Uber eats - is your technical support operated by robots?

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You'd think that the popular delivery companies such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, Deliveroo etc. would all be in the successful place they are because they provide a good service. I decided to make use of one of UberEats' introductory discounts in June last year during the first few months of the pandemic. Unfortunately the order never arrived, and I did not receive any update via email or SMS as to why so I posted on twitter:

SXA: Not impressed with @ubereats_uk - order showed on the web page but after waiting an hour from the delivery time I go to the help section, selected the order and it's showing as canceled. No email, no text. Shambolic waste of time ...

SXA: And @ubereats_uk said "Ask the restaurant" when I contacted them. No, I'm sorry, while the restaurant may have triggered the cancellation you as my provider needed to notify me that it had occurred and you did not. I stand by my "shambolic" comment @UberUKsupport

So let's see how the conversation went after this

Uber: "We appreciate you taking the time to let us know your concerns, and want you to know that we are constantly aiming to improve our services to you. Rest assured that we take every feedback quite seriously, so your concern has not gone unnoticed."

SXA: Three times @Uber_Support has given me a link. I've given them a screenshot showing that they did not give me a sensible response after I contacted them on the link. Unwilling to engage and just parrots "We are happy to help". Total #CustomerServiceFail

About five months later someone else I know posted about a similar experience (although they did get a message saying their order had been canceled) and I replied with this:

SXA: My first attempt with @UberEats  was a similar disaster. Same apparently happened but they didn't bother telling me. It just didn't show up so I had to contact them to ask why ... Unapologetic. So annoying.  Never tried using them again after that.

Now bear in mind at this point that it was several months after my original problem and I was just replying to someone else's posr, my money had been refunded but they never seemed to accept any responsibility for the error. Despite the fact it was several months ago, they still seemed to engage and fix my problem - the rest of the interaction would have been laughable if it wasn't for the fact it wasted my time - I even started the interaction by saying I felt their customer service had been terrible ... Enjoy!

Uber: Hi Stewart, we are happy to help. Please follow our support page: https://ubr.to/??????? so our UberEats support team can assist you.

SXA: I'm not going there again. I did repeatedly when it happened and you refused to take any responsibility for not notifying me that the order had been cancelled, leaving me without food with no warning. You were most definitely not "happy to help" despite what you say

Uber: Hi Stewart, In order for us to resolve your concern kindly provide us with the number or email that is linked to your account, along with the order ID so that we can assist ASAP.

SXA: It was in June. My account does not show the order ID but lists "2 items for £0.00 - 19 Jun at 20:00" ?????????? at ????? (obviously, there is no other order on a/c) Feel free to prove to me that you wish to take this seriously, as you did not take any responsibility at the time

Uber: Hi Stewart, we can look into this for you. Can you send us a DM with your mobile number, email address and more information please? We'll look out for your reply.

I did and the DM conversation went like this:

SXA: As requested - email address XXXXXXX@gmail.com, phone XXXXXXX

Uber: Hi Stewart, happy to help. Kindly send us the order ID which you are referring to, so that we can assist you better. You can look for the order ID in the recent orders that you have placed through the Uber Eats app.

SXA: READ THE MESSAGE I SENT YOU BEFORE WE MOVED TO DMS. I do not have the order ID as it's no longer showing on my account.

