I’m not a regular user of Uber Eats or other food delivery apps and a recent extended delivery delay in ordering food in Dallas makes me question why I even used the service in the first place. Are extended delays a common problem or did I just end up with the wrong Uber Eats driver?
Uber Eats Delay – Thanks For The Cold Meal…
With two young kids at home, I do not go out for dinner much nor do I order in. I prefer to cook for reasons of health, cost, and because I find the food tastier and the environment less stressful when eating at home.
But it’s another story when I’m on the road. With hotel room service at many properties still limited from the pandemic era or a combination of unsavory and expensive, I will go out to eat when traveling.
I reached Dallas in the late evening and after only a frozen turkey pastrami sandwich on American Airlines, was hungry. Therefore, I treated myself to something I deny myself at home…Taco Bell.
The hotel was in a seedy neighborhood full of homeless people milling about on the street and it was approaching midnight, so I decided to use Uber Eats.
Big mistake.
I put in the order at 11:40 pm. At 11:46 pm the order was completed.
But the app showed no pick-up. No movement at all.
10 minutes. 20 minutes. 30 minutes. 40 minutes.
Finally, the driver picked it up.
Even though the Taco Bell was less than a mile away, it took another 15 minutes to reach me.
By the time I met the driver downstairs with the Taco Bell, 53 minutes had elapsed since the order was ready and of course…everything was stone cold.
I complained on the Uber app and got the metaphorical middle finger from Uber, stating there was nothing it could do.
Fine. Lesson learned.
But really, if I pay more for food plus a delivery fee plus a tip to have my fast food delivered, is it really unreasonable to expect it to arrive form?
I guess this all did my body good. I just went to bed without eating the food. I’m thankful this is a first world problem.
Generally this bad, yes. My uncle orders all the time and often gets calls after 60/90/120 minutes from the restaurant stating his order has not been picked up by the driver. Also I am banned from Uber Eats. Years ago, I requested a refund on a Chipotle burrito bowl as it was ice cold and spilled all over the bag. Uber Eats told me it was not their problem and that they would not be refunding me. It was my first order with them as normally I used DoorDash previously. Anyway, I disputed the charge with my credit card company and they approved it, but then Uber Eats billed the amount back to me through the app months later. I can’t order through them again until I pay that charge, which I am not.
get a diff a/c email and number. Problem solved.
Think it is linked to the delivery address or something more like the device IMEI or similar. It’s fine tho, stopped eating junk and paying $$$ in fees. Got a free year of Grubhub+ offer from BofA if I really need to order
Why go to a bunch of trouble to be able to order from a sub-par delivery service?
Never order from them again. Problem solved.
Uber eats is the worst. Two nights in a ROW I have given them a chance. The first time the app kept saying preparing order. Called restaurant and the order had been done for 45 minutes I was told. Called support and got a bunch of BS about a cancellation charge. I took photos and paid priority. They refunded whole amount. The very next night same thing. Different restaurant. Same outcome. No food. I am done with horrible customer service as we all should be.
I will occasionally order for my team at work when we’re busy. I gave up on Uber Eats after two orders were initially accepted, and then canceled at some point later, with no explanation given, and no notification either through the app, text, or email that it was canceled. Both times I ended up having to scramble to feed my (understandably) hangry bunch. I dunno, maybe it’s a Dallas thing. It’s been DoorDash from then on; no major issues with them, apart from all the junk fees.
Simple answer….YES. But not as bad as Doordash who literally hires anyone without a background check or interview. There are “Dashers” who are homeless and live in their cars with their families and even pets. And they are in the vehicle with your food.
At least with Uber most drivers also drive guests so they have to have a decent, clean vehicle to use and are semi verified.
I personally would never eat anything that came from a Doordash delivery.
America: Homeless people, get a damn job!
Also America: Homeless people, get a better damn job!
Similar for pickup orders.
I ordered from a chicken rotisserie place in Austin, confirmed on UE, waited the 40 mins until it was supposed to be ready and went down to the food court only to be faced with a closed restaurant who had sold out of food completely over 4 hours previously. They’d never even seen the order from Uber.
