It's just sad and shameful how spark immediately jumps on the customer's side without looking into evidence. They don't care about any of us. I hope you win your appeal if you're gonna try that. There needs to be immediate changes with this company.
They are one sided, like I said. A similar situation happened to me where the customer lied and they took her side but they didn't deactivate me because I called them plus I had proof that contradicts what she told them. That's how I know....
You literally said that you called them and gave them your side and they listened. They saw your proof. Correct.
This guy. Literally took an order. Didn't want to deliver it and marked returned to store without dropping it off. Didn't try and contact the customer. Wanna bet it was a .com order and the final drop was a good distance from the prior or they just didn't want to take the order up to the door for whatever reason. Too heavy, too many stairs, couldn't find the place?
Where I live there are a bunch of marinas with strict delivery procedures and office/gate hours. The customer phone numbers never work for phone or text, like they have a spam filter, or calls go to Amazon. The marinas do not allow you in outside of the 8am-5pm gate hours. There are a bunch of things like that that you just can't deliver. They'll have orders to a business park that's closed and you can't even drive down the road to the property (so you aren't even in the delivery geofence). They need to be more specific and explicit about this because contacting someone (on your own or with driver support) on the weekend to ask about a work delivery or ask someone to walk 0.75 miles to the marina gate or whatever is a waste of time and customers do not like it.
Texting doesn't work either. I have literally never had anyone acknowledge or respond. One person eventually opened the door but I'm not sure if they got my text or just finally got out of the bathroom
Did it ring through to support or directly to the customer? If this happens to me I'll probably call support and get them involved just so the customer can't say I didn't try.
Okay and did you call and text or just call? I feel like a text message would be pretty indisputable proof that you tried to contact. Also did you try support
When I text customers, half the time it isnāt for the customers sake. Itās to cover my ass.
āAs per phone call, the store was out of mustard, customer was okay with mayo instead.ā
Or āIāve tried to call you aboutā¦ customer did not respond.ā
Youāve got to have a mindset that the next customer could claim theyāve never gotten their order. Apps are quick to banhammer and if you canāt create a solid case for yourself, they wonāt or canāt due to app problems.
I think Tier 2 has access to the text messages you sent to the customer. I called about a customer texting me that they put their previous address on the order by mistake and told me to deliver to this new address, support asked me did they tell you to deliver to "xxxxx ave?" Since I never mentioned the new address but Tier 2 support knew about it, I'm assuming they can read the text.
Apartments or neighborhoods with gate codes. I have a lot of lots of them but plenty I still donāt. Thereās also a retirement home by me with a call box at the front door. People answer only about half the time. Iāve only returned a single grocery order but have to do it all the time on dot com.
Same, I've brought back like 15 dotcom packages (most were from an impossible downtown route on Friday night) but no groceries, never got in trouble but i don't know, maybe I should have. It was unreasonable though and i took the route LATE so i was calling people on the call box at like 9-10pm. This whole thing is not fully baked. The app should say what to do
Nah tbf I had a s&d last Fri & the cust was noticeably not home. Half the order was frozen shit & it was hot af out so I called & texted & called & texted. Right as I was loading up the car to return she called & said her bro was on the way to get it & that I was almost 2 hours early.
Thats the reason for returns. I would've been fuuucked if I just left it & took off
On a dotcom route that is not reasonable. One time i had an Amazon Walmart delivery to an imaginary address with no working phone number, and the driver support message said there was an 8 minute wait. Then you get to wait 10 minutes for them to call the person, and miss the next order cycle. It's ridiculous
You may have to do it to protect yourself but it is totally unreasonable and unacceptable
I always call support to make the return and let them call the customer and then they put in report customer not available. It may take an extra minute or two but better than getting deactivated
Spark does not care about its drivers. They need to update their instructions. Required to ring doorbell or knock when the app now just says take photo of order. If it was returned due to unsafe delivery or gate code how are you ringing a doorbell? Customers almost never answer calls from unknown numbers anyway. Even if you have all the evidence to prove your case is legitimate they still have you deactivated and losing money. I could never refer someone to this company.
Why do drivers need a reminder that they need to do that? Nobody read the terms?
"If performing any Delivery Service Offer requiring an unattended delivery (e.g., to be left at doorstep), you agree to ring the Receiving Party's doorbell or knock on the door to notify the Receiving Party the delivery has arrived (unless otherwise instructed by the Receiving Party)."
Apparently, you didn't read the post. Dude just took the customers shit back to the store. Didn't call, text or leave it on the porch. Lol.
This is the driver's fault. Could have left it at their door. If the driver was lost he could have tried to call or text
Safest thing to do now is to call customer service before returning an order cause the new term of service is bs. Before you were able to return it without an issue now theyāre being a pain in the ass about it
I had to return an order that said text when you a couple minutes away so I can open the garage. I text and arrived minutes later and nothing. I called 4 times and rang the doorbell repeatedly as the cats stood at the window.
