The failures of delivery drivers and runners for a variety of app-based services have made their way to TikTok via unhappy customers.
Whether they attribute the mistakes made by their shoppers to an unfortunate coincidence such as their gender, or a shopper expressing an unwillingness to make any extra effort for customers based on lower tips, many aspects of ordering, purchasing, and receiving items through these apps are documented by both parties online.
It is more frequently done when the delivery process goes awry, or otherwise not according to plan. This was the case for a recent Uber Eats customer who ordered a COVID-19 home test through the delivery app and received a test for an entirely different condition.
A delivery gone wrong
In her TikTok which has drawn over 39,000 views as of Friday, software engineer and AI comedy content creator @alberta.nyc says she was delivered a pregnancy test instead of a COVID-19 test, and suspects the mixup was due to an automated intelligence-driven algorithm recommendation.
“I tried to order a COVID test today through Uber Eats and this is what I received,” she says in the video. “Advanced One Step test five days before your period. Didn’t know COVID was related to the period but hey, if it is 99% effective we’ll take it. This is unfortunately not a joke. As you can see here, I received the pregnancy test and it was a replacement for the COVID home test.”
She says she suspects the suggestion was made using an AI-driven system, based on what she has been able to glean from the actual CVS site’s recommended products for customers viewing the product page for the COVID-19 test. While she did not list a replacement COVID-19 test in the field allowed for it on Uber Eats, she says she figured common sense would lead the shopper to choose a suitable replacement, not an entirely different test altogether.
“If I go back to the CVS and see their top recommendations, this pregnancy test was their top recommendation,” she says. “The other options, by the way, are bandaids, a thermometer, a colon disease test, Advil and another pregnancy test. And yes, they do sell other COVID tests at this CVS.”
As for the driver’s part in this, she says she doesn’t know “how much autonomy delivery drivers have over what they select.”
“But I’m assuming if this popped up in some way, shape or form and the guy saw it, he just picked it up and bought it and didn’t think too hard about it,” she says.
@alberta.nyc If you thought AI rejecting my insurnace claim was going to be the end lf this “how AI makes our lives worse” saga think again! 🥴 #ai #ubereats #grocerydelivery #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Alberta 💾🤖
The Daily Dot has reached out to @alberta.nyc via comment on the video and email, as well as to Uber Eats via email regarding the video.
Delivery orders mishaps
Per UberEats policy, customers are not typically able to get wrong or missing items replaced in their order once received, but they can usually get a refund for the purchase price of those items if contacted within 48 hours of the incident.
Some viewers shared how they had personally been done wrong by shoppers for various delivery services, either omitting entire items from their order or making inappropriate substitutions.
“I will never forget the Walmart+ shopper who replaced my tampons with, not different tampons,” one commenter wrote. “Not maxi pads. No. Toothpicks. Toothpicks. He replaced my choice of tampons with toothpicks.”
“I ordered gummies, Welches fruit gummies,” another said. “The 1st recommendation to replace with was ‘wheelchair’, thank god I got the notification & cancelled it before the dude left the store.”
“I had a bean burrito replaced with veggie dumplings,” one said.
Whose fault is it?
Some viewers offered the shopper’s perspective of making such decisions when picking items that are out of stock, with several saying that the poster was correct in her assumption that the system simply picks a “suitable” replacement if the customer does not list a backup option.
“(On instacart at least) the shopper has to scan the barcode of the items,” one commenter wrote. “If unavailable they can only replace with another item from the list, even if theres generic/other options right there.”
“My partner used to do instacart and it does work the way you said,” another commenter wrote. “The driver is given an autogenerated suggested replacement, but they can override with a different replacement.”
“If they even saw the original item,” one said. “It could have just skipped it and told them to get the replacement outright.”
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