Users Accuse Swiggy Of Overcharging, Foodtech Major Blames Technical Bug

A row erupted on Thursday after many social media users accused Swiggy of overcharging its customers. However, the foodtech major said no customer was overcharged and attributed the issue to a technical bug.

“We confirm no customers have been overcharged and they have paid the correct amount. This was due to a tech bug, which we have fixed. We continue to deliver thousands of orders every minute to our customers,” a Swiggy spokesperson said. 

The matter came to light after a user took to X, formerly Twitter, to flag that Swiggy overcharged an additional INR 3 while ordering food on the app.

Deepak Shenoy, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of wealth management startup, Capitalmind also highlighted the same issue. He said while his bill totalled to INR 255.6, he was presented with a bill of INR 259. 

Meanwhile, other users also went online to air their grievances calling the fiasco a new age fraud. 

As the row erupted, Swiggy came out with a clarification that incorrect discount amounts were reflected in the order history page of users due to the technical bug. The company added that users had paid correct amounts during the checkout process and were not overcharged. 

“Some users may note incorrect discount amounts in their order history page. However, users have actually paid as per the prescribed discount amount during the checkout. Customers have paid the correct amount. This discrepancy in order history and actual paid value is due to a tech bug which our teams have fixed,” said Swiggy on X. 

Even Shenoy later conceded that the issue ‘might just be’ a display error as platform fee of INR 5 was discounted to INR 2 in his bill, thereby, accounting for the remaining money. 

In between, users also raised concerns about the rounding off mechanism of the foodtech platform. The company responded by saying that it ‘rounded off the billed amount to the nearest whole amount as per the instructions forwarded by the RBI to obviate unnecessary discomfort to the public and also to align with the prevalent practice as applicable to banks’.

The issue comes at a time when Swiggy and its rival Zomato have begun levying platform fees of INR 2-3 to shore up their revenues and improve their bottom lines.