You have to adjust your expectations here a bit, Matt…
Taco Bell doesn’t have its own delivery staff, doesn’t promise prompt delivery, doesn’t travel well regardless. You ordered Uber Eats, which is a third party pickup service, close to midnight, so not in prime hours, and probably not in a city that does a lot of food delivery at midnight. It’s not like you are ordering from a pizza place in New York City that is doing consistent delivery service until 1 or 2 AM. There probably weren’t any Uber Eats people near Taco Bell when the order was ready, and the delivery guy was probably doing multiple stops.
It’s a rookie mistake, but if you want hot, fresh food at midnight, take an Uber to the restaurant directly, consume it on the spot, and Uber back.
We just experienced long delivery time while using the $35 Dec Uber credit on AmEx Plt but after waiting for pickup, the cook fries, then multi stops til us. We could track the movement around the hood. Fortunately this was 5 Guys and I had the oven hot to reheat the fries But only in December and only if I reup the Plt
After reading comments, it’s on AmEx to offer inferior services 🙁
For my Uber Amex Platinum credits I never order it (too much of a gamble) but choose pick-up. At least this way I can use the credits without getting annoyed 🙂
Of course not, it is typically worse. You really need to look on the positive side, the food arrived and the order was correct. The driver didn’t eat your food, didn’t steal the bag, deliver a fake meal, refuse to feed you unless you tip.
The order was wrong too, but I don’t blame the driver for that.
Given that this is Uber eats the driver either picked up the wrong order, kitchen messed up or driver ordered a cheaper item and ate your dinner. ..
I used to delivery drive back in 2018 for a restaurant, personally I refuse to order delivery from any place that doesn’t have their own drivers, to much of a gamble for me. And it is much easier for a delivery place to fix a driver fuck up than for Uber.
I called to order chinese the other day from my local spot. They used to have their own delivery driver, but now she said delivery orders must be placed through one of the food ordering services. She said they don’t have enough deliveries/tips for them to hire their own driver anymore, as they aren’t making enough money.. would imagine other small businesses face the same issue.
Not sure but perhaps the delivery services rate the destination address? Not enough tipping to encourage drivers to jump on the pick up? I had some luck just asking front desk staff what’s good & local that delivers independently.
And a kid in my neighborhood was delivering for door dash. He stunk like skunky marijuana. I could smell him from across the street! Not who I want coming near my food.
I use Uber Eats all the time and it generally works great… If you’re in a densely populated area. If you’re deep in the burbs or somewhere like Downtown Dallas where nobody lives or orders food from, there just aren’t many drivers.
Rappi, 99, and Grab work so well in their home markets because drivers can deliver on motorbike. The economics of food delivery in the US make it very unappealing to most markets.
Uber Eats sucks, especially in LA. I usually use DoorDash or a Grubhub when I’m in LA.
Had the exact same experience with Uber Eats…..and it was a Taco Bell order too!
Really, these delivery apps are getting less and less worth the money
I would argue they have been from the start with the fees. They are the ultimate example of how lazy and entitled we are as Americans.
Can you imagine trying to explain these “services” to someone in a 3rd world? Paying $20-$25 for a McDonald’s value meal with fees and tips is insane, regardless of income level.
And something that hasn’t been brought up here is unless you give a big tip, drivers won’t accept the order in most cases, which is why they sit at the restaurant. And yes, while drivers theoretically can’t see the tip, they can tell from the compensation listed for accepting the order if the tip will be worth their time. So the system becomes where everyone is trying to out tip other customers to ensure they get their food as fast as possible.
Totally correct. As I think there is a rating for an address. If prior hotel guests were not generous all but the most desperate will shun you!
And the excess fees are ridiculous. As I said better to find local who independently delivers. A macdonald’s meal deal for 20+ delivered. Ridiculous. I’ll starve first
I’m a driver. If you tip well upfront, your order will be picked up quickly. How much did you tip upfront?
For some further perspective from a driver’s point of view: Taco Bell lobbies usually close in the early evening, if they’re open at all. Understaffing makes the drive-thru line incredibly long and slow.
