DoorDash sued for allegedly branding customer a fraudster after delivery photo query Phyllis Jager, CEO of New York-based creative agency zuMedia, has perhaps, like some of you, privacy concerns about the pictures DoorDash drivers take to prove they've correctly made their deliveries. When she raised those concerns with the gig delivery service, DoorDash retaliated against her by designating her as a fraudster …
Im a DoorDash driver and yeah we take pictures so people can find their stuff. Most of us are really not casing your home or neighborhood and probably wont remember your name or address by the end of our dash anyway. As far as people riding with us? Yeah My husband always rides with me because of safety concerns. I deliver to sketchy places. He too is not casing your home. Oh and the vast majority of us dashers also take pictures withing the app itself which does not even save them to our phone. Once we take the picture and confirm delivery, the picture goes away and is never seen by us again. It sounds like the plaintiff is projecting her insecurities on the world.
Not sure why you've got a downvote for simply stating your experience - but that's the site these days.
A couple of questions though, if I may:
Were / are you aware of the express delivery option? And how do Doordash expect you to "express" it, given that you can't start until the food is ready to collect and the distance between the restaurant and the customer doesn't change and you're not supposed to exceed the speed limits etc.
Do you get the full tip? If not how much does Doordash deduct? (And do they give a reason why?)
As a DoorDash drivers myself, yes I am aware of the 'express' option but the only thing I believe it does is to try and make sure your order is not offered as part of a stack to the drivers - essentially, your order will not be part of a multiple restaurant pick up and multiple customer drop off for a driver so that in theiry you get it faster. Of course, if the tip you're offering up front is not enticing enough your food may sit for a while anyway. I have heard that for these reasons paying extra for the express option is not worth it. Just tip well and you'll get your food quickly (and DoorDash will not have to bundle it with other orders to get it completed).
As for tips, as I understand it DD got caught some time ago using part of the customer tips toward the 'base' pay for an order, effectively lowering the driver's pay. After that lawsuit was settled that supposedly isn't happening anymore but I've never actually asked a customer how much they tipped to compare it to what I received.
"As for tips, as I understand it DD got caught some time ago using part of the customer tips toward the 'base' pay for an order, effectively lowering the driver's pay."
That's pretty much how tipping 'on the books' works in restaurants. Every dollar tipped means the employer can pay a dollar less for that pay period. The old saying that servers rely on tips, so you must tip them, ironically allows businesses to pay less to begin with.
There is no indication at all on the drivers end of "express delivery". If I was told an order was Express, I would decline to take that order. If Express means an order will be done on its own, with no other orders being offered with it, then they are Intentionally preventing me from being able to choose which orders I take to maximize the money I make. Why would I take an express delivery for $5, instead of 2 normal orders together for $5 each. We do not receive any additional pay for Express, according to our post delivery Earnings tab. And again, there is zero indication anywhere that a delivery is Express.
Does doordash steal your tips?
Did Doordash fraudulently retaliate by inventing groundless accusations of fraud against the customer ?
Does Doordash require the photo, then ignore their obligations to manage the photos ?
Is doordash promoting an "Express fee" that actual does nothing except get more money out of the customer ?
FedEx and UPS also take photos of packages as delivered to the doorsteps of homes. I've looked at the ones I get with my delivery notification and don't see anything that might be of use to the criminally minded. Admittedly, I'm not a burglar or child abductor but I'm not sure seeing a photo of a box on my closed door and porch would be of use in commiting a crime.
As far as "ride alongs" -- well, DoorDash and its ilk sound to me to be pretty mind numbing jobs and having a companion might make it a bit more bearable, not to mention, as AC above points out, the job can be a trifle hazardous, especially for women.
I suspect the DoorDash driver probably faces far more danger from the customer than the other way around.
Google Street View has a huge database of photos showing the fronts of houses including, often, the door, the cars in the driveways, and my understanding is that some of those houses may contain, at times, children!
Really, it's just a gift to kidnappers and car thieves everywhere.
To me, it seems like both parties here have taken this into strange places. The customer's concern about pictures is possible, but the purpose of the pictures seems obvious: it helps the customers find things when they haven't been handed to them directly and it proves that the delivery was completed. If drivers intended to burgle the houses, not taking a picture of the delivery wouldn't protect them, because they could easily take many pictures as they arrived and just not sent them to the customer. If delivering an order would actually provide any assistance to the aspiring burglar, it doesn't sound like that's something DoorDash would create.
So I'm likely to side with DoorDash against this paranoia but they then respond with flimsy attacks on the user. Using a corporate card is not a fraudulent act, and, if their app works like similar ones, they probably specifically recommend it and have UI controls to make it easy. Accusing a customer of fraud is not the appropriate response to dealing with someone, even someone with unrealistic actions. The more appropriate response is to say "People with cameras near you can take pictures of your buildings and cars and we neither encourage nor discourage it. Nothing we can do, feel free to stop buying from us if you have a problem with that." and let the customer seethe. Unfortunately, the account closure on false pretenses is not a tactic invented for this case, where I don't find the closee sympathetic, so I can't side with Doordash either.