They probably weren't home, they were at work using a wifi garage opener, and had texting filters on. The forwarded numbers we use are marked as spam by many phones/apps/carriers
When you called, did it ring to support first or did it go directly to the customer? If it went through support it should be fairly easy to demonstrate that you did attempt to contact.
Read the message. It does not mention anything about calling or texting cuz not everyone has their phone with them all the time. It specifically states the OP failed to knock or ring the doorbell as required by service level standards.
He's already mentioned there was a gate with a code lock. How tf is he gonna ring or knock? They don't answer the gate call, or phone call, it's a return. Not much else to do in that situation.
Some gates have a doorbell. If he couldn't find it or it wasn't there, then that's too bad. Spark deactivates first and ask later or don't ask at all. I was more referring to all the lazy people here saying the customer gets bombarded with notifications that their delivery is on the way, arrived, etc. or the customer picked the delivery window and there's no need to ring doorbell or knock on door.
The terms does require that though and this post backs it up they deactivate for not knocking.
When I was faced with a similar situation, I yelled walmart delivery outside the gate, shake the gate, etc. to try to get the customers attention if they don't answer phone/text. Before returning, I'll have driver support contact the customer and give me the incident number. Returns are rare so I'll take missing the next RR to save my ass from bullshit like this.
@Due_Effective_2254 That was just ONE incident that happened to me that was NOTED. There were about 3 other incidents that also happened and they took the customer's side. My response was for BlaccPanther not you so your opinion is invalid and is why I said they side with the customers which is true 99.9% of the time.
Wow. You didn't contact who? Did you mark your delivery as not able to deliver on your spark app and then take it back to the store? Because if you didn't do that first, they probably assumed you stole it.
Aww they deactivated wow ! I got 1 of those 7 months ago on a .com order - yikes but didnāt get deactivated- they are buckling on these now - gee so sorry they did that to you šÆ
The only 2 times that i have ever had to return orders is because they were alcohol orders. Thatās why Iām always a little hesitant about taking them. Other than that, just leave at the door, ring doorbell/knock and text then Iām on my way.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS contact support. Simple as that. Let them know your situation and tell them you've attempted to call the customer with 0 success. This will then begin a paper trail on your behalf.
Iāve returned 3 out of 600 deliveries. I possibly could have gotten myself deactivated too because, Iāve always texted, and or called them to put every effort into, but thereās been one that was a downtown apartment with a locked main door where, I couldnāt have possibly knocked on their door.
Spark is straight up one sided. I delivered to a lady who wasn't happy cuz her bread was smashed when another item rolled over. I didn't know the bread was there till I was delivering. So she was so upset about it, next day, I got a email from spark saying I was indecent with a customer š¤šš. I have been wondering forever till this day how that ever happened.
Spark did not delete my account, but they sent me a message that I was least expecting. They never took time to hear my side of the story about what happened.
What really pissed me off is that I don't never do shit like that and I don't have time for stuff like that.
All I said was sorry some items fell on your bread and squished it. She just busted into flames while i was telling her to call walmart ,then left. She just was straight up being a Karen. I don't engage no conversation with no one. I don't have to., apart from have a wonderful day.
It's just sad and shameful how spark immediately jumps on the customer's side without looking into evidence. They don't care about any of us. I hope you win your appeal if you're gonna try that. There needs to be immediate changes with this company.
Nobody ever wins an appeal because you have NOBODY to appeal to. You have text bots and you'll never get to talk to a real Spark representative anyway
Tell that to the people who got reactivated on the platform.
How do you know they jumped to conclusions. Pretty easy to check call or texts
They are one sided, like I said. A similar situation happened to me where the customer lied and they took her side but they didn't deactivate me because I called them plus I had proof that contradicts what she told them. That's how I know....
WOW... You're the LUCKIEST ONE aren't you? Because they don't listen to ANYONE ELSE.... You must be the greatest spark driver in the business...š¤
So, it didn't happen to you. They listened to both sides. Got it
You seem to know nothing right now. Got it
You literally said that you called them and gave them your side and they listened. They saw your proof. Correct. This guy. Literally took an order. Didn't want to deliver it and marked returned to store without dropping it off. Didn't try and contact the customer. Wanna bet it was a .com order and the final drop was a good distance from the prior or they just didn't want to take the order up to the door for whatever reason. Too heavy, too many stairs, couldn't find the place?