Even if your order was completed ahead of time, the driver has to wait through the entire drive-thru line to get to the speaker box, then again to get to the window. before picking up your food. There is simply no way to pick up your food quickly or jump the line, even if it’s sitting there finished. It’s as though you paid someone to go wait in line for you while your food gets cold.
So, this could be the reason that it took so long to get to you after it was “ready.” (Again, how long it took a driver to accept your order would have depended entirely on your tip).
Again, as a driver, I have a few hour window in the evening where I can actually make money. If it takes 10 minutes to drive to the Taco Bell and another 10 to drive to where you stay and drop it off, on a late evening like this, this could almost be an hour’s investment when you factor in waiting time. Operating my vehicle is roughly covered by the amount UberEats pays me (on an order like this, it’s $2.50-$3.00).
That means I need to earn an hour’s wage from solely your tip. If you’re in Texas, that’s $7.50 or so, which I think almost any human being would consider unreasonable. But again, it depends on what you tip.
Exactly: I’m also a driver and the number one piece of information needed to interperate this article has been withheld. What was the tip? Because if it sits for 50 minutes then it’s a bad one. That goes on the author.
#2: I can’t stand when people complain because they are only “1 mile away from the store.” That DOES NOT mean your driver is 1 mile away from the store.
#3: Author admits they are in a seedy part of town. I’m guessing the Motel 6. Why would a driver, at midnight, agree to go THERE for a low tip???
Quite honestly, the author sounds like they don’t understand how Uber Eats works but really, really, wants to vent about this – despite them not disclosing their crap tip. Hysterical. Generation Complain.
I can unequivocally confirm that he was not at a Motel 6, in fact, there are a pair of reviews from this very stay at luxury properties in Dallas.
James, I’m sympathetic to your desire to make a fair wage, I really am. I think the problem here is the system we’ve set up where a pre trip gratuity dictates the service we get. Uber tells you when to expect the food. They don’t tell you to estimate how far a theoretical driver “might” drive, they don’t make you estimate the seediness of your location, and they don’t expect you to understand the economics of the market you’re in.
How much do YOU think Matthew should have tipped? I live in Downtown Austin, I use Uber Eats all the time, I usually tip around 15% and always get my food quickly. I would be surprised if Matthew left a tip of less than 15%. In fact, I bet he left 20%.
I went back and looked. I tipped 18%.
With all due respect, 18% is absolutely meaningless with delivery. 18% of a McDonald’s order is, what $2-3.
A driver picks up a bag and delivers it to you. Do you think it matters if that bag has $150 in sushi, a single happy meal, or a single fountain drink in it? It doesn’t to the driver.
Based on what I can see if you order, I’m guessing it was about a $2.25 tip. With Uber’s pay, that’s likely less than $5.
You were effectively asking a driver to go to Taco Bell, wait in a doubtless long drive-thru line (upwards of 30 minutes), and bring food to you – paying for his/her own gas and wear and tear, for $5.
An hour’s worth of work for five bucks, minus expenses.
Make sense why you didn’t get a driver right away?
I don’t blame you completely, in that Uber gives percentage amounts as “suggestions” when your order is a certain amount. But I am asking that you think a little, and hopefully use your platform, to help people understand why your delivery indeed sucked.
Jerry, it’s easy.
Don’t tip a percentage. It’s nonsense and meaningless. I’d rather deliver a bag of sushi at $100 than a single fountain drink at $1.50; it’s easier to manage. Yet you’d tip $15 on the sushi and less than fifty cents on a fountain drink – for the exact same service of someone picking up the bag and bringing it to you.. I know those are extremes, but see how that works?
You’re also correct that you don’t know where a driver starts. But realize that it’s SOMEwhere other than the restaurant, and in a place like Dallas, it’s usually 3 miles plus or minus.
All that said, let me give you a rule of thumb to follow.
For a driver to make ONLY minimum wage in a $10 minimum wage state, they need a tip of about $2/mile from the restaurant to you, with a absolute floor of $5. That takes into account their drive time to the restaurant, wait/pickup time. drive to your home, and dropoff.
Remember, that’s ONLY to make minimum wage.
