investigation motive
Ordering food through takeaway platforms has become a dining choice for many people. Due to considerations such as smooth consumer rights protection and internal management, most takeaway platforms have set up an evaluation mechanism for takeaway brothers. However, this evaluation mechanism is somewhat out of shape in practice – consumers are not satisfied with the service and give bad reviews. The takeaway brother was fined for working for a day, which caused conflicts between the two sides, and even caused some disputes. An evaluation mechanism with good intentions, why has it become a "trigger" for conflicts?
I ordered takeaway, and it was one hour beyond the delivery time. Call the takeaway brother, and the takeaway brother hangs up; call the merchant, and the merchant says the takeaway brother didn’t come to pick up the meal.
After being hungry for more than an hour, Beijing citizen Jiang Xuelian was ready to complain. The merchant kept explaining to her that the delivery brother was not easy, and customer complaints would lead to the delivery brother being deducted.
In the end, Jiang Xuelian chose to admit that she was unlucky. Jiang Xuelian did this not because she was persuaded by the merchant, but because she was worried about harassment, retaliation and even more extreme behavior due to complaints or bad reviews.
These concerns are not unfounded, but there are already cases. "Although there are user evaluation mechanisms for online shopping, takeout, etc., but look at the threats and injuries caused by bad reviews, who would dare to complain or give bad reviews," Jiang Xuelian said.
What happened after giving a bad review?
"I may be a little stubborn, but I really can’t bear it." This year, Beijing resident Xue Qi gave bad reviews after ordering takeout twice, which in the eyes of friends is only done by "female men".
This was the first time that Xueqi had ordered the takeaway with red oil, but when she received the takeaway, she found that it was clear soup and water. Xueqi negotiated with the merchant and got a reply: "Sorry, the chef is new here, something went wrong in her busy schedule, you can just eat it, it won’t be like this next time."
"After saying this, the merchant hung up the phone directly. For merchants with this attitude, of course, they have to give a bad review. However, thinking that the takeaway brother delivered it in advance, I gave the product 1 star and the takeaway quality 5 stars." Xue Qi said that when she checked the merchant’s homepage again, she found that the merchant’s homepage showed that she gave an average score of 3 points for the takeaway order. "I later found out that if I want that order to have only 1 point, it means that I have to give the takeaway brother a bad review, but the takeaway brother will be deducted from his salary for a few hundred yuan. In the end, I still felt sorry for the takeaway brother and gave up the idea of giving a bad review. This experience taught me that even if it is delivered on time, the delivery guy will still be affected by such a scoring system. "
The second time I gave a bad review was because a takeaway platform has opened a on-time delivery service, and if it is delayed, it will be compensated. "At that time, I ordered at a relatively remote place. Usually, when I ordered food at that time, the delivery time would be 20 minutes later than expected. I wanted to see if the on-time delivery service of the takeaway platform could really be delivered on time. After ordering, the on-time delivery time passed, but the takeaway staff ordered it and it was delivered when it was still two kilometers away from me." Xue Qi said that she chose to complain.
However, what Ling Xueqi didn’t expect was that the next day, the delivery brother called and begged to withdraw the complaint. "The delivery brother said that he was deducted 300 yuan because of this complaint. After receiving the call, I asked the customer service’withdraw the complaint, what should I do ‘. The reason for saying this is to test whether the platform cares about the customer’s reason for withdrawing the complaint. As a result, the customer service quickly replied,’ If you agree, I will withdraw the complaint for you ‘. After confirming that he agreed to withdraw the complaint, the delivery brother never contacted me again."
"Through these two complaints, I realized that the various disputes between the delivery brother and the customer reported by some media were the product of this simple management method. It was the delivery company that put the delivery staff and the customer on the opposite side," Xue Qi said.
You can check who gave a bad review in the background.
In the interview, the reporter learned that in order to attract more consumers, some takeaway platforms have set up a reward and penalty system for their "riders". For example, if the food is not delivered within the specified time, the takeaway "rider" will be deducted 20 yuan; if the customer complains (overtime is one of the main reasons for the complaint), 200 yuan will be deducted. However, the basic salary of the takeaway "rider" is only 3,000 or 4,000 yuan a month, and it must be guaranteed that more than 600 orders will be delivered a month to get the basic salary. More than 600 orders will be rewarded according to each order, and once the money is deducted, it is equivalent to 3 orders being given away for free, and the complaint is equivalent to a day in vain.
