A tale of an epic Uber Eats fail. Last Saturday after a long day of shopping for craft supplies for an upcoming event with my friend Denise, we had finally settled in for the evening to craft and gab about girl stuff. Around 8:30pm PST we decided we were hungry. Denise tried to place an order first via Amazon Prime Now, but the restaurant we selected (Cactus) turned out to be out of the service area of my condo. We found this out AFTER going through the painstaking decision making of what to order. I knew I had ordered from them before via Uber Eats, so I decided to take on the challenge of securing our evening meal.
Upon opening the app and going straight to the Cactus menu, I was shocked to see the delivery fee at nearly $20. Talk about the SATURDAY SURGE! We decided to browse for something else. As I was cruising through the options that showed “near me”, I was noticeably surprised at how many diners there were. I don’t recall there being that many diners near me? Huh. But we pursued and finally selected a place called The Tap Room. It sounded familiar? We decided to really go for it. We ordered avocado and steak salad, deep fried brussel sprouts, a chicken quesadilla, and then the big splurge of a deep fried oreo and smores. PING! Order confirmed. Delivery time 12:25am. Wait. WHAT?
It wasn’t even 9pm. We looked at each other confused but then I noticed the blue line along the bottom that moves left to right showing you how your order was progressing. It was moving, slow and steady. We decided to continue to get our craft on and check back in 15-20 minutes.
Gettin’ crafty with it
Time to check the clock…9:10pm
While the delivery time still showed 12:25am, that blue line along the bottom was indicating that the delivery driver had picked up the order and was headed enroute. Silly clock. Man, Uber Eats you really need to fix your app. It was at THAT moment that I decided to look at the little car in the app and see what road it was on. Had it hit I-90 yet?
GASP! I knew that address in the glare of my iphone screen and it wasn’t mine. Apparently the last time I’d used Uber Eats was when I was at my sister’s house in Massapequa, Long Island back in February and now SHE was about to receive my bounty.
Now, I know my sister is a night owl, even before she had a toddler. I quickly hit speed dial and she answers on the second ring. I thought I would be able to compose myself, but the moment I opened my mouth I completely lost it laughing so hard I was crying. If you know me, then you know I’m loud. Like, all of the time. I was laughing so hard I was almost wheezing (thanks to a combination of asthema and spring pollen allergies) and my sister immediately assumed I was crying and asked “OH NO! WHAT’S WRONG?!?!?!” Natually receiving a call from me after midnight that sounded like I was crying was not a good sign. It was at that exact moment that my chubby cheek hung up on her, probably from laughing so hard. I took a few deep breaths to compose myself and then called her back.
She answered immediately and now it sounded like she was crying. I begin to explain quickly “No one died! No one died! This is funny I promise!” You see, I have made a few phone calls over the years that would warrant concern. I guess I’m “that” sister. Given my dramatic history, I knew the various things that were probably racing through her head.
Finally I was able to explain what had happened and that any minute the delivery person would be knocking on their front door (and not mine), at 12:25am EST to delivery MY bounty. While she still wasn’t quite laughing, she did perk up at the mention of quesadilla and the deep fried oreo.
We hung up and I gave her firm instructions to check the order and at least make sure everything was there. Meanwhile, now 9:25pm, are stomachs were starting to growl. Clearly I couldn’t email Uber Eats and ask for a refund. Yes, their app should have updated my GPS location, but I also should have been paying closer attention. And it least our evening bounty was going to my sister and brother-in-law and not some strangers.
My sister text back to let me know only part of the order was delivered. They’d received the deep fried brussel sprouts and the quesadilla and nothing else. OK, now I’m mad. Typing away in the Uber Eats app I start explaining how not only did their app fail to update my GPS location, but they also didn’t even bother to deliver the entire order. I wanted to a refund! (and I wanted it now, because we were still starving in Seattle LOL) Again, not paying attention, I didn’t bother to realize that my iPhone auto corrected the word GPS to GOD.
Hand palm to face. I just told Uber Eats I was mad at them for not knowing my GOD LOCATION. This is what happens when I am hangry. Moral of the story, if you plan on placing an Uber Eats order, double check both your GPS location and your GOD location before hitting send. Uber Eats did make good on refunding the items not delivered. And my sister text asking what to expect for the dinner delivery the next day.