That’s for normal conditions, e.g. no terrible weather, not driving the wrong way across rush hour traffic, and not to a home far, far removed from civilization. In that case, you can adjust accordingly.
I don’t disagree with or dispute anything that you’ve said. My orders are usually around $50 in food, so I guess that means I’m giving the driver $7.50. I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not that’s good enough.
As for your per mile proposal, as right as it may be, I think it’s unrealistic for a customer to go through that exercise every time an order is placed. The nature of ordering delivery is laziness. A laziness we’re willing to pay for. Customers see inflated prices, service fees, delivery fees, and then they see percentages. I think it’s hard to blame them for leaving a % tip that is generally considered acceptable anywhere else. I think the problem here is UberEats business model. I like it, but it doesn’t seem sustainable (outside of a few markets) in the United States.
I think the exercise is even easier than calculating 20% at a restaurant.
When you open UburEats and click a restaurant – it will show the location with a miles figure accurate to 0.1 miles.
Take that miles and double it. There’s your tip in dollars. Easy!
I used to use Uber Eats somewhat regularly (I live in Montgomery County, MD), and I very rarely have problems. ♂️
I use UberEats regularly and almost never have any problems, but then I live in a major city, order during more regular dinner hours (6-9), and tip well. And if I really want my food fast (fairly rare), I pay for priority delivery, so no other stops on the way.
TIP = to ensure promptness….. Non tippers or low tippers don’t get picked up. I deliver for doordash skip and a few others and believe me if your low tip orders are getting picked up you’re getting extra ingredients with your food…. Or we might pick it up if we have several other orders to do along the way MAYBE..
. NOTHING I WOULD DO BUT I’VE HEARD MANY MANY STORIES BELIEVE ME.
…YUCK
Minimum $5 tip everybody I don’t care if you’re ordering a $1 coffee minimum $5 tip orders that have to go far $10 tip you want the driver to move and take good care of your order and keep it nice and warm and cozy and get it to you toot sweet minimum $10 tip if I see anything under $5 well let’s just say I’m a bang all traffic laws and going to speed limit for your order…. My acceptance rate is only 20%, which means 80% of the time there are cheap people have no idea that work and risk we go through to get your God damn hamburgers to you… I’ve been in several close calls none of them my fault I’ve come close to running over people not my fault you wouldn’t believe what happens out there driving around the city during an 8-hour shift…. We risk our lives we risk our insurance all to get your hamburger to you during a bad nor’easter so you can enjoy it with your loved ones you think that’s worth a $2 tip well I would suggest you get your coat on and get your keys out and go get your own food you cheap bunch of f**ks.
Even if I tip you $100, please still obey (sic) traffic laws, the speed limit, don’t get in a wreck, and don’t run anybody over. I do want my hamburgers, but I don’t need them so bad that I want people to suffer (physically or financially) as a result of me eating them
My biggest rant with most of the delivery services is that they’ve migrated to drivers accepting multiple orders vs. just one single order. That means your order might be picked up, but the driver picks up another order “along the way” or drops another order “along the way” – which can cause a huge delay. They are trying to monetize this and allow you to add a fee for priority service, but their fees are already $10 or more per order – regardless of tips.
All of these services are generally bad. Stopped using them years ago. I will pick up myself or go through drive-through. Or if in a hotel in a bad area without a car, eat at the hotel restaurant or out of the vending machine/snack cupboard – which will invariably be faster and better than an hour late cold delivery.
Don’t be a cheap ass. As a driver, i don’t take a delivery unless lts over 10.00 and at least 2.00 a mile. Even if its going across the street, I’m not taking it unless it’s 10.00. Most of the drivers I talk to are the same. Look at gas and inflation and tell me tye 2.00 tip you gave is going to help that driver or help you. I guarantee if you paid the tip that was worthy of a premium service, you’d have gotten your food hot.
I work for Uber Eats occasionally. It’s a fairly fun job. The problem wiith your order was most likely due to the tip amount shown to the driver. The tip system on Uber eats shows an estimated tip based on previous tips. Since you had no history, most likely the pay shown was the base pay of $2.50. That’s for 20 to 30 minutes of work plus mileage. You can see why no one wanted to accep t. If you tipped well you probably will have a better experience next time. I recommend tipping $2 per mile if you are in an area with lots of restaurants. Double that if you are not. Minimum $5.
That’s not how it works, at least not anymore, in the U.S.
Uber shows the estimate amount which is their base rate ($1.50-$3.00, rarely more), plus the tip amount that the customer put in upfront. UE will not display more than $8 tip, though. If the customer puts in a tip amount of $50 ahead of time, UE will show $10.50-$11.50 (approximately), and the driver will find out an hour after delivery that the customer’s tip was $50.
This penalizes people who want something from a farther restaurant. Most drivers will not take <$1/mile orders. A customer could do everything "right" and tip proportionally to distance, and still not have their order picked up because the driver has no way of knowing if they'll recoup their cost and time for the long distance.
This article makes me cringe to the bone. As an UberEATS driver, you probably were not giving a good enough tip. A short trip only pays $1.50 in Dallas and drive thrus take 15 minutes sometimes. A payout of $7.50 is appropriate for your Uber driver if you were less than a mile so you’d have to tip at least $6 for any driver to accept your request.
It makes you cringe? Sorry to hear that people being upset about not receiving a service they paid for is so “cringe”.
Two weeks ago I ordered 6 items for $35 and I put a pre-delivery tip of $10. The guy arrives with an open bag that has one item in it. Come to find out he didn’t bother counting the items and left the other bag at the restaurant. I guess $10 isn’t a high enough tip either to expect drivers to count the items in open bags or at the very least look at the receipt stapled to the bag to verify the items are in it?
I complained to Uber and they told me to pound sand and that they wouldnt send someone else to pick it up or refund me the delivery charges. Had to go pick up the rest of my now cold order myself.
Except he didn’t pay for the driver … he paid for the UE platform and he paid Taco Bell, but clearly the amount he offered to the driver for the ‘last-mile’ delivery service wasn’t adequate, or someone would have picked it up. Drivers won’t work at a loss to themselves. Spending 5 minutes driving to Taco Bell from their location, spending 15 minutes in the drive-thru to pick it up because the lobby is closed, then spending 5 minutes to drive to, as the author said himself, a hotel in a seedy area at midnight where the driver has to locate parking, dodge homeless people, enter the hotel, talk to the front desk, hope they aren’t going to get mugged, find the room, and then drive back to a better zone for more delivery opportunities … if his tip was $0-$6, the driver is working at a loss. Why would anyone agree to do that? Drivers are free to accept or decline orders based on profit and other factors like weather, ease of access and personal safety. I guarantee if he had paid his driver fairly with all factors considered, he would have gotten it fast and hot. He says he tipped 18% but percentages mean on a $10 Taco Bell order the driver got $1.80 plus $2.50 base pay. No one is going to take the time, effort, and risks he expected them to take for a payment of $4.30. No tip, no trip..
No. It’s not always this bad, Matthew.
I would suggest that you complain again, this time against the support agent that you spoke with last night because that agent lied. “There’s nothing we can do” is false. Maybe there is nothing they
will
do, but they are able to do the right thing, to give you a refund.
In the future, pay the extra $2 or whatever it is to get priority. Then you won’t get these delays. Folks who don’t get priority don’t get treated very well, but those who pay $2 extra get the first available person and that person has no other stops to make before you. That said, it’s not on you, it’s on them, and I’m more mad at the support agent you spoke with (or chatted with) than I am at the driver because the driver was simply doing their job.
I sort of think the answer to your question is obvious. You ordered delivery late at night into a sketchy neighborhood, it probably took a long time to get someone to even accept the order. Delivery drivers know the area. I work for DoorDash and we are presented with the destination up front before we decide to accept it and there are many areas I won’t accept orders for. And especially so after dark.
It probably eventually got accepted by someone not even close to the store, because they start offering it to people gradually further and further away as others who are closer decline it. Unsavory delivery orders are more likely to be delivered quickly if you tip more as well. If you’re in a bad place at night, you’re going to have to pony up, especially since not many people work at that hour.
