“I ordered food worth Rs. 400 on Swiggy and paid via Google Pay. After about 30 minutes or so, I got a notification which said that my order was delivered. But I didn’t get it. I called up the delivery executive but his number was switched off. I tried many times, but there was no response. I finally called Swiggy customer care and they refunded my money. But my food never came,” said Tridisha Mallela Goswami, a resident of Guwahati.
Another resident, Yashraj Chowdhury, encountered a similar situation with Uber. “I usually pay through my virtual wallet when I take an Uber ride. The money gets deducted from my Uber wallet when the ride is over. Now what these Uber drivers do is they roam around the pickup location without actually picking up the customer. They start the trip and then drive around for 5-10 minutes and thereafter end their trip. What happens then is that the already prepaid amount gets deducted from my Uber wallet without me even having taken the ride. This has happened to me many times. The Uber never actually comes to pick me up and I lose my money.”
The above two are instances of Guwahatians embracing the all-new digital world where app-based service providers have become a part of daily life. From ordering in via Swiggy to commuting by Uber, life today revolves around these apps.
Most of these apps take both prepaid and cash payments. However, people do tend to pay more via card. Because of apps like Google Pay, nowadays youngsters tend to pay through these online apps. This is also because it is much more convenient than carrying cash in hand.
However, it has been found that many of these apps have been duping people after they receive the money online prior to the delivery of their service.
Multiple instances have been found when these app-based service providers have failed to deliver service – leave aside quality service - to their respective customers and most of these cases are on prepaid orders. There have been numerous cases where customers have not received their orders and in the case of cabs, the cabs don’t arrive when they see the respective customer will be paying via card or UPI.
A customer said, “It was past 8:30 pm when I ordered food from a local restaurant on Swiggy. I got a call from the delivery executive after 10 minutes asking me about my payment method. I told him that I had already paid and he said he will be arriving soon. At 9:17 pm I got a notification showing that my order was delivered. I called the delivery guy; he picked up and cut the call as soon as he heard my voice. Then he switched off his phone. I did get a refund but never got the food. I later tried calling the delivery guy through different numbers but he probably had destroyed the SIM.”
“There clearly are loopholes on the company’s part when it comes to background scrutiny of these delivery executives,” the customer added.
Another customer encountered the same with Swiggy, “I asked for a refund when I didn’t get my order, but the Swiggy customer care agent told me that I gave the wrong address and hence I would get a refund of only 50%.”
Pujaarcharna Talukdar, a resident of Beltola, had a rather stupefying experience when she received paneer instead of chicken.
“I ordered chicken tikka masala but received paneer instead. Upon complaining to the Swiggy customer care, the lady asked me to send photos. Even after that, she refused to believe me. I literally had to wash the paneer and send her photos. She didn’t refund the money but gave me a coupon code. The coupon code was valid only on the next order and not on any other order,” said Pujaarchana. She has also encountered a similar case where her Zomato order worth Rs. 1,657 did not get delivered.
“For me, at least I got paneer. But what if some vegetarian receives non-veg instead of veg?” she added.
Apart from all the above-mentioned cases, there are multiple other cases. Some customers do not even receive the full refund of their order, receiving only some coupon codes which are sometimes not even valid. Many people have stopped ordering from these apps because of their many bad experiences.
In addition to these, it has been seen that Rapido drivers do not come to pick up their customers when the rides are prepaid. Even during the day, Rapido keeps cancelling.
“Most of the Rapido drivers work independently. They are not under anyone; they just do this for extra money. So they are not accountable to anyone. When they see a customer is far away, they cancel the ride and don’t go to pick them up,” said Smrity Das.
According to sources, Rapido has started outsourcing their riders as food delivery guys. Such cases have started happening very frequently after this. These Rapido drivers do not deliver prepaid orders and nobody knows if strict action is actually taken against them.
A Swiggy delivery executive stated, “Swiggy tied up with Rapido right after the lockdown. Since then, we have been receiving many complaints where orders do not get delivered. Our old Swiggy delivery executives never did this. It is these Rapido drivers who have started doing such kind of acts.”
Debajit Baishya, President of All Assam Bike Taxi Operators’ Association (AABTOU), while talking to G Plus said, “Our riders receive offers from the Bangalore head office if they want to work for food delivery apps. The entire process is controlled from the Bangalore head office. Again, if we talk about the Rapido riders cancelling rides, this is because the payment is counted only from where the customer gets on the bike. Earlier, the Rapido drivers used to operate in nearby areas, operating within a radius of some kilometres. But now Rapido riders have to go and pick up customers who live at a fair distance, resulting in their loss. Hence, they cancel their rides.”
G Plus spoke to one of Swiggy’s higher officials in Guwahati, who in anonymity said, “All of these mishaps have happened after Swiggy tied up with one bike-taxi operator. During the pandemic, we were running low on manpower and that’s why we had to tie up, which has led to the fall in delivery quality. Whenever such an incident occurs we immediately blacklist that particular delivery executive and he is banned from working with Swiggy. Before hiring any delivery executive, we conduct thorough background checks on them. We check all their IDs and even check if they have any kind of criminal record.”
Keeping all this in mind, it appears that the problem is far more deep rooted and doesn’t just limit itself to the delivery executives. The question is, are the people really ready for online payments and a cashless economy? Even though youngsters are adapting themselves fast to the online mode of payment, it comes with its pros and cons.