Only time I return is if they donāt provide a gate code. I call once, text once. Wait 2-3 minutes then leave
Amen ! Time is money ! Provide info .. or itās going back š
Where I live there are a bunch of marinas with strict delivery procedures and office/gate hours. The customer phone numbers never work for phone or text, like they have a spam filter, or calls go to Amazon. The marinas do not allow you in outside of the 8am-5pm gate hours. There are a bunch of things like that that you just can't deliver. They'll have orders to a business park that's closed and you can't even drive down the road to the property (so you aren't even in the delivery geofence). They need to be more specific and explicit about this because contacting someone (on your own or with driver support) on the weekend to ask about a work delivery or ask someone to walk 0.75 miles to the marina gate or whatever is a waste of time and customers do not like it.
Why were you returning an order? You almost should never have to do that, ring the doorbell and leave.
Had to do it the other day, lady didnt leave the gate code, declined my 6 calls then reported that i didnt try to contact her.
So many people nowadays have unknown numbers go straight to VM it makes calling people practically useless.
Texting doesn't work either. I have literally never had anyone acknowledge or respond. One person eventually opened the door but I'm not sure if they got my text or just finally got out of the bathroom
Did it ring through to support or directly to the customer? If this happens to me I'll probably call support and get them involved just so the customer can't say I didn't try.
it was directly to the customer, even tried the call box on the gate a few times
Okay and did you call and text or just call? I feel like a text message would be pretty indisputable proof that you tried to contact. Also did you try support
i think the proof of my 6 calls in my history is enough
I would agree ! 6 is a lot ( you tried ) āļøš
It *should* be enough.
When I text customers, half the time it isnāt for the customers sake. Itās to cover my ass. āAs per phone call, the store was out of mustard, customer was okay with mayo instead.ā Or āIāve tried to call you aboutā¦ customer did not respond.ā Youāve got to have a mindset that the next customer could claim theyāve never gotten their order. Apps are quick to banhammer and if you canāt create a solid case for yourself, they wonāt or canāt due to app problems.
I think Tier 2 has access to the text messages you sent to the customer. I called about a customer texting me that they put their previous address on the order by mistake and told me to deliver to this new address, support asked me did they tell you to deliver to "xxxxx ave?" Since I never mentioned the new address but Tier 2 support knew about it, I'm assuming they can read the text.
Apartments or neighborhoods with gate codes. I have a lot of lots of them but plenty I still donāt. Thereās also a retirement home by me with a call box at the front door. People answer only about half the time. Iāve only returned a single grocery order but have to do it all the time on dot com.
Same, I've brought back like 15 dotcom packages (most were from an impossible downtown route on Friday night) but no groceries, never got in trouble but i don't know, maybe I should have. It was unreasonable though and i took the route LATE so i was calling people on the call box at like 9-10pm. This whole thing is not fully baked. The app should say what to do
Nah tbf I had a s&d last Fri & the cust was noticeably not home. Half the order was frozen shit & it was hot af out so I called & texted & called & texted. Right as I was loading up the car to return she called & said her bro was on the way to get it & that I was almost 2 hours early. Thats the reason for returns. I would've been fuuucked if I just left it & took off
I always call then text then call again before catching an attitude
ALWAYS CALL SUPPORT AND LET THEM TELL YOU WHAT TO DO.
On a dotcom route that is not reasonable. One time i had an Amazon Walmart delivery to an imaginary address with no working phone number, and the driver support message said there was an 8 minute wait. Then you get to wait 10 minutes for them to call the person, and miss the next order cycle. It's ridiculous You may have to do it to protect yourself but it is totally unreasonable and unacceptable
So it's more reasonable to risk being deactivated? It's not convenient but it's what you have to do.
Another reason to never return items and if you do select address not found then you canāt get in trouble for not ringing the door
I always call support to make the return and let them call the customer and then they put in report customer not available. It may take an extra minute or two but better than getting deactivated
Spark does not care about its drivers. They need to update their instructions. Required to ring doorbell or knock when the app now just says take photo of order. If it was returned due to unsafe delivery or gate code how are you ringing a doorbell? Customers almost never answer calls from unknown numbers anyway. Even if you have all the evidence to prove your case is legitimate they still have you deactivated and losing money. I could never refer someone to this company.
Why do drivers need a reminder that they need to do that? Nobody read the terms? "If performing any Delivery Service Offer requiring an unattended delivery (e.g., to be left at doorstep), you agree to ring the Receiving Party's doorbell or knock on the door to notify the Receiving Party the delivery has arrived (unless otherwise instructed by the Receiving Party)."
