My complaint:
On New Year’s Day Instacart ran a promotion where if a shopper completed 5 batches there would be a guaranteed $94 payout. I am an experienced shopper having completed 84 batches over the last year with a customer rating of 4.92 based on 52 ratings.
I worked for several hours to complete 4 jobs and when I was 1 job away from getting the promotion, the app stopped showing batches for me to accept. I waited for hours. I contacted customer support (which by the way is only via text, so having to write to someone live on a little keyboard on a little screen for 2 hours is a type of torture) and two different reps could not figure out what the problem was. I was very upset and exhausted. Finally around 9:30pm the customer rep said they would give me the promotion because I had tried so hard and was a very good shopper. He said don’t worry, you will get the promotion. This stress alone ruined my new year’s day and the uncertainty of even being paid adequately working on a holiday was incredibly unsettling.
I called 3 days later to see when the promotion would appear. I spent another 1.5 hours with 3 different customer service reps who have told me that I only completed 4 batches and the promotion was 5, so I will not be getting the promotion. This was an infuriating experience and totally the fault of the app. This promotion was a total scam and Instacart just wiping their hands of any responsibility or doing the right thing for a valuable shopper speaks volumes about their ethics and employee care.
Suggested solution:
Paying me the promotional amount of $94 would resolve this issue.
I completed 4 jobs and I could not complete a 5th job after waiting for hours for something to appear because the app stopped sending batches. I called customer service twice for help. Nothing would get the app to work. Even the customer service rep after 2 hours said to not worry, I would get the promotion. I have attached the screenshot.
They should honor my efforts to get this promotion and make up the difference, because there was no doubt I would have gotten it if their app hadn't malfunctioned. I was ready and waiting for work for hours. I made their customers happy, I brought them business. I worked on a holiday. They screw me over. It's a terrible issue and they need to fix it.
