A while back, Doordash added a new statistic to a Doordash Driver's ratings. Along with customer rating, acceptance rate, completion rate, on time or early and lifetime deliveries, we all now have "Contract Violation." Don't see it there? Good, that means you don't have a contract violation against you. It will only show if a Dasher has one or more contract violations currently being held against them.
What exactly is a Doordash contract violation?
It is just what it sounds like. Doordash is claiming that you are violating the contract that you have with them. There are countless ways that a Dasher can violate the contract that they have with Doordash, but for this article's sake, we are only going to talk about the two main types of contract violations that Dashers are getting and having them show up on their Doordash stats. When a Dasher gets a contract violation and sees this stat, it is almost always due to being either lateness based, or a customer has claimed that their order was never delivered.
If a Dasher goes through the normal motion of making a delivery and slides delivered, but the customer contacts Doordash and claims that their food was never delivered, it may be a contract violation. But what if the customer is telling a lie? For this reason, you need to protect yourself and use a camera with a time stamp.
Always take a picture with the time stamp which shows the time and the address of your delivery. If a customer makes a false claim, this will protect you from having a contract violation and support will take the contract violation off. If you don't have proof, the contract violation will most likely remain.
The vast majority of contract violations that Doordash drivers get are for lateness. When a Dasher accepts a delivery opportunity, Doordash uses real time GPS to estimate how long it should take the driver to get to the merchant and how long it should take them to get to the customer. If a Dasher takes too long getting to the merchant or too long to get to the customer, they may receive a contract violation notification upon completion of the order.
As a Doordash driver, you have agreed that you will pick up and drop off all delivery opportunities that you accept in a timely manner. Yep! You agreed that you will be on time.
Where is this in the contract? It is in section III of the independent contractor agreement that you signed. In that section, you'll find that is states:
"CONTRACTOR agrees to retrieve the orders from restaurants or other businesses on time and safely, ensure the order is accurately filled according to the consumer, restaurant, and/or business specifications, and complete delivery orders to consumers in a safe and timely fashion."
It doesn't say anything about deactivating you if you are late. You can find that in the Doordash Deactivation Policy near the bottom of the page. It's in the "Violating the terms of your contract" section.
I got a Doordash contract violation - Now what?
I am going to share my own personal experiences with Doordash contract violations. I have actually gotten three of them, but I personally know Dashers that have gotten way more than myself. When my first contract violation occurred, it surprised the heck out of me. After making my delivery and marking as delivered, my app showed the normal delivery complete info, but it also said "You were late to the store by 12 mins."" I shrugged it off and didn't think much of it. I knew the order wasn't late. I had only received it about a half hour ago.
About an hour later, after going to review my stats, I noticed that I had a new stat. It said "Contract Violation" and said the number "1." Yep, I now had a contract violation on my record. Knowing I didn't take long on the order, I went in to defense mode and contacted Doordash. I explained the situation to the Doordash rep and she actually took it right off for me. It was no longer showing on my stats either.
My second contract violation happened a few month later. I have to add, and I'm sure anyone that has gotten a Doordash violation can relate, It's very upsetting when you get a contract violation. This is especially true when you know that you didn't do anything wrong.
This order was delivered to the customer in a timely fashion. There was nothing abnormal about it, but after sliding delivered, besides the normal info that is shown, it said "Order Extremely Late." I didn't even call up Doordash about this one. Sure, I had that big red ugly stat showing that I had one contract violation, but I now knew things that I did not know the first time around, so I didn't make a big deal of it or worry about it (even though I knew I was innocent.)
Not another Doordash Violation
My third and most recent Doordash violation was a real shocker. I actually picked up and delivered the customer's food in about 15 minutes. How could this possibly be a contract violation?
Once again, after sliding that I had delivered, I was notified of the violation. I called up Doordash, the rep checked everything out, and told me that I shouldn't have received the violation. With that said, she also informed me as to why I got the violation.
Apparently, the Doordash system made a mistake. When I received this particular order it was 8:30 p.m. I delivered at 8:45 p.m. The Doordash rep had told me that another Dasher had held on to this call before me for too long and then got rid of it. When I accepted this call at 8:30 p.m., it was already past the delivery time of 8:20. The Doordash system mistakenly gave me a contract violation.
With the Doordash rep on the phone and guiding me, I wrote my side of what happened on the Doordash app. I also included the reps reference number. This was double proof with both sides proving that I was not at fault. After all of this was done, the rep told me that would be all that we need do to and that the contract violation will be removed soon after it is reviewed.