I was going to say exactly this. He answered his own question about why his food took so long but didn’t even seem to realize it. The same reason he didn’t want to leave his seedy hotel near midnight with homeless people milling around is the exact same reason a UE driver wouldn’t pick up and deliver his order … and he probably didn’t tip anything or only tipped $1 or $2 which meant the driver got it as part of a stack with other, better orders that had priority in delivery time after multiple other drivers declined his No-tip order. He gets mad at the driver for not wanting to risk their safety and waste their gas to work at a financial loss so he can get his $5 Taco Bell order? People need to understand we as drivers for UE and Door Dash get to choose which orders we deliver and will select only those that are reasonably profitable and SAFE for us. I’m not delivering Taco Bell to a bad neighborhood at midnight at any price … but if he’d tipped at least $2-$3 per mile to compensate the driver for the risky location , he would have gotten his order in a timely fashion, guaranteed.
What a pathetic life. Your beef is with Uber, not me.
No Matthew, you’re life is pathetic because you can’t seem to understand why someone wouldn’t want to deliver your Taco Bell to a seedy hotel at midnight for a payout of $4.30 or less. And then you launch an emotionally immature personal attack against me for explaining the reality to you. YOUR beef is with UE. I’m free to decline your order for any reason or no reason at all. Chew on your cold Taco Bell and rethink your sense of entitlement to someone else’s time, effort, and gas. You don’t get that for free. I don’t get why you don’t understand people don’t work for free. You’re such a snively little baby. Act like a man and stop whining.
How appropriate that after this display of entitlement, and his unacceptable, vicious answer to you, that he posts a self-congratulatory post about “leaving entitlement at the door.” A satire could not be scripted more carefully.
Because you’re all forced with a gun to make Uber deliveries, correct?
They don’t have a beef with Uber. They use the platform to select orders that they can make money on and deliver those.
You have a beef with Uber because they let you believe you can have an order delivered Ina reasonable time frame for a $3 fee and a $2 tip and you can’t.
Although as many people in these comments have noted, despite what Uber markets, and intelligent assumedly worldly person such as yourself SHOULD be able to figure that out on their own. You certainly shouldn’t be getting mad at someone explaining to you what you couldn’t figure out on your own.
Did you read my reply above?
You were asking someone to stop what they were doing, go to a restaurant, wait there for you, and drive to where you were staying, using their own vehicle. This is late night in a sketchy neighborhood and with a likely long drive-thru line that can’t be bypassed.
All in all it was going to be probably 40-60 minutes of their time plus expenses, and you are complaining via this post that it wasn’t done quickly for less than $5.
Do you acknowledge that this is what your expectations were for your 18% bid?
You’re not alone. Uber Eats is trash. I’m planning to downgrade to the Gold card simply due to the fact that Platinum isn’t worth it for me without the Uber benefit.
Uber Eats messes up so many of my orders that they now flat out refuse to refund me for items that aren’t delivered (I’ve never complained about wrong or bad items, just actual missing items). So I deleted my Uber account. Done with them completely.
And for those of you that are drivers I tip a MINIMUM $10 an order and up to $20 for a large order.
I get that if the bag is sealed that missing items aren’t the drivers fault, but they are the restaurants fault and I’ve had orders with unsealed bags missing things so either the restaurant and driver missed it or the driver ate it.
I’m spending anywhere from $20 to $35 an order for deliver not including the cost of missing items that Uber won’t refund (often drinks and desserts) and not even getting what I ordered.
At this point I’ll keep my money and pick up my own food and then at least I’ll get what I paid for.
I’ve run into the same issue at JFK airport hotels
And I’ve decided that I’m done ordering food from Uber Eats.
And to those who drive and suggest slow delivery is due to an inadequate tip it’s not my responsibility as a customer to fix Ubers broken employee compensation model. I’m paying Uber an agreed upon fee to provide a service. If Uber isn’t paying its drivers enough to be worth their time then it’s a great time to find a job that properly values you as an employee. The notion that I have to preemptively provide a large tip to get service is just ludicrous. I understand why from the drivers perspective that is the case but I’m not doing it. And if that means the service won’t work for me then so be it. I’ll figure out a plan B.
Exactly. Excellent point.
