If you are a customer or shopper at Instacart, you might wonder if there’s a rating system for customers in Instacart. You can be a good or bad customer, or maybe a new shopper, but a rating system is something you want to know about. Therefore, “Can Instacart shoppers rate customers?” is a question for both new shoppers and customers.
Instacart Shoppers cannot rate customers. Instacart does not include an official rating system so that shoppers can rate their customers. Nevertheless, Instacart Shoppers have a right to decline customer’s orders and take orders from whoever they want.
So now you know that there is no official rating system in Instacart to rate customers. But that doesn’t mean that the poor behavior of rude customers goes unnoticed. In extreme cases customers may be apprehended for ill-treatment of shoppers. I will talk more on this throughout the article. So, make sure you read till the end to get the complete picture.
How Shoppers Deal with Rude Customers
The customers of Instacart do not get rated but may get rejected. It is known by everyone that Instacart allows shoppers to deliver goods in their local area. So there aren’t a lot of customers there, and the names are frequent to shoppers. If you are not a good customer, chances are you are going to have a hard time finding someone who accepts your order.
It’s expected that the shopper will try not to accept the orders from worse customers. However, Instacart does not include a rating system so if the shopper does not know the customer, it’s not possible for him to do anything.
If you are a shopper, you might want to take a notepad to write the names of the bad customers down. However, you will remember the name of an outstandingly rude or exceptionally awesome customer's name without writing for sure. If you can’t, the notepad is there to help.
So no, customers do not get rated officially but the shoppers can unofficially rate their customers in their mind. Some areas may have a local association of Instacart shoppers, and the shoppers might share their experience with different customers there. So if you are a customer, that’s how you can get rated without knowing.
Are Instacart Shoppers Able to Choose Orders To Take?
Yes, the Instacart shoppers can choose which orders to take. In spite of having a rating system, the shoppers get a chance to select the orders. They have 30 seconds to decide if they want to fill the order or not. If they do not like that customer or the location of that customer, they can decline the order easily.
Shoppers, remember that I told you to keep a notepad? Next time you find a rude customer you faced before, just reject their order. Check your notepad before accepting any order and decline the orders of bad customers. And if you find another good customer, you may consider sending a small gift or prioritize them, it’s up to you.
It’s a piece of good news for shoppers that though they can’t rate the customers, they can actually reject them if they do not want those customers. Therefore yes, Instacart shoppers are able to choose orders to take.
However, there is a catch if a shopper declines an order. The shopper needs to wait long before receiving another request and the penalty can be as long as an hour. This can prematurely end the shopper’s shift or cause to have fewer hours than the shoppers agreed on.
Do Instacart Shoppers Complain About Their Customers?
Yes, Instacart shoppers may complain about their customers if their customers do something worse. But Instacart takes complaints only in extreme cases. Shoppers are not slaves of the customers, they are not bound to tolerate extremely rude customers.
There is a common complaint about customers on Instacart, and that is tip-baiting. The customers must give at least a 5% tip to the shoppers. Some customers promise to pay an attractive percentage in the Instacart app, thus attracting shoppers. But after they receive the product, they reduce the tip. Before June 2020, some customers didn’t even give tips at all.
However, thanks to Instacart, they removed the option to choose “none” as a tip, so customers pay at least 5% to the shoppers now. Instacart has also reduced the tips finalization time to 24 hours instead of 3 days. Therefore, Instacart shoppers do not need to complain about that anymore.
Instacart takes feedback and reports of false acquisition and shoppers are able to do that. But not all complaints are taken into account by Instacart, so small and unimportant complaints are left unchecked. Also, this ensures that fake complaints are not approved and only major issues are taken into account.
What If An Instacart Shopper Complains About Me?
Well, it really depends on the complaint that the shopper has filed against you. Generally, it takes multiple and serious complaints to Instacart before they take an action against their customers. But yes, Instacart does take action against their customers.
If a lot of valid complaints are received against a customer, Instacart flags their account. Like I said before, tip-baiting is a common complaint against customers. These customers are considered fraud and the shoppers can submit a ticket to close the accounts of those customers.
Later, a representative of Instacart will check the complaints and may close the customer’s account. The offense greatly influences the actions taken. Instacart may choose to close the account or do nothing at all. Complaints must be very logical and the shoppers must provide valid proofs to Instacart.
If your customer account was closed, you may want to open another account. But in that case, you need to change the credentials, or else Instacart will immediately issue a red flag against you. You must be fair to the shoppers to avoid such circumstances.
If you think your account was closed by mistake, you can always show your proof and reclaim your account. Instacart takes customer’s opinions very seriously so you have chances to get your account back.
Can I Get Banned from Instacart?
Sorry to say but yes, you can get banned from Instacart. If you are a really bad customer, your behavior is too offensive and you harass the shoppers, you don’t belong in Instacart. A rude person does not deserve to be a customer of any grocery delivery services anyways.
Before June 2020, Instacart did not ban their customers. Then they brought a huge change in their policies and posted an official statement in the medium. In that post, they said that they will ban customers who are accused of tip-baiting regularly. Also, a shopper is able to block a customer if the customer is continuously harassing the shopper.
Banned or not, if you are not a good customer, your order will take more time to be accepted as a lot of shoppers will reject you. Try to behave better and provide more tips than before. Generally, less percentage of tips and more distance are something that causes less acceptance.
You might think that if you need to pay more to keep your account then why use Instacart? I have two answers for you. First of all, a low tip is not a valid excuse for the shoppers to raise a ticket to block you. Instacart will not ban you for such lame excuses. Secondly, if you want to save some bucks and want to do some budget shopping, do not use Instacart.
Instacart is one of the most expensive solutions in the US. A grocery item that generally costs around 80$ can cost up to 100$ in Instacart. Therefore it really isn’t a solution for people with a tight budget. There are a lot of alternatives if you’re living in Canada or the US, so consider checking other options before buying from Instacart.
If you get banned from Instacart delivery, you can try using Instacart pickup. However, if the offense is serious, you may need to use a different email address as I told you before. Just don’t be someone who lives on the top floor of a six-storied building with no lift and tips no more than 5%.
As you can see, Instacart does not have any official rating system for their shoppers to rate their customers. Though from a shopper’s perspective I can understand why that would be awesome to have. But you don’t really need one if you were to ask me. As you can keep a black list of your own and just ignore the bad customers.
If you are a customer then you can rest assured that there is no database where you are enlisted as a bad or good customer. But try to treat shopper’s the best you can. They are hard workers and a little decency from your part could make their day. I hope this article was informative enough to answer your question – “Can Instacart Shoppers Rate Customers?”. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.
