Complaint Review: DoorDash

On Sep. 3, 2021, another one of many "bonus-pay incentives" came to me via SMS re my signup with DoorDash to deliver food from local restaurants for them.  I think people who do not immediately start driving for them right after signing up are given these incentives to get them started, but that is just my guess.  After seeing a $300 incentive for 10 deliveries over the previous weekend, the incentive I decided to take was over Labor Day weekend.  I dropped other plans to take advantage of this incentive, and of course used up lots of gas and wear on my car.. 

The incentive read, "Dasher: Earn an extra $250 when you complete 5 deliveries in Northern Virginia today through Sunday, 9/5/21.  See you on the road this weekend! https://www.doordash.com/dasher/open_app/ "

and:

"Dasher: Don't forget, you can earn an extra $250 when you complete 5 deliveries in Northern Virginia by 11:59PM tomorrow.  Dash NOW to earn big! https://www.doordash.com/dasher/open_app/ "

and finally:

"Dasher: Plans this week?  Just a reminder that you can earn an extra $250 when you complete 5 deliveries in Northern Virginia by Thursday.  Dash Now: https://www.doordash.com/dasher/open_app/ "

I completed 7 deliveries between Sep 4th and 8pm Sep 5th but was credited with nothing.  I called Customer Support when nothing extra appeared in my App's Earnings Report and was told, "it takes about 5 days for incentives to appear in your wages earned".  So I waited another 5 days and saw nothing.  I then called in again, and the cust support agent who answered agreed after seeing my screenshots of the incentives sent to my phone, and the records of emails sent, and my record of deliveries, that I clearly completed the incentive/challenges, and "escalated" the issue to a higher-up who would email me with an answer to when I would see my payment. 

Instead of any sort of explanation, they attempted to skirt the issue completely (this is why they email instead of calling you) by saying I inquired about incentive opportunities that were not sent to me, as if I'm in touch with other Dashers and wanted in on their incentives.  This was clearly not the case; they were sent to me directly from Doordash.com via email and SMS text.  I don't even know any other Dashers personally.  I completed the needed deliveries for not 1, but 2 of the incentives; the $250 for making 5 deliveries from Sep 3rd to 11:59pm Sep 5th, and the $250 for making 5 deliveries from Sep 3rd to Thursday, Sep 9th.  Both were sent to me on Sep 3rd at 2:40am EST, and I completed 4 deliveries on Sep4, and 3 on Sep 5, respectively.  I finished before 8pm each day, so there can't be any discrepancy re time zones, etc. 

Each time I reported what happened to Doordash customer service, they take the info, send it to the "escalation dept", and then I get an email with irrelevant information, such as, " If you did not get notified of a certain challenge, you were not eligible for that challenge but don’t worry - there may be a different one for you later on." Again, I received and still have each one in my SMS-text and Email, so they are obviously side-stepping and ignoring the fact that I completed these things in order not to pay up and hope I will give up. I'm not your average college kid looking for beer $ though. I'm looking to support myself after going bankrupt during the pandemic.

I am wondering if this is standard practice that they send to all new "Dashers" who don't start driving right away, to get them going, and then just ignore their complaints, or come up with other reasons not to pay them their bonuses. (That's also why I made sure I did 7 and not just 5, so they couldn't say one was not valid somehow!) I admit I was testing them to see if this incentive thing was true and legit, as it does seem a bit too good to be true. But that doesn't make it right for them to promise something they've no intention of delivering on. After all, they're a "delivery service" by trade! So they should be good at delivering what they promise.

If you are also a Dasher who has found this to be the case, please contact me so we can put together a class-action suit to put a stop to these false incentives and promises of payments unrendered that other people may be counting on, as I was. (My bank account wouldn't have gone negative that week if I had been paid the bonus amount owed. I would have spent the time on a better paying gig had I known it was a FAKE incentive.) Thanks, and God bless!