Close the account on the grounds that, if you don't agree to us taking photos as proof of delivery, don't order from us. Every one does that these days. It was useful to me on one occasion when they (not Door Dash, a different company) delivered to the wrong address, because I was able to point out that the photo didn't match my front door.
This post has been deleted by its author
A quick internet search revealed where their registered office is. Using Google Street View shows it is just a regular office building that obviously contains other companies. Use nycompanyregistry.com to find the info, their own website doesn't list it.
Your company isn't special, you may have a shark tank investor, Mark Cuban, but he will just be in it for a large return on investment.
Sounds unstrung to me. Allegedly.
Thinking the photo showing where your food is is to case the joint? And, if she's worried about her place being cased, what difference would a photo being sent to you make? “They” could take 50 other photos and notes and just not send them to you. Or, you know, deliver your food and leave without casing anything.
Throwing on irrelevant info will not help her case,. If Doordash steals tips, the $2.99 fee doesn't accelrerate delivery, well, that is 100% Irrelevant to her case of worrying about her place being cased and having her account banned. And if a judge doesn't throw her case out anyway, they will throw it out when you throw in things that result in 0 damages to you personally.
took a nice photo on Sunday of my parcel on a random stranger's doorstep. I managed to track the door down with a steady walk down my street looking for a match. Home owner was baffled that Amazon had just dumped someone else's parcel on their doorstep and cleared off. I was in at the time and the driver didn't even come to my door. I complained to Amazon and got £5 compensation, but I'd much prefer the drivers actually do the job they are paid for. Most of the time they just dump parcels on my doorstep and can't even be bothered to ring the doorbell, so parcels can sit there for hours before I notice them. Thankfully, none have been nicked yet, but likely only a matter of time.
I've got to the stage I hardly buy anything from Amazon nowadays, and certainly nothing expensive. I bought a new mobile the other day as there haven't been any updates for my old one for the last 2 or 3 years. It was a bit cheaper from Amazon, but not risking it, so bought it in-store from Tesco's and checked the box actually contained a phone rather than a bar of chocolate (that return fraud thing is something else to be alert to).
So much flaky customer service nowadays.
So basically, she's suing a delivery company for $10 million because she has to enter a PIN on receipt of goods.
The rest of it is fluff. Even if they did tell her the account closure was due to fraud, it's not a stain on her reputation because they weren't saying it publicly. In fact, it was her that announced it to the world!
Doordash is a rip off for delivery people, the CEO and suits get millions in pay and bonuses yearly while us drivers get less and less.Want proof, okay. I started dd in 2020 and was being paid 3 dollars per delivery by DD, plus tips. Then in 2021 our base pay dropped to 2.50 and again in 2022 to 2.25., now in 2024-2025 our base pay is 2.00, it's literally a rip off. The amount of wear damage drivers are doing to their cars is crazy, but for part time or in a pinch it could be ok.
Based on comments further up this thread, it sounds like Door Dash groups together deliveries for "standard rate" orders if drivers do not pick them up within a set time (generally if the tip is too low to make it worthwhile for the driver) such that you would go from restaurant to restaurant a few times collecting, then drive to house A then house B then house C etc dropping orders off as you go, getting paid for each order but in theory having to drive fewer miles backwards and forwards.
This of course only works when the restaurants are close together and the delivery addresses are all within reasonable proximity of each other, which is something the Door Dash platform should be good at creating using route management software like parcel delivery companies do to plan their routes.
I got an order a couple of weeks ago and as soon as it was dropped at the door I received an email for all three boxes.
No pictures, but the notices where immediately sent with time stamps and it was less than 5 minutes.
Works for me! It was 7:30 PM and dark out at the time(with the porch light on), tracking said the packages where out for delivery.
I know drivers are pressured to hurry up and get things done and it works well because when the order was placed I was asked if unattended drop off was OK or if I wanted it handed to me or if I could pick it up at a local distribution center myself.
But, this lady sounds like a wanker from New York City. I don't blame DoorDash for dropping her. A bit entitled she seems to me!
As a former DD delivery driver, I'm here to tell you to pick your battles. The lawsuit is partially ridiculous. As another commented, after the delivery was completed with the picture taken to show where it was placed, I had no access to the photo THAT THE APP ITSELF took.
HOWEVER, the Dasher is able to take the picture separately, then UPLOAD that picture to the app. Be that as it may, as previously commented, people take pictures randomly at any time anyway. The Dasher is only concerned with getting the delivery done so that they can be available to take the next one as soon as possible.
If the customer happened to be a complete ass, you better believe they're taking a picture or possibly video of said ass who might have gone off the rails, such as late delivery because too far away with no tip (and it got kicked down the line).
