Instacart users frustrated with lack of customer service

ORLANDO, Fla. - Instacart customers say it's a great service when it works. When it doesn’t work, they say there's almost no help at all.

Jason Martinez was looking forward to sharing a gourmet meal with his husband that he said wasn't cheap. He'd ordered steak and seafood through the delivery app Instacart, but he said it never showed up at his door.

“I said just put the stuff in the cooler that I'm leaving on my front doorstep,” Martinez said, “she said OK. Less than 10 minutes later she said she delivered the item and that was the end of that. Because once they deliver you just don't have any contact with it.”

Not only did he not get his food, he also hasn't gotten his money back. “I don't think they've handled it at all. I'm still waiting on a response right now and I get that they're overwhelmed and busy but I feel they should have some processes in place to handle these type of things.”

Jason Brower said Instacart seemed like a wise move for him, with his older parents-in-law visiting from overseas. “Which we'd never tried before, so it seemed like a good thing to do to limit our contact with other people,” he said.

Brower said $140 worth of food never showed up at his door, though. “The delivery time came and went, the next message from Instacart was 'Congratulations, your order's been delivered.' We received nothing.”

After getting nowhere with Instacart’s customer service, he eventually reported the driver to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. Deputies are investigating the case, but Brower did get his money back. Holly Salmons, from the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, said that with everything that was going on, it may be best trying to contact Instacart, first.

“Really you should follow the customer service route and even file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau if you feel it necessary,” Salmons said.

In a news release, Instacart said demand for their service was up 300% over last year, and they hoped to have 18,000 customer care agents helping clients resolve these issues by next month. The BBB said even confirming your address though, may also help. “And you find that you accidentally instead sent groceries to your office or a loved one's house instead of your own home, it could have been a misunderstanding,” said Salmons.

Martinez and Brower both said they doubted they’d ever use a grocery delivery service again.