As a Doordash independent contractor, how do you get the help you need with delivery issues?
The challenge when you're a self-employed independent contractor for Doordash is, you don't have any direct supervision. That's because Doordash can't legally treat you like an employee.
So how do you get the assistance you need when Dashing? Doordash has a number of ways they provide support to their Doordash delivery drivers. We'll talk about how to get support, when the best times are to contact them, and why Doordash support is so bad so often. We'll talk about:
- How to get Dasher support from Doordash
- When you might need to contact Door Dash driver support
- What Doordash driver support's job is (and isn't)
- Why is Doordash driver support so bad?
- Frequently asked questions about Dasher support
How can you get support from Doordash?
You can get support from Doordash by phone, web chat, email, and from their website. Each has a different level of helpfulness. Some options may be limited based on whether you are on an active delivery or not.
How to get support while on a delivery
When on a delivery, you can contact support through the Dasher app. It's not the easiest to figure out, so we'll look at some screenshots.
The quickest way to pull up the support options while on a delivery is to click on the question mark at the top right of the delivery screen.
Once you've done that, you have a whole list of options including unassigning the delivery, questions about the order, issues with not finding the store, etc. Most of the predefined options give you a suggestion about how to handle issues.
Frankly, I feel like they're time wasters if you need immediate help.
What you can do is scroll all the way to the bottom and click on Dasher Help.
You should notice a pattern here when you get to the next screen. There's another list of options, each with a drop down. When you tap on an option it takes you to a page that gives suggestions.
The point of all of this is, they want to avoid direct contact with a Doordash customer service representative if at all possible. That's because the more people that are talking or chatting with support, the more money they have to pay support personnel.
However, at the bottom of this screen are two icons. The messaging icon allows you to initiate a live chat, while the phone icon starts a phone call to Doordash support.
Choosing a phone call or live chat during a delivery.
At this point, you can decide whether to initiate a live chat or make a phone call.
Which one I choose depends on a lot of factors. I used to lean more towards chat because I could get through to someone more quickly. Lately, response times seem to have slowed quite a bit. I can post a question and wait two or three minutes each time for an answer.
Sometimes you can get a long hold time on a phone call. This is especially true for busier times. If the app is down (which is frequent) you usually are going to be in a long wait no matter what you do.
If you choose the phone call option, the app will direct your cell phone to call the Doordash customer service phone number: 855-973-1040. In fact, an easy way (maybe the fastest way) to contact support is to have that number in your contacts and just call directly.
You can also dial this number direct. If you have it saved in your phone's contacts, that might be a quicker way to get through to someone than going through the app.
If you choose chat, you'll see more of the self-support options like you received along the way. That's one of the reasons I lean more towards a phone call these days. When doing a chat, I immediately go to the message field at the bottom of the screen.
Doordash has added an AI capability that reads the message you type. The system will often try to point you to a printed solution rather than trying to get you immediately to a support person. This can be super frustrating when you just want to get in touch with someone who can help you.
Chat personnel are often helping several people at one time. That means that you may wait a couple of minutes for a response each time you type something.
Contacting Doordash support when not on a delivery
The best way to contact support when not on a delivery is by telephone. In fact, the chat option is no longer available.
On the home screen of the Dasher app, you can still click the question mark in the top right corner, and then select Dasher help at the bottom. However, you'll notice something different. When you aren't logged in on a Dash you get this:
Notice how the call and chat icons have both disappeared?
It changes again when you're logged in on a Dash but aren't on a delivery:
Doordash clearly wants to make it harder for you to get to a live person when you're not on a Dash, at least as far as using the Dasher app. This is not unusual for tech companies, it's a common practice to make it difficult to get in touch with a real person due to the high cost of labor.
Essentially you have five Doordash Support options when you're not on an active delivery. You can tryo one of these different ways to get help:
- By Telephone at 855-973-1040 when you need to speak to someone directly. Doordash also publishes the number 855-431-0459 on their support website.
- By email at Support@Doordash.com
- Through the articles in the help screen on the Dasher app
- Accessing the self-help articles on the Doordash driver support website.
- Requesting chat support from the Doordash driver support website.
Keep in mind, customer chat isn't always very reliable.
Again, I find the chat can be very time consuming. It often takes two to three minutes before I even have a chance to state what help I need. They always need a couple of minutes to pull up my account, and a couple of minutes to “look into this for you.”
Essentially you'll need to contact customer service to resolve issues that can't be handled by just looking up answers on their website or in the Doordash app.
Some issues include:
Delivery issues.
This can include a number of problems where you need a rep involved, such as:
- The customer entered the wrong address
- issues getting the food or problems with the customers.
- Longer than normal wait time at the local restaurant.
- Red Card payments declined,
Help contacting Doordash customers or restaurants.
There are times the contact information in the app isn't correct. Support may have to try to contact the customer or the restaurant themselves. Some of the following issues may lead you to get help:
CYA.
Sometimes there are issues beyond your control. A traffic jam or accident makes you extremely late. Explaining the situation to Doordash is a way to document your situation, which can then be used later in your defense if there's a contract violation.
