About a week ago, TikTok user Katie (@thegiacobra) placed what she thought was a simple order from DoorDash—sushi and a smoothie, ordered from two separate restaurants.
What she didn’t know is that this would begin a process that would involve multiple phone calls, emails, and social media posts, an experience that made her swear she would never order from the company again.
“I get the delivery notification, and the only thing at my door is the smoothie,” Katie recalls in the initial video, which currently has over 59,000 views as of Saturday. “And the DoorDasher even took the delivery photo where just the smoothie is in the image, and my sushi is nowhere to be seen.”
Katie says she then applied for a refund, which was promptly denied.
@thegiacobra Why I am NEVER ordering from @DoorDash again and why you should be careful if you do #fooddelivery #scammers #doordash ♬ original sound – The Giacobra
This began a process in which Katie would call customer service or reach out to them on social media, an employee would agree that there was a problem, they would escalate the issue, and then the refund would be denied. According to Katie, she spoke with at least five different people about the issue without receiving a refund.
Katie’s complaint is one shared by many who have used DoorDash. Users have reported having refunds refused for orders that did not get delivered, receiving partial refunds for destroyed orders or orders with items missing, and even being banned from receiving refunds despite claiming to have never abused the refund process.
Katie documented the process of attempting to receive a refund over the course of several videos—in one of the videos, she threatens legal action against the company.
“I understand, it’s only $30,” she says. “But if they’re saying they’re denying me my refund after there’s photo evidence from their employee on their app, then think about all of the other people who aren’t getting their full refunds.”
Eventually, Katie says she secured a refund in addition to a promise that her customer service experience would be reviewed. She also received a $30 DoorDash credit that she says she will not be using.
@thegiacobra Replying to @fishfactory The final update on why I won’t use DoorDash again #fooddelivery #doordash #greenscreen ♬ original sound – The Giacobra
“We’re not dealing with this again,” she says of her non-use of the $30 credit.
In the comments section, users shared their own DoorDash experiences.
“Exact same thing happened to me, exactly same response from dd,” claimed a user.
“After my latest abysmal customer service from DD, I cancelled my DashPass. When I did, they tried to tout their customer service as a reason to keep the DashPass,” another recalled. “The way I laughed. Y’all, your customer service is LITERALLY the reason I’m cancelling and you’re treating it like a feature, not a bug.”
“I’m betting somewhere someone has calculated that the average person is too busy to chase down $20 or $30 and if you deny them enough they’ll give up,” speculated a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to DoorDash and Katie via email.
