Food Delivery Services From Worst to Best: Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Instacart

Food delivery services are a way of life for a busy population. It’s hard to turn your back on convenience, but what happens when what is supposed to make life easier makes it harder? We receive many notes about food delivery services at PissedConsumer, from Postmates reviews to DoorDash complaints, we’ve seen it all and then some.

To sort out the best and the worst food delivery services, we analyzed customer reviews, ratings, and common problems outlined by users. Also, we asked nearly 1200 survey participants about their experience with food delivery companies:

Did you manage to get in contact with someone at Customer Service?

Did the customer service representative resolve your issue?

Are you satisfied with the customer service representative in resolving your issue?

How likely would you recommend the food delivery service to a friend or colleague?

So let’s take a look at Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Instacart, companies ranked from least to best satisfied in terms of these questions and overall customer satisfaction.

• Postmates
• Uber Eats
• DoorDash
• GrubHub
• Instacart
• Food delivery fails

#5. Postmates

Postmates, offers food delivery services in the same markets as Uber Eats and DoorDash. Like the other companies, Postmates customer service tops the list of cons. 

Postmates rating

There are more than 12,000 Postmates complaints on PissedConsumer. These reviews give the company a total Postmates rating of 1.4 out of a possible 5 stars. Many of the Postmates complaints are in regard to the staff and customer service provided by the company. As our survey showed, 70% of customers are not satisfied with Postmates customer service, and only 40% were able to resolve their issues.

In one of the recent reviews, a customer complained that they ordered food, but later the company canceled the order. According to the post there was “no reason or explanation on why my order was cancelled.” In the title of the post, a customer indicates that they were never refunded for the cancelled order.

If you have a concern or complaint, you can reach Postmates customer service by calling 1-888-815-7726.

Shocking customer complaints about Postmates

With so many delivery options, sometimes things can go wrong. For example, a customer found “A NASTY HAIR IN MY FOOD” and “WANTED MY FULL REFUND.” Instead, they learned that “NO ONE GIVES A RATS ***” and plans to no longer use Postmates for food delivery.

In the Postmates complain #2870551, the customer mentioned that there “was a COCKROACH in my pizza!!!!!!!” Even after “paying $40 for that delivery,” the customer was left without a refund and plans to take the complaint “to the top.”

#4. Uber Eats

There are more Uber Eats reviews on PissedConsumer than any other food delivery company. This may reflect the popularity of the food service, but there may be more to it than that. 

Uber Eats rating

Uber Eats currently has more than 45,000 reviews and complaints on PissedConsumer. Uber Eats rating is 1.6 stars out of a possible 5 from these reviews.

Many of the Uber Eats complaints center around Uber Eats customer service, delivery time, expenses, and various payments and charges . While there are some positive mentions about the convenience of the food delivery service, the low Uber Eats rating reflects the issues many customers experience.

According to the PissedConsumer survey, almost 50% of customers are unsatisfied with Uber Eats customer service, and 57% cannot solve their issue, though contacting the company is mostly not so challenging. 

For example, a recent review explained that the customer received “horrible customer service” and noted that the order was wrong and the company “refused to give me a refund for a product that was delivered spoiled.”

To contact Uber Eats, you can call customer service at 1-800-253-9377.

Shocking customer complaints about Uber Eats

While there are many successful deliveries made with Uber Eats, some food deliveries go very wrong. Review #4451417 for Uber Eats on PissedConsumer.com describes how a customer ordered enchiladas that arrived “ice cold.” When the customer took a bite, she discovered that the food was “never cooked!!!”

According to one consumer, an Uber driver turned around in the driveway after being told specifically to not use the space. In doing so, the Uber driver ran over the landscaping in the yard, and the owner of the home was angry and demanded a call back from Uber Eats. It is unclear if they ever got that phone call. 

#3. DoorDash

DoorDash is a popular food delivery company, and the number of DoorDash reviews reflect this.

DoorDash rating

There are currently more than 26,000 DoorDash reviews on PissedConsumer, leaving the company with a rating of only 1.8 stars out of a possible 5. Much like Uber Eats, many of the DoorDash complaints are about customer service as well as slow delivery that results in cold food. Though 80% of customers successfully reached a support representative, 45% of the total number of respondents could not resolve DoorDash complaints.

For example, in a recent DoorDash review #4471908, one user complained that the customer service representative “disconnected me when I asked for her identifying information.”

You can reach customer service by calling the DoorDash phone number at 1-855-431-0459.

Shocking customer complaints about DoorDash

DoorDash has been successfully delivering groceries and food for many years now, but there are a few misses among the successes. For example, in one of DoorDash complaints, a customer discovered a “corroded screw head” that wound up in her nachos. She realized that the screw head was in the same sour cream used on her taco salad, so she lost not just one but two meals that she paid to be delivered via DoorDash. 

In DoorDash review #3151881, a customer shared that the DoorDash driver who brought the order “took a picture like the food was delivered ok” and then, since he didn’t realize he was on camera, “threw the food on the ground.” Apparently, this was due to the driver being “upset he only got a $5 tip on a $17 order.”

