Once in a while, a similar story pops up on the news: Someone’s DoorDash driver stole their food.
Depending on your perspective, it might sound either shocking or hilarious, but just how common is it exactly?
What should you do if your Uber Eats or DoorDash driver steals your food?
Are DoorDash Drivers Allowed To Take Food?
No, DoorDash drivers must complete the delivery by bringing the customer everything they ordered.
A delivery worker can’t eat the food from an order or even steal a small portion of it, like a soda bottle that came with the order.
DoorDash’s policy is pretty straightforward: “Under no circumstances may Dashers take the goods that they agreed to deliver.”
Doing so is grounds for account deactivation.
If a driver can’t find the customer, they may not mark the order as complete when they did not deliver it.
Do DoorDash Drivers Ever Steal Food?
It’s not common for a DoorDash delivery driver to steal items from a DoorDash order.
However, such inappropriate behavior has happened before.
Case Number 1
One woman on TikTok, Abby Elizabeth Marti, reported that she once made a food order of $100 and the Dasher who was responsible for her order took the food and never delivered it.
In the comments, other TikTok users claimed that such stories were not that uncommon.
In that story, the customer found out that her delivery person took her food from the restaurant and then unassigned the order.
The DoorDash app assigned the order to other food delivery workers, who reported that a previous driver had already taken the order from the restaurant.
Case Number 2
In another story, a TikToker reported that her Dasher ate most of her fries and drank from her milk bottle before delivering the food.
As some commenters pointed out, such stories are hard to verify, as some customers make such claims to get refunds they don’t deserve.
Other comments, however, said that they had similar experiences.
Case Number 3
Another story, however, is entirely verifiable, as security footage of the incident exists.
The driver delivered the food to the customer’s door, even taking a picture of the food sitting at the home’s entrance to show that they delivered it.
However, after taking that picture, they ran away with the food—and the footage from the security camera proves that.
That particular customer got a free meal from DoorDash, and the company fired the driver.
Unfortunately, other customers may not have been so lucky.
It’s not the only time it’s happened, either.
Case Number 4
Another TikToker posted the same thing: A DoorDash driver took a photo of the food after delivering it, only to pick it up and take it with them.
So, just how common is it for delivery drivers to steal food?
According to a shocking survey by US Foods, almost 30% of food delivery drivers admitted to snacking on the food they delivered to customers.
The survey included around 500 delivery drivers who worked on at least one app, with a median age of 31.
Over 54% of the drivers responded that the smell of the food they were delivering tempted them to snack on it.
Fortunately, only half of the people who responded that way took a bite.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that drivers steal food from almost 30% of orders.
Many of those drivers probably only stole food once or twice and then regretted their actions, never doing it again.
According to Postmates, food tampering only makes up 0.06% of all reports it receives from consumers.
Would you be okay with a driver stealing some of your food?
US Foods polled consumers on that question and found that the average “problematic rating” for such situations was 8.4 out of ten, with ten being “absolutely unacceptable.”
What Happens if a DoorDash Driver Steals Food?
As a customer, it can be pretty frustrating to wait an hour or even more for your food, only never to get it.
That’s especially true if you’re starving and have no food at home.
However, DoorDash will be able to give you a refund, which can help soften the blow.
In addition, DoorDash may even give you a free order to make up for the mishap.
If DoorDash determines that a driver stole an entire order or even part of it, it is immediate grounds for account deactivation.
DoorDash will fire the driver, and the driver will never be able to work for DoorDash again—although they may sign up for accounts on other food delivery apps.
What To Do if You Think a DoorDash Driver Stole Your Food
If you suspect your DoorDash driver stole your food, your first step is to confirm whether your suspicions are true.
It could be that your DoorDash driver is still in traffic.
- Check where your DoorDash driver is on the map using the mobile app.
- If the Dasher marked the order as delivered, check your front, side, and garage door. Your Dasher may have left it somewhere.
- Contact your Dasher, if possible. Ask them what is causing the delay and when you can expect the delivery.
- If the Dasher isn’t responding, contact the restaurant. If you can’t reach it via the app, Google its name, find its number and call it. The restaurant staff will tell you whether a delivery driver picked up your order or not.
- If your order arrived incomplete, ask the driver and the restaurant what happened. The restaurant might have sent an incomplete order.
You can also contact DoorDash support directly.
If your order never arrived, follow these steps:
- Go to your “Orders” tab.
- Find and select your order.
- Click on “Help.”
- Scroll to “Delivery Issues.”
- Click on “Order Never Arrived.”
- Tap on the “Continue” button.
- Confirm you entered the correct address when making your order.
- Click on “I cannot find my order” and follow the prompts.
If an order arrived incomplete, and you suspect your driver of stealing some food items, follow these steps:
- Go to your “Orders tab.”
- Select your order.
- Tap on “Help.”
- Scroll on “Order Issues.”
- Click on “Missing Items.”
- Select the items from your order that were missing.
- Add details in your words (optional).
- Choose whether the entire item or a side dish that came with the item was missing, and follow the prompts.
You can also call, email, or chat with DoorDash support.
Get help over the phone by calling +1-855-431-0459.
Calling DoorDash support will likely get you the quickest resolution.
You can also visit this page, scroll to the bottom, and tap on “Chat With Us” to open a chatbox and chat with the support team.
While you can email [email protected], you will likely get a quicker response using one of the above methods.
When you contact support, be specific and include as many details about your order as possible.
For example, tell support:
- Which restaurant you ordered from
- What you ordered
- When you ordered it
- The name of the Dasher
- The specific items that were missing
- How long you waited for the order
- The type of resolution you would like
DoorDash will usually give you a refund quickly.
Its team will also investigate the issue.
If they find that the DoorDash driver stole your food, they will ban the driver from working again for DoorDash.
Final Thoughts
DoorDash orders usually arrive complete and on time.
Once in a while, however, an order may arrive late or not at all.
Despite how frustrating it can be, there is usually a simple resolution.
Contact DoorDash support and ask for a refund or a replacement meal.
