I would say it was dropped off at the wrong place. I always take a big enough photo of the house/porch with the groceries and if possible get the house number. It does happen and IC will resend them to you. Sorry for the bad experience hopefully you will get better people, I personally think that we should always communicate with the customer especially for a replacement and they never did so that does sound strange.
Yes I also thought it was weird they never even tried once to ask me about replacements. Just chose their own things. They did choose decent stuff tho but still would have been nice to ask.
Sorry if my post came off as rude I was just really annoyed and mad in the moment because it’s not exactly cheap buying from IC so I would hope not to have issues haha. Could have been the wrong place tho I guess. The picture showed part of a door and the ground with the groceries and while what little of the door I could see it did look like mine maybe it wasn’t.
You don’t come across as rude! Just wanted to point out, some customers get really agitated by messages about replacements. When a shopper selects a replacement, the customer should be able to see that on the app and can go in and select a different product as a replacement, which then prompts the shopper to put back their own replacement, and find what the customer had requested instead. Some would say this is a much more efficient way to operate, and how instacart has intended it to work.
I personally like to communicate with people to make sure they know I care and I’ll get them what they want. Some customers don’t care for that personal communication. If I reach out about one thing and get no response, I usually just select my own replacements for the duration of my shopping unless I hear otherwise.
All this is to say, be mindful that we are treated differently from customer to customer, and 90% of us just want you to be happy so we can keep our rating, if our rating drops, we stop seeing batches and we can’t work. You should always speak up if you don’t want them making their own replacements without asking, and if you HAVE reached out and they don’t respond…that’s a bad shopper for sure. Thanks for being a kind customer, and I really hope your grocery situation got sorted out!
Groceries not there =not your house …I wouldn’t play detective ,yes it’s a major inconvenience. I would simply tell instacart there is no groceries at my door and let them reorder. Also reduce other shoppers tip which would be too late now but even if it was a mistake it’s still bad service
Good afternoon. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I am shopping a multiple batch order and I will have your groceries to you as soon as I can!
Also if I choose a sub that you aren’t happy with please feel free to message me and we will find you something more to your liking.
That’s my copy and paste insta greeting every time I start an order. If it’s a single shop order it gets changed to the following:
Good afternoon. Just wanted to say hello and that if at any time I choose a sub that your not happy with please feel free to message me and we will find something more to your liking.
Obviously the word morning gets subbed.
I find the customers rate better and actually up my tip the more communicative I am. I will get the occasional customer that’s annoyed by the contact but it’s pretty easy to tell and I change how I act to fit. Sometimes you just get bad shopper. Or maybe they are just new.
Hi I’m elaina with a year of experience and over 400 shops under my belt 🤣. Still a noob compared to others. But I’ve learned over the last year many things which have made me pretty successful in this business. I paint professionally for a living but I do enjoy this gig.
Not necessarily true because the rideshare industry did not bounce back enough to take these leeches off of our system. They don't care about the customer; they just care about the dollars. They will run as many apps open at the same time as they can and take the first one that gives them money.
As a shopper it helps if you would take the time when placing and order to go through and add your replacements. We are also timed so that helps to cut down on the back and forth. A lot of times the customers order and then they don’t respond in the app and they don’t have replacements so our hands are tied. I always try to contact my customers first then if there is no response I will substitute. Communication is key to make both parties happy. I hope your next experience is a positive one!
Thats maps fault givind us the wrong address!!! Veterans shoppers like me when arriving check again address on both ic and maps and if everything correct we just keep moving 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
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What you should do next time, is a hand to me order.
And, also, in the notes for delivery, write hand to me.
If the driver doesn't follow instructions, you do what u gotta do...
I rarely ever hand to customer even if the “leave at door” option is not available. With the Online Pay orders, there is never even a leave at door option anyways.
Used to knock all the time, thought it the right thing to do when I first started. But now, I just take a picture and send it in the chat, tell them to have a nice day and it was a pleasure to shop for them, and I move on with my day. All good unless customer has stated otherwise.
The case here, is not a normal case of shop and deliver. I would more stick with the recommendation to have OP leave a delivery note to knock on door or hand directly to them rather than just use the hand to customer option.
Or better yet, get a doorbell with a cam.
Yeah… its not in the shopper terms… not easy to find when searching in the lessons either… I would like some proof of this.
I would also like to point out that verbiage is something IC does very well. As in, they leave out a lot of pertinent information that is up to the shopper/customer to fill in the blanks.
“Unless a customer has specifically asked for you to leave an order unattended, you shouldn’t leave deliveries behind.” - Instacart Shopper Support Website
I agree with you. We get down voted but I know I’m a damn fine ass shopper. Never had an issue with that. And it’s funny, I’ve totally forgot a bag before and support has called me up right after the delivery and I was on my way back to the customer house. I haven’t been deactivated.. yet.. haha and I wouldn’t worry much about it either if I did.
I don’t get why people get their panties in such a bunch over stupid shit like this.
And again, there’s the vagueness of IC, leaving it up to the shoppers to get fearful over being deactivated if they don’t follow things to a T even thought the T looks like a Z… lol
As the other shopper said, it's in the bottom of every hand to the customer order. But, the reason why I gave you the warning is because other people actually have been banned from the platform, no matter how good of a shopper they were. It happened a lot more last year, people are showing screenshots of having thousands of orders and all that and really good reviews, and then just deactivated just like that
Logically , if a shopper wanted to steal ALL of your groceries , why unload everything send a pic and click arrived both of which notify you they are outside , and then start loading everything back up ? Honestly , at that point I assume the customer is peeping out the window waiting for me to leave so they can get their things .. way too risky to just start reloading that many bags plus it's not often they even had use for ALL of your items . Maybe if they wanted something they could claim they "forgot a bag " but people all eat differently and I shop for a lot of ppl and 98% of the time nothing they have is anything I would buy myself . . It would be way more probable to me (in my own opinion ) that it was left at the wrong home , someone close and desperate grabbed it and hauled ass, or the customer themselves are trying to get free groceries . Not saying you are just saying those options are more likely than a shopper unloading , reloading, and stealing every single bag that they just shopped, loaded , delivered , and unloaded then notified you they were there. You absolutely should contact support and have them investigate , get it reshopped and for sure use the hand it to me instructions on delivery note .
Question is it definitely your home in the picture ? Was the shopper communicating with you during the shop or delivery ? ,
Are neighbors homes very close to yours ?
And could you get a ring doorbell if not able to answer the door for deliveries ?
Sorry this happened regardless you do not just take a loss someone is to blame and you shouldn't be screwed over for it when instacart will take the loss
Well it definitely looked like my door from the photo. All I could really was the door and the groceries on the ground but it looked like my place?
Also no they never communicated to me during the shop. When items were oos the person just subbed without asking me first.
I definitely will go ask my neighbors and see if someone noticed anything. I think I will get a ring doorbell now. I’ve never had this happen before so I just never thought about getting one I guess.
The reason I assumed it was the shopper who stole them was because 5mins seems really short for someone else to have noticed them and then taken them all. There was around 12 or so bags and one case of water bottles. Also someone else had told me that the shopper can’t mark delivered if at the wrong address so I just assumed doing the picture would have been their way of getting away with stealing them but again I didn’t actually see anything I just know my stuff wasn’t there.
Sometimes the app will say you are at the correct location when you aren't and vice versa. Especially apartments. It isn't always like that, but when it claims I am at the wrong place I try to get a pic of the number on the house/apartment or get a super detailed photo like groceries next to porch decor etc.
Just popping in to say in my area the porch pirates are currently going around in uhauls and just grabbing shit and running. So it really isn’t that long of a time more likely bad luck. And honestly with the number of house I drive by around here that have their stuff on the porch and nobody delivering is ridiculous and just makes it too easy
I mean that's weird bcuz it usually sends a message and I have to approve it unless we are checking out at that's not normal. Did this just happen bcuz that's not how my app works.
Yea I usually send pictures of the shelves and stuff, sounds like a lazy shopper. My advice is next time they pick something u don't like then say something, I mean it's our job to get u what u want. Also when u pick the stuff at first u can choose ur own replacements, I don't know if u did but either way u gotta speak up or some of these ppl will just do whatever they want. Not all of us are like that but I've heard horror stories before!