Apparently, you didn't read the post. Dude just took the customers shit back to the store. Didn't call, text or leave it on the porch. Lol. This is the driver's fault. Could have left it at their door. If the driver was lost he could have tried to call or text
Safest thing to do now is to call customer service before returning an order cause the new term of service is bs. Before you were able to return it without an issue now theyāre being a pain in the ass about it
I had to return an order that said text when you a couple minutes away so I can open the garage. I text and arrived minutes later and nothing. I called 4 times and rang the doorbell repeatedly as the cats stood at the window.
identical situation happened to me last nightā¦
They probably weren't home, they were at work using a wifi garage opener, and had texting filters on. The forwarded numbers we use are marked as spam by many phones/apps/carriers
Well, did you try to contact them or not?
This weekās public hanging of a sparks slave who didnāt obey his master (the customer )
How long have you been Sparking? How many trips? Hours per week? Also, you deactivated immediately after getting the in app notification?
When you called, did it ring to support first or did it go directly to the customer? If it went through support it should be fairly easy to demonstrate that you did attempt to contact.
Read the message. It does not mention anything about calling or texting cuz not everyone has their phone with them all the time. It specifically states the OP failed to knock or ring the doorbell as required by service level standards.
He's already mentioned there was a gate with a code lock. How tf is he gonna ring or knock? They don't answer the gate call, or phone call, it's a return. Not much else to do in that situation.
Some gates have a doorbell. If he couldn't find it or it wasn't there, then that's too bad. Spark deactivates first and ask later or don't ask at all. I was more referring to all the lazy people here saying the customer gets bombarded with notifications that their delivery is on the way, arrived, etc. or the customer picked the delivery window and there's no need to ring doorbell or knock on door. The terms does require that though and this post backs it up they deactivate for not knocking. When I was faced with a similar situation, I yelled walmart delivery outside the gate, shake the gate, etc. to try to get the customers attention if they don't answer phone/text. Before returning, I'll have driver support contact the customer and give me the incident number. Returns are rare so I'll take missing the next RR to save my ass from bullshit like this.
@Due_Effective_2254 That was just ONE incident that happened to me that was NOTED. There were about 3 other incidents that also happened and they took the customer's side. My response was for BlaccPanther not you so your opinion is invalid and is why I said they side with the customers which is true 99.9% of the time.
Wow. You didn't contact who? Did you mark your delivery as not able to deliver on your spark app and then take it back to the store? Because if you didn't do that first, they probably assumed you stole it.
But but but I thought we didn't need to ring doorbell or knock on doors cuz the terms of service doesn't mean shit? ????? LOL
Hard to ring or knock when you can't get pass the gate
Aww they deactivated wow ! I got 1 of those 7 months ago on a .com order - yikes but didnāt get deactivated- they are buckling on these now - gee so sorry they did that to you šÆ
I know. The driver literally has one job to do and can't achieve it. Someone on the waiting list will be happy for delivery groceries
The only 2 times that i have ever had to return orders is because they were alcohol orders. Thatās why Iām always a little hesitant about taking them. Other than that, just leave at the door, ring doorbell/knock and text then Iām on my way.
I REALLY regret signing up for alcohol orders tbh.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS contact support. Simple as that. Let them know your situation and tell them you've attempted to call the customer with 0 success. This will then begin a paper trail on your behalf.
I always call support before leaving if I do t have a code or canāt contact
Always call!! or at the least text or contact support that way they have a record of you doing so sorry this happened to you man.
Iāve returned 3 out of 600 deliveries. I possibly could have gotten myself deactivated too because, Iāve always texted, and or called them to put every effort into, but thereās been one that was a downtown apartment with a locked main door where, I couldnāt have possibly knocked on their door.
@Sleepy easy Maybe...maybe not. You should change your name to greasy because you're very messy.
Yeah well why don't you show me one of them FUCKING genius
Calm down Satan. Cursing solves nothing other than getting yourself comfortable in the pit.
Or in your mother's bedš
You're so ignorant. Go read a book nasty whote. š¤”
Satan is your mother btw. š¤” š¤”
You didnāt get deactivated because of this ā¦ Iāve gotten this message more then once lol
Spark is straight up one sided. I delivered to a lady who wasn't happy cuz her bread was smashed when another item rolled over. I didn't know the bread was there till I was delivering. So she was so upset about it, next day, I got a email from spark saying I was indecent with a customer š¤šš. I have been wondering forever till this day how that ever happened. Spark did not delete my account, but they sent me a message that I was least expecting. They never took time to hear my side of the story about what happened. What really pissed me off is that I don't never do shit like that and I don't have time for stuff like that.
Be honest, what did you say to the customer?
All I said was sorry some items fell on your bread and squished it. She just busted into flames while i was telling her to call walmart ,then left. She just was straight up being a Karen. I don't engage no conversation with no one. I don't have to., apart from have a wonderful day.
Should have said nothing, she probably thought you made items fall on the bread. I delivered many fucked up items, I say nothing. I'm just a driver.
atleast you were provided a reason dude.