Uber: Hi Stewart, in order to assist you in a better way kindly provide us
  — Name of the restaurant
  — Time and date of the order placed
SXA: I will repeat "READ THE MESSAGE I SENT YOU BEFORE WE MOVED TO DMS" I've already given you the time and date in the tweet at https://twitter.com/sxaTech/status/1362834794850242560. And as I said there is only one order on my account so I'm sure you can find it, but I've just logged back in and it was from XXXXXXX in XXXXXXX. Over to you - please don't waste my time with this.
UE: Hi Stewart, happy to help. Please send us some additional details about your issue so that we can assist you better.
SXA: What else do you need? I've given you everything. You picked up on a tweet I made replying to someone else in reference something I mentioned six months after a problem and asked me to DM you. I put in an order. It didn't arrive. You did not notify me that it had been cancelled and declined to take any responsibility so I never used you again. I'm not sure why I'm repeating myself here but this interaction is frustrating. If it wasn't for the delays in responding Is assume you were a bot)
Uber: Hi Stewart, please provide us with the order ID, so that we can assist ASAP.
SXA: OK you are useless. I have repeatedly stayed that the account is not showing the order ID, but there is only one order on my account. You are clearly not listening and wasting my time with non existent customer service.
Uber: Hi ‍‍Stewart‍,
   We're sorry to hear about this experience. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a refund for your order as it was placed more than 48 hours ago.
   In future, if you experience any issues with an order, please notify us within this time frame and we would be happy to help.
   We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for but thank you for taking the time to let us know.
SXA: Why have we been going backwards and forwards on this in DMs when I was at the start it was in June? You have completely vindicated my decision not to try you again since.

Somehow my twitter ended up with a second conversation (I presume this is something twitter offer:

Uber: How would you rate your experience on Twitter with Uber Support?

Uber: Hi ‍‍Stewart‍, as mentioned above, we're sorry to hear about this experience. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a refund for your order as it was placed more than 48 hours ago. In future, if you experience any issues with an order, please notify us within this time frame, and we would be happy to help. We know this isn't the answer you were hoping for but thank you for taking the time to let us know.

So basically the sum total of Uber's customer support is zero. They don't read the information you've provided, ask you to provide information you say you can't and then say "I can't do anything" despite me starting the interaction with "I'm not going there again. I did repeatedly when it happened and you refused to take any responsibility for not notifying me that the order had been cancelled, leaving me without food with no warning. You were most definitely not "happy to help" despite what you say"

Every message had some variant of "We are happy to help". All words, zero actions. I prefer to choose companies to use which care about their customers, with whom I can have reasonable interactions, and know that they will take responsibility when things go wrong. Uber Eats failed on all three of those points and "We're sorry" words in themselves don't count for anything. It's as believable as every company who says "We take security very seriously" once they've had a breach or been outed as having poor security practices. Sometimes I find it embarrassing to be part of the technology industry ...

Tesco and not allowing social distancing in a pandemic

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I drafted this months ago but having just received an email from Tesco regarding their request to customers to keep using masks even after the government relaxes almost all COVID restrictions rules tomorrow (Which I think is a terrible idea...)

You would thing that in a pandemic situations the shops that are allowed to open would be taking every precaution possible to llok after the safety of the customers. I had an experience with Tesco that suggested they weren't as keen to look after the safety of their customers than others. I was doing a fairly large shopping trip, and found that at around 2230 when I was heading to the checkouts there were no staffed tills available - only the (fairly narrow) self-scan area with tills the scan areas on both sides of the scanning aisle. Ignoring the fact that with such a large amount of shopping it's hard to scan and bag it all in the small self-scan checkouts, it was also notable that people coming into the self-scan area (and it was quite full) had to go less than a metre from where the people using the checkouts were. So I make a comment on twitter - here's how the interaction went (Note: In the interactions below I've removed specific identifiable information from the DMs with *******):

SXA: Deeply unimpressed with @tesco tonight. Only self scan checkouts available and when your have £180 of shopping there isn't really space, and slower, and we have to touch screens ourselves. To would expect one real checkout to be open
SXA: And then of course there were the thrre "help is coming" overrides that were needed despite everything scanning OK ... And getting the assistant over at the end again to remove security tags. Needs manneded counters. Great as for online shopping @tesco! #socialDistanxeShopping
SXA: And to top it off we've just found one item of clothing with a security tag still attached so I'll need to go back and explain this tomorrow and ask for removal! (it didn't trigger alarm) ... Grr @tesco

Tesco didn't react to this so I specifically directed this question at them, and this time it did generate a response:

SXA: @Tesco So I can do a decent shop in a COVID safe socially-distanced manner, can you confirm at what time your (large) stores stop having manned checkouts?
Tesco: Hi Stewart, thanks for getting in touch. This may be different depending on the individual store. Can you please send me a DM with the store you're looking to visit? I'd be happy to try and give them a call for you. Thanks, R*******

Sounded fair ... I still don't know why companies insist on going to DMs but they all do ...