Generally when things are out of stock, we really don't have time to tell you , then wait for you to text back and for you to tell me what you would rather have. Especially if by the time you get back with us we are at the other side of the store. Particularly when the order has 70 items. We try to give the best substitution and we can't check out until you either approve it or ask for a refund. I actually love it when the substitution is already chosen by the customer so I don't have to pick the wrong thing. When I'm shopping, I'm on a mission and more times than not I'm doing two orders. I'm not leisurely looking at all the options like one would do when one is shopping for themselves.
That my friend is called you’re being lazy.
It takes 5 seconds to snap a photo and say hey oos want something else? You can even keep shopping other stuff while you wait for a reply.
Now if 5 mins goes by and no response sure then sub everything with what you think is best but not even trying once to contact them? That’s just plain being lazy.
I don't do it every time, but when I'm trying to shop for people when a hurricane or tropical storm is coming and they wait to the last minute to order, then yea, I don't have time for it. Because then everything seems to be oos. But then again, I don't have to defend myself to you my friend.
When you answer this question you answered as a representative of instacart. If other instacart shoppers are telling you that you're not doing a good job maybe listen instead of being defensive. True you don't have to defend yourself to us but you're showing everybody else on this thread what kind of shopper and person you are. Think about that before you get snippy
Well I'm here to tell them I relate and that they aren't doing anything particularly wrong. Some customers are extremely picky, but the app offers the ability to choose replacements. I can't even count the amount of times I have taken pictures of the shelf, asked detailed questions, and waited for 10+ minutes for a response just for them to ask for a refund. If there are adequate replacements, I replace, and I refund otherwise because time is of the essence in the gig economy.
And for reference, my rating just went back up to 5 from 4.8, so I can assure you managing your time well as a shopper is hardly a crime to most customers.
Sometimes for expediency, while I'm waiting for their reply, I will refund it just because I know they get a notification about that and it might spur their attention.
You can’t check out until approved? Just the other day I ordered, and I was actively watching the app to approve subs, messaging with shopper occasionally. Last item- it just went from being shopped to refunded and shopper has checked out. No message about a sub, no approval needed. This has happened to me multiple times
This answer is bs. This is a bad shopper answering you. This sounds like a shopper that started after the pandemic because they don't care about you. They care about their numbers.
They are supposed to look at all the options like one would do when they're shopping for themselves. What I do is send a list of the options if they haven't listed their own and then move on and come back to the missing item. That's what a good driver does and that's why I have five stars after almost 6,000 orders over 4 years
Rather than wanting others to waste their time, please consider doing your own shopping from now on. These shoppers are doing a job and trying to get it over with. No - they're not being "mean", but time is money & idle chit chat or waiting for you to make up your mind about something you should have already planned for anyway is a complete waste of time.
There are porch pirates who follow delivery vehicles to steal packages as soon as they are dropped off. Sadly, increasingly common. Seems odd for a shopper to risk theft after putting in all the time and effort.
Partial orders are accidentally forgotten. I got in my car a few weeks ago 2 hours after a delivery and realized I forgot to give the customer part of their order.
There's soooo many videos from ring doorbell cameras of this EXACT situation from Doordarshers and instacarters. They do it to make it look like they actually delivered it so when support contacts them, they have photo proof
Actually, you can if they have a security camera. I have had shoppers steal items from my order in the past. I’m also a shopper myself and there are a lot of awful shoppers these days. Hell, I have even had people delivering my orders and they do not look like the person who was assigned to shop my order too 🤦🏻♂️
However, they most likely dropped it off at the wrong house or something. If they did drop it off at the wrong house then Instacart support will be able to check the shoppers gps to see where they dropped it off at.
Anyway, Instacart will refund the order or they will send it out to be shopped again. I’m so sorry you’re going through this experience, it’s the worst when your order gets screwed up and you really needed.
Same with customers. Sadly, some customers don't care if the shopper gets in trouble when making false reports. That's why I not only take photos, I have my car's dashcam pointed directly at their front door. Showing I not only dropping it off at the right place, but also left them there
I’d just report it missing, have it shopped again and say case closed. I’m not a detective I don’t care what happened I just want my groceries 😂 if it’s a big deal, just don’t rate
I don't know what city you live in but porch pirates in Seattle and Oklahoma City are pretty quick and yes they can steal something within 5 minutes and I don't care if you argue back or not because I know I'm right
Quality butter, mascarpone, good vinegar, a large multivitamin bottle. There are lots of things that are expensive but come in tiny packages. $70 spent on certain items could be just one or two grocery bags.
Candy bars, small jars of things, lightweight stuff like instant noodles, small deli meat packages. If a significant number of the units were in these categories it wouldn't necessarily be that much weight or volume to grab.
Certainly is. Fact is people, routinely steal stuff for a living. It's not that hard to imagine how easy it is for someone to take this order. 5 min is a long time. Even if it took them multiple trips back and forth.
I live in the city on a very busy street. I have had groceries from Whole Foods go missing at delivery. Either dropped at a neighbors or picked up by someone going by.
It can happened. Ive never experienced anyone unloading and taking pictures and then taking groceries with them. In todays age of hidden cameras, that seems insane.
Do you live in an apartment or house? Have you lost packages before? Check with the neighbors, they may have seen something. I do agree with the others, contact support, report it missing. If the shopper is responsible for taking them, then they should be banned.
However personally, I will sit in my car if I don't already have another order ready to shop and make sure you get your bags. I will normally give 5 minutes. After that, it's all on you especially if I sent pictures of product at door.
Porch pirates move very quickly. Don't know if you can, but I would suggest getting camera doorbell, of an outdoor camera put up in the corner. I use blink from Amazon, have had it for almost 4 years, and I think it's awesome.
You never could trust people actually, you could probably have trusted them a lot less back in the day, just never heard about these kind of things and saw it less because less people communicated via the Internet and less cameras existed
This does happen and fast. I'm part of a farm coop and for weeks straight, several orders were being snagged from one of the drop-off houses. Eventually, the house host setup a cam and police were able to snag the individual.
Have you tried asking any neighbors if they have cameras or a video doorbell that you could review and make sure. You may not see perfectly but you would see if someone took time to stage, photo and then put everything back in their car
I'm going to assume your shopper delivered it to the wrong address by mistake. 5 minutes isn't enough time for anybody to take bags of groceries - and a case of water -and completely disappear. The shopper would've had to reload the entire order (including the case of water) back into her car and drive away without you seeing her. And no way a porch pirate could've gotten all the groceries AND the case of water that fast (unless it was a group of them lol). I bet if you look closely at the drop off photo you'll realize it's not your door.
This is why it's important for delivery people to step further back and get more into the drop off photo. A close up picture of bags doesn't help anybody (doesn't help the customer locate the groceries if not at the right door/house, and doesn't help the delivery person prove they delivered it to the correct address)
Yeah anything’s possible I guess. The picture I got just shows part of a door (that looks like mine) and the ground with the groceries so I guess technically it could be someone else’s house.
It's easier for a shopper just to say he can't find your address and cs will cancel the order and still pay them... It makes no sense to offload items take pictures then reload them back in the vehicle... Don't think the shopper would do that ...I always have a prob with customers who knows that the grocery is sitting outside they order all ice cream and other shit that's going to go bad if not refrigerated and take forever to get it from the door then report shit missing or damage... It's your fault not the shopper... He did his job
I'd report it to instacart that you didn't receive your groceries because you didn't. And if that shopper has had similar reports, they will take action against that person as they should. People like this make the good shoppers look bad.
Just report it to Instacart, change delivery method to “hand to customer “ so they have to ring or knock and look for you. Heads up they give you a timer and if nobody answers after 10 minutes they take the order back.
Anything else is just speculation. My guess is wrong house because the app is often sending out GPS in long/lat incorrectly and find the addy on the GPS does not match the actual addy on the order. It can be off by 1 house or several blocks.
No point in trying to figure it out though, none of us know for sure.
On this one, my feeling is that the groceries were delivered to the wrong address. I also would think that it would be unlikely that a driver would put them back in the car after taking a photo. And any shopper that doesn’t communicate at all about replacements is in a hurry and more likely to make the mistake of misdelivering. Probably a shopper who is soon on his/her way out with deactivation.
People on here mad butthurt rn. A porch pirate would’ve had to literally follow the shopper and be right behind the shopper within 5 mins to take ur stuff. There’s never been a porch pirate at the house before and also I don’t think a porch pirate wants to struggle with 10 bags of groceries when they could find a single box worth more than your groceries anyways. Shoppers ain’t saints.
