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AN ANGRY ANGELENO - I'm giving the politicians a break this Monday to go after the Big Corporations.
We've all experienced Hyper Inflation. I recently negotiated down my Spectrum Internet bill, which they repeatedly increased during the last year or so. I got fed up. But at least they were fairly transparent about it. I finally called Spectrum up, and threatened to terminate my internet service and switch providers if they did not substantially lower my monthly (I called after the Election so that I wouldn't be bluffing), and asked to speak to a Customer Retention Specialist about all of that. I ended up not only locking in a low price promotion for a year, but they even threw in free cell phone service for a year (I did have to pay a one-time 20 dollar fee and switch cell providers).
I used to have almost all the premium streamers. Now that they've jacked up their rates, I have only one on a super low promo deal. Or perhaps you've experienced “shrinkflation” at the grocery store.
You're gonna pay more for your Fast Food because of Gavin Newsom and the State Legislature, but probably not at “restaurants operated in airports, hotels, large event centers, theme parks, museums, gambling establishments, [and] corporate campus” cafeterias according to The California Globe's “What Are The New Exemptions in The Fast Food Council Law?” (by Chris Micheli on March 21) That Gavin Newsom Panera Exemption is growing with Assembly Bill 610 on Governor Newsom's desk waiting for his John Hancock. Also exempted are “ports, piers, beaches, and parks on publicly owned land.” (According to Courthouse News Service's “Bill Adding Exemptions to CA's Fast Food Minimum Wage Heads to Governor” by Alan Riquelmy on March 18) Don't you just love the hypocrisy of it all...I remember reading that this involved big union(s) behind closed doors with NDA's also involved! Sorry, I know I promised not to go after politicians today, but I just couldn't help myself.
Getting back to DoorDash...
The corporate policy I am about to describe may technically be legal. But I have not noticed the fine print legalese that should warn the consumer about it, assuming it's there somewhere.
I live in the Beverly Grove neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, and I order from DoorDash all the time...food, groceries, etc. They've been the best, far better than Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Instacart, although Instacart has recently gotten better. DoorDash has had the best customer service too...but that may be changing. All good things must come to an end, I guess. They used to deliver to me from Aldi, which was far away to the North...no mas. They used to deliver cheap treats and other items to me from far away Grocery Outlet to the East...now, I can only order booze and a limited menu of other items from there. At least they still have Big Lots (far away to the South)...for now.
It saddens me to write about why I haven't used DoorDash (aka DD) for the last few days...it's a matter of principle.
If you order over 35 dollars of groceries you get Free Delivery (if you have a DashPass paid membership)...you still have to pay a Service Fee. So, on March 18, something sleazy happened. I did a 36 dollar (pre-tax and pre-fees) order from Target (which is in the mall next door to me) of 2 ready-to-eat-salads, cat treats, and a bike lock. The real reason for the order was to get the bike lock, and the store only had one model that I wanted. The original grand total charge (including tip, tax, and service fee) was 44.30. The bike lock (17.60 pre-tax) was out of stock; the store did not have it even though it was on the DD online menu. The Final Total Charge for my order was 29.21. That's an approximate credit of only 15 dollars. But, with LA and CA sales tax, it should be around 19 dollars credit back. It appears that DD added in a delivery fee of 1.99 and increased the Service Fee to a HUGE (percentage-wise) 4.49 (while leaving my original tip NOT reduced) AFTER-the-fact because the store was missing one of my items...super shady.
I called to complain and to ask for a credit. After getting a customer service rep who was unhelpful and may have hung up on me, I called again. I got a 5 dollar credit, which did not make me whole for my time and aggravation, but at least it made me whole for the amount that I felt I was cheated.
Then, on March 21, it happened again, this time on a Smart & Final order. I ordered 5 bananas, 1 bag of Pecan Halves, 1 bunch of Organic Bananas, 2 Red Vines boxes (quite unhealthy), 1 big bag of SkinnyPop Popcorn, 1 Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies, and 1 Blue Diamond Hint of Sea Salt Almonds Nut-Thins Crackers, because DD was having a promotion that you get 6 dollars off. The original grand total with Service Fee and Tip (I add more cash tip when I get the order) was 35.78 (because of the 6 dollar discount promotion). One item, that I have not mentioned yet, was missing: Tony's Chocolonely (and I just realized the word Lonely is in that Brand name) Chocolate Eggs for 7.70 plus service fee. Out of stock and not my fault. So, I figure I should get at least 8 dollars back for that item. Nope. DoorDash added a Delivery Fee of 3.99 and my final grand total was 32.56. I only got roughly 3 dollars back.
I called to complain and ask for a 5 dollar credit...again...no go. I did not get that 5 dollar credit. I have not shopped on DoorDash since.
Why do corporations “Kill The Golden Goose”? Why destroy a successful loyal relationship between the customer and the company that benefits both? Do they think we're stupid? I teach math (I can do the math in my head) and I check my receipts...that's how I caught all this. But this seems so sleazy to me. I try to pick substitutes for as many items as possible on my grocery orders. I'm not a jerk about it. The better corporate policy (than punishing customers after-the-fact for dipping below the 35 dollar minimum grocery purchase required) would be to just raise the minimum shop that earns free delivery from 35 dollars to whatever amount you need so that you don't need to engage in this after-the-fact sleaziness. Stop it, DoorDash...or you'll likely be facing a Class Action Lawsuit! Hopefully, after this column, the DD Legal Department will tell the DD Executives to stop engaging in this behavior. Check your receipts carefully, people!
(“The Angry Angeleno” is the nom de plume of Yuval Kremer. Yuval is a Registered Democrat; a Cali-Camp, Harvard-Westlake (pre-merger), USC, and Loyola Law School Alum; and a former ballot candidate for Mayor of LA (failing to prevent Mayor Garcetti's reelection) and LA County Supervisor (ran against Sheila Kuehl, Katy Yaroslavsky's former boss). The opinions expressed by Yuval are his and his alone (not those of CityWatchLA), but will likely be yours soon!)
