# GrubHub Cancelled Order Pay



## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

First ping of the day today was a $10 ping from a restaurant about eight blocks from my condo. Drop off about half a mile from the restaurant. That's how I like to start the day. So I get to the restaurant in about 5 minutes and walk in to make the pick up. "We're sorry. Our tablet's not working and we're not taking GrubHub orders today." Okay, kind of disappointing, but I didn't spend a lot of time and mileage getting to the restaurant, so no big deal. I tap "There's a Problem" in the app to begin the cancellation process, but as I'm doing it I get the notice on my phone, "This order has been cancelled. Do not deliver this order." Okay, cool. Didn't even have to spend time on the cancellation process. That's about as smooth as a cancelled order can go.

Didn't think much of it the rest of the day, but tonight while I was entering my earnings for the day into my spreadsheet I noticed that I got a payment from GrubHub for that order. They paid me for time and distance and there wasn't much of either, so the total payment was only $1.75. It's less than the $3 that Uber would pay for the same scenario, but it's something. In the past, GrubHub would pay nothing for a cancelled order. Anybody else seen any of these payments for cancelled orders?


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## The Jax (Apr 17, 2018)

Launchpad McQuack said:


> First ping of the day today was a $10 ping from a restaurant about eight blocks from my condo. Drop off about half a mile from the restaurant. That's how I like to start the day. So I get to the restaurant in about 5 minutes and walk in to make the pick up. "We're sorry. Our tablet's not working and we're not taking GrubHub orders today." Okay, kind of disappointing, but I didn't spend a lot of time and mileage getting to the restaurant, so no big deal. I tap "There's a Problem" in the app to begin the cancellation process, but as I'm doing it I get the notice on my phone, "This order has been cancelled. Do not deliver this order." Okay, cool. Didn't even have to spend time on the cancellation process. That's about as smooth as a cancelled order can go.
> 
> Didn't think much of it the rest of the day, but tonight while I was entering my earnings for the day into my spreadsheet I noticed that I got a payment from GrubHub for that order. They paid me for time and distance and there wasn't much of either, so the total payment was only $1.75. It's less than the $3 that Uber would pay for the same scenario, but it's something. In the past, GrubHub would pay nothing for a cancelled order. Anybody else seen any of these payments for cancelled orders?


One, you should be happy you got something. There was a time GH didn't pay anyone anything for canceled order. I helped them open up several markets so I should know.

Two, I think you are being too nice with this restaurant. Here is some advice. If you are pinged to pick up from a restaurant you have never picked up from before, contact care immediately (I do this all the time but its not often its a restaurant I haven't picked up from). Ask them to contact the restaurant and request an order status. In my experience and in most cases, if a restaurant is new, they either don't have the tablet on if they don't have the orders integrated into their point of sale or they have poorly trained staff or they just don't care. In either case, a support rep can contact restaurant care on your behalf and have the restaurant reported for this and if this happens often, that restaurant will start to receive fees for dispatching drivers to a closed restaurant or a restaurant not accepting orders. The restaurants know this and want to avoid it.

However, in most cases, the support rep will tell the restaurant to make the order and it should be in the process now while you are on the way.

Three, make a list of all restaurants you pick up from that make you wait. Call support every time you get a ping from them and you accept. Support is there to help you. Thats what they get paid to do. Let them harass the restaurant about the order. I have one particular restaurant in my area that always makes drivers wait. I will call support two or three times back to back. When I get at the the restaurant, they are pretty pissed off. I ask them if anyone called them, they say yes, then I tell them they called me to and it must be an impatient customer. This takes me off the hook from being blamed. Just don't do it often or they will know its you.

Remember, you are an independent contractor. Don't let these restaurants waste your time because they are always more than happy to receive 30 GrubHub orders within a 5 minutes time span and have 30 idiot drivers waiting outside just for them so they can make money off of you. Show them you are not stupid and fight back. If you get to the restaurant and the order is not done. Ask them how long. Ask them why its not done. Ask them if their tablet is working. You are required to be professional but you are not required to be nice and you are not required to just sit there and take it while you lose money every minute. Don't be angry. Be insistent. Ask questions and get all up in their ass.

