Why does Doordash Say free Delivery but charges?

It’s been over a year, and we keep getting this complaint over and over again in our emails, to forums like Reddit:

and even on Quora.

Now, why does this happen? and what can you do about it? Well, let’s take a look at it from a well-detailed point of view in this article. Sit tight.

Why does Doordash say free Delivery but charges?

You might want to wonder, maybe this is sort of a way they could pay delivery drivers for such orders.

Well no.

If they’d actually do the free delivery as advertised, then the restaurant or Doordash (whoever is behind the free delivery) would still pay the Delivery driver fair and square- Coming from a delivery driver myself.

So why does this happen?

To be honest, there are many reasons. However, there’s the main one, and this is it…

The free delivery advertised are for new users

Most companies do run such promos where they make advertisements – videos, texts, etc- and promise some dollar off. Or just like Doordash, a free delivery, or something related.

In most cases, however, there are usually some terms and conditions behind those.

A popular one of them is the “new customer bonus.”

When a promo is made for new users, it simply means whatever discount or free delivery they’d offer would only be granted to new users.

If you’re not one, you won’t be granted.

This is just what happens on Doordash and unfortunately, the exact reason why most people would still get charged by Doordash even when the company promises free delivery.

The problem with this is that in most cases, they can’t tell if you’re a new user or not (to either show you or not show you the ad) since they don’t have your sessions, but would still go on showing the ads.

But what happens when you’re a new customer and you still see this happen?

Depending on the situation and the actual advertising, it’s possible to meet this scenario. Here’s a listicle on other reasons:

You didn’t meet the terms of the Promo

Promos, coupons and discounts do have several terms and conditions, which include being a new user, as we said earlier.

But…there are actually other terms and conditions you need to know about.

For instance, if you were not careful, reading through the details of the advertisement or where they made the notification for free delivery, you might have missed a point where they made a condition or either linked a resource on that.

One of these is when there’s a minimum order amount or specific timeframes you’d need to satisfy before you can be granted the free delivery order.

Doordash

Yes, Doordash could be the reason as well.

While all these reasons count, we shouldn’t also deter the fact that Doordash has been shady to both we drivers and customers like you.

For instance, we’ve heard about several complaints of Doordash doing activities like taking a long time or never refunding customers, randomly charging customers for Dashpass, etc.

Hence, it’s also possible that the reason you don’t get a free delivery unlike what Doordash says might actually be from the company.

The Promo may have Expired

We’ve seen it severally when a company, in this case, Doordash, starts an advertisement or promo because of a season and keep on paying for these advertisements even when the promo must have ended.

Hence, they kinda make it false advertisements.

This is no different from what you may have been facing and could be one possible reason.

What to do If Doordash Says Free Delivery but charges

First, it’s important you validate it with the reasons we’ve provided so far in our article.

For instance, if you’re not a new customer, and the terms of the promo say the promo is only applicable to new customers, you might just want to overlook it if it doesn’t work for you.

Because, of course, you should expect that.

But if you already satisfy the requirements fair and square and you’re still charged by the company, you might then want to make a move.

Here, we advise you to use their contact us page, or alternatively, the chat feature on their app which you could access 24/7.

They’re likely to provide you with enough information as to why this may have happened, or otherwise, a solution. Maybe, perhaps, you got a hidden fee.

The problem with all of this is that in most cases these companies don’t specify what their terms and conditions are. So you can’t really know if you satisfy these conditions or not.

So what do you do in this case?

• You can either contact them – at least you could get the actual reason why this may have happened, as well as a solution in some cases.
• Or you let it go – While it can be something to be worried about, it may not be worth the time spent trying to recover. You could just let it go.

Final Thoughts

It’s very common to be faced with these types of issues. However, always bear it in mind to go through the conditions so you’re not left in shambles when you don’t find the promo or free delivery, as advertised, working for you.

Hope you find this article!

This is Exiledriver and we’re happy to share what we know with you!