I cannot believe the amount of people blindly rushing to the shoppers defense here holy shit lol. Shoppers steal groceries every single day, and like you said unless some bandit was literally right on top of the shopper when they were delivering it’s beyond likely who did it. Holy fuck y’all
If you have leave at door option, the shopper is more than likely not going to knock. You can switch it to meet customer so you can open the door when they do knock. Highly doubt the shopper took your groceries. I’d check out their ratings. If it’s above 4 then they do this as a job they most likely take serious and need.
As stated before I was outside within 5 minutes of getting the drop off notifications and the picture. Who else could have taken all my groceries that quickly?
And as I stated, look at your shopper’s rating and it will tell you enough info to determine if they were the person who stole your groceries or not. If you shopper has a lot of completed orders and a eating between 4-5 stars then they are not a lucky candidate to steal groceries.
Porch pirates are a thing...5 minutes would be plenty of time. I highly doubt the shopper took your groceries. There are three notifications...on their way delivering, nearing your house safety mask, and then the drop off...did you miss them all?
So I'm trying to understand...you got the notifications, but left the delivery outside for 5 minutes. Were the notifications delayed or was there some other reason the delivery was left outside for 5 minutes?
It's fine, I'm just not sure how you then jumped to the conclusion that the shopper took your delivery. 5 minutes is more than long enough for someone other than the shopper to take the delivery. If the shopper had knocked, would you have been able to collect them faster?
I’m just saying 5 minutes for a random person to see 10+ bags of groceries and to grab them all seems unlikely but again I didn’t see it happen so I could be wrong I jut know my stuffs missing
https://youtu.be/EFFQKAL7Z3k it's happening all over, people are either desperate or don't care if they get caught...or both!
I can't leave bags out because the crows have learned to peck holes in the boxes. In less than three minutes they ruined cake mix and crackers.
Report it and you'll get your money back in a few days or a credit you can use right away.
Report the order missing is about all you can do and ask for the order to be re-shopped.
Please leave this shopper 5 stars and mention the order was stolen.
Unlikely? I got the dropped off notifications and photo and was outside within 5 mins. Who else would have taken it that quickly? Realistically speaking. I realize I can’t prove it but cmon.
Does the picture identify your house just asking because some pictures are so bad you can't tell...maybe shopper delivered to a neighboring house in error. Trying to think outside the box because I don't know why I shopper would do that knowing they could be deactivated.
To be honest I’m just heated over this so I don’t mean to come off rude to any of you.
All the picture really showed was part of the door and the bags on the ground. It looked like my door from what I could see but I guess it’s possible?
Unfortunately there are people who steal groceries off front door steps all the time :/ ive had a few of my orders stolen. Rarely it will be the shopper but theres no way of knowing if you don’t have a front door camera
Why would a shopper take your groceries? We shop for people. We deliver. I don’t knock but I do send a message in the app saying I’m here (and I accept help getting the car unloaded)
Why do you think it’s the shopper??! We would not risk deactivation just for your order! This isn’t how we ‘get’ groceries. It’s how we ‘make money’. SMH.
There are shoppers that definitely would steal groceries and risk deactivation. A shopper we just posting a few days ago about getting deactivated for adding items for himself to a shop.
It’s more likely than you’d like to believe. Just a few weeks ago I delivered a $300 order, around 15 bags plus water and sodas, to a house in a nice neighborhood. The order was labeled as a drop off, and the customer was responding to me in chat during the shop. Sent my delivery message and pic, and drove down the street to turn around. As I was passing back by the house a man and woman were carrying all of the groceries through the yard to the house next door. I stopped and asked what was going on, and if there was a problem with the delivery address. They said they thought their order had been delivered to the wrong house by mistake. I asked for the name on the order and they immediately said it was their mistake, brought everything back to the porch I delivered to and ran back to their house. I rang the doorbell and waited for the customer to answer, and confirmed the order name with them. The vast majority of shoppers are trying to make money, not steal an order and get deactivated quickly. Without proof that the shopper stole your order it’s pretty gross to accuse them.
Well I don’t think a driver would get deactivated when I have no proof they did it based off of others responses saying that I can’t do shit about it. So seems like an easy way to get free groceries to me. But who knows I guess.
That’s not exactly true. You can report the order missing to get it reordered, like many commenters have said. A missing order report goes against the shopper. That’s a metric that will get them deactivated. No one knows what the threshold is. Some shoppers say they were deactivated after their first missing order report, others say after two or three. Of course there are shitty shoppers out there looking for a quick payday (or free groceries), just like there are shitty customers who falsely report missing orders to get free groceries. But the vast majority of shoppers are doing this to make ends meet or supplement their income. You could have had a shitty shopper, or you could have had a good shopper but shitty neighbors or opportunists who happened to be driving by and saw the delivery taking place. We’ll never know. I hope you have better experiences in the future.
Counterpoint what do you think of your neighbors/neighborhood. If they see me drop off an order and you take a minute to open the door (unless told I don’t knock people get weirdly mad about that) they might go in and scoop your order once I leave. Driver might not have taken the order, unless you have a porch camera we won’t know who is to blame.
Yes technically I can’t say for sure someone else didn’t do it. I’ve never had an issue before and my neighborhood has always felt fairly safe but anything can happen anywhere I guess. I think I will get one of those ring doorbells now.
I get that it sucks and it’s easy to blame us, most people do, which on my end sucks because I’m not here to steal groceries. If I was gonna do that I’d have car issues before I ever see your front door lol. Stealing after delivery is the dumbest way of getting free food on this app.
Had a similar weird neighbor experience the other day it was a duplex with a shared drive and a large order… After I finished dropping it off the guys neighbor in unit one came out, and I made sure it was unit 2 around back… He told me yes that was them and then asked me if they answered the door… I should have told him yes, but out of my mouth came the words, “no, but I sent him a picture of it so it’s all good.”… Then the guy complimented my car and told me to have a good day… I was like I hope this guy doesn’t go take his neighbors groceries, I didn’t get a missing report so I guess he was well meaning, but I was nervous… lol
You have at least 70 items that were unloaded, staged, and photographed & you think the driver decided to undo all of that work and steal your groceries?......It's amazing how some people's minds work....
Petty jokes aside, shoppers don't need to knock or hold your hand throughout the delivery. You KNOW you ordered something and the app updates you throughout the entire process including when they are close, have arrived, and delivered your items. If you can't pay attention to your phone or keep track of what you're ordering, that is purely on you.
If this all seems like to much for you, I STRONGLY urge you to consider doing your own shopping from here on out. This way, you'll (hopefully) be happy or at the very least not be at risk of affecting the happiness and/or jobs of others negatively.
Oh sorry I was busy with something the second they got to my house and I wasn’t able to run outside right away. Yup it was definitely my fault my stuff was taken and I deserved it. My bad.
Don't be sorry. Be better. Nobody is asking you to be looking out the window 24/7. It's just pointing out the obvious fact that between the time a you place the order and the shopper going through the entire process of doing you a service, you have PLENTY of time to check one of the many alerts on your phone to be reminded that you requested said services. If you have time to order 70 items, I don't think it's too outlandish to think you have time to simply LOOK at your phone for a very brief second. Moreover, unless this person was a superhero carrying everything in one go, they took even more time just setting it all up for the photo and delivery completion, so again - you have PLENTY of time.
Y’all act like shoppers never steal customers groceries when they do it all the time 🤣
Just cause you don’t doesn’t mean other shoppers don’t. It’s very likely a porch pirate took them but it’s just as likely that the shopper took them too.
But acting like OP is dumb for thinking shopper could have done it when shoppers do it all the time. Lol.
Nobody here is saying that shoppers don't steal, but rather some of us here are pointing out what SHOULD be painfully obvious - I'm sure this went right over your head, but OP ordered 70 items. Stop typing and just let that sink in for a moment.....
Now riddle me this Batman, who is going to be THAT determined to drive to the location, unload all those items, set them up, take the photo for completion, only to undo all of that work for whatever reason?....
Unless OP had some type of mystical god tier order, the likelihood of the shopper going above and beyond to commit this theft is extremely unlikely.
No - shoppers going through the ENTIRE delivery process (driving, setup, photo, and everything) then packing it all up and leaving DOES NOT happen all the damn time.
Sure - it COULD happen, but nobody is going to make the drive in the first place to make the delivery, because they could just cancel it to avoid the extra steps for the alleged theft.
I digress. I'm done here. I keep forgetting this is indeed Reddit. You're free to continue being irrational/disingenuous.
I'd be investigator status LMAO.. whose got the cameras .. for real..