So are you suggesting drivers should feel obligated to deliver your order at a loss to themselves? Drivers are ICs and are free to accept and decline any order for any reason. Would you work at a loss to fulfill someone’s luxury service? No? Well … now you understand. Don’t be mad at the driver. Their pay is separate from what you pay UE. You pay UE to use their platform to connect you with a restaurant and an independent delivery driver. You pay the restaurant for their services, then you make an offer to an available driver, which the driver is then free to accept or decline. I enjoy working on UE for extra cash, and I really appreciate the ability to decline an offer that doesn’t compensate me appropriately for my services. Ask most drivers what their acceptance rate is … it’s usually about 15-30%, which means we decline 70%+ of customers offers. And we are entitled to do so. You are not entitled to our services. Be mad at UE. Not the driver.
No, he’s suggesting that Uber needs to pay drivers sufficiently so that customers don’t have to play tip games to get the basic advertised service, and if Uber isn’t willing to do that, customers shouldn’t use Uber eats.
All you have to to is take what Uber calls a “tip” and instead call it a “bid for service.”
It’s not a tip when it’s meeded to cover the driver’s direct expenses to run your errand. On that we agree.
So other than using one word incorrectly, do you agree that you need to make higher bids in order to get more timely delivery?
By the way, you’re allowed to reduce or even remove the tip entirely if the delivery wasn’t satisfactory, up to an hour after delivery.
And Matthew, let’s assume it’s “not your responsibility to fix Uber’s broken compensation model,” did you think you were going to change that with your midnight Taco Bell order?
As Chris says below no I’m not suggesting that drivers work for free. I’m suggesting that people
Like myself who aren’t willing to offer large up front tips should not use the service. Because Uber can’t deliver what it promises.
I’m also suggesting that in todays job market their are plenty of opportunities to find an employer who will properly value and compensate your time because it’s sure as heck doesn’t look like Uber does.
All you have to to is take what Uber calls a “tip” and instead call it a “bid for service.”
It’s not a tip when it’s meeded to cover the driver’s direct expenses to run your errand. On that we agree.
So other than using one word incorrectly, do you agree that you need to make higher bids in order to get more timely delivery?
By the way, you’re allowed to reduce or even remove the tip entirely if the delivery wasn’t satisfactory, up to an hour after delivery.
And Matthew, let’s assume it’s “not your responsibility to fix Uber’s broken compensation model,” did you think you were going to change that with your midnight Taco Bell order?
sorry that was meant for a post above
liston you idiot crackhead. we dont have to find a different job, we are doing fine as long as we dont accept your shit cheap ass tip order. if someone does accept your $5 dollar an hour tip rate then they are idiots. its not that we need to get a different job we are just fine because we dont accept your garbage tip. why do you think we need to find a different job? we dont give a crap about your cheap ass and your taco bell. Your ignorant and i hope when you get your pizza delivered (amd you will, liar) then you get some extra sneeze on it. ya stupid tight wad gump.
**Yet another reason to avoid Uber***
One of the issues you likely faced was that the closest Taco Bell to the area I think you are referring to is also the one that closes its doors after dark for the same reason you didn’t want to venture out. This causes the only method of accessing any orders to be the drive through. So couple that with the fact that every person who was at a bar also wanted their Taco Bell fix likely meant a that even though your food was ready, your Uber guy couldn’t get to it because of the line at the drive thru.
They aren’t regarded as a great company, but I use Door Dash over Uber Eats. I’ve gotten a refund every single time there’s a long delay with an order. Often times you don’t even need to chat with an agent. When I have to, they usually give a refund right away. Uber Eats is awful and I refuse to use it. The Door Dash membership is also included with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, so that gets rid of a good portion of the fees.
I call BS on many of these post’s claiming to be from delivery drivers. They are literally the best written, typo-free posts I’ve read. I love this blog but the UE posters write better than Matthew- it’s not even close. If you can write that well and form coherent responses to posts that disagree with your claims, why are you delivering tacobell? I’ll hire you at a very comfortable salary.