It took a good four days for them to take off this Doordash contract violation, but in the end it was finally gone. I have no idea why it took so long. I think it should have been taken off much sooner.
How will I know if I get a Doordash contract violation?
You will first know about your contract violation after you make your delivery. You will see something odd when you slide delivered. You will then be able to see the contract violation on your ratings page. On top of your customer rating, you will see "contract violation" with the number "1" in red text. Of course, if you have more than one contract violation you will see that number. If you have two contract violations, you will of course see "2."
By clicking on "contract violations," you will be taken to a page that shows you a list of your contract violations. It will show the reason for the contract violation and the date it happened. This list shouldn't be too long as most people will have one or two. A Dasher with five or six contract violations most likely would not have a Dasher account anymore. In my second case, the reason shown was "Order extremely late" and the date that it happened.
From there, you are able to click on each individual contract violation. Like I said, most Dashers will have just one, and by clicking on it you are taken to a page that shows how late you were. It will show the expected arrive time and your actual arrival time.
This page also shows notes warning you that lateness is grounds for deactivation. It'll also say that the Doordash deactivation team will review this delivery and notify you of any changes to your account status. With that said, they lastly tell you that you are able to still dash at this time.
Don't panic if you get a Doordash contract violation
Sounds pretty scary doesn't it! Please don't let them make you think it's more of a big deal than what it actually is. Doordash seems to make it sound like you are on the verge of being deactivated from the platform. I don't know why they would want their Doordash drivers to feel threatened. To me, that's not the way to operate a company. Of course, that is only my opinion. Anyways, I have known many Dashers that have gotten so many contract violations, some over 10, and they have never had a deactivation problem. Of course it can be a problem if you get too many contract violations in a short amount of time; more on that later.
How can a Dasher defend themselves against a policy violation?
When looking at your violation on the app, there is a link that says "Provide additional details." By clicking on this, you are taken to a page where you can explain the situation to Doordash. In other words, tell your side of the story. The first time I got a Doordash contract violation, I wrote a real thorough explanation to Doordash. I even called up Doordash about it, and they took it off for me.
As for my second Doordash contract violation, I never got around to writing anything. The contract violation stood there showing on my account until it eventually disappeared. When, and if you write your report, you are going to want to explain everything exactly as it happened.
If your violation is about a non-delivery claim, all you need is a pic with a time stamp and your violation will be taken off. If you don't have that, you are most likely going to have to deal with having the violation. For late deliveries, it is a case-by-case basis, and you should not expect Doordash to just take off your violation. They may, but don't expect it.
A Dasher should make sure that they are actually at the merchant to avoid a violation
A little advise for those that do not know. Just because you slide that you have arrived at the merchant does not make you safe. Doordash knows when you are actually at the restaurant or not. If you are a couple of merchants down from where you need to be, you may get a contract violation.
This is what happened to me when I got one of the Doordash contract violations. I had to use the restroom, and I knew that the merchant that I was picking up from did not let anyone use their restrooms. I went to a neighboring restaurant and thought that I was safe sine I was so close. Apparently I wasn't.
I'll tell you what I could have did to avoid this problem. I could have parked at my pick-up, left my phone in the car and walked three merchants down so that I could use the restroom. If I would have done this, I would not have gotten this contract violation.
Dashers should not worry about slow merchants that take a long time to prepare customer's food
Please keep in mind that the amount of time a merchant takes to prepare the food will never cause a Dasher to get a lateness violation. What matters is the time you take to show up on the premises of the pick-up. From the time a Dasher accepts the order, Doordash expects that Dasher to be at the pick-up location at a certain time. The same goes with delivering to the customer. From the time a Dasher slides that they have picked up the food, Doordash expects it dropped off at a certain time.
A Dasher shall not worry if they get a contract violation
It can be alarming for a Dasher when they get a contract violation. Their first thought may be that they are going to lose their Dasher account. That is simply not the case though, and a Dasher should not make more of a big deal than what it actually is.
Some of the lingo that Doordash uses about contract violations may make it seem like a Dasher's account is as risk, but for most it is not. These Doordash contract violations are based on a Dashers last 100 eligible deliveries, and even though a Dasher may occasionally get hit with one, as long as they are wide-spread a Dasher should never face serious consequences.
Honestly, if a Dasher gets a violation, it is probably best to forget it and move on. Filling out the form to defend yourself should be done, but after that don't let it bug you. Doordash even let's us know that one contract violation is not grounds for deactivation. It will eventually be gone. There is no need to make a big fuss about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment