Like many people out there I've turned to side gigs like Uber, doordash, GrubHub, and instacart to make some extra cash. Each company has it's pros and cons. I'm however learning that Instacart has a huge con! No fraud department. 

I'm new to Instacart and I don't have many ratings yet. I take each batch very seriously, I do my best to find everything the customer wants. I make sure everything is bagged perfectly and delivered with care.

Last night (January 14th 2022) I took a small batch for Walgreens because it was 4 items 7 units .07 miles and $8.00 so I said sure I'll do that quick before I head home for the night. The customer messaged me before I got to Walgreens asking me to let him know if they don't have his ice cream. I say of course. I got to Walgreens found the two boxes of shortbread cookies, two boxes of nutter butter cookies, two Arizona drinks, and the Breyers ice cream. I scanned each item as I found them. I sent a message to the customer letting him know they had his ice cream. He replied and told me how awesome I was for finding it. I explained that had Walgreens not had the ice cream I would have went to a different Walgreens to get his ice cream. He replied and was very grateful and excited because he has been craving this ice cream for three days. I paid took a photo of the receipt bagged the items and drove them the . 07 miles to his house. I dropped them off took a photo and marked it delivered. Then I went home and I was really looking forward to the feedback from this customer. I woke up this morning opened Instacart and saw that the customer claimed that he was missing two boxes of cookies, the two Arizona drinks, and the ice cream. So in total he says I only dropped off two of seven items! I of course clicked the report fraud button and explained everything to Instacart. I then went into the chat and explained and I was told there is no fraud department, and pretty much once I do 100 batches the 1 star rating the customer gave me would come off. I asked to be able to talk to someone about it and I was told there is no one to talk to. 

I'm sure many people out there have stories very similar to mine. I'm sure everyone has been told the same thing I've been told. This is not acceptable.

Currently the policy for the customer is to refund a customer who claims missing or damaged items and an apology. The policy for the shopper is they get to keep the money from that batch, they get the star rating from the customer, and of course the missing or damaged items are noted in their ratings. The shopper is able to click on report fraud and explain what happened and add any photos that might help. Now as most of you know if your star rating is low you won't be able to see as many batches as someone with higher ratings.

I am asking the CEO of Instacart Fidji Simo to change the polices regarding customers and shoppers. If you are going to automatically give refunds to customers who claim missing or damaged items fine, being you do let the shoppers keep the money from that batch that's fine. However you need to automatically remove the star rating for the shopper. Or change who sees more batches. Better still get a fraud department who truly investigates these reports of missing or damaged items. Instacart may not think we matter but it's the shoppers who make the business let's demand this company give us the respect we deserve!