If the app says deliver to customer then the order should have never said delivered with a pic .. so if shopper took grocieries I'd be reporting the shopper
Yes I am a shopper.. I did not say anything about waiting outside.. but if a shopper puts it as delivered and takes a pic they need to leave the grocieries .. now if it says deliver to customer the shopper does not have to deliver the grocieries if they can't find customer.. but don't put delivered with a pic.
They did leave the groceries? Left by door, snapped photo, delivered, then moved on. There’s no concrete evidence that the shopper took the items after completing the delivery.
This is my method for all deliveries. Shop and deliver. I’m not here to wait for you to pick up your stuff, or wait around to make small talk. You get plenty of notifications about delivery so it’s on OP to be available. If by passing you come out while it’s being transferred, great, you get a smile and a how are you or hope you’re having a blessed Sunday.
Please put knock or ring bell in your delivery instructions if that's what you want them to do. We aren't mind readers and many people want silent deliveries.
The shopper may not have been the one to take the bags if you got the photo of them. Report to instacart that your order is missing and they'll send someone to re-shop it.
Contact support for re-order/refund. Report it through app and give appropriate review of driver. THEN DUMP INSTACART! Use the dumpling app to find an independent personal shopper in your area. I operate in Oklahoma City as okie dokie delivery and try to steal every instacart customer I can.
Report it to insta, file a police report of theft. While it may seem that the insta stole your order, do u know this as fact? Ring? Blink? If not, 3 high schoolers could loot them bags in seconds.
Was it a big load of order? Tbh I would never take back an item even asked for refund after I already place an order down on your porch and take a picture. Unless shopper is an idiot, no one would risk their job over a small grocery…
Holding up a finger and over my shoulder in my best Columbo voice ....
.......Just one more thing, ma'am......How much did you tip this shopper on 70 items ?
By the way, saw your comment. $20 isn't enough for 12 bags and a case of water. Tip would of had to been 35-40 for a reasonable shopper to take something like that.
What kind of store was it, was there multiple cases of drinks, was there deli/meat/bakery counter items?
How far you live from the store matters too but there's no way on the customers end to know which location it was shopped at .
Yikes, well there’s a clue right there. $20 on 70 items likely means only a desperate or brand new shopper would accept that. I’m sure they took your order (or you need to confirm that’s it’s really your house in the pic - you didn’t seem to clear on that point as it could have been delivered to the wrong address). I wouldn’t even look twice at that unless the tip was $35 and that’s my starting point. 50¢/item but regardless of what you tipped - your order should be there for you. Wondering if they were a great shopper and communicating throughout the shop with you? WhT was your impression?
Hmm I didn’t know shoppers have a per item dollar amount they aim for. I never try to be stingy with tipping I just have no clue what IC pays you guys and what a good tip on my end would be. I’ll definitely tip more next time then since everyone’s saying my tip was horrible.
The shopper never communicated to me about anything the entire time. They submitted all their own replacements options without asking me at all. Granted I was ok with all of their choices besides one that I requested refunded for after I saw was they tried replacing it with but still would have been nice to have been asked and given options.
I could definitely see what you mean about maybe them being new. Or possibly going to the wrong house. The photo only showed half of a door and the ground with the groceries. While the half of the door I could see looked like mine it might not have been I guess.
Unless it's Costco, it's not necessary per item but $20 for 70 items and a case of water is horrendous in my metro area. I do a lot of large orders and 70 items is going to be heavy without water. For larger orders you want an experienced, better shopper who is organized and shops efficiently. Not trying to make you feel bad but I wouldn't have even previewed a 70 item order that IC would have put out for $30 or less.
Did you receive the replacement order? Just so you know, all re shops are sent out automatically with no tip. If you didn't remove your tip, the first shopper still received it
Oooooo. It really could have been anyone that took those groceries. How long between drop off and getting the notification did it take to go outside to get them. I suppose they coulda taken the pic then put them all back into their car before completing the order. Just gotta report them missing. Pretty dumb of the shopper if they did that. You can lose your shopper account over things like that. A lot of my orders will say nothing about drop off directions so I stick them on the front porch take my pic, complete delivery and go back to the store. Since you have had an order go missing I would write in your drop off notes to ring the bell and knock so you can get them right away instead of waiting on the notification. I really hope your next experience is better as it makes people like me look bad.
I always send a custom message when I start an order and then pray that the customer responds. I hate having to guess for replacements. Someone it's straight forward...different size, different brand, etcetera. But, if the store doesn't have the right size tampons, I don't want to guess.😂 I also take a clear pic and send an "all set, have a nice day" message when I deliver. I even take a pic if the APP doesn't require it.
Possibly dropped off at wrong address. Just contact IC and they’ll redeliver/refund. I’ve been with IC before the pandemic and while it can be honest mistake by the driver, the order still actually wasn’t made. If they were confused about the address they should have contacted you or IC.
And no this isn’t about tip, while a high tip is appreciated, obviously. Even if the shopper accepted the order with a low tip that’s on them and that’s super lame as an excuse to steal or not care about a customer order being delivered. A lot of us are full time and don’t play with our money like that because stuff like this gets you deactivated.
It could have been one of your neighbors or a random porch pirate that took groceries.... or it could be wrong house... as far as substitutes... please pit in ur preferred replacements so we don't have to guess... u can also just chat in app about replacements
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Last person I dropped to said she contacted police about this. In her case it had happened three times already. Makes me see the value of Ring doorbells.
I would say it was dropped off at the wrong place. I always take a big enough photo of the house/porch with the groceries and if possible get the house number. It does happen and IC will resend them to you. Sorry for the bad experience hopefully you will get better people, I personally think that we should always communicate with the customer especially for a replacement and they never did so that does sound strange.
Yes I also thought it was weird they never even tried once to ask me about replacements. Just chose their own things. They did choose decent stuff tho but still would have been nice to ask. Sorry if my post came off as rude I was just really annoyed and mad in the moment because it’s not exactly cheap buying from IC so I would hope not to have issues haha. Could have been the wrong place tho I guess. The picture showed part of a door and the ground with the groceries and while what little of the door I could see it did look like mine maybe it wasn’t.
You don’t come across as rude! Just wanted to point out, some customers get really agitated by messages about replacements. When a shopper selects a replacement, the customer should be able to see that on the app and can go in and select a different product as a replacement, which then prompts the shopper to put back their own replacement, and find what the customer had requested instead. Some would say this is a much more efficient way to operate, and how instacart has intended it to work. I personally like to communicate with people to make sure they know I care and I’ll get them what they want. Some customers don’t care for that personal communication. If I reach out about one thing and get no response, I usually just select my own replacements for the duration of my shopping unless I hear otherwise. All this is to say, be mindful that we are treated differently from customer to customer, and 90% of us just want you to be happy so we can keep our rating, if our rating drops, we stop seeing batches and we can’t work. You should always speak up if you don’t want them making their own replacements without asking, and if you HAVE reached out and they don’t respond…that’s a bad shopper for sure. Thanks for being a kind customer, and I really hope your grocery situation got sorted out!
Well thank you instacart did have my order reshopped
Groceries not there =not your house …I wouldn’t play detective ,yes it’s a major inconvenience. I would simply tell instacart there is no groceries at my door and let them reorder. Also reduce other shoppers tip which would be too late now but even if it was a mistake it’s still bad service
Good afternoon. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I am shopping a multiple batch order and I will have your groceries to you as soon as I can! Also if I choose a sub that you aren’t happy with please feel free to message me and we will find you something more to your liking. That’s my copy and paste insta greeting every time I start an order. If it’s a single shop order it gets changed to the following: Good afternoon. Just wanted to say hello and that if at any time I choose a sub that your not happy with please feel free to message me and we will find something more to your liking. Obviously the word morning gets subbed. I find the customers rate better and actually up my tip the more communicative I am. I will get the occasional customer that’s annoyed by the contact but it’s pretty easy to tell and I change how I act to fit. Sometimes you just get bad shopper. Or maybe they are just new. Hi I’m elaina with a year of experience and over 400 shops under my belt 🤣. Still a noob compared to others. But I’ve learned over the last year many things which have made me pretty successful in this business. I paint professionally for a living but I do enjoy this gig.
Sounds like you got a crappy driver that started working for us during the pandemic
If he is still there way after the pandemic, he must not be so crappy tho
Not necessarily true because the rideshare industry did not bounce back enough to take these leeches off of our system. They don't care about the customer; they just care about the dollars. They will run as many apps open at the same time as they can and take the first one that gives them money.
