A Customer Asked Their DoorDash Driver To Bring Back The $20 Tip They Were Given Claiming That It Was An 'Accident'
The customer had already prepaid on the app, but was it appropriate to ask the driver to go all the way back and return the money?
New Africa / Shutterstock; Reddit A DoorDash driver was pleasantly surprised when he was given a generous tip after dropping off a customer’s order. However, his joy was short-lived after the customer messaged him claiming that the tip was a mistake, and asked to give the money back.
Now, other people are calling the customer’s actions “shameful” and are raising the question of whether or not it is appropriate to ask for a tip back after it is given to a service worker, even if it was just an accident.
The DoorDash driver was given what he believed was a $20 tip from a customer after dropping off an order.
The driver shared screenshots of his interaction with a customer via text message to the subreddit, r/doordash_drivers. After asking the customer for their apartment number, dropping off the order, and heading out their way with a nice tip, the driver received a follow-up message from the customer.
The customer claimed that the $20 tip was mistakenly given to the driver.
According to the customer, their son had assumed that the $20 was the cost of the meal, not realizing that his mother had already prepaid on the DoorDash app. “The boy made a mistake and gave you that money thinking that he was paying for the food,” the customer wrote to the driver.
The driver offered to bring back the $20 or send the customer the money through a mobile payment platform such as Zelle. Ultimately, the customer asked the driver to drive the $20 back to them.
I’m sorry for asking but can you bring it back?” they wrote in a message.
“Her kid accepted the order and handed the tip,” the driver explained on the Reddit post. “She should’ve told him what to do when he answered the door.”
The driver was not the only one feeling bitter that he did not get to keep the $20.
Reddit users believed that the customer should not have made him drive back to return the money after a mistake that she made.
“Shame on them for asking to bring it back even if it was by accident, it's very awkward for the driver,” one user commented.
“They ended up costing the driver money they could have been making doing their next delivery,” another user pointed out. “I would have told the customer to contact support.”
“Even if that was my last $20 I wouldn’t ask the driver to bring it back,” another shared.
Others noted that if the customer was so frugal about money, then she should not have been placing DoorDash orders in the first place.
The situation begs the question of whether or not customers are entitled to ask for a tip back after they have already given it to customer service workers, including restaurant wait staff and delivery drivers.
According to labor lawyer Micheal Bagraim, it all depends on the situation.
"If a customer requests the tip back it is in fact not for the restaurant to give it back but for the individual owner of the tip. There are no circumstances when the restaurant is forced to give it back as they are the mere custodians of the tip,” Bagraim told Fin24.
However, he added that “there may be circumstances in which it is deemed fair to return the tip; for example, if the patron in question were under the influence when giving a very generous tip.”
As for DoorDash customers, the company claims that they can adjust their tip amount after they’ve received their order by contacting customer service support and filing a claim. DoorDash drivers receive 100% of tips that go toward their orders.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.