Long story short, if you get a ping for a restaurant that is 20 minutes away, don't feel hesitant to contact care and have them request an order status. You obviously want the order ready when you get there.


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## GIGorJOB (Feb 29, 2020)

Hopefully it covered the gas at least and it's a relatively new policy I think. Not a cancelled order per se but had a similar situation where they are giving me nothing so far, they sent me an offer 10 minutes after the establishment was already closed. Sent while driving, not the few minutes I was waiting parked so I could check this stuff before accepting but I'm new and didn't think they would send offers after closing especially to one of the least closest drivers anyway.

Accepted already so damage done. I called ahead, someone was still there and said they could wait a little while they were finishing up for the day and if they were still there when I got there, fine but if they had already left, sorry. Figured I wasn't going to make it but had already accepted and minding my acceptance rate. Needless to say, they left.

Don't know why but I head over to see what would happen anyway, worst case they were closed, not really my fault and can document all of that, snap a photo of the hours, with other identifiers and be done with it. See if they give me anything for my trouble and ask for something if not. At least it wouldn't affect my rate.

It would bother the heck out of me if GH thinks that this is a failed attempt or something I should have known and brought to their attention. Don't know what their expectations are in this, for me to at least attempt it, or give someone closer a chance?

No one else wanted it, that's why I ended up with it. Don't have all the details, not complaining, would have been worth it otherwise and there must be a reason for it but I don't why they would want to pay me the extra mileage and not just add to the bonus for the closer driver who is in the best position.

Probably will just call care if it happens again, and not take the chance but outside of that, wondering what might be the another way to handle something like that without affecting the acceptance rate?


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

Wow that sucks, I thought it would at least be $3. Better than nothing I guess


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## ThrowInTheTowel (Apr 10, 2018)

uberboy1212 said:


> Wow that sucks, I thought it would at least be $3. Better than nothing I guess


That's why I cringe every time a hear about one company buying a competitor cause they will most likely change that competitor to the same ridiculous policies. Doordash has always paid 50 percent of the original order amount for cancelled orders and closed restaurants. Just hearing everyone saying at least you got something $1.75 is better than nothing makes me want to gag. That's why they continue to take advantage of us cause we continue to bend over. Smh


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## uberboy1212 (Jan 10, 2017)

ThrowInTheTowel said:


> That's why I cringe every time a hear about one company buying a competitor cause they will most likely change that competitor to the same ridiculous policies. Doordash has always paid 50 percent of the original order amount for cancelled orders and closed restaurants. Just hearing everyone saying at least you got something $1.75 is better than nothing makes me want to gag. That's why they continue to take advantage of us cause we continue to bend over. Smh


GH drivers are going to continue to drive for GH whether they get cancel pay or not. Getting something is always better than getting nothing when those are the only 2 options. Like I said, it sucks but its better than nothing.

DD is the only one that pays 50% cancellation. UE and PM pay nothing.


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## Launchpad McQuack (Jan 8, 2019)

Strike two against this restaurant. Accepted a ping a couple days ago with a pretty good payout. Arrive at the restaurant. They now have tables set up on the sidewalk outside for outdoor dining. (Indoor dining is still illegal here.)

I step inside and tell them I'm picking up a GrubHub order for Gigi (kind of strange name). She tells me, "Okay, let me go check on that for you." So she disappears in the back for a bit and then she is back and forth taking plates out to the tables outside. After about 10 minutes I stop her and ask about the order that I'm picking up. "Let me go check on that for you." She disappears in the back for a few minutes and then is back to taking plates to the tables outside. After another 5-10 minutes, I stop her again and ask her what is going on with the GrubHub order. "Let me go check on that for you." At this point, I told her that she's been telling me that she is going to check on it for the past 20 minutes and hasn't actually told me anything. So she disappears in the back for a couple minutes and comes back and says, "Five minutes."

