DAYTON — Instacart, very busy these days because of coronavirus driven stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders, also is becoming the focus of attention because of allegations its personal shoppers are ripping off customers.
That national story hit home Friday night when a Dayton mom reported that her family, too, had been victimized of at least four items that totaled about $12.
Instacart lets you shop from grocery stores via an app and website. Then it sends a personal shopper to gather your items and bring them to you, typically on the same day. Because of the stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders, Instacart added features this week: one allows customers to schedule a delivery two weeks in advance. The other pairs customers with real-time shoppers to get orders sooner.
“At first I thought there was a bag we missed,” the woman said, asking WHIO-TV not to identify her by name.
“I’ve never had groceries delivered until the coronavirus,” she said, noting she has been furloughed and her husband now works from home. She said she decided to try Instacart because they wanted to comply with the stay-at-home order.
The woman said she ordered roughly $300 in groceries and noticed items were missing when she and her husband performed their usual process with groceries -- they laid each item on the floor, sprayed each of them with a disinfectant and wiped off every one of the items.
She said she then went to the app to check her reciept and noticed one of four cans of beans was missing, so was one of four cans of soup and a package of risotto.
"That's how I knew some items were missing," she said, giving a nod to cleaning purchases to guard against contracting COVID-19.
To make matters worse, the woman said she had added a $30 tip to the order placed through the app and because of the amount she purchased, her husband gave the personal shopper another $20 in cash.
She said she has contacted the company but hasn't decided whether to contact police -- she took a photo of the personal shopper at the time of delivery.
“It’s not about the money; it’s about the thinking behind it,” she said.
According to national reports, Instacart's Twitter feed is full of complaints from customers accusing personal shoppers of stealing their groceries at a time when more people are out of jobs, behind on rent and afraid to go out to shop for themselves.
Friday, Instacart Care Vice President Mark Killick said in an online article the company next week will begin to roll out a “Missing Order” feature that will allow customers to make an in-app report and automatic refund request for the rare instance that an order is delivered to the wrong address or doesn’t arrive. The article did not mention the allegations of theft by personal shoppers.
© 2020 Cox Media Group