Gu Feng (a pseudonym) is a delivery staff of a takeaway platform. He told reporters that before taking up his job, the platform will provide relevant training on preventing complaints or bad reviews. For example, if a customer does not answer the phone, he usually waits 5 minutes to send a text message. The content of the text message is similar to "Hello, I am a delivery staff. I will deliver food to you. If you are not here, you have to deliver other food first. Please call back quickly when you see it. I wish you a happy meal." "These are all templates. If the time is very short, you must come back to deliver to this customer first; if it is indeed far away, you must discuss with the customer. In addition, for the situation of missing meals, be sure to explain to the customer. If the customer says it’s okay, then there is no need to pay; if some meals can’t be eaten without soup, most of them have to pay. I have paid a bowl of beef noodles, more than 30 yuan. In the words of our webmaster, bad reviews and complaints depend on your service attitude, overtime cannot decide the complaint, attitude is decisive. In addition, if a customer gives us a bad review, we will not be deducted, only if the service attitude is not good will be deducted. "
At the same time, Gu Feng also revealed to reporters that the so-called "anonymous evaluation" of many platforms cannot be anonymous at all. The experience of some consumers confirms this statement.
Last month, Liu Rui, a white-collar worker in Beijing, gave a bad review to the delivery guy because of the delivery timeout problem. Then, Liu Rui received a call from the delivery guy and asked why she gave the bad review. Putting down the phone, Liu Rui realized a question. She was obviously anonymous. Why did she still receive this call?
In September, a takeaway ordered by Yang Chunwei, a Beijing resident, was delivered an hour later than expected because the delivery brother took the wrong meal at the restaurant. Half an hour after delivery, the delivery brother started calling Yang Chunwei and asking him why he gave a bad review. "I said I didn’t give a bad review, but he said I asked my friend to check it in the background. Later, the delivery brother texted that the merchant gave a bad review. This means that the delivery brother can find out who gave a bad review through the background within a few minutes. The so-called anonymous review has no use for anonymity."
In this regard, Gu Feng did not say much about the specific method of background inquiry, but said, "The takeaway brother can check the consumer’s name, address, and contact information according to the historical order within one day. Generally speaking, the app will automatically block the customer’s information one day after the order is completed. However, as long as the customer comments, the backstage can still check it immediately. Therefore, the customer can comment the next day after the order is completed, so that although the takeaway brother can recall which order gave a bad review, he can’t remember the customer’s information, unless the takeaway brother has the habit of taking screenshots and recording customer information every day."
The evaluation and punishment mechanism is criticized
The reporter found in the investigation that many takeaway brothers expressed "very helpless" about the bad review mechanism.
Hu Haicheng, who also works as a delivery boy in Beijing, said that there are often reports of food delivery rides and casualties. "We are also very helpless. The delivery time card is too tight, and our rules and regulations are particularly strict. A complaint call will result in a fine."
Hu Haicheng said that the most serious penalty is the delivery staff who ordered delivery in advance, and was fined 500 yuan. Generally, complaints will be fined 200 yuan, but depending on the situation, sometimes the fine will be 500 yuan, and sometimes it will soar to 2,000 yuan. Gu Feng agreed with this point. "If the customer calls to complain, just say four words: bad attitude. Then the delivery brother’s 2,000 yuan will be gone."
During the rainy season in July this year, Hu Haicheng was busy from noon to evening, and there was no time for a sip of water in between. There was a takeaway at that time, which was half an hour late. "I kept apologizing to the customer, but as soon as I went downstairs, they gave me a bad review." For this bad review, Hu Haicheng was fined 200 yuan.
As for the reasons for giving bad reviews, Gu Feng said, "Most of them are because the delivery is too slow." However, there are many reasons for the slow delivery. "Sometimes it’s not the delivery guy’s problem, but when the customer is angry, they can’t listen to the explanation. If the delivery is slow and the review is bad, no matter what the reason is, the delivery guy can still figure it out. However, because the merchant doesn’t taste good, the delivery guy gets a bad review together, which makes people especially angry. The company won’t listen to the explanation, but will only ask the delivery guy to get the customer’s understanding." Gu Feng said, "However, not every customer can make sense. So, meeting some customers who can’t listen to the explanation is equivalent to a hard day in vain."
"Some takeaway platforms handle bad reviews roughly. A bad review will deduct two or three hundred yuan, which means that the takeaway brother will lose all his salary for a day because of a bad review. In addition, the takeaway brother has very few appeal channels, and most of them can only find ways to get the customer’s forgiveness." Cheng Rui, who has done research on the takeaway market and has been experimenting with the takeaway industry for more than a year, told reporters.
"The service evaluation system involves the interests of three parties – consumers, service personnel, and company management. The establishment of a service evaluation system is of course to safeguard the interests of the company’s management. Because the interests of the management are linked to the company’s income, and the company’s income is related to consumer choice. The quality and attitude of service personnel directly affect the choice of consumers and the company’s income. Naturally, the company’s management needs a service evaluation system." Cheng Rui said that after the management adopts the service evaluation system, it is necessary to deal with bad reviews. "Objectively speaking, there are many reasons why consumers give bad reviews, not necessarily the fault of the service personnel. For example, if the food is delivered too late, it may not be due to the inattentive delivery of the courier, but it may be due to bad weather. However, in terms of measures to deal with bad reviews, the management often chooses to be lazy, not to distinguish the reasons why consumers give bad reviews, but to think