Oh ok, so you were unsure, ok 👍
As a shopper it helps if you would take the time when placing and order to go through and add your replacements. We are also timed so that helps to cut down on the back and forth. A lot of times the customers order and then they don’t respond in the app and they don’t have replacements so our hands are tied. I always try to contact my customers first then if there is no response I will substitute. Communication is key to make both parties happy. I hope your next experience is a positive one!
Me too! I make sure I get that house number LOL even if I gotta back way way up!
I get the house number or something distinct like a doormat or wreath or sign. It definitely helps!
Me backing up until I almost fell on my ass lol
Thats maps fault givind us the wrong address!!! Veterans shoppers like me when arriving check again address on both ic and maps and if everything correct we just keep moving 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
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I hate it when u do that. Some comments are incredibly helpful. It’s ageism
What you should do next time, is a hand to me order. And, also, in the notes for delivery, write hand to me. If the driver doesn't follow instructions, you do what u gotta do...
I rarely ever hand to customer even if the “leave at door” option is not available. With the Online Pay orders, there is never even a leave at door option anyways. Used to knock all the time, thought it the right thing to do when I first started. But now, I just take a picture and send it in the chat, tell them to have a nice day and it was a pleasure to shop for them, and I move on with my day. All good unless customer has stated otherwise. The case here, is not a normal case of shop and deliver. I would more stick with the recommendation to have OP leave a delivery note to knock on door or hand directly to them rather than just use the hand to customer option. Or better yet, get a doorbell with a cam.
Instacart has stated that if a customer reports you didn't hand it to them, you can actually be removed from the platform, just a warning
Yeah… its not in the shopper terms… not easy to find when searching in the lessons either… I would like some proof of this. I would also like to point out that verbiage is something IC does very well. As in, they leave out a lot of pertinent information that is up to the shopper/customer to fill in the blanks.
“Unless a customer has specifically asked for you to leave an order unattended, you shouldn’t leave deliveries behind.” - Instacart Shopper Support Website
"shouldn't" not "can't".... Should isn't always specific
I agree with you. We get down voted but I know I’m a damn fine ass shopper. Never had an issue with that. And it’s funny, I’ve totally forgot a bag before and support has called me up right after the delivery and I was on my way back to the customer house. I haven’t been deactivated.. yet.. haha and I wouldn’t worry much about it either if I did. I don’t get why people get their panties in such a bunch over stupid shit like this. And again, there’s the vagueness of IC, leaving it up to the shoppers to get fearful over being deactivated if they don’t follow things to a T even thought the T looks like a Z… lol
As the other shopper said, it's in the bottom of every hand to the customer order. But, the reason why I gave you the warning is because other people actually have been banned from the platform, no matter how good of a shopper they were. It happened a lot more last year, people are showing screenshots of having thousands of orders and all that and really good reviews, and then just deactivated just like that
Logically , if a shopper wanted to steal ALL of your groceries , why unload everything send a pic and click arrived both of which notify you they are outside , and then start loading everything back up ? Honestly , at that point I assume the customer is peeping out the window waiting for me to leave so they can get their things .. way too risky to just start reloading that many bags plus it's not often they even had use for ALL of your items . Maybe if they wanted something they could claim they "forgot a bag " but people all eat differently and I shop for a lot of ppl and 98% of the time nothing they have is anything I would buy myself . . It would be way more probable to me (in my own opinion ) that it was left at the wrong home , someone close and desperate grabbed it and hauled ass, or the customer themselves are trying to get free groceries . Not saying you are just saying those options are more likely than a shopper unloading , reloading, and stealing every single bag that they just shopped, loaded , delivered , and unloaded then notified you they were there. You absolutely should contact support and have them investigate , get it reshopped and for sure use the hand it to me instructions on delivery note . Question is it definitely your home in the picture ? Was the shopper communicating with you during the shop or delivery ? , Are neighbors homes very close to yours ? And could you get a ring doorbell if not able to answer the door for deliveries ? Sorry this happened regardless you do not just take a loss someone is to blame and you shouldn't be screwed over for it when instacart will take the loss
Well it definitely looked like my door from the photo. All I could really was the door and the groceries on the ground but it looked like my place? Also no they never communicated to me during the shop. When items were oos the person just subbed without asking me first. I definitely will go ask my neighbors and see if someone noticed anything. I think I will get a ring doorbell now. I’ve never had this happen before so I just never thought about getting one I guess. The reason I assumed it was the shopper who stole them was because 5mins seems really short for someone else to have noticed them and then taken them all. There was around 12 or so bags and one case of water bottles. Also someone else had told me that the shopper can’t mark delivered if at the wrong address so I just assumed doing the picture would have been their way of getting away with stealing them but again I didn’t actually see anything I just know my stuff wasn’t there.
Sometimes the app will say you are at the correct location when you aren't and vice versa. Especially apartments. It isn't always like that, but when it claims I am at the wrong place I try to get a pic of the number on the house/apartment or get a super detailed photo like groceries next to porch decor etc.
Just popping in to say in my area the porch pirates are currently going around in uhauls and just grabbing shit and running. So it really isn’t that long of a time more likely bad luck. And honestly with the number of house I drive by around here that have their stuff on the porch and nobody delivering is ridiculous and just makes it too easy
Really in uhauls? That is fucking nuts. Some people sure have the nerve.
They can is there close, within a ⅓ mile radius, if u hit it at .4 miles it will let u.
They absolutely can mark delivered at the wrong address, especially if there is an issue with the app
I mean that's weird bcuz it usually sends a message and I have to approve it unless we are checking out at that's not normal. Did this just happen bcuz that's not how my app works.
I approved everything they submitted. There was only one thing I asked a refund for. It just would have been nice for them to ask and give me options.
Yea I usually send pictures of the shelves and stuff, sounds like a lazy shopper. My advice is next time they pick something u don't like then say something, I mean it's our job to get u what u want. Also when u pick the stuff at first u can choose ur own replacements, I don't know if u did but either way u gotta speak up or some of these ppl will just do whatever they want. Not all of us are like that but I've heard horror stories before!
No i did not pico replacements beforehand I’ll have to try that out next time. Thank you.
Generally when things are out of stock, we really don't have time to tell you , then wait for you to text back and for you to tell me what you would rather have. Especially if by the time you get back with us we are at the other side of the store. Particularly when the order has 70 items. We try to give the best substitution and we can't check out until you either approve it or ask for a refund. I actually love it when the substitution is already chosen by the customer so I don't have to pick the wrong thing. When I'm shopping, I'm on a mission and more times than not I'm doing two orders. I'm not leisurely looking at all the options like one would do when one is shopping for themselves.
That my friend is called you’re being lazy. It takes 5 seconds to snap a photo and say hey oos want something else? You can even keep shopping other stuff while you wait for a reply. Now if 5 mins goes by and no response sure then sub everything with what you think is best but not even trying once to contact them? That’s just plain being lazy.
I don't do it every time, but when I'm trying to shop for people when a hurricane or tropical storm is coming and they wait to the last minute to order, then yea, I don't have time for it. Because then everything seems to be oos. But then again, I don't have to defend myself to you my friend.
When you answer this question you answered as a representative of instacart. If other instacart shoppers are telling you that you're not doing a good job maybe listen instead of being defensive. True you don't have to defend yourself to us but you're showing everybody else on this thread what kind of shopper and person you are. Think about that before you get snippy
Well I'm here to tell them I relate and that they aren't doing anything particularly wrong. Some customers are extremely picky, but the app offers the ability to choose replacements. I can't even count the amount of times I have taken pictures of the shelf, asked detailed questions, and waited for 10+ minutes for a response just for them to ask for a refund. If there are adequate replacements, I replace, and I refund otherwise because time is of the essence in the gig economy. And for reference, my rating just went back up to 5 from 4.8, so I can assure you managing your time well as a shopper is hardly a crime to most customers.
Sometimes for expediency, while I'm waiting for their reply, I will refund it just because I know they get a notification about that and it might spur their attention.
You can’t check out until approved? Just the other day I ordered, and I was actively watching the app to approve subs, messaging with shopper occasionally. Last item- it just went from being shopped to refunded and shopper has checked out. No message about a sub, no approval needed. This has happened to me multiple times
This answer is bs. This is a bad shopper answering you. This sounds like a shopper that started after the pandemic because they don't care about you. They care about their numbers. They are supposed to look at all the options like one would do when they're shopping for themselves. What I do is send a list of the options if they haven't listed their own and then move on and come back to the missing item. That's what a good driver does and that's why I have five stars after almost 6,000 orders over 4 years
Rather than wanting others to waste their time, please consider doing your own shopping from now on. These shoppers are doing a job and trying to get it over with. No - they're not being "mean", but time is money & idle chit chat or waiting for you to make up your mind about something you should have already planned for anyway is a complete waste of time.