If the person suing would have had even a modicum of intelligence and common sense, she would have created TWO ACCOUNTS that would always have the separate payment methods assigned to each account. Login, logout, login, and issue never presents itself as a possibly fraud card usage.
She's an idiot.
Now as far as the Express Option, yeah I fully believe the extra charge doesn't actually get you a direct order instead of it being bundled/stacked with another customer order. That happened when it first started and it's probably still doing it.
On the same phone?
Not many apps allow that....
The other thing that no comment addressed is DD not having a data retention policy for the pictures, and in some countries this is against the law. Data you gather has to have a purpose and be stored only to fulfil the business function it was gathered for - and then it needs to be deleted. And this needs to be written down somewhere, and if it is customer data, this information has to be made available to customers. Not in the US, though, because privacy is "woke" (whatever that means in this context) or "communist" (though that's a 70s excuse, I think), or some other stupid thing (I... stopped caring about that, sorry - not sorry).
> The other thing that no comment addressed is DD not having a data retention policy for the pictures, and in some countries this is against the law.
This is not the law anywhere (and _was_ mentioned in earlier comments). This is a picture of a public place, not PII. Maaaaaaybe if the house number or name(s) on the door was visible. But I highly doubt it.
They told me that I would get a referral bonus once I completed two hundred and ninety deliveries, after 90 deliveries. I didn't see it on my account. So I messaged the customer support and they reassured me that I would absolutely get it, so I continued to do deliveries and reach two hundred and ninety in three weeks. Now they're telling me that I cannot get the. Referral bonus, because account was signed up in my name into 2020. Even though there was no dashes on it, the address was wrong. The vehicle was wrong. The name was wrong and the email was wrong. But somehow they say it's my account.
""Many of these riders are likely using their time riding with Dashers to case consumers' residences so that they can later return to burgle the home, steal vehicles in the driveway or kidnap the children who live there.""
Fifty years ago, I briefly held delivery and pickup jobs. I guarantee you that I did not case residences, or imagine stealing vehicles (though it was a lot easier then than now).
Kidnap children? I would refer you to https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1595/1595-h/1595-h.htm#chap08.
You can’t trespass what my eyes can see in public. The plaintiff in this lawsuit needs to understand that taking photographs of her delivery that also happens to show some of her property has no merit if it can be seen from the public eye and shouldn’t even be a question.
You can’t sue google for posting a photo of your home taken by the street car, or sue NASA for satellite imagery of your property, or sue your neighbor because their Ring doorbell records some of your home.
The reasons why is public photography isn’t illegal and if she’s placing millions of dollars in DoorDash for a corporation, she should have the smarts to know these are basic rights afforded to us by the constitution and this shouldn’t even be an issue.
I'm a dasher,and this is sad if you don't want to order from door dash you can go get it yourself you have options,many of us dashers are hard working and trying to make extra income doing this, not thieves,not casing your home, I get that this world has many bad people out there it's a scary time,we are only picking up your meal and bringing it to you and when it prompts us to take a picture that's the rules only a pic of what we delivered to you not pics of you or your home lol ,sounds to me like a bogus way to get money a false law suit indeed! Sad! Sad! Sad! Just saying.
I am a current doordash driver with over 2000 deliveries. I have never been notified that an order is express prior to delivery. I deliver all orders the same. The one time I found out an order was express was when I called doordash and questioned the customer tip. I was suspicious about doordash because customers I knew tipped well the order wasn't reflecting the tips. When I called doordash every agent stated the customers "only tipped $1.00). Each order I received I asked the same question and the answer was always the same. The tip was $1.00 only. It was as if the agents were trained to say this and this figure was not an actual figure.
Well, on one of the calls I asked for a complete order breakdown and that's when one of the agents mentioned the express payment fee. I was not aware the order I had just delivered was express. I get no notification whatsoever twhen orders are express.
The express payment fee is just a lie. It's a gimmick by doordash to pull in increased fees.
And last doordash is aware many drivers share accounts. Doordash doesn't care because the more drivers that are out there the lower the order payments have to be. So doordash saves when there is a saturation of drivers.
Posting a pic doesn't mean squat if the pic isn't detailed enough. The last complex I lived at, I regularly didn't get stuff, and I sometimes got stuff that wasn't mine... regardless of the deliverer, bc they all to stinking lazy to actually read... the complex had 8 buildings, each had a Different Building Number, they all had Apt# 100, 101, 102, 103, 200, 201, 202, 203, 300, 301, 302, 303. Not our fault the people who make addresses Are Stupid! Or that many delivery drivers are incompetent and unable to or to LAZY to read, and GPS gives Bad directions... after over a month of searching and repeated phone calls I found one package at an apartment complex office, but not the ones I lived at. Seems USPS and the office there were both completely incapable of reading Or Using a Phone to call the number on the package.
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