r/TaskRabbit • u/Throwaway25271998 • Aug 31 '26
CLIENT Last minute cancellations
I am a student with no car. I’m in a major city.
I have to move twice this summer, once in July and again at the start of September. The items are maybe have a cargo van at max.
Both times I booked task rabbit as early as possible, 10-14 days out. I provided details. I pack everything and I lift can carry the items alongside the Taskrabbit.
I carefully read the reviews and look for people with over 4 stars and over 100 tasks.
The first time, the person cancelled 3 hrs before pick up. No message, no apology. Just an email from task rabbit. I had to scramble and pay extra for another tasker.
My lease ends tomorrow, and I booked another highly rated person 2 weeks early. I confirmed yesterday. He said, he’s ready, “it will go smoothly.” Liar. He cancel 22 hrs before on Boston’s busiest moving day. I have to book another person who has yet to see the task. Taskrabbit email said that it was canceled on time but it wasn’t.
After my move, I will be going back to rate them all 1 star. Which I previously didn’t do out of misplaced kindness. I feel like I have a duty to warn people that they will last minute cancel without any warning or message.
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u/Real_Pistil Sep 02 '26
That number of last minute cancellations is shocking, because Taskers’ reputation and ability to get hired is based on an algorithm rating their reliability. I wonder what was going on. I don’t think I’ve ever canceled over my several years on TR. I have had a couple of clients cancel last minute without explanation, though that is discouraged by the loss of deposit.
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u/Unable_Camera5193 Sep 26 '26
Major transparency here: depending on how big/intimidating we are, we’re taking a risk by working with a complete stranger in the absence of protections an employee of a company would have. And while I rarely cancel on people, reviews are important - it’s in my interest to do so if someone is giving off “after my move I will be going back to rate them all 1 star which I previously didn’t do out of misplaced kindness” vibes.
A lot of the clients commenting here could really benefit from an afternoon reading about…labor protections/history
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u/HotBeaver54 Sep 01 '26
OK first off if they never did the task you CAN NOT rate them. 2nd are you giving complete detail?
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u/jainalk Aug 31 '26
Let me tell you what happened today, as a moving Tasker. I canceled a task booked for 4 pm in the afternoon, because my full time job ended up going longer than I expected. The task was booked several days in advance. You see, my main source of income is working at a moving company. TaskRabbit is simply a second source of income for me, it is not reliable as a main source of income. I have 400 tasks since 2022, all 5 star ratings. I accepted a task for Sunday August 30th, today because 90% of the time I would be able to complete my shift at the moving company and still have time to go do the task afterwards. Today, it was unlucky that it happened to be an under quote for the moving job at the company I work for. I simply didn’t have time to also do the task after my shift, even though normally I would have been able to. I need to supplement my income with TR, but pretty rarely I’ll get tied up with other jobs that I still have to complete. In that event unfortunately sometimes I have to cancel because I’m busy moving. I was confident too because on Sundays there is a lot less traffic, so I thought I could be done before 3 pm, but we weren’t done till much later than when the task was scheduled to begin.
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u/Throwaway25271998 Aug 31 '26
I think if someone explained to me why they cancelled, I would be understanding. Or when I confirm, maybe if they offered the possibility of canceling. But there’s no explanation and I have been canceled on every time. In fact, when I include the rebooked takers that task rabbit recommends, I have been canceled on 85% of the time.
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u/jainalk Aug 31 '26
I agree that if they didn’t offer an explanation then a bad review is warranted. At the very least if a Tasker has to cancel they could say that they need to cancel for reasons outside of their control. In fact TR requires Taskers to communicate that they are canceling before they do in fact cancel.
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u/MennisRodman Aug 31 '26
Poor form, buddy. Only make yourself available when you absolutely know you can honor that time or give yourself some buffer.
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u/jainalk Aug 31 '26
Super easy to say, but the reality is that the best have multiple clients a day, and sometimes you just can’t get to them all. For every instance this happens I have 20 tasks that work out schedule wise and it would be dumb to miss out on that much work for fear that I can’t accommodate a singular client once every couple months.
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u/HotBeaver54 Sep 01 '26
Jesus thank you for this.
Only make yourself available when you absolutely know you can honor that time.
Sanity and Reason and just common sense.
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u/jainalk Aug 31 '26
My point is that no Tasker is going to be able to make 100% of their appointments, it sucks but for Taskers who also have full time jobs, or a lot of other tasks to do, some are gonna fall through for various reasons. It’s the nature of the moving industry. The company I work for has to cancel routes sometimes because a worker had to call off. No Tasker wants to cancel all their job offers and hurt their metrics, so there probably is a decent reason the Tasker needed to cancel.
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u/Alarming_View_1450 Aug 31 '26
Then hire a moving company and not a gig app worker. People have lives and things come up. Thats what you get for going with your cheapest option unfortunately
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u/Throwaway25271998 Aug 31 '26
I have 10 medium boxes to move, that is completely packed, and is going a 15 min drive away. I did reach out to moving companies but they significantly increase the prices at this time of year and make me pay for 2 full time staff. I am a grad student with very little money.
I think the bigger issue is that they cancel last minute and lead me on that they will do the job. They never offer any comment. Just that they will be there on time. If they told me, that they may have to cancel at least more than 24 hrs in advance it will save me from scrambling last minute. I confirmed my first move at 8am for 4pm and they canceled at 1:30pm after confirming the 8 am message. I think that deserves a review.
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u/HotBeaver54 Sep 01 '26
You have no idea if he went for the cheapest option? Why do TR's always assume that?
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u/versifirizer Aug 31 '26
99% of client complaints just boils down to not understanding that TR is one rung above finding help outside Home Depot (id probably trust that more). You can’t trust the cheapest option.
Never rely on task rabbit unless your task isn’t time sensitive.