If you've ever looked at what you spend on food delivery in the course of a month and heaved a sigh of concern, you wouldn't be the only one.
The rise in app-based delivery services over the last decade has been due in part to the sheer delight of being able to order just about anything to be delivered to your doorstep, after decades of being limited to mostly Chinese food and pizza (well, unless you live in New York, that is).
But compounded with a global pandemic that restricted people from going to their favorite restaurants, not to mention making many too depressed to cook, app-based delivery services use shot into the stratosphere--and while it has dropped significantly since covid restrictions have been lifted, for many of us the habit has stuck.
All that said, if you happened to be browsing DoorDash (DASH) on the evening of July 7 trying to order dinner, you would have come upon a glitch that social media claims allowed them to order meals with no charge--leading to a debacle that could cost both restaurants and DoorDash a great deal of money.
What Happened With DoorDash?
On the evening of July 8, people started posting on Twitter (TWTR), TikTok, and Facebook (MVRS) that they were placing DoorDash orders and not being charged for them.
Many of the video posts showed large amounts of food being delivered. Some also posted screenshots of digital receipts in the DoorDash app showing orders they'd placed that would normally cost thousands of dollars, but instead cost nothing.
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While some were busy placing large orders, others were criticizing their actions on social media, saying they were stealing, as well as to point out that there would likely be retaliation on DoorDash's part.
DoorDash told TheStreet in a statement that the glitch was due to a technical issue.
"On the evening of July 7th DoorDash experienced a payment processing issue, and as a result, some users were able to check out without an authorized form of payment for a short period of time," the statement says. "We were subsequently notified that some users were placing fraudulent orders, and we immediately corrected the issue."
"We’re actively canceling fraudulent orders, and are in touch with merchants impacted to ensure they are compensated for any unauthorized orders they may have received. We work to ensure that we are always offering the highest quality of service to the communities we serve, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this."
TheStreet also asked DoorDash if action would be taken to address those who used the service to order large quantities of food, but as of the time of this writing it has not responded.
