Getting Gaslit By The DoorDash App As a DoorDash Driver

In the gig economy world, it’s every man for themselves.

Today, DoorDash galit me when I went to go pick up food for two customers at Chipotle. First, DoorDash told me to go to Chipotle which was 3 miles away. I was confused, because I was right next to another Chipotle. But when I put the address into my navigation app, it sent me the other Chipotle close by, so I followed what the app said.

When I went to Chipotle, the line was absolutely crazy. There were at least 20 people waiting for their food. Awkwardly, like many DoorDash drivers, I went to the front of the store in the register, seemingly cutting the entire line. I showed the cashier my app and showed my directions.

However, the cashier told me I was at the wrong store. The cashier told me the restaurant never received the order, which meant I had to go all the way back to the Chipotle I was just right next to, and that I would be very late on delivering the customers’ orders.

I question whether there is something wrong, that the store just never received the order. It’s very possible. But then I message the customers and asked what Chipotle they ordered their food from. I screenshotted the part where the app told me to go to this particular Chipotle and get food from this store. They then showed me a screenshot that showed they ordered from the other Chipotle. It was hard not to be upset by being gaslit by DoorDash and being told to go to a Chipotle that I was not supposed to go to.

You have to understand the incentives that DoorDash drivers are under to serve customers. One of those incentives is to always be on time or early with the customer’s order. I only had a 96% “on-time or early” rating because, you know, things happen. The other time I was not on time for the customer’s order was my own mistake.

However, this time it was not my mistake and then I decided to call the DoorDash customer service line to inform them of why I was so late to the customers’ order, and for the issue to be corrected, so other Dashers would not have to go through the same issue. I spoke to the customer service representative on the line, and she promised to look into the issue and try to correct the address.

I didn’t want to be too difficult because it was 9:30 at night, and obviously, it wasn’t her fault, but I also asked whether or not the mistake on the app would be penalized against me. I did not want my “on-time or early” to be hurt by something that was completely out of my control.

But all she told me to do was to communicate with a customer and try to get them to understand. I was essentially told there is nothing she could do.

I ended up being penalized for the app sending me to the wrong address, having my rating docked to 89%. I also was not compensated for the five extra miles and 30 minutes I drove. Fortunately, the customers understood and politely told me to take my time and not rush.

There are a lot more important things in the world, and it was obviously just a minor inconvenience that took 30 minutes out of the day, docked a vanity metric, and only made customers wait just a little longer for their food.

But it’s the principle that bothers me more than anything else. I get that people make mistakes and the person who set the address for this particular Chipotle got it wrong by accident.

Why, however, was the driver made to pay the price with no compensation and no grace?

I will be fine, financially stable, and was only minorly inconvenienced. And maybe the fact that I say DoorDash gaslit me is a more liberal use of the term than I should be using. The company does not benefit at all from sending drivers to the wrong address and having a delay in customers receiving their food.

But the whole episode reminds drivers and the general public of one thing: gig economy companies like DoorDash do not have your back and do not exist to benefit their contractors.

In the gig economy world, it’s every man for themselves.