Moments before her shopper arrived, a panicked Instacart user turned to TikTok, warning that her safety was in danger over… a pack of chicken breasts?
“So if I turn up [missing], I’m telling you right now,” TikTok user hallieelanaa (@hallieelanaa) said in a viral video with over 1,500 likes, “Casey did it. And I will explain.”
While feeling under the weather, hallieelanaa placed an order for chicken breasts over Instacart. But she was soon pinged by her driver, Casey, who claimed her shopper card was missing. In order to receive her order, hallieelanaa would have to pay Casey in person for the purchase.
Hallieelanaa “immediately” declined Casey’s reimbursement request “because that’s against the rules.”
“Like, you can’t ask someone for a personal payment,” she said on TikTok. “So, I texted her back saying I was not comfortable with that. And then I called customer service.”
Customer service makes it worse
Dealing with Casey’s odd request was just half of hallieelanaa’s worries. After contacting Instacart’s customer service, her support representative warned her that her order would require a three-hour delay for a replacement shopper. If hallieelanaa wanted her chicken in a similar timeframe, she would have to go through Casey.
Additionally, customer service warned that Casey “had multiple reports and bad behavior reviews for her behavior,” and she would be placed under review. This understandably spooked hallieelanaa, given she was stuck with Casey as her driver.
And yet, when asked about avoiding a potentially heated confrontation with Casey, customer service simply told hallieelanaa not to worry about it. If an incident did occur, Instacart said she should just “go through support again.”
“He didn’t really explain to me why they were OK with letting this person come to my house,” hallieelanaa said. “I don’t want this lady coming to my house if she’s having behavioral problems, and like, repeatedly getting reported.”
Bolting the door shut on this Instacart driver with multiple behavioral warnings
Hallieelanaa “immediately [bolted] the door shut” using a specialty rod to prevent intruders from entering after lockpicking a door, she said. (And yes, hallieelanaa shared a follow-up TikTok showing off the rod). The video ends with hallieelanaa panicking for her safety as she announces that Casey is “literally coming up to my house.”
“It just showed that she got to the parking lot, and I’m having anxiety,” hallieelanaa said. “What if she tries to talk to me? What if she demands payment from me?”
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she continued. “So if I die, it was Casey. She’s on her way up right now. I will update you if I’m still alive.”
She’s not alone
There’s a lengthy history of Instacart shoppers engaging inappropriately toward their customers. In 2023, the Daily Dot previously covered a disabled customer who said multiple shoppers “verbally abused” her, while others outright refused her order. This past year, a male shopper in South Carolina sent sexually explicit images and texts to his female customer, while a North Carolina user said her shopper threatened her over refunded purchases. Especially for female customers, abusive and harassing behavior is not uncommon on delivery apps.
Luckily for hallieelanaa, Casey didn’t pose any physical danger face-to-face. In an update, hallieelanaa said that Casey dropped off the food without asking for any payment. Instacart also reached out directly to hallieelanaa in a comment on her video, offering to review her order and stressing that the company prioritizes “the safety and security of our community members.”
And no, hallieelanaa won’t have any more anxiety attacks over deliveries from Casey: The company has prevented her from ever shopping for the TikTok user again.
@hallieelanaa Put this on 2x and sorry in advance for saying “like” about a thousand times but I’m anxious lol #instacart ♬ original sound – hallieelanaa
“But yeah, I’m alive,” hallieelanaa said in her follow-up post. “Casey does not have to go to jail.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Instacart and hallieelanaa for comment.
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