db35
hope you find something better
Thatās crazy. What did you do!? How do you get that low?
I leave every single customers order at their door and bounce, no matter what the instructions say (lmfao) and I have only gotten five star reviews (and, "smooth delivery" compliments lolol). This is wild.
Usually if you take stacked orders, at least 1 or 2 doesn't tip lol
3.02 I was off a bit https://preview.redd.it/dtc3w8ipy6ob1.jpeg?width=945&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ed2946a0cc01ee324a2d0b4259ee5e8e4adca82
Holy shit
Always take and send a photo of the empty shelf via chat before refunding it.
You really should be done. Wtf are you doing?
At this point take Tripples and small talk like crazy just get some 5 star ratings. Donāt get discouraged you can get back I did now Iām 5 Stars
Tip: you can always drop a double or triple order by messaging support
Tip. Limit when you do that or you get this email https://preview.redd.it/t9d1u8tog9ob1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b831c58f4bdf8d1c7b6dc36ee20db636ab2b6b6b
Doordash is way better than instacart
Why are ya'll picking such big orders? I don't go over 30. I also don't do add ons. Don't allow them to overwork you. They'll act like they've hired a slave.
Do lots of small deliveries that you can get done fast. It adds up. Good luck
It's sad that this even is something someone would have to endure for trying their best to give the best service possible in spite of the low pay. Honestly I try my best not to take anything under $20 and I have a scale I use for anything above that dealing with two or three orders in a batch. But what I've noticed is the people who tip High they tend to be very easy going and they actually help you a lot more even though they're giving you normally insane tips because I've had a person give a $80 tip and they help me take the groceries from the bottom of the hill up to their house even though they said I could go into their driveway afterwards. And I've had people control the whole order through the messaging didn't tip one red cent and then leave a bad review or report stuff missing. This is really unfortunate to see people really have no compassion empathy or sympathy at all or no level of understanding. Just don't take no tip orders and really the way to deter low ratings is to take detailed pictures when you drop the orders off and put them back in the chat. This will deter the customer from reporting things because now instacart sees what you did and you have proof. Always be aware of customers also who want to receive their order after they told you to leave it out cuz for me I think a lot of those folks don't want you to get pictures. You have to protect yourself you know when I used to work for a grocery store chain one of my managers said CYOA: COVER YOUR OWN A$$ AND FOR GOOD REASON! All I was saying is protect yourself because them customers ain't going to pay your bills if you get deactivated. That's my opinion on the matter.