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Sorry to hear that story. My partner gets frustrated by Instacart mistakes and I try to remind her that many of the people doing that job probably have low comp

Sorry to hear that story. My partner gets frustrated by Instacart mistakes and I try to remind her that many of the people doing that job probably have low comprehension and planning skills or they would be doing something else. (Certainly not all though, we've had amazing drivers too). They also probably grew up with different food habits and don't see why a certain substitution doesn't make sense. Sometimes the results is humorous, but it is still annoying when you _already spoke on the phone about it_ or asked to refund instead of replace. Or as it relates to the article, when they knock at the door and wait instead of just dropping it on the stoop as requested. The problem is that one often relies on Instacart when sick or disabled and the tolerance for mistakes and bad interactions is lowest. Perhaps there is an opportunity for something like vocational nursing companies to offer more skilled shoppers at a premium price...

soulofmischief 3y ago
This man sent curse-laden messages in addition to calling me to taunt me further, complained that the trip was several miles (under 10, and they can see the charge and route before accepting the order), mocked my dying animal, mocked me. He straight-up told me that his plan was to stay on my order so that I couldn't get a different driver, while he simultaneously used a competitor app (Uber Eats) to deliver other orders. Instacart support was not happy about this part, in addition to the negative behavior, this is expressly against the rules to double-dip simultaneously. He lied about ever going to the store, then after one and a half hours (already wasting two) just cancelled the order, saying nothing was in stock. The next driver went to the same store and got my requested items. I haven't used Instacart since and never plan to; That was the worst customer experience of my life. The fact that I was promised by support that I would receive a different driver, then was immediately reassigned the same exact driver, was indescribably frustrating to me as a business owner and application developer myself. > Perhaps there is an opportunity for something like vocational nursing companies to offer more skilled shoppers at a premium price... That would be amazing. I imagine the only way it would economically work is if it were government owned/subsidized, since the kind of people who need this most (at least in the US) are already spending an exorbitant amount on health care and often don't have that kind of extra money lying around.
- shrimp_emoji 3y ago
  That's hilarious. I've never had an experience anywhere near that bad, but InstaCart is the slider set all the way to the "this is a random person, we vaguely know what's in the store, and you work out what you're actually getting with the random person as they're shopping" end of the spectrum. The good thing about it is that its store flexibility is extremely high. Prime Now is the slider set to the other extreme: inventory is accurate, your "shopper" might as well be a robotic arm, and your driver is a separate, nameless delivery system. The downside is the store flexibility is limited to Whole Foods.

soulofmischief 3y ago

This man sent curse-laden messages in addition to calling me to taunt me further, complained that the trip was several miles (under 10, and they can see the charge and route before accepting the order), mocked my dying animal, mocked me. He straight-up told me that his plan was to stay on my order so that I couldn't get a different driver, while he simultaneously used a competitor app (Uber Eats) to deliver other orders. Instacart support was not happy about this part, in addition to the negative behavior, this is expressly against the rules to double-dip simultaneously. He lied about ever going to the store, then after one and a half hours (already wasting two) just cancelled the order, saying nothing was in stock. The next driver went to the same store and got my requested items. I haven't used Instacart since and never plan to; That was the worst customer experience of my life. The fact that I was promised by support that I would receive a different driver, then was immediately reassigned the same exact driver, was indescribably frustrating to me as a business owner and application developer myself. > Perhaps there is an opportunity for something like vocational nursing companies to offer more skilled shoppers at a premium price... That would be amazing. I imagine the only way it would economically work is if it were government owned/subsidized, since the kind of people who need this most (at least in the US) are already spending an exorbitant amount on health care and often don't have that kind of extra money lying around.

shrimp_emoji 3y ago
That's hilarious. I've never had an experience anywhere near that bad, but InstaCart is the slider set all the way to the "this is a random person, we vaguely know what's in the store, and you work out what you're actually getting with the random person as they're shopping" end of the spectrum. The good thing about it is that its store flexibility is extremely high. Prime Now is the slider set to the other extreme: inventory is accurate, your "shopper" might as well be a robotic arm, and your driver is a separate, nameless delivery system. The downside is the store flexibility is limited to Whole Foods.