By this point, I usually would have bailed on the pickup. I'm not usually this patient, but it was a pretty good-paying delivery so I decided to give it a little more time. After about 10 minutes, I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket. Uh oh. This better not be what I think it is. Yep. "Order for Gigi has been cancelled. Do not deliver this order." So much for that good payout. On the plus side, though, GrubHub was gracious enough to pay me $1.47 for my troubles. To be honest, I don't understand why they started doing this. Yes, it's better than nothing, but it costs them money and compensation like that isn't going to foster any good will with drivers. They are effectively incurring a cost that they don't need to incur and getting nothing out of it.

Here is where the story gets kind of interesting, though. I had a feeling that the order was close to being ready at this point. I realize this is kind of scummy and dishonest on my part, but since I just got screwed over with regard to the delivery I decided to stick around and see if I could at least get a free meal out of it. Maybe the restaurant isn't paying attention to their tablet and won't notice that the order has been cancelled. If they call me out on it, then I'll just say that I had my phone in my pocket and didn't see the notice that it was cancelled.

After about 5 minutes, another driver walks in the door. He speaks with the same woman that I was talking to, and she disappears in the back for a couple minutes and comes back and says, "Five minutes." Then she walks up to me and asks me who I'm picking up for. I tell her, "Gigi." She points to the other driver and tells me that he is picking up for Gigi. So the other driver says, "Maybe there are two orders for Gigi." She says, "No, we only have one order." The other driver points at me and says, "Maybe they cancelled his pickup." So I pull my phone out of my pocket and pretend like I'm seeing the cancellation message for the first time. I show them the message. "Order for Gigi has been cancelled. Do not deliver this order." Then I leave.

Here's what I don't understand. Why would GrubHub cancel the pickup on a driver that is standing in the restaurant and has been waiting for 30 minutes, and then send another driver to pick up the order? Are they just deliberately messing with me now? I don't see any motivation for them to do this.


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## GIGorJOB (Feb 29, 2020)

Not suggesting GH is untrustworthy, just dont know what goes on behind the scenes and the problem here is we will never know for sure if the customer cancelled and reordered or if GH reassigned it. In either event, it clearly states what's happened but should we rely on that?

In a case where no active steps are being taken within a few minutes, they may have no issue saying they reassigned it. If the driver has been waiting for some time and there are issues at the restaurant, could GH just reassign it but mark it cancelled for any number of reasons as well as unknown issues at the restaurant?

Curious if you were on block or not. That could be another reason, assuming block abuse. Sometimes restaurant partners take issue with drivers for no good reason, they may even go as far as to mess up and then want to blame the drivers or falsely tell GH the driver left, is rude, etc, etc.

I had one the other day, where their tablet was down, and the order screen for me did not display item details, only the items. Ironically, once the delivery was completed I had the full item details. Maybe I'm missing something being new and there may be a good reason for it but they could consider giving those details upfront for drivers to better confirm the orders, then again that may be why they don't, things get too complicated afterwards, less blame on the driver.

So anyway, I need to text the diner to let them know their tablet is down and ask for items details for restaurant to complete the order. Took an additional half hour or so waiting there. Wasn't on block so I wasn't worried about it but next time I think I will contact care either way. It may better to have them follow through with order details or at least they can relay the full info to me from the system as opposed to having to text. Otherwise, I always text updates to the diners which should allow GH to also see what's going on. "I am waiting on the restaurant", "I'm on the way", etc but with the possibility for cancelling and now GH reassigning, may be best to communicate from now on.

Wonder if there are any adjustments to pay for waiting where it would benefit getting care involved?

Can also see it working against you too, establishment thinks you ratted on them, poor reviews or worse. Always nervous when I ask for the order and it's not a simple exchange and thank you or more than a few minutes. Otherwise, something is off and if push comes to shove, it's the blame game.


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