The Zomato Food Rescue feature, which was announced recently by Deepinder Goyal with an intent to reduce wastage of food from cancelled orders on Zomato, has been receiving mixed reviews. While on the one hand the initiative is being appreciated by a section of users, others have pointed out the potential misuse of the feature by the users and restaurants.
Also read: Zomato Initiative Puts Money Back in Delivery Partner Pockets
“validations on the new Zomato Food Rescue feature: 1.should not be applicable to COD, 2.Cancellation should not be allowed if the delivery reaches 500 m to the delivery point, 3.Chances of 2 idiots sharing meals ordering and cancelling at the same time getting a discount place , 4.Less than two cancellations are allowed per month,” said a user by the name Bhanu.
“Considering human psychology: No one is interested in a rejected or canceled order, Reducing the price can also reduce the perceived value and respect for the customer’s character, Changing your own established rules for profit or to avoid losses makes the customer feel like a scapegoat of selfish decisions, which is unacceptable to them, and Don’t play the victim in a problem you created; customers won’t tolerate this behavior. Think wisely and be considerate of customers’ emotions,” says another user by the name Rey.
Deepinder Goyal, while announcing the feature last week, had said: “The canceled order will pop up on the app for customers within a 3 km radius of the delivery partner carrying the order. To ensure freshness, the option to claim will only be available for a few minutes. Zomato will not keep any proceeds (except the required government taxes). The amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer (if they made payment online), and with the restaurant partner. Orders containing items sensitive to distances or temperature such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and certain perishable items, will not be eligible for Food Rescue.”
Users had also pointed out to the ambiguity in some of the points. “1. Tracking IP address could be vital to know same people using two/three accounts for ordering and purchasing food rescue. 2. Tracking IP won’t be enough as people can easily use VPN to mask the original one. 3. The Food Rescue shouldn’t be available to anyone. New account must buy first before being eligible for this. 4. People who are opening the app to order fresh and seeing a food rescue under a discounted price – these two motivations aren’t the same. Discounting the price is the only way to bridge the gap of motivations? Something on the line of Recognition of badges within the community can also motivate people. Rescuing more food could be an incentive that people might redeem later,” said another user by the name Dr Debate.
Deepinder Goyal has, however, allayed these fears saying there were enough checks in place to prevent the misuse of the Food Rescue option. “Let’s see how it goes. Hard to predict human behaviour. We are taking our best shot at reducing wastage with this one,” he added.
