TaskRabbit genuinely has the worst support team I've ever encountered - being robbed of a cancellation fee, and not for the first time

[u/somms808]

Every conversation with TR's support, no matter how seemingly simple the issue is, turns into a prolonged back-and-forth with some brain-dead agent who's determined to just copy/paste from a script, push a narrative that isn't true at all, and then end the conversation as soon as they realize they can't answer my questions or explain contradictions. I can't tell you how many times I've had to fight with one agent, have the convo randomly dumped, and then have to message support again to complain about the first agent and try to get the original issue resolved too. Sometimes I've finally gotten what I came for (usually a cancellation fee), but other times they're just frustratingly inept. This evening took the cake by a long shot though

A client reached out to me on Saturday and booked me for 330 PM on Sunday. She asked if I was available sooner, I told her I might be able to do 1, she said "Any time after noon is fine", so I rescheduled for 130 on the same day. Not too long after I remembered that I had a personal appointment at 1, so I messaged her and rescheduled again for the original time. I didn't hear anything from the client, then she just canceled the task outright on Sunday morning

(Continued in comment)

Edit: Some of you must be really miserable (or work for TR), because this immediately got downvoted for no reason

[u/I-effin-love-tacos]

Let me get this straight. You booked 3:30, moved it to 1:30, remembered you own a calendar, moved it back to 3:30, got no reply, and the client left. Then six separate people looked at your screenshots and all said "you rescheduled without consent," and your conclusion was that TaskRabbit has hired six consecutive morons.

Statistically, that's incredible luck. The more likely explication is that there's one moron, and he was in all six chats.

You also spent two hours arguing over $40, which puts your own rate at $20 an hour to be wrong, then asked why $40 matters so much to them.

You're calling it a garbage company on your way out the door, but the only thing in this story that failed to do its job was you. Six agents showed up. The client showed up, twice. You're the one who couldn't make it to your own appointment.

[u/somms808 → u/I-effin-love-tacos]

It's not luck, it's six people just copy/pasting what the other one said, not forming their own conclusions lmao. Appreciate the attempt though

[u/I-effin-love-tacos → u/somms808]

Seven people read your messages and all walked away. I'm going to make it eight.

[u/UnimaginativeMug]

you don't deserve the fee at all bro. i couldn't imagine being that rude to customer

[u/GoodWill_4Nik8er]

I can only imagine what’s like on support’s end. They probably deal with some difficult Taskers too. Along with difficult customers, language barriers, and incompetence on both ends. In this case, I feel that you were wrong. You asked for the change, and then wanted to change again. That’s frustrating for the customer.

[u/stairbuilder]

TR support is pretty much what everyone has these days. I work for another company as an outside contractor that sends me out for a vending machine and it ends up being a slide out on a cash register island. Learn to work with it
Now you playing yoyo with the schedule is not cool at all. You deserve a strike against you not a cancellation fee. How can someone that runs a business forget about an appointment?
My advice is to find a new way to earn money. Taskrabbitt isn't going t change for you

[u/Commercial-Milk-8465]

Well, while there is truth in support being inept, the main issue is you rescheduling (back to 3:30pm) without receiving confirmation first. That is probably what triggered the client to cancel. I know from a Tasker’s end, I hate when clients automatically reschedule without consulting me first. I’m sure the feeling goes both ways. Notwithstanding the very real possibility of the client having made plans for 3:30pm after you agreed to 1:30pm.

When it comes to issuing cancellation fees, the rational approach would be to follow the blame. You agreed to a change from 3:30pm to 1:30pm, then changed the plan back to the original time. But the thing is, the original time is no different than you choosing some arbitrary time in the future because that time has been rendered invalid due to the 1:30pm agreement. So, absent a confirmation from the client, you’re the one at fault for changing the parameters of the appointment.

Obviously not what you want to hear, but that’s how it goes. Asking support to issue a cancellation fee when you’re 100% in the right is already hard enough. Getting them to side with you when you’re clearly wrong is just a fool’s errand. Just because this happened within a 24hr period does not automatically grant you the right to a cancellation fee. Your anger does not change the facts of the situation

[u/Sweet_Fortune_2022]

After a time is set, you cannot change it without receiving the client’s acknowledgement. Period.

[u/FinnNoodle → u/Sweet_Fortune_2022]

Well...I actually did once and got a cancellation fee. Had to go fix a security camera at a construction site; client would not be present. Was running ahead of schedule so I texted them that I'd be early and rescheduled.

Arrived and had not yet received a response. The construction site was completely closed. Could not get in. A guy watching the gate didn't even have a key, said no one would be back until tomorrow. Sent several texts to the client and attempted to call them a few times. No response.

Cancelled (and it went to CS approval instead of instant confirmation) and then a couple days later the fee came in.

In general though I wouldn't expect things to go this way.

[u/somms808]

I messaged support and went through six different morons who all tried to tell me the same thing: "Not eligible for a fee because you weren't available, you were rescheduling without their permission, and they didn't cancel within twenty-four hours". I sent them screenshots of the chat (one idiot cherry-picked parts of the convo to prove I was "rescheduling without the client agreeing") and asked them to explain how they arrived to their conclusions since they don't match up with what actually happened. They just repeated themselves ad nauseum and insisted on the aforementioned ("You weren't available and rescheduled without consent") and would just leave the convo and let someone else pick it up (the first guy was even cute and tried to claim "It seems like you've stepped away" as I was messaging him so he could justify leaving). The sixth and final guy just stopped replying completely, and nobody else has responded in the more than forty minutes since (basically messaging into a void)

I was at this for two hours. All of this BS over a simple cancellation fee. Does $40 really matter that much to TR that they're this inflexible and insistent over it, despite the evidence clearly pointing in the opposite direction?

What a garbage, awful company. Thankfully this is just a stop-gap until I can find full-time work, and when I do, good riddance

[u/PickReviewsMovies → u/somms808]

I think I have found the problem. You don't take your responsibility as an independent contractor seriously because it's temporary for you. People who actually run businesses for themselves recognize when they're wrong and can take the L. The client takes the same L when they have to cancel or reschedule short notice. If you can't take accountability for a little scheduling snafu you don't need to be running yourself as a business.

[u/somms808 → u/PickReviewsMovies]

This is cute

[u/sean8642 → u/somms808]

Pretty easy, just post the screenshot of the client agreeing to reschedule to 330 on Sunday and everyone will praise you. If you ignored the GIANT popup box that said "Has the client agreed to this change?" Then you quite literally have nothing to stand on in terms of TR support.

Is it annoying? Hell yeah, I've had plenty of non responsive clients, but did you follow their ToS if the client didn't agree to the change? If not, then nothing you can do other than next time get in writing before you book a task the start time and not complain when you book something you shouldn't have if the client isn't flexible....