#2. GrubHub

GrubHub customers seemed to like the ease of use of the company’s website in their GrubHub reviews. But they had plenty of other things to say in their GrubHub complaints about customer service and issues with trying to get problems resolved. 

GrubHub rating

With only 3,800 GrubHub reviews, the company has a few complaints about food delivery services. These reviews, however, have created a GrubHub rating of 1.6 out of a total of 5 stars. Many of these complaints focus on issues with GrubHub customer service.

The PissedConsumer survey on food delivery services showed that 60% of respondents could solve their GrubHub complaints, and 39% were fully satisfied with GrubHub customer service. 

In GrubHub review #4470473, a customer complained that they ordered food from McDonald's, but never received the order. According to the review, the customer never received a call or a text and the food order. In this case, the customer was able to speak to a rep and “got my stuff reordered and it was fine.” In a rare, positive review, the customer said that they “appreciate the fast reaction to my issue.” 

If you have a question or concern about GrubHub, you can reach the company by calling 1-877-585-7878.

Shocking customer complaints about GrubHub

With thousands of GrubHub reviews, customers can find serious issues with some GrubHub orders. In review #1277253, one PissedConsumer user ordered food through the app but the driver “left the food on my side door porch.” The customer didn’t find the food for another two days, during which time “ants and rodents had been eating it.” 

One of the other GrubHub complaints explained that a GrubHub driver “threw my son’s food on the step and took off” after hitting the mailbox. The customer took pictures at the request of GrubHub customer service, but they offered a “20% discount on a $50 order.” The customer ends the review wondering if they “could sue them?”  

#1. Instacart

Instacart delivers groceries or store items primarily rather than meals or fast food. This may work to their benefit since Instacart reviews are one of the best feedback from customers about the various food delivery companies.

Instacart rating

Despite four thousand Instacart reviews on PissedConsumer.com giving the company only 1.9 stars out of a possible 5, it leads the pack of food delivery companies in customer recommendations. According to our most recent data, the Instacart rating is rather high - 33% of survey respondents said that they would “for sure” recommend Instacart to friends or colleagues. This is the highest response of all the food delivery companies included in the survey. 

Many Instacart complaints address customer service. Fortunately, when customers do get in touch with customer service, they are able to resolve the issues. 88% of customers claimed that Instacart customer service helped them to resolve the issue they were having. This level of customer service is reflected in some of the most recent Instacart complaints. 

One reviewer in New York left an Instacart review that her shopper made a mistake. The customer “received a gallon of whole Milk that I did not ordered however I was not charged for it.” She also “received a herb or vegetable that looks like culantro but its different in texture.” When she contacted customer service, she was told “to keep the milk” and she “was given credit for the Culantro($1.99)towards my next order.” Overall the customer was satisfied with the resolution, although she did note that it’s a shame the milk will be wasted. 

To contact Instacart, you can call customer service at 1-844-981-3433.

Shocking customer complaints about Instacart

Of course, having a high rate of customer service success doesn’t mean that everything goes smoothly every time. In one Instacart rating (#4302813), a customer complained that the Instacart shopper did not ring the doorbell when he dropped off the food items. Apparently, chaos ensued, and the customer complained that “neighbor dogs scattered bags of food I paid over $220 for all over my front yard.” His recommendation after this experience was to “wait in front yard” because he feels the shoppers are “too stupid to ring doorbell.”

Another frustrated customer left an Instacart review about the fruit and produce she has been receiving. According to her Instacart complaint, the product she has “been receiving has been moldy. Even the apples are moldy.” To add insult to injury, when she asked for a refund for the moldy fruit, the company “put restrictions on my account.”

Food Delivery Fails

While hugely convenient and often a necessity in our busy world, food delivery services can have some risks as well. You’d like to think that the person you’re paying to deliver your food would be a professional and be able to do their job competently. It’s also reasonable to assume that the restaurant or store your food came from is interested in doing a good job. Sometimes, however, things just go terribly wrong. We have collected examples of the worst food delivery services in our video.

 Here are the top food delivery fails :

Missing items and poor food quality

Customer reviews include meat missing from tacos, ice missing from drinks, hamburgers slapped together with key ingredients missing. Who wants to eat any of that? 

Stale and old food

Fries soaked in cooking oil, fries that are rubbery and likely at least a day old, tacos with stale meat – customers are frustrated with food that is obviously old and absolutely disgusting in their negative reviews. 

Ugly driver antics

Sometimes the food is okay, but drivers make poor choices to ruin the experience. From drivers deliberately dumping or dropping food on the ground to simply leaving it in the middle of the street, it’s no wonder customers are frustrated and leave negative food delivery reviews. 

Drivers stealing food

Customer reviews show that sometimes a driver will simply take what they want! This includes drivers taking pictures of delivered food and then simply taking it back with them to drivers actually eating food from the containers before delivering them. Gross! 

Bad drivers

From parking illegally to driving straight into garage doors or even parked cars, sometimes these delivery drivers simply don’t know how to drive safely.

Food brings us together for intimate and family moments. Many of our best memories include food, and we spend thousands of dollars every year on meals. So, it’s important to determine the restaurants you enjoy, and also not to become a victim of the worst food delivery services.