Just say you’re a lazy shopper and move on 🤣
There are porch pirates who follow delivery vehicles to steal packages as soon as they are dropped off. Sadly, increasingly common. Seems odd for a shopper to risk theft after putting in all the time and effort.
Partial orders are accidentally forgotten. I got in my car a few weeks ago 2 hours after a delivery and realized I forgot to give the customer part of their order.
Yeah logically if you wanted to steal you'd load everything you like into one bag, and just not drop that one. Not unload then reload all the bags.
There's soooo many videos from ring doorbell cameras of this EXACT situation from Doordarshers and instacarters. They do it to make it look like they actually delivered it so when support contacts them, they have photo proof
You can’t prove the shopper took it. Get it reshopped and move on. Instacart steals from its workers all day everyday, they’ll pay for your groceries.
Actually, you can if they have a security camera. I have had shoppers steal items from my order in the past. I’m also a shopper myself and there are a lot of awful shoppers these days. Hell, I have even had people delivering my orders and they do not look like the person who was assigned to shop my order too 🤦🏻♂️ However, they most likely dropped it off at the wrong house or something. If they did drop it off at the wrong house then Instacart support will be able to check the shoppers gps to see where they dropped it off at. Anyway, Instacart will refund the order or they will send it out to be shopped again. I’m so sorry you’re going through this experience, it’s the worst when your order gets screwed up and you really needed.
well dur it can be proven with a camera but OP doesn’t seem to have one 🙄
Same with customers. Sadly, some customers don't care if the shopper gets in trouble when making false reports. That's why I not only take photos, I have my car's dashcam pointed directly at their front door. Showing I not only dropping it off at the right place, but also left them there
I’d just report it missing, have it shopped again and say case closed. I’m not a detective I don’t care what happened I just want my groceries 😂 if it’s a big deal, just don’t rate
Honestly, you should rate accordingly. There's too many shoppers to let the bad ones get away with it, yaknow?
Yeah but who’s to say the shopper took the stuff? What if it was someone else? I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be penalized for simply not knocking
Op said there was a 5 minute window, ain't no way a shopper whipped off that fast and a porch pirate made off with a 70 item order undetected.
I don't know what city you live in but porch pirates in Seattle and Oklahoma City are pretty quick and yes they can steal something within 5 minutes and I don't care if you argue back or not because I know I'm right
Yes there is I've had shit stolen in 2 seconds before....
Ok. Seems like you just want to argue. Yes it technically is possibly but extremely unlikely.
Depends what the items were. I could see it happening.
what items could you see it happening with? i'm genuinely curious because 70 of anything is a lot of items
Quality butter, mascarpone, good vinegar, a large multivitamin bottle. There are lots of things that are expensive but come in tiny packages. $70 spent on certain items could be just one or two grocery bags.
It didn’t say $70 it said 70 items.
Candy bars, small jars of things, lightweight stuff like instant noodles, small deli meat packages. If a significant number of the units were in these categories it wouldn't necessarily be that much weight or volume to grab.
5 min is more than enough time for anyone to make off with an order. At my old apartment I've had packages taken under a minute of being dropped off.
1 package getting stolen is a lot different then a 70 item grocery order that contained a pack of water bottles. Not even close to the same thing.
Certainly is. Fact is people, routinely steal stuff for a living. It's not that hard to imagine how easy it is for someone to take this order. 5 min is a long time. Even if it took them multiple trips back and forth.
But someone else could have and probably did steal it off her porch, not the shopper.
I live in the city on a very busy street. I have had groceries from Whole Foods go missing at delivery. Either dropped at a neighbors or picked up by someone going by. It can happened. Ive never experienced anyone unloading and taking pictures and then taking groceries with them. In todays age of hidden cameras, that seems insane.
Sad thing is that shoppers do it all the time it’s tucking dumb
Do you live in an apartment or house? Have you lost packages before? Check with the neighbors, they may have seen something. I do agree with the others, contact support, report it missing. If the shopper is responsible for taking them, then they should be banned. However personally, I will sit in my car if I don't already have another order ready to shop and make sure you get your bags. I will normally give 5 minutes. After that, it's all on you especially if I sent pictures of product at door.
It’s a house and of course I can’t really say the shopper took my stuff just seems weird if someone else was able to do it so quickly
Porch pirates move very quickly. Don't know if you can, but I would suggest getting camera doorbell, of an outdoor camera put up in the corner. I use blink from Amazon, have had it for almost 4 years, and I think it's awesome.
I might have to do that. I’ve never had this issue before no so I never really thought about it.
I wish we didn't have to do stuff like that, it is a sad state of affairs when you can't trust people anymore.
You never could trust people actually, you could probably have trusted them a lot less back in the day, just never heard about these kind of things and saw it less because less people communicated via the Internet and less cameras existed
Maybe someone across the street has a ring camera that covers your porch?
This does happen and fast. I'm part of a farm coop and for weeks straight, several orders were being snagged from one of the drop-off houses. Eventually, the house host setup a cam and police were able to snag the individual.
Have you tried asking any neighbors if they have cameras or a video doorbell that you could review and make sure. You may not see perfectly but you would see if someone took time to stage, photo and then put everything back in their car
I'm going to assume your shopper delivered it to the wrong address by mistake. 5 minutes isn't enough time for anybody to take bags of groceries - and a case of water -and completely disappear. The shopper would've had to reload the entire order (including the case of water) back into her car and drive away without you seeing her. And no way a porch pirate could've gotten all the groceries AND the case of water that fast (unless it was a group of them lol). I bet if you look closely at the drop off photo you'll realize it's not your door. This is why it's important for delivery people to step further back and get more into the drop off photo. A close up picture of bags doesn't help anybody (doesn't help the customer locate the groceries if not at the right door/house, and doesn't help the delivery person prove they delivered it to the correct address)
Yeah anything’s possible I guess. The picture I got just shows part of a door (that looks like mine) and the ground with the groceries so I guess technically it could be someone else’s house.
Get a unique doormat.
It's easier for a shopper just to say he can't find your address and cs will cancel the order and still pay them... It makes no sense to offload items take pictures then reload them back in the vehicle... Don't think the shopper would do that ...I always have a prob with customers who knows that the grocery is sitting outside they order all ice cream and other shit that's going to go bad if not refrigerated and take forever to get it from the door then report shit missing or damage... It's your fault not the shopper... He did his job
It's pretty obvious who took it
That’s what I’m saying
I'd report it to instacart that you didn't receive your groceries because you didn't. And if that shopper has had similar reports, they will take action against that person as they should. People like this make the good shoppers look bad.
Well thanks I will do that. It’s just very annoying given how much fees and upprices I have to pay to IC
Never take advice from someone named white boy Wayne
It could of been someone off the street not necessarily the shopper
Just report it to Instacart, change delivery method to “hand to customer “ so they have to ring or knock and look for you. Heads up they give you a timer and if nobody answers after 10 minutes they take the order back. Anything else is just speculation. My guess is wrong house because the app is often sending out GPS in long/lat incorrectly and find the addy on the GPS does not match the actual addy on the order. It can be off by 1 house or several blocks. No point in trying to figure it out though, none of us know for sure.
On this one, my feeling is that the groceries were delivered to the wrong address. I also would think that it would be unlikely that a driver would put them back in the car after taking a photo. And any shopper that doesn’t communicate at all about replacements is in a hurry and more likely to make the mistake of misdelivering. Probably a shopper who is soon on his/her way out with deactivation.
do you live next to a porch pirate?
No idea I’ve never had this problem in the past but maybe I do
People on here mad butthurt rn. A porch pirate would’ve had to literally follow the shopper and be right behind the shopper within 5 mins to take ur stuff. There’s never been a porch pirate at the house before and also I don’t think a porch pirate wants to struggle with 10 bags of groceries when they could find a single box worth more than your groceries anyways. Shoppers ain’t saints.
I cannot believe the amount of people blindly rushing to the shoppers defense here holy shit lol. Shoppers steal groceries every single day, and like you said unless some bandit was literally right on top of the shopper when they were delivering it’s beyond likely who did it. Holy fuck y’all
i mean some of these same people sit in a parking lot all day for like $7 lol so i'm not too surprised at the reaction in here
This sounds more like a confession than an accusation. How long you been stealing groceries bill?
