[ad_1]
Foodpanda apologized for a technical problem that caused a delivery man to be asked to travel 20km from Bukit Panjang to Hougang to pick up a food order, for just $ 5.
Chen, a contributor to Stomp, had just started working as a delivery person at Foodpanda less than a month ago and said it has been relatively easy so far.
That was until he was asked to travel from Bukit Panjang to Hougang to pick up a customer’s order and then travel back to Bukit Panjang to deliver it.
The incident, which occurred on November 21, has drawn a lot of attention on social media.
“I am a Foodpanda deliveryman and my only means of transportation is my bicycle,” Chen said.
“So, I was shocked when I was assigned to a delivery where I had to travel from Bukit Panjang to Hougang to pick up an order for fish soup for a customer.
“What’s worse is that the customer lives in Bukit Panjang, which means that after traveling to Hougang, I have to go back to Bukit Panjang to deliver the food. That doesn’t make sense.
“I also did a check and found that the Teochew clam chowder stall that the customer ordered has a point of sale in Bangkit, which is nearby.
“So I stopped by the Bangkit stall, hoping that I could pick up the food from there instead of traveling to Hougang. However, the merchants told me that their Bangkit establishment does not accept orders from Foodpanda.”
Chen told Stomp that he did not want to cancel the order as it would affect his lot rating.
Chen explained that the more times a delivery person does not accept a given order, the lower the lot rating will be awarded.
This, in turn, affects the amount of money they can earn per trip.
“I didn’t want to reject the order because that means a lower payment for the next delivery trips. I can’t allow that to happen,” Chen added.
“So I decided to contact the Foodpanda team to ask what I can do about this issue. In the end, they told me that it is their standard of procedure (SOP) and that I have to follow it.
“I was really disappointed because I knew that the trip from Bukit Panjang to Hougang and vice versa would take at least four hours.
“Four hours for $ 5? I could have used the four hours to take other trips and earn more money for my family.
“And I think the food would be cold by then. I also don’t want the customer to get cold food.
“In the end, I had no choice but to resubmit the job.”
Chen shared that he had recently been laid off due to Covid-19 and that he got this job to continue supporting his family.
“Every second in this job is important to me because for every extra trip I take, that means more money for my family.
“This job is not easy. I have to work nine hours a day, seven days a week to earn a sustainable amount.
“I heard from my friends who are also couriers that this is a technical problem that rarely occurs. I just hope that no one else has to deal with this problem, because it affected my lot qualification and now I get less money per trip.
[[nid:496711]]“Maybe Foodpanda could consider having a support hotline that we can call in case such technical issues reoccur? That way we can explain what’s going on and hopefully other deliverers won’t have to experience the same. problem”.
In response to a query from Stomp, a Foodpanda spokesperson said: “We regret the technical issue that has affected Mr. Chen’s delivery experience with us. We take feedback from our passengers very seriously.”
The spokesperson added that Foodpanda has since investigated the matter and rectified the location error.
“We will also continue to take steps to improve and train our service teams to ensure that our passengers receive adequate support,” the spokesperson said.
