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Skipcart Tried Scamming Me Again, Here's What Happened…
- Joseph Mandracchia
- 1 minute ago
- 10 min read
Every gig worker eventually runs into a delivery that goes completely off the rails — not because of anything you did wrong, but because the system fails you at the exact moment you need support the most. That’s exactly what happened the other day on a Skipcart order for EZCater.
What made this so much worse was how Skipcart chose to handle this situation as it was unfolding and after it all happened.
So in this video, We are talking about:
What happened with this ezCater order on Skipcart
What they were saying vs How it ACTUALLY is
Everything in between!
Disclaimer: The content of this video does not contain and is never intended to be legal, business, financial, tax, or health advice of any kind, This video is for entertainment purposes only. It is advised that you conduct your own research and consult with qualified professionals before applying anything you find online.
I also want to be clear that everything we are going to go over is very market dependent, and what applies to me and my market may not apply to you.
My Story
So I was picking up an order on Skipcart in the early morning for Brooklyn Water Bagel in Hollywood, FL and the pick-up was fairly easy. I went there, I packed up the order and left, it honestly was pretty easy to deal with.
That said, I made it to the drop off location, and for the sake of maintaining customer privacy, let’s go with "location A", which was a building with both an apartment complex and a building with small businesses. I thought it was weird, but it is what it is.
I tried using the call box, and they just weren’t answering. I contacted to have them let me in, and they started naming landmarks which was weird because they were associated with this location and had nothing to do with the callbox.
That said, I knew of these landmarks, but I knew they weren't there or associated with this location… I knew where this was headed.
She also said that she was driving and she instructed me to contact the number for the business I was delivering to, and gave me the number over the phone. Turns out this was a law firm, not just any law firm though, but a law firm I have dealt with in the past.
You see, in most cases this law firm is totally fine. I have no real problems and at least they remain professional, but I have had one other problem with this law firm while delivering an ezCater order on DeliverThat.
You see, back before ezCater stopped allowing stacked orders and the pick-up times were kind of all over the place, they had me pick up an order that was set to 45 minutes before the drop off time and the drop off location was 10 minutes away.
Not to mention, me going straight there meant dropping it off earlier than ezCater wanted and that gave me a “violation” on my DeliverThat account because THEIR systems fucked up and it led to the customer receiving a partial refund for that order.
Which isn’t the fault of the driver nor customer and the customer deserved that refund then because it was outside of their control and outside of the control of the driver as well.
Now it is 100% within the control of the customer and she gave me an address that was incorrect.
I tried contacting the number that was given to me by the customer and OF COURSE no one wanted to answer. I tried contacting the customer via text next, because regardless of her driving I knew if I was going to fight this, I needed documentation.
So I asked her if the address she gave me via the app was correct. She said no, and gave me the intended address (location B), this wasn’t very far in distance but would require more time and energy and from a platform, Skipcart, that has earned a reputation for creating situations where drivers would have taken on extra mileage without confirmed compensation.
So I was not going to simply let things go so easily.
Dealing with Support
Before going into this part, I would like to remind people that Skipcart support is FAR worse than most other support systems in the gig economy.
First of all, there is no phone support you can call into, you have to go via the chatbot or email and for something that requires urgent engagement, chatbot is your only option.
Second, every single one of them has an attitude problem. Like they go into the chat with a discrimination towards gig workers and they couldn’t be bothered to do their jobs, like our existence is such a damn inconvenience to them.
That said, before you get started you have a chatbot where they ask you what your problem is and eventually have a chance to name your state and get to a person. I ended up with someone who didn’t even want to try to do her job.
I explained to her the situation, and how the customer didn’t want to answer me even though I have been contacting her incessantly forever. Showing her our messages in the chat and everything.
What she asked me was just pure representation of how they just chose not to listen to me. “Did the customer tell you the address was wrong?” Keep in mind, I just sent her that information multiple times.
She had already attempted to disconnect the chat multiple times, but what she did after that was truly mindblowing…
The Exploitation Problem on SkipCart
After I sent that information over she said that they are paying the “mileage difference”. Now, this is where SkipCart gets insulting. You see this isn’t the first time I have dealt with this.
I have literally contacted them on this subject before and because I was in a time crunch I didn’t fight it, and afterwards I was only paid $1.04 for the extra mileage. It wasn’t just the mileage, it was the extra time, it was getting the proper information from the customer, it was accounting for the miles AND time, and they disrespected me by not providing that information up-front?
If I knew they were planning on exploiting me like that, I would have left the food in the dirt at the initial address, and called it a day and their own Terms and Conditions would support that.
Regardless, I decided to make it clear that I was not going to move until I have an upfront payout confirmation of how much I would have been paid for the extra work and if they didn’t provide that, I wasn’t going to move.
No one was even trying to communicate with me even though I was trying my best to reach out to everyone. They claimed they were, but my call-logs proved otherwise.
The support agent kept claiming they will be able to calculate based on the mileage when I arrive and I even sent my Google Maps screenshot saying exactly how far away it was.
I love how they got condescending as well, “do you understand jow this works”, which is funny because I have a deeper understanding of the gig economy than most and instead of acknowledging the realities of what took place, she chose to become abusive.
Also, how one can become condescending when they cannot spell is beyond me.
Yes honeybunch, I do know “jow” this works.