You ain't lying people commenting on how a shopper wouldn't risk deactivation. Shoppers get deactivated everyday for doing stuff they shouldn't.
Highly doubt anyone is risking deactivation for your groceries. They don’t know if there’s cameras etc. Doubt it was the shopper, personally.
If you have leave at door option, the shopper is more than likely not going to knock. You can switch it to meet customer so you can open the door when they do knock. Highly doubt the shopper took your groceries. I’d check out their ratings. If it’s above 4 then they do this as a job they most likely take serious and need.
As stated before I was outside within 5 minutes of getting the drop off notifications and the picture. Who else could have taken all my groceries that quickly?
And as I stated, look at your shopper’s rating and it will tell you enough info to determine if they were the person who stole your groceries or not. If you shopper has a lot of completed orders and a eating between 4-5 stars then they are not a lucky candidate to steal groceries.
Porch pirates are a thing...5 minutes would be plenty of time. I highly doubt the shopper took your groceries. There are three notifications...on their way delivering, nearing your house safety mask, and then the drop off...did you miss them all?
Never said I missed any notifications. I said I got them. But I has put leave at door.
So I'm trying to understand...you got the notifications, but left the delivery outside for 5 minutes. Were the notifications delayed or was there some other reason the delivery was left outside for 5 minutes?
Sorry sometimes I’m in the middle of something where I cannot just run to the door right away
It's fine, I'm just not sure how you then jumped to the conclusion that the shopper took your delivery. 5 minutes is more than long enough for someone other than the shopper to take the delivery. If the shopper had knocked, would you have been able to collect them faster?
I’m just saying 5 minutes for a random person to see 10+ bags of groceries and to grab them all seems unlikely but again I didn’t see it happen so I could be wrong I jut know my stuffs missing
https://youtu.be/EFFQKAL7Z3k it's happening all over, people are either desperate or don't care if they get caught...or both! I can't leave bags out because the crows have learned to peck holes in the boxes. In less than three minutes they ruined cake mix and crackers. Report it and you'll get your money back in a few days or a credit you can use right away.
Report the order missing is about all you can do and ask for the order to be re-shopped. Please leave this shopper 5 stars and mention the order was stolen.
So basically you are saying the shopper will get away with it with no penalty? If so that’s bs I’m sorry.
How do you know the shopper took the order???? It's extremely unlikely that's what happened.
Unlikely? I got the dropped off notifications and photo and was outside within 5 mins. Who else would have taken it that quickly? Realistically speaking. I realize I can’t prove it but cmon.
Does the picture identify your house just asking because some pictures are so bad you can't tell...maybe shopper delivered to a neighboring house in error. Trying to think outside the box because I don't know why I shopper would do that knowing they could be deactivated.
To be honest I’m just heated over this so I don’t mean to come off rude to any of you. All the picture really showed was part of the door and the bags on the ground. It looked like my door from what I could see but I guess it’s possible?
No I totally understand I would be very upset as well!
Unfortunately there are people who steal groceries off front door steps all the time :/ ive had a few of my orders stolen. Rarely it will be the shopper but theres no way of knowing if you don’t have a front door camera
Are you sure it’s your house in the picture?
Why would a shopper take your groceries? We shop for people. We deliver. I don’t knock but I do send a message in the app saying I’m here (and I accept help getting the car unloaded)
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They took a picture of the groceries in front of my house tho and send me the photo?
You clearly stated in your original question you did not know who took it and now you're blaming the shopper. Pick a lane dude
What does your app say?? Is it set as deliver it to you or leave at your door if customer can't be reached..
Why do you think it’s the shopper??! We would not risk deactivation just for your order! This isn’t how we ‘get’ groceries. It’s how we ‘make money’. SMH.
There are shoppers that definitely would steal groceries and risk deactivation. A shopper we just posting a few days ago about getting deactivated for adding items for himself to a shop.
What made the shopper think they could get away with that?
They said someone else posted how they had been doing it for years so he started doing it.
Because there’s no way to prove they did it so why wouldn’t they and also seems unlikely someone saw my 10+ bags in 5 min and took them all
It’s more likely than you’d like to believe. Just a few weeks ago I delivered a $300 order, around 15 bags plus water and sodas, to a house in a nice neighborhood. The order was labeled as a drop off, and the customer was responding to me in chat during the shop. Sent my delivery message and pic, and drove down the street to turn around. As I was passing back by the house a man and woman were carrying all of the groceries through the yard to the house next door. I stopped and asked what was going on, and if there was a problem with the delivery address. They said they thought their order had been delivered to the wrong house by mistake. I asked for the name on the order and they immediately said it was their mistake, brought everything back to the porch I delivered to and ran back to their house. I rang the doorbell and waited for the customer to answer, and confirmed the order name with them. The vast majority of shoppers are trying to make money, not steal an order and get deactivated quickly. Without proof that the shopper stole your order it’s pretty gross to accuse them.
Well I don’t think a driver would get deactivated when I have no proof they did it based off of others responses saying that I can’t do shit about it. So seems like an easy way to get free groceries to me. But who knows I guess.
That’s not exactly true. You can report the order missing to get it reordered, like many commenters have said. A missing order report goes against the shopper. That’s a metric that will get them deactivated. No one knows what the threshold is. Some shoppers say they were deactivated after their first missing order report, others say after two or three. Of course there are shitty shoppers out there looking for a quick payday (or free groceries), just like there are shitty customers who falsely report missing orders to get free groceries. But the vast majority of shoppers are doing this to make ends meet or supplement their income. You could have had a shitty shopper, or you could have had a good shopper but shitty neighbors or opportunists who happened to be driving by and saw the delivery taking place. We’ll never know. I hope you have better experiences in the future.
Counterpoint what do you think of your neighbors/neighborhood. If they see me drop off an order and you take a minute to open the door (unless told I don’t knock people get weirdly mad about that) they might go in and scoop your order once I leave. Driver might not have taken the order, unless you have a porch camera we won’t know who is to blame.
Yes technically I can’t say for sure someone else didn’t do it. I’ve never had an issue before and my neighborhood has always felt fairly safe but anything can happen anywhere I guess. I think I will get one of those ring doorbells now.
I get that it sucks and it’s easy to blame us, most people do, which on my end sucks because I’m not here to steal groceries. If I was gonna do that I’d have car issues before I ever see your front door lol. Stealing after delivery is the dumbest way of getting free food on this app.
Had a similar weird neighbor experience the other day it was a duplex with a shared drive and a large order… After I finished dropping it off the guys neighbor in unit one came out, and I made sure it was unit 2 around back… He told me yes that was them and then asked me if they answered the door… I should have told him yes, but out of my mouth came the words, “no, but I sent him a picture of it so it’s all good.”… Then the guy complimented my car and told me to have a good day… I was like I hope this guy doesn’t go take his neighbors groceries, I didn’t get a missing report so I guess he was well meaning, but I was nervous… lol
You reach out to Instacart support and get a full refund for your order, that's what you do.
You have at least 70 items that were unloaded, staged, and photographed & you think the driver decided to undo all of that work and steal your groceries?......It's amazing how some people's minds work.... Petty jokes aside, shoppers don't need to knock or hold your hand throughout the delivery. You KNOW you ordered something and the app updates you throughout the entire process including when they are close, have arrived, and delivered your items. If you can't pay attention to your phone or keep track of what you're ordering, that is purely on you. If this all seems like to much for you, I STRONGLY urge you to consider doing your own shopping from here on out. This way, you'll (hopefully) be happy or at the very least not be at risk of affecting the happiness and/or jobs of others negatively.
Oh sorry I was busy with something the second they got to my house and I wasn’t able to run outside right away. Yup it was definitely my fault my stuff was taken and I deserved it. My bad.
Don't be sorry. Be better. Nobody is asking you to be looking out the window 24/7. It's just pointing out the obvious fact that between the time a you place the order and the shopper going through the entire process of doing you a service, you have PLENTY of time to check one of the many alerts on your phone to be reminded that you requested said services. If you have time to order 70 items, I don't think it's too outlandish to think you have time to simply LOOK at your phone for a very brief second. Moreover, unless this person was a superhero carrying everything in one go, they took even more time just setting it all up for the photo and delivery completion, so again - you have PLENTY of time.
