I did not grow in the kitchen seeing my mom make meals for the family because she was mostly focused on work. She heavily relied on nannies, so I did not learn cooking while young. I learned how to cook when I was already 40. U-huh and it was never too late, I guess! Haha!
As a single mom I find it difficult to balance my time for all our needs so sometimes when my kids are hungry the best option for me is to go for food delivery. My son has Grab Food on his phone, but I have Food Panda.
One time, I ordered 1 cheesy roast beef wrap, 2 creamy spinach wrap and 1 lasagna supreme snack plate from Greenwich SM Ecoland via Food Panda.
Greenwich used to be a small store at the Greenhill's Shopping Center in San Juan City, Metro Manila 1n 1971. The founder named her store “Greenwich” in honor of her first customers who were from La Salle Greenhill's and whose school color was green. In 2006, Jollibee Foods Corporation bought Greenwich and named it Greenwich Pizza. Starting with 50 stores in 1994, Greenwich Pizza franchise expanded to 240 stores in 2005, and counting until today.
Going back to my story, after I placed my order was confirmed, I thought everything was okay until I noticed that it was over 25 minutes already. Food Panda said it will be delivered in 25 minutes.
I wondered why there was no food delivered and I did not receive any call. So, I asked my daughter and got worried. She checked my phone and saw that Food Panda notified me that they had to cancel my order because they could not reach me.
A continuation of that message said that we were not eligible for refund assuming that it was our fault.
I got pissed knowing that all food I ordered for delivery by Food Panda in the past were successfully delivered.
In case the riders were not sure of my exact location, they usually called and asked for instructions on how they could find my address. So, telling me that the rider could not reach me was unacceptable to me. My phone was on, and I did not receive any call or message for clarification of my address. It was wrong for them to cancel my order.
Upon checking my email, it was confirmed that my order was cancelled.
I then thought how come I was notified with “We’re unable to process a refund for this order.” when their policy says otherwise. Customers can have a refund if they do not receive their orders, if they received spoiled food, if they got the wrong order, if it was the vendor who cancelled the order. I think we qualified for this last condition, but there was no way I could argue with anyone from Food Panda because their hotline number is always so busy.
if I sent them my complaint via email, it would still take days to process the whole thing, or they might even just ignore it!
To make sure my money won’t be wasted, I told our helper to rush to Greenwich SM Ecoland and complain about what happened. To his surprise, he arrived in Greenwich at the same time the rider returned the food. What a relief!!!!
So, who was at fault here? Food Panda, Greenwich or the rider? For me, it was the rider’s fault. If he could not locate my address, he should have had the initiative to double check the address, call or text me, or ask the neighbors about our street.
Greenwich on the other hand must make sure that all riders affiliated with them are resourceful, after all, they have their cellphones with them.
Finally, Food Panda must review their policies and check inconsistencies. Inconsistency is also negligence that might lead to financial loss and ruined reputation.
Earlier this evening, we ordered for food again, but we shifted to Grab Food already.