u/333dh333

Preface - I am a driver, not a customer ranting after a subpar experience. Made a post this week on shitty driver behaviors — namely the basic-ass notes customers leave to get the bare minimum expectations met (examples: make sure you’re at the right address; don’t leave in front of the out-swinging door).

Just had one happen live on a delivery. I pull up to my stop, it’s a newer multi-floor apartment that has the touchpad entry system. As I’m approaching the door, I see a gentleman with a Walmart bag and case of soda (I’m in a paper bag state, they have certain bags for Spark orders so I know he is a driver). He is already huffing and puffing about the locked entry. I tell him my customer has a note with pin, I proceed to get us in the building, and we share the elevator up to our floor (which he tells me “floor 5” and I’m also going to 5). He airs his gripes about customers and these buildings. I proceed to exit, look at the signage to find which hall to use, and head to my unit (I had wished him well as he set his stuff down to get his phone out). I finish up my drop and head for the elevator, and he is approaching my hallway and asks if I know where 502 is — well guess what, I just dropped off to 502….so the customer had two orders apparently.

Here’s the rant - this driver HAD THE SAME FUCKING NOTES I DID and was acting like he was dealing with a customer-caused situation the whole time. What the actual fuck! The inept nature of some of the driver pool is actually astonishing. I have no clue what this guy would have done had I not shown up to let him in the building but can take a couple guesses, non of which would have been to the customers satisfaction (such as leave at front of building or return the order).

lol go from one issue (app down, no offers) to new fuckery

Driver here, not been a customer of a curbside or express order myself, so take this as a peer-to-peer rant and not because I had a poor delivery.

Stop being the fucking issue! It is mind boggling seeing customer notes asking for the most basic, common-sense level of service.

Don’t take an offer if you’re not willing to provide a good service. And stop justifying your shitty behavior/service levels — “no/low tip”, “too many miles”, “second floor unit”, “Spark this or that” - don’t take the fucking trip! We get order details, use them. Then find your self-pride and common sense and provide the service you signed up to do :)

When an order, namely an express shop, is offered at a store that is super far from the customer’s address and there are multiple stores much closer (I’m in a market with 12 WM, so some orders I see can have 5+ stores closer), what is the root cause? Dumb customer? Bad algo/WM selecting the store?

I see dozens of these offers each day, some of which have a store within 2 miles, yet the offer is at a store 10-20+ miles away.

The express shop/delivery option shows a time range that could in fact be underestimated BIG TIME, based on several factors. The biggest factor being what’s in the order and the compensation offered to the driver.

If it is a complete shit order with no tip…..guess what…it sits on the FCFS board for indeterminate amount of time, which given some of the shittiest orders I see any given day could easily exceed the “promised“ window *before* a driver finally takes it (still likely shit even with the max surge pay). So now said driver is really showing up to under-deliver on a promise WM made on the website.

Consider this factor if you’re ever enticed to take a surged order, that although the pay may fall in your “fuck it, I’ll take it” you may be setup for an unhappy customer experience even if you have a flawless shop, bagging, and delivery….so the customer may be more apt to leave a less-than-5 star review.

I place one order (roughly 10 products) on WM.com and the items were split into 3 separate deliveries, some of which looked to come from the stores (Spark) and others from a 3rd party vendor. I noticed an issue shortly after placing the order that the delivery address reverted back to an old one on my profile so I called CS. Even being a short time after the confirmation was sent (within a couple hours) I was told they couldn’t cancel and WM would simply issue a full refund, of which they could process 48 hours after each delivery. Well that was the first lie.

First two deliveries went according to the above plan, but on the 3rd/last delivery I was informed they couldn’t issue the refund due to a cap on what they issue. So I escalated. I talked to a rep that submitted a case and who also stated the refund would be processed (just give it up to 10 biz days). I waited. Then I followed up only to be assured the refund is still pending but there was something needed to get it across the finish line. Again, continuing to confirm a full refund is issued. After about another week and still nothing I called today. Well, turns out each prior rep I spoke with simply LIED to me, and there is in fact a cap to refunds on circumstances like this.

I waited forever on hold to speak to a supervisor who simply stated I would have to take it up with my bank. He took ZERO accountability for the lies told to me that have resulted in a few hours on the phone with CS reps over the past 30 days.

TL:DR……..F*ck WM

**edit to amend my statement about JFY offers specific to my zone**

My market sees regular JFY offers, sometimes ranging 5-10 per hour I’m not on an order (I read posts here of others seeing limited to none any given day) and a day like today flooded with orders gives a glimpse at how bad the wheels have fallen off. I finished a delivery about 5 miles from the nearest WM and decided to keep Spark on while I ran an errand and got some lunch. Being that far from a store with hoards of drivers out and still receiving easily 10+ offers in 30 mins was wild in itself. But the crazy part was just how horrible every single one of them were.

It’s bad, getting worse, and I honestly wonder if some of what I saw will ever get picked up today…..but then it dawned on me that there are enough crackhead drivers taking the garbage.

It’s not working lol

Every single order in my zone is so horrible that they endlessly circulate and surge pricing is added, yet even at the increased pay they are still garbage 🗑️ that can’t be good for biz, right?

Oh yeah, the customer Reddit page is feeling the burn too

But hey, thanks for those menial incentives to avoid any acknowledgment that fuel prices are up 200+% in the past 90-120 days

Some of the customer notes I see asking for the *bare minimum* and *obvious* things, such as ensuring it’s at the right address, really has me scratch my head at how low-IQ some drivers must actually be.

Yes, we have valid gripes on some customer-caused issues, but for notes to spell out such basic stuff is concerning. They pay a premium (tip or no tip) and should get a quality service.