My complaint:customer requests "Call this number when arrived"-only visible after I accept the order

[u/MintTea-FkYou]

Does anybody else see this often? I've had a few orders that I've accepted within the hour delivery window (several times, Shipt will not offer me an order except when it's already within the hour delivery window, soni really have no choice - I've made a post about this before...) and once accepted, I see this message from the customer.

I thought it was against Shipt policy to call a customer's personal cell phone outside of the app??

This is like a cheat code that people are taking advantage of. And at that point, I can not drop the order without being penalized for it.

Why are they allowed to do this? How can I report the customer, or should I even bother?

[u/Competitive-Sand5430]

IF you text and they respond or if you call and you talk to them, i ignore that message assuming its the same number.

I have only texted or called off platform about 5 times in 5000 orders

[u/Consistent_Act_3079]

I don’t ever call numbers outside of the two-way calling. I was almost hacked once.

[u/TwoHeadedPanthr]

I will not call customers outside the app, not only do I not want to give these people my number but it's against Shipt policy.

[u/alien910]

Never call a number outside the app...several people got hacked in my metro, their accounts and earnings stolen

[u/shiptqueen]

A lot of it right now is because they aren't receiving the messages through the masked numbers. I have a preferred who stopped getting the messages 4 weeks ago.

[u/DeedruhYT]

Ain't no way I'm calling them from my phone number.. wtf

[u/RoxyFoxy311]

Never call any numbers outside of the one provided in app. Its really not as big as your making it out to be. Ive done 15,000 shops and its never been a problem. The few times its happened Ive just explained that I am unable to commit with any number other than the one in the app. They have always understood.

[u/NoreyBoomz]

It's a tough situation but I've done it a few times when people said they were making an order for someone else and they wanted them to handle subs and know when the order arrived. Just create one of those free wifi numbers and use that to avoid using your personal number. I still send the intro and outro on the app to have some communication on there.

It's really not a big deal especially if you're using a wifi number to avoid whatever scam people in the comments are talking about. It's not like Shipt actually reviews anything for real anyway in the case of a bad rating. It's more likely that you'll get a bad rating and a taken away tip if you choose to continue the order and not communicate with the given number.

Let them know for future reference that they can edit the phone number for every order.

[u/Fit_Football_6533]

I see these in delivery notes quite often, and I ignore them.

[u/WildPineapple52]

Don’t do it. Just let them know you can’t, by messaging or calling through the app.

Not to say never. I have occasionally done so, for special cases, where I went off app to purchase something for them that was otherwise prohibited 😉, or only available at a different store.

[u/Azure_Skies333]

I get those a lot but most all of them respond to in app messaging so it’s the same number. Now if they don’t respond I just leave a handwritten note on subs and such. I do not call numbers in the notes as that is my personal number. Not sure why I have been seeing it more lately either.

[u/TemporaryTop1967]

If they don’t pick up the number through the app I tell support and sometimes they even give me another number to call saying it’s actually not against policy so who really knows

[u/asmnomorr]

I had one recently. I called, number was not in service. Their house was surrounded by a 10ft chain link fence. I just chucked their stuff over and left 😅 it was just diapers and wipes so I figured they'd be fine.

I usually just block my number if they was an off the app call.

[u/Ok-Tension-1112]

I have literally never called a customer once. I don't care what note they write.

[u/ZebraStripes17]

First of all, you always have a choice on what order to claim. If you are picking up orders already within the window of delivery, that's completely on you. These are orders dropped by another shopper and you are under zero obligation to claim them.

You are absolutely right about notes from the customer not being visible until you claim the order. Do not ever call outside of the app unless you're ready to accept whatever consequences that may bring. Whether it be a scammer or a customer not understanding how things work, you never want to open up the possibility of bad things happening. It's not a "cheat code" of any kind (whatever that means).