Well, thanks, if you refer to me in part. I have a full-time job with a comfortable salary. I drive UberEats on nights and weekends as a sort of downtime and to earn extra money to save for, hopefully, early retirement. I could probably earn more money freelancing with my “full-time” skillset, but honestly, once I log off for the day, I’m done with it. Uber is much more flexible and my loyalty to any one client or customer is the duration of a single delivery. Then I can do another or go offline and don’t have to worry about it.
Writing better than Matthew. Well, that’s not terribly difficult (I’m just being honest), but in his defense, he’s said that he’s not the best or most careful writer.
By the way, what motive would you ascribe to somebody pretending to be a delivery driver? I mean I guess I see people pretending to have medical expertise or knowledge of law… but generally folks wouldn’t have any motive to pretend to deliver food.
I’ll take your Job smart ass. The problem is you pay an exorbitant amount and they keep cutting driver pay. We get 2.31 per order Plus whatever tip most don’t apply. Would you waste 30 minutes for 2.31? Not including gas and mileage it’s always the fight for 15 people who aren’t critical thinkers.
Any system where you have to tip BEFORE receiving the service and you won’t get the basic service you have paid for through the app is nothing less than blackmail.
Blackmail? I think you need to look it up, because it’s not blackmail in any possible sense.
Also, (a) consider it a “bid” rather than a tip, since at least part of it pays for the direct costs of delivering your food, and (b) you’re allowed to take it back if the service didn’t live up to your expectations, which hopefully are pretty basic.
I’ve lived all my life in the “rest of the world” where a customer gets the service for the price advertised. A tip is optional, afterwards, to reward good or exceptional service. I tip afterwards for good service. Several times I have tipped in advance or mid-ride and and then received lousy service, eg an Uber taxi repeatedly taking wrong turns and refusing to follow directions, adding several Km to the ride. Uber refused to refund the tip, saying it had already been sent to the driver.
Of course drivers need to earn a reasonable income, 100%. That is down to Uber to pay a reasonable amount, not for customers to have to pay a supplement on top of the food price, service fee and delivery fee just to get what they have paid for. Uber should increase the delivery fee so that it is enough to fairly compensate for the drivers’ time, fuel and vehicle costs; not leave customers with a delivery lottery.
I understand the concept of bidding – there are apps for bidding for products, for taxis, for upgrades etc. If Uber is to be an app where you order a meal then bid for it to be delivered, then that should be made clear at the outset – and scrap the delivery fee.
Even if literally 100% of the delivery fee went to the driver, a normal driver, on average, still wouldn’t earn minimum wage after expenses. All this phony-baloney hand wringing about “well Uber needs to pay them better” is really just people who don’t understand that the driver is the contractor, and your “tip” is really a bid. There is no magic way to make more money where none exists. It is your bid.
The issue is the the customer nor the driver. It’s Uber! Instead of paying only by distance + tip. They should also account for the type of restaurant, how easy is it to park, pickup the order, is the order even ready? I have worked as a Uber driver, and you can not make any decent money > $10/hr if you deliver orders that are so close and with little tip.
What Uber needs to do is pay everyone by the hour (including the time you are driving around waiting for orders) + tip. Then, the drivers would not discriminate on orders and there would be a balance of how much everyone makes. Otherwise, those small orders that are close by will always have a long wait time because veteran drivers will know not to waste their time on it. No offense to the customer. It is just not worthwhile.
Everyone who doesn’t tip generously up front will still get their food delivered. It will just take a while. Elivery drivers for all app based delivery companies are independent contractors. They take the m9st lucrative orders based on payment offered which include tip. When you don’t tip, UberEats/DoorDash etc slowly add their own money to the pot offered drivers so your food will be delivered. But it may take longer and if you didn’t tip generously you chose a lower cost delivery which takes longer. This is not laying blame, it’s reality. Once folks accept the facts, then it’s easier to understand.
Sounds like the delivery apps need to have a minimum tip amount to accept/process the order. It’s not the purchaser’s responsibility to know what’s an acceptable tip to guarantee good service for something they are already paying a premium for.
uber eats still sucks s of october 2023, two orders one took forever food was cold, second was a coffee order with practically half spilled out everywhere and everything dripping. even if they do refund me i’m deleting this app. f them