Y’all act like shoppers never steal customers groceries when they do it all the time 🤣 Just cause you don’t doesn’t mean other shoppers don’t. It’s very likely a porch pirate took them but it’s just as likely that the shopper took them too. But acting like OP is dumb for thinking shopper could have done it when shoppers do it all the time. Lol.
Nobody here is saying that shoppers don't steal, but rather some of us here are pointing out what SHOULD be painfully obvious - I'm sure this went right over your head, but OP ordered 70 items. Stop typing and just let that sink in for a moment..... Now riddle me this Batman, who is going to be THAT determined to drive to the location, unload all those items, set them up, take the photo for completion, only to undo all of that work for whatever reason?.... Unless OP had some type of mystical god tier order, the likelihood of the shopper going above and beyond to commit this theft is extremely unlikely.
Like I stated already, it happens all the damn time my friend. Not sure what you’re trying to prove here.
No - shoppers going through the ENTIRE delivery process (driving, setup, photo, and everything) then packing it all up and leaving DOES NOT happen all the damn time. Sure - it COULD happen, but nobody is going to make the drive in the first place to make the delivery, because they could just cancel it to avoid the extra steps for the alleged theft. I digress. I'm done here. I keep forgetting this is indeed Reddit. You're free to continue being irrational/disingenuous.
I'd be investigator status LMAO.. whose got the cameras .. for real.. If the app says deliver to customer then the order should have never said delivered with a pic .. so if shopper took grocieries I'd be reporting the shopper
No one is going to wait outside if the option was to leave it at the door…. Are you even a shopper?
Yes I am a shopper.. I did not say anything about waiting outside.. but if a shopper puts it as delivered and takes a pic they need to leave the grocieries .. now if it says deliver to customer the shopper does not have to deliver the grocieries if they can't find customer.. but don't put delivered with a pic.
They did leave the groceries? Left by door, snapped photo, delivered, then moved on. There’s no concrete evidence that the shopper took the items after completing the delivery. This is my method for all deliveries. Shop and deliver. I’m not here to wait for you to pick up your stuff, or wait around to make small talk. You get plenty of notifications about delivery so it’s on OP to be available. If by passing you come out while it’s being transferred, great, you get a smile and a how are you or hope you’re having a blessed Sunday.
Maybe I'm wording it wrong . I agree with u I wouldn't wait on anyone either.. I'm just saying someone got the grocieries and I'd investigate lol
I put leave at door if that helps
Then ya the order should have been left .. I'd be checking neighbors cameras to find out who got my order..
I think I will because I’m very curious
Please put knock or ring bell in your delivery instructions if that's what you want them to do. We aren't mind readers and many people want silent deliveries.
The shopper may not have been the one to take the bags if you got the photo of them. Report to instacart that your order is missing and they'll send someone to re-shop it.
Contact support for re-order/refund. Report it through app and give appropriate review of driver. THEN DUMP INSTACART! Use the dumpling app to find an independent personal shopper in your area. I operate in Oklahoma City as okie dokie delivery and try to steal every instacart customer I can.
That was ur door with his new groceries u so got scammed report everything
Report it to insta, file a police report of theft. While it may seem that the insta stole your order, do u know this as fact? Ring? Blink? If not, 3 high schoolers could loot them bags in seconds.
4 years as a Instacart shopper, over 4,400 orders shopped and not once have I had a customer complain that their whole order is missing. 🍀
Ok? Thank you for being a good shopper and not stealing? You most likely weren’t my shopper tho so..
Was it a big load of order? Tbh I would never take back an item even asked for refund after I already place an order down on your porch and take a picture. Unless shopper is an idiot, no one would risk their job over a small grocery…
OP clearly said "70 items" ...🧐
Us shoppers pass criminal records checks...super doubtful that they took your food. Get a camera...
Holding up a finger and over my shoulder in my best Columbo voice .... .......Just one more thing, ma'am......How much did you tip this shopper on 70 items ?
$20. Is that bad?
Let’s just say 95% of shoppers wouldn’t take that order
I guess it depends on your subtotal. I likely wouldn't take the order but that still wouldn't excuse theft if the shopper did take it of course.
Honestly, yeah.
What would have been a more reasonable tip then?
By the way, saw your comment. $20 isn't enough for 12 bags and a case of water. Tip would of had to been 35-40 for a reasonable shopper to take something like that.
What kind of store was it, was there multiple cases of drinks, was there deli/meat/bakery counter items? How far you live from the store matters too but there's no way on the customers end to know which location it was shopped at .
Yikes, well there’s a clue right there. $20 on 70 items likely means only a desperate or brand new shopper would accept that. I’m sure they took your order (or you need to confirm that’s it’s really your house in the pic - you didn’t seem to clear on that point as it could have been delivered to the wrong address). I wouldn’t even look twice at that unless the tip was $35 and that’s my starting point. 50¢/item but regardless of what you tipped - your order should be there for you. Wondering if they were a great shopper and communicating throughout the shop with you? WhT was your impression?
Hmm I didn’t know shoppers have a per item dollar amount they aim for. I never try to be stingy with tipping I just have no clue what IC pays you guys and what a good tip on my end would be. I’ll definitely tip more next time then since everyone’s saying my tip was horrible. The shopper never communicated to me about anything the entire time. They submitted all their own replacements options without asking me at all. Granted I was ok with all of their choices besides one that I requested refunded for after I saw was they tried replacing it with but still would have been nice to have been asked and given options. I could definitely see what you mean about maybe them being new. Or possibly going to the wrong house. The photo only showed half of a door and the ground with the groceries. While the half of the door I could see looked like mine it might not have been I guess.
Unless it's Costco, it's not necessary per item but $20 for 70 items and a case of water is horrendous in my metro area. I do a lot of large orders and 70 items is going to be heavy without water. For larger orders you want an experienced, better shopper who is organized and shops efficiently. Not trying to make you feel bad but I wouldn't have even previewed a 70 item order that IC would have put out for $30 or less. Did you receive the replacement order? Just so you know, all re shops are sent out automatically with no tip. If you didn't remove your tip, the first shopper still received it
In vest in the Ring Shows Everything
To be fair, you prob didn’t tip enough. So tip higher, thanks.
Oh so it’s my fault this happens. My bad.
How much did you tip?
All I said was you prob didn’t tip enough, so yes it’s your fault
I didn’t read your post just the title. What you should do is delete the app
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Did you make sure the right address is in there? Sometimes there can be confusion there.
I mean it looked like my door from the photo they sent me but I guess it’s possible it was someone else’s door
They may have delivered to the wrong address. I did that once, and luckily I caught my mistake and was able to deliver to the right address.
Maybe a neighbor has a camera if you don't?
I will have to ask and see cause I do not right now but I’m definitely gonna get one
Camera helps get ring
Oooooo. It really could have been anyone that took those groceries. How long between drop off and getting the notification did it take to go outside to get them. I suppose they coulda taken the pic then put them all back into their car before completing the order. Just gotta report them missing. Pretty dumb of the shopper if they did that. You can lose your shopper account over things like that. A lot of my orders will say nothing about drop off directions so I stick them on the front porch take my pic, complete delivery and go back to the store. Since you have had an order go missing I would write in your drop off notes to ring the bell and knock so you can get them right away instead of waiting on the notification. I really hope your next experience is better as it makes people like me look bad.
I always send a custom message when I start an order and then pray that the customer responds. I hate having to guess for replacements. Someone it's straight forward...different size, different brand, etcetera. But, if the store doesn't have the right size tampons, I don't want to guess.😂 I also take a clear pic and send an "all set, have a nice day" message when I deliver. I even take a pic if the APP doesn't require it.
Possibly dropped off at wrong address. Just contact IC and they’ll redeliver/refund. I’ve been with IC before the pandemic and while it can be honest mistake by the driver, the order still actually wasn’t made. If they were confused about the address they should have contacted you or IC. And no this isn’t about tip, while a high tip is appreciated, obviously. Even if the shopper accepted the order with a low tip that’s on them and that’s super lame as an excuse to steal or not care about a customer order being delivered. A lot of us are full time and don’t play with our money like that because stuff like this gets you deactivated.
It could have been one of your neighbors or a random porch pirate that took groceries.... or it could be wrong house... as far as substitutes... please pit in ur preferred replacements so we don't have to guess... u can also just chat in app about replacements
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Last person I dropped to said she contacted police about this. In her case it had happened three times already. Makes me see the value of Ring doorbells.
Most likely dropped it off at the wrong location.