SUMMARY
The alleged incident took place in Gurugram on March 13, 2020
The deliver partner also threatened to "forcibly" recover the money from the customer
Last year, five people including a Swiggy delivery partner were detained for physically assaulting a customer
Swiggy and Zomato have been criticised heavily in the past for the poor handling of customer complaints, and the latest incident in this relation has brought up more questions about how serious food delivery unicorns are about keeping customers safe. A Swiggy customer in Gurugram has accused a delivery partner of threatening to physically assault them, even as a Swiggy customer care executive was still on the line trying to solve the issue.
The incident allegedly took place on March 13, 2020, when the customer placed an order from the Swiggy app at 2:44 PM, which was supposed to be delivered to an office building near MGF Metropolis Mall in Gurugram.
As per the screenshot accessed by Inc42, while the delivery address had all the required details for the delivery, the delivery partner reached the wrong address, claiming that it was the correct address. On closer inspection, the screenshot clearly showed two separate delivery addresses one after the other, creating confusion for the delivery partner.
When the customer had directed him to the correct delivery address, the delivery partner refused to come to the office and allegedly delivered the order at the building’ lift lobby. The customer alleged that the delivery partner claimed to be doing a “favour by coming here”.
Subsequently, a Swiggy customer care executive got the delivery partner on call as well to mediate the matter. In the call recording accessed by Inc42, the customer care executive can be heard inquiring about the order, while the delivery partner insisted that order was delivered to the building’s lobby, and started threatening the customer with physical assault.
The delivery partner also went to add that he would “forcefully” recover the money from the customer, in case there were any deductions from his pay. Meanwhile, Swiggy’s customer care executive chose to remain silent, only speaking to confirm if the order had been delivered.
Later, when the customer decided to lodge a complaint against the delivery partner, a representative from Swiggy’s customer service team reached out to discuss the matter and convinced them to not lodge a complaint as it would “ruin the delivery person’s career”.
A Swiggy representative also made the delivery partner apologise to the customer. The incident took place between 2:44 PM and 3:22 PM on March 13, according to the customer.
Inc42 has reached out to Swiggy to seek clarification regarding the same.
As small this may seem, but this is not the first time Swiggy delivery partners have been accused of such acts. Last year in November, five people were detained in Chennai, including a Swiggy delivery agent for physically assaulting a customer after an argument over late delivery of an order.
Swiggy had previously told Inc42 that it has been looking into the behaviour of their delivery partners and training them to handle situations pleasantly. Swiggy has maintained that the delivery partners are made to go through behavioural training, where they are trained to communicate with the customer in the best possible manner.
Click here to understand how food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato are handling such situations.
