# Late delivery, would you unassign or not?



## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Accepted a DD delivery. Around $10 for 3.5 miles. Straight after accepting, I noticed it was already 15 minutes after the pickup by time. (Would have taken another 5 to get to the restaurant.) Decided to unassign, didn't wanna get the blame for cold food. Thankfully got something almost as good soon after. WWYD?


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## sellkatsell44 (Oct 25, 2015)

The customer knows, trust me.

if they’re waiting for food they’re hungry and you usually see the dasher assigned and then all of a sudden another assigned?

You could have called the restaurant to see if they’ll reheat the food so when you arrive it’s piping hot again before delivering however

passing also is a choice and the easier one.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

sellkatsell44 said:


> The customer knows, trust me.
> 
> if they're waiting for food they're hungry and you usually see the dasher assigned and then all of a sudden another assigned?
> 
> ...


TBH I've never ordered from Doordash, so I don't really know what the customers see in those situations. In any event, you are right that a fair thinking person would not blame the driver, but I think there are plenty of people who would just blame anyone involved that they can. E.g, I've seen Amazon customers downrate a product because a third party seller didn't ship it on time or vice versa.


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## MontcoUberDriver (Aug 14, 2018)

I don’t usually notice the delivery times. I would have done it.


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

I have never been successful in trying to get an order unassigned.

Maybe because I’m in a smaller territory?


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

MHR said:


> I have never been successful in trying to get an order unassigned.
> 
> Maybe because I'm in a smaller territory?


What happens when you try?


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> What happens when you try?


It always says something to the effect of "this order cannot be unassigned".

I've given up trying so can't remember the exact wording. I might have to try it again and see what the official wording is.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

MHR said:


> It always says something to the effect of "this order cannot be unassigned".
> 
> I've given up trying so can't remember the exact wording. I might have to try it again and see what the official wording is.


Interesting. I've gotten that on occasion (IIRC it usually happens if I try when I'm already at the restaurant), but most of the time it lets me unassign.


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## OLDSCHOOLPARAD (May 4, 2019)

On DD, really? I always assumed they adjusted the time for the next dasher. Been doing DD for about 6 months. Never seen anything be late. I’m always early.

If anything, I’m usually late because I wait at restaurant and I think customers see that as they sometimes tip me extra.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> Accepted a DD delivery. Around $10 for 3.5 miles. Straight after accepting, I noticed it was already 15 minutes after the pickup by time. (Would have taken another 5 to get to the restaurant.) Decided to unassign, didn't wanna get the blame for cold food. Thankfully got something almost as good soon after. WWYD?


That would be a normal order in our market for GH Reg. When I do GH it is typical to drive orders that are 30 to 60+ minutes late.(they pay more) The benefit on GH is you aren't rated so it doesn't matter if you are late.

I would take the DD order, 15 isn't terrible. Just apologize and explain you had nothing to do with it. They will see the driver switches or when you arrived at the restaurant and most likely won't blame you.


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

I'd have just done it.

Hell, when it's busy and orders get stacked, the delivery times get adjusted anyway.


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## amazinghl (Oct 31, 2018)

It means NO WAIT TIME! Pick up and drive!
I love those orders, thanks!


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## Uberdriver2710 (Jul 15, 2015)

amazinghl said:


> It means NO WAIT TIME! Pick up and drive!
> I love those orders, thanks!


No chance I'm picking up cold food.

Decline.


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## Emp9 (Apr 9, 2015)

look at the drop off time, that is more important. sometimes the pick up s late but you still have 10min or so to deliver.. to be honest it all depends what resturant the ping is from and how difficult or easy the drop off seems, whether i unassign or not.


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## dlearl476 (Oct 3, 2017)

amazinghl said:


> It means NO WAIT TIME! Pick up and drive!
> I love those orders, thanks!


Me, too. Late isn't my problem. I've accepted GH that were an hour late on Fri/Sat nights. My typical spiel is "I'm sorry your delivery took so long, it's really busy and I guess there aren't many people driving. I was in XXX (any other city 15-20 miles away) when I got your order." Most people are appreciative.

Other than one 90 Min late TB order that cancelled just as I got to the TB, I've never had an issue with it. Most customers are thankful I finally brought them their food. One night during a snowstorm I had a guy give me $10 cash on top of the $8 tip in the app for his 1hr late order.


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

reg barclay said:


> TBH I've never ordered from Doordash, so I don't really know what the customers see in those situations. In any event, you are right that a fair thinking person would not blame the driver, but I think there are plenty of people who would just blame anyone involved that they can. E.g, I've seen Amazon customers downrate a product because a third party seller didn't ship it on time or vice versa.


I have taken past due GH orders, get calls from Support asking me eta to delivery, and finally tell the customer the reason why the food is late is that the order has been passed around with various drivers (ie goes without saying it has been passed around due to zero or close to zero tip! &#128588; &#128588!


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## dlearl476 (Oct 3, 2017)

Prius13 said:


> I have taken past due GH orders, get calls from Support asking me eta to delivery, and finally tell the customer the reason why the food is late is that the order has been passed around with various drivers (ie goes without saying it has been passed around due to zero or close to zero tip! &#128588; &#128588!


I think it's important to tell them no one would accept their delivery because of the (lack of) tip. Make them think twice about it next time.


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

dlearl476 said:


> I think it's important to tell them no one would accept their delivery because of the (lack of) tip. Make them think twice about it next time.


Hate to be Debbie Downer but doubt it works. I had a very late delivery due to low or zero tip order, to a customer in a $1M mansion in Oak Brook Illinois. &#129300;


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## Toby2 (Jun 16, 2018)

Prius13 said:


> Hate to be Debbie Downer but doubt it works. I had a very late delivery due to low or zero tip order, to a customer in a $1M mansion in Oak Brook Illinois. &#129300;


Tell us you got a $20 cash tip?


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## Prius13 (Mar 29, 2017)

Toby2 said:


> Tell us you got a $20 cash tip?


$0.


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## IGotDrive (Oct 8, 2018)

reg barclay said:


> Accepted a DD delivery. Around $10 for 3.5 miles. Straight after accepting, I noticed it was already 15 minutes after the pickup by time. (Would have taken another 5 to get to the restaurant.) Decided to unassign, didn't wanna get the blame for cold food. Thankfully got something almost as good soon after. WWYD?


I remember this. It's like damned if you do (bad rating for delivering late when it wasn't your fault) and damned if you don't (cancellation rates goes up). It depends on which statistic you can stand to hurt the most (or least). It would help if they let people (both delivery people and customers) know that the order is being or has been reassigned, preferably before the next person accepts it. I have called/texted the restaurant/customer to let them know that an order was just reassigned to me as soon as I realized it, and each time the customer was thankful (very few times, the restaurant staff still had an attitude about it).

With DD, a notification would still help because many customers will only pay attention to who's delivering their food when it's expected to arrive or late. I remember a customer telling me that for GH, they only see the delivery drivers' pictures and names after the orders are picked up from the restaurants, so notification of reassigned orders would be especially helpful there.


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