There are certain things in the Doordash deactivation policy support can't really help you with. The customer rating and completion rate metrics for example can't be helped. However, there are several issues that can lead to deactivation where things are more subjective.
In these situations, it's often best to use the chat function, because you can document the conversation. If a customer is rude or is making false claims, you have a record of your side of the story.
Problems with the app.
The Doordash app is known to glitch.
A lot.
There are a lot of features built into the Doordash platform to handle things like marking your food order as complete, or if a restaurant is closed. When those features aren't working you need Doordash support to help you.
Problems with payments.
If your Doordash pay payments didn't get through to your bank, or there's a problem with your bank account settings, you may need a Doordash driver support rep to help resolve the issue. Sometimes the payment that was sent to you wasn't correct, or you need a partial payment for a canceled order.
Account issues.
The Dasher app will let you edit basic Doordash account information such as your email address and other personal information, but more advanced issues may need someone from Doordash.
Scheduling issues:
Like many things about the Doordash system, the schedule system can glitch. It's great that y ou can create your own schedule and make your own choices about tips to make money on Doordash, but sometimes the app doesn't cooperate.
These are not all the issues that may prompt support. Keep in mind that Dasher support may not be able to help on a lot of things. A lot of these things may be beyond what the support staff can do for you. The last two points of this explain why.
New account signup issues
A lot of people get hung up at some point in the application process. Maybe it's an issue with the background check, questions about Dasher qualifications, or getting moved ahead to the next stage.
What Doordash driver care's support is (and is not)
The purpose of the support team is to help get deliveries completed. That's what they're trained to do.
Here's the important thing to remember: Doordash support persons are NOT your supervisors. You are a self-employed independent contractor. You don't have a supervisor or boss.
In fact, odds are the person you're talking to or chatting with probably isn't even a Doordash employee. Doordash hires out their support to oversees call centers, and most support representatives are only employed by that call center.
This means they can not tell you how to do your deliveries. Doordash is not allowed to control the work of independent contractors. Doordash support can not boss you around, can not tell you what orders to take or how to do things. They can provide guidance, assistance, possibly advice. They can't tell you what to do.
If they do, they're crossing the line and overstepping their authority.
Why is Doordash driver support so bad?
It all comes down to the Doordash business model: Avoid paying labor costs. Doordash is trying to do this all on the cheap.
But it's also because of how the support team is set up. As I mentioned earlier, Doordash support is made up primarily of employees of overseas call centers. It costs a lot less to pay someone in the Phillipines to handle issues than it does someone in the United States.
It also has to do with the training. This goes back to the main purpose I mentioned: care reps are there to support getting deliveries completed. That's what they're trained to do.
Finally, it is often related to the nature of call center work. Many call centers give their reps a playbook or a knowledge base. When someone has a question that's outside their training, they have to look it up or ask a supervisor.
While I don't have direct proof that's how it's done with Doordash support, the number of times I've been put on hold while they “look into that” for me makes me think that's pretty much the case.
Ultimately, most of the problems with Doordash support are simply because Doordash didn't really put anything better in place. That would cost too much. They don't want to pay for the proper support.
Which more often than not means, you're simply on your own.
Frequently asked questions about Doordash driver support
What is the phone number Doordash Dashers can use to call support?
855-973-1040. This is the number that is called when you choose to call support through the Dasher app.
There's also a Doordash customer support phone number, 855-431-0459.
How much can you rely on what support tells you?
Not much. I hear all the time of people getting false and incorrect information from Doordash support, especially about things like Doordash policy. Sometimes they'll go so far as to tell Dashers they have to maintain a certain acceptance rate.
I wrote about six reasons I don't trust Doordash support. Keep in mind that these are not Doordash employees, they are not in any kind of supervisory role, and many of these things are outside the scope of their training.
When is it best not to contact Doordash support?
My philosophy is, avoid support as much as possible.
Here's the thing: You're your own boss. You are providing services for Doordash as a business. Time spent on the phone or waiting on a chat is time you can't be making money. If you can work your way through issues without support, you make life easier on yourself.
Is the Doordash Support Twitter account a good option?
Some suggest contacting Doordash by their Twitter account, @Doordash_Help.
I find that it's not a good live support option. Generally there's a lot of time lost going back and forth just verifying the account (as opposed to them knowing your account automatically when you contact them via the app).
I've tried sending DM's to the help twitter when the app was down or the support line wasn't working. I typically get a response two days later.
Should I contact Doordash support if I'm in an accident.
If you had an accident while delivering and that will impact your ability to complete the delivery, you'll want to contact support with information about the accident.
Keep in mind, Doordash does not provide insurance for your vehicle when delivering. You must make sure you have insurance that covers you while Dashing. Doordash only has excess liability insurance, which means it will cover damages you caused to someone else's property but only after your own insurance has denied the claim.
You would not contact support to file a claim, but instead fill out their claim form. However, if you think you may need Doordash's coverage, it may be wise to contact them to document what has happened.
