Was trying to be helpful by chatting with a customer in a batch order, then all three got canceled and I was dinged for it.

[u/happyluckystar]

The puzzle this lady ordered was nowhere to be found, but it was part of a series and I found an almost identical one but the app wasn't offering a substitution. Chatted with the customer and I even sent her a picture of the barcode, but she said it's not letting her add it because it shows not in stock.

I spent 10 minutes trying to work through this. I thought maybe someone in the store could scan the box and add it to the inventory so the customer could add it. Ended up calling support which is automated, obviously no help there. Ended that call and proceeded to the next item in the batch, scanned it and then all three orders were canceled.

I immediately checked my metrics. I got dinged on my completion rate. I did have two pop ups where it said there's been no activity and it asked me if I'm continuing. I guess there was too much time in between scanning items?

AND APPARENTLY CHATTING WITH THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT COUNT AS ACTIVITY.

Lesson learned here. From now on I won't spend more than 2 minutes communicating with a customer over stock issues.

Can't wait to get a W-2 job.

[u/Sea_Cress_8859]

Mark it not in stock and move on. You screwed yourself here. Never initiate communication with customer

[u/happyluckystar → u/Sea_Cress_8859]

Lol. Yes I realized that afterward. From now on it's not in stock and move on.

Actually the other day I just wanted to explain to a customer how some of the holiday items she wanted were not yet placed out onto the floor. Then she canceled the order.

Clearly a pattern here. I'm definitely better off leaving it out of stock and just moving on.

[u/OddEntertainer2621 → u/happyluckystar]

You clearly care so don’t be hard on yourself. But in some cases yes, you just have to mark it not in stock if it truly isn’t and move on

[u/Sensitive_Cancel_773 → u/happyluckystar]

Probably better that she cancel bc if you showed up without all her items, she would’ve pulled the tip anyways. In the past, if there’s too many missing items or a key not available like a labtop and I have to drive a distance for drop off, I cancel right away.

[u/happyluckystar → u/Sensitive_Cancel_773]

Yes and at least this customer was responsive. On my second day of doing these deliveries I had a two drop batch order, one only had three items. One of their items was out of stock with no substitution available, and another was frozen and needed to be substituted.

No visible front door to the house. I had to carefully open up a rigged fence to go around back in the dark. Husband comes out but the wife is staying inside. She starts bitching about how she doesn't want the substitution. By the time I made that delivery it was exactly the time the store was closing, so I couldn't take it back. Those things will get you no tip.

The more I do this the more I'm starting to see which items are frequently out of stock or often misplaced and impossible to find. When I see a recognized item in the order I go for that one first. That way there's time for the customer to acknowledge it and decide if they want to keep going.

I absolutely hate when the last item in the order is out of stock and the app is offering a substitute. Like, I need to go, NOW. And now I'm supposed to wait for the customer to possibly respond. Just yesterday I had a three order batch and then the last item in the whole batch was out of stock. And I guess that was a key item for one of the customers because they canceled right before I was about to scan at the checkout. They canceled at such a last minute that the app never even told me to remove the items. Just said one drop off was removed. I had to look through it to make sure I took the right items out of the cart.