They kept doubling down and I kept calling them out and even made it clear that if they couldn’t give me an answer then I would report them to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
They had disconnected the chat again and at this point, it would have been the last time because the Chatbot on Skipcart would not let me through to a person. Which shows that instead of helping in this situation they can just wall you off at some point.
So I did what I had to do, I left the order by the only entry way into this building in the safest possible location and emailed support from Skipcart, ezCater and even the CEO of ezCater Nihad Rahman explaining the situation and how I did my best, even though Skipcart chose to fail the customer.
ezCater Chimed in
I later got a call from ezCater support after I have made multiple emails at this point and have even left the food at the previous location. The call from ezCater was basically trying to ask if I would go back at this point and I made it VERY clear that I am close to suing because of the fraud that has taken place here and they kind of just let it go.
Looking back, I feel bad for the guy because he was just trying to relay a message from the customer and fulfill the needs of the customer. In fact, he not only understood my position but he called back a second time and asked me about the drop off location and where I left the food.
I had emailed the drop off information to support and made it clear that I wasn’t going to be treated this way from my previous emails.
That said, they REALLY need to look into Skipcart due to their insufficient support systems and choosing to engage with unlawful business practices.
Skipcart Destroying Evidence
As I am writing this out, I went back into my Skipcart support chat to just verify certain verbiage and other information but it turns out they not only chose to treat me poorly, they decided to destroy evidence of me trying to communicate with them.
Not only that, they implanted messages that simply were not there before and altered the time stamps accordingly.
They LITERALLY were trying to cover up their own crimes, and it is a good thing I emailed ezCater and Skipcart of these things WITH SCREENSHOTS while this was happening otherwise, they would have successfully covered up a serious crime.
This is why you document things as they happen.
Breakfast Order Warning
While I am a HUGE advocate for breakfast orders in the gig economy and how they can be a great start to your day, I am noticing a few challenges that specifically apply to catering orders.
What I am starting to notice with orders like these is that if they are scheduled for the early morning, it is less likely you will receive a support agent willing to do their job, or be able to get in contact with the customer who placed the order on another's behalf ahead of time.
This is very common for catering orders, especially those who happen to be medical reps or lawyers getting catering for their clients.
You won’t run into issues every time and in most cases these orders go off without a hitch, but for the few times that go wrong… get ready for a headache.
Support within the RMDA vs Skipcart
Support within Skipcart is basically non-existent, they are really out for themselves MUCH more often than trying to help you. Support for Skipcart is similar to dealing with an Human Resources department, HR is for the company's protection, not yours.
So even if it looks like they are there for you, they are really there for the company. Sure you might receive some of the benefit of their support but if it’s you or them, guess who is on the chopping block.
The Restaurant Marketing and Delivery Association (RMDA) on the other hand has a system in place referred to as Falcon, which is a support team that works with any RMDA affiliated Delivery Service Provider (DSP).
The benefit of working with RMDA DSP’s is that they also have to answer to the ENTIRE organization and not just ezCater. Yes you will have the extra layer of support that Falcon provides, but you will also have the assurance that the contract with ezCater is with the RMDA, not with the DSP directly.
The RMDA as a whole has a standard to uphold for the organization itself towards ezCater and even onboarded Passionfruit to help maintain that compliance, even though most people think it is ezCater on its own.
Regardless, there are more protections for you under DSP’s on the ezCater platform with the RMDA.
Driver and Customer Communication Problem on ezCater
Now one of the issues I am noticing with the ezCater platform is how some issues are involving customers directly and customers have no real means to get in touch with the driver working with them.
Sure, a driver can contact the customer, but due to the nature of customers on ezCater, a lot of the times those customers are unavailable and aren’t the intended recipient.
Which means in order for a driver to get in touch with a customer about missing information on a drop-off location, they have to hope they can get in touch with the person who ordered it and they know at least one of the finer details in the order, such as a suite number or business name that they didn’t already include in instructions.
I know, I have spent a lot of time on Google looking up addresses and company names just to hope to find a suite number to work with.
Not to mention if a customer wants to get in touch with the driver, they have to contact ezCater and ezCater has to get in touch with the driver. There is no method of contact from that angle.
Which is very different from that of Doordash, because they are using their own drivers whereas ezCater is outsourcing to other DSP’s. This is a very different dynamic that needs to be evaluated from all sides.
Document EVERYTHING as it Happens
Like I said, Skipcart tried to destroy the evidence associated with this order and while I wouldn’t want to assume all platforms would do that, I cannot assume they wouldn’t either especially after this event.
Screenshot everything, recording phone calls, call logs, emails, everything must be logged for legal purposes, because if they can delete it, you have to assume they will now. Don’t just hope you can come back to it later.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, this entire experience has been eye opening for me and really shows how expendable we are as drivers and how willing these companies will choose to go to exploit and manipulate all parties involved as they see fit.
Currently, as of the writing of this article, I am still part of their catering program and have been for quite some time, but cannot assume that I will remain untouched by them forever, drivers need to make sure that they will not end up scammed in the long term and they are financially protecting themselves.
This means having a diversified gig portfolio, an exit strategy and documenting everything as it’s happening and creating the proper paper trail for it. Remember, No one will look out for you and your financial safety better than you will.
If you would like to add some other perspective to How SkipCart chooses to handle their support systems, feel free to email me: drivenwyld@gmail.com and who knows? Maybe your email or perspective and be featured in a post as well!
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