A DoorDash customer was left “flabbergasted” after learning her order had been dropped off by the side of a railroad three quarters of a mile from her door.
Food delivery services have become a part of life for many Americans. A survey of 2,000 people conducted by Upgraded Points found the average American spends $1,566 on food delivery services annually. Given that kind of outlay, it’s perhaps not surprising when unhappy customers take to social media to express their dissatisfaction.
That’s what Amanda R. Smith did. On the morning of January 14, the registered medical assistant from Ohio, ordered a McDonald’s breakfast through the DoorDash app, paying an additional $2.99 priority fee along with a $7 tip.
Smith told Newsweek: “I did not know there was an issue until the driver had left a message on the app, along with a picture, saying our order was dropped off near the railroad block.”
In the picture sent to Smith and later shared to Facebook and later posted on Reddit by a friend of Smith’s writing under the handle u/afseparatee, a closed bag of McDonald’s food can be seen at the side of the road, next to a train.
A message from the Dasher accompanies the image explaining: “This is Doordash I’m just letting you know that there’s a train blocking the road and it stopped. It’s not moving so I cannot deliver your food directly to your home I will leave it next to the train tracks that’s the best I can do if you have any questions give to our national call sorry about the inconvenience.”
Amanda R. Smith
Doordash told Newsweek that the Dasher who made this delivery attempted to call the customer to let them know that they would be unable to access their home due to the road blockage, but was unable to connect with them.
Smith acknowledged that there is an “ongoing issue” with trains stopping for “extended periods of time” near her home. “The trains will come to a complete halt for anywhere from 15 minutes to sometimes five hours,” she explained.
However, this particular situation was a little different as she said there were “several local detours” that were not blocked by the train and easily accessible to the driver. “Sometimes these trains are oriented in a way that all three exits are blocked, leaving residents trapped in or unable to get home,” she said. “However, in this instance, only one of the three exits/entrances were blocked from the train.”
As a result, she said they were stunned when they learned their order had been dropped off what she estimates as being “about 3/4 of a mile” from their home. “My husband and I were just flabbergasted that he made no effort to go around the railroad block, however it made for a great laugh,” she said.
Smith said she complained to DoorDash soon after and received “a full refund.”
A DoorDash spokesperson told Newsweek: “We regret that this incident fell short of our standards, and the customer was immediately refunded. We have been in touch with this customer to clear up any misconceptions and offer further support. If a customer ever has any issues, we always encourage them to reach out to our 24/7 Support team.”
She bears no ill feeling to DoorDash over the incident either and has not been put off using their service again. Smith said: “They did the right thing with the full refund. Though I did think it was strange that the driver would drop the order off by the railroad rather than trying to detour, or even cancel and request a refund for the order himself.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.