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Held Hostage by a Delivery App: Why a Hungry Customer Refused to Hang Up the Phone After Being Charged to Stop an Order.

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I’m gonna go on the record this instant and say that some of these third-party delivery companies out there are really screwing everything up.

And the story you’re going to read is a perfect example of what I’m talking about…

Can we possibly make food and grocery delivery any more complicate?

It looks like the answer is YES!

Check out why this customer got royally ticked off when a grocery delivery went sideways.

AITA for how I responded to a customer service person?

“Was I a Karen or is this legitimately not my problem?

Last night I placed a grocery order with Walmart to be delivered today between 8 and 9 AM. I was scheduled to start work at 11 AM and had to leave the house by 10:30 AM to get there.

That’s annoying…

At 8:30 AM, I received a message that my order was delayed and would not be arriving until between 11 AM and 1 PM. My order had things like fish, dairy, and frozen items. It’s 28°C (83°F) here today, so it’s stinking hot.

When I saw the reschedule email, I called the local Walmart to ask if I could choose a new time because it was just going to ruin the food. They said I had to call Instacart, so I did.

I don’t have an Instacart account, and did not realize that Walmart has a third-party service provider for their deliveries.

I was concerned about was food arriving on my front doorstep after I had gone to work and baking in the sun all day. I would have to return everything that melted or was perishable to Walmart anyway, so I thought I would call to schedule a different time so there was no food waste.

Also, I get that annoying stuff happens and sometimes there are delays. No problem at all. I didn’t want to cancel, I wasn’t pressed that I wasn’t getting my groceries right then, I just wanted to set a later time so the food wouldn’t spoil on my porch.

The person on the phone told me it wasn’t possible unless I accepted a $15 “change order” fee.

Hmmmm…

I said no, I chose a time and gave myself an hour and a half of a buffer, this was on them, and I was not going to pay a service fee because they weren’t able to meet the order timeline.

I wasn’t asking to cancel, just to push it back to 6 PM or later. They suggested if I wasn’t okay with the $15 reschedule fee, I could cancel which would have a $25 cancellation fee.

That’s not gonna work, either!

I said no, this is their problem to solve because the delay was not my doing, and Instacart needed to find another solution because I wasn’t willing to pay a fee.

The staff member then said I was entitled, that they don’t make special exceptions because I can’t adjust my schedule, and this is their policy. She also said they have my card number on file so she can charge me whatever fee she wants.

I let her know that the call was being recorded and not to speak with me like that or I’d file a complaint (I live in Canada, we have one party recording consent, and I was calling from my work cell phone which automatically records calls. I was not maliciously recording).

She told me it was illegal, I said it wasn’t, and reminded her that Instacart was also recording the call so it shouldn’t matter.

She then shrieked that I was threatening her, yelled at me about her privacy rights, and that she was going to ban me from their service. When I say shrieked, I mean literally ear piercing screaming at me.

I said “If you ban me from grocery delivery over this, this call goes on the Internet.”

She shrieked again, said I’m violating her charter rights and the company policy, I’ve been banned, and hung up on me.

This was way more trouble than it should have been.

I ended up calling corporate Walmart, they were understanding and able to cancel the order without a penalty fee.

The person I spoke with was super helpful and agreed it was just going to waste money, food, and that it was them who made the time change so they will make it work.

Great.

It got resolved and I resubmitted the order just fine for an afternoon delivery, so I am not banned apparently.

But I’ve been replaying this in my head. Was I the problem on the Instacart call?

I know everybody says they aren’t the problem, which is why I want to know if I have blinders on. Genuinely I was not rude or combative until she called me entitled.

The local Walmart conversation was pleasant, the corporate Walmart conversation was pleasant, but the Instacart one seemed unnecessarily aggressive and dramatic.

AITA?”

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Let’s see what Reddit users had to say about this.

This person said they’re NTA.

Another individual agreed.

This Reddit user weighed in.

Another person shared their thoughts.

And this reader spoke up.

Was this frustrating, or what?!?!

And the nerve of the customer service worker!

This was a train wreck.

It doesn’t sound like this customer did anything wrong at all…

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