Tesco: Please click "Get Started" to connect with Tesco via DM.
SXA: Hi R******* it was the one on ******* Road in *******. As per earlier messages in the thread (from a couple of weeks a back) it wasn't a good experience trying to put a large shop through self scan
Tesco: Hi Stewart ◢ ◤ Addison , if you can please let us know what you're contacting us about, we'll put you through to a colleague who can help.
SXA: You asked me to message you!
Tesco: Thanks, we'll put you through to a colleague who can help.
Tesco: Hi Stewart, I have just spoken with a colleague in ******* Store there and they have advised that the manned tills close at midnight. :) Thanks - A*******
SXA: Hmmm as you can see from me tweets sent when I returned home I was doing my shopping before 2300 and there seemed no manned tills. I did mention it to the colleague who came over several times but they seemed ... disinterested ...
Tesco: `I am sorry this is the case Stewart, it may have been at the time they were short staffed however this is what the store has advised. I believe they also confirmed this with a manager. Thanks - A*******

As mentioned in the introduction you'd think that with the importance the government is constantly putting on social distancing, not breaking the rules, and ensuring we're all safe and "protect the NHS" that they would be clear as to why when things aren't happening as expected, so to say the responses given were disappoining is a bit of an understement. It's worth saying that at other supermarket's I've been to in the evening (not necessarily quite as late) there have either been tills open or the staff have been very accomodating - Sainsburys for example saw me with a large trolley of shopping and immediately opened another till for me. Another friend who went to another Tesco store with staffed tills which were available was seemingly asked to stay further away from the perspex screens where the checkout assistant was working (Thus moving them closer to the customer in the adjacent lane since they back onto each other) which again seems to be something that increases the risks to customers in the current situation.

It's disappointing that the leader in UK supermarket shopping is happy to treat it's customers this way, and its competitors (from my anecdotal experience) treat this situation a bit more seriously and are willing to help.

ON that basis I though "OK - maybe it was a one-off problem on that day so I assumed the information was in good faith so went back to the store the next evening:

SXA: Once again same store no one on manned checkouts tonight at 2230. Do not feel safe with that many people close and walking by and having to use your touch screens!
Tesco: Thanks for your selection Stewart ◢ ◤ Addison. If you're contacting us about a store, can you please let us know which store it is? Thanks, we'll then put you through to a colleague who can help.
SXA: *******
Tesco: Thanks, we'll put you through to a colleague who can help.
Tesco: I'm really sorry this is the case Stewart after the information I provided to you last time. I'm unsure why the store would have told me they were on until midnight if they are off before then. I have ensured to get this passed onto the management team to look into this and sort it out and make sure the times are right. Thanks - Aiden

At this point I felt I should continue with a follow up to the earlier DM conversation ...

Tesco: Please click "Get Started" to connect with Tesco via DM.
SXA: Hi, can you confirm to me if the staffed till times have been updated our of there is any other explanation why the previous information was incorrect at the store?
Tesco: Hi Stewart, thank you for your message. I cannot confirm if staff will be operating manned tills when you visit the store as this is information I do not have access to. My colleague has fed this back but if you do not feel safe using the self service tills, you can always ask my colleagues if they can open a till for you. I hope this helps. Regards - Liam

I think that answer tells you how seriously they take social distancing in their stores. I expressed disappointment at not having a manned till open and the staff member didn't sqeem to care. I witnessed someone else explicitly ask for a till to be opened and it did feel like a large inconvenience to have to find another member of staff for that ... They need to do better, and I hope someone from Tesco reads this and makes a decent effort to resolve it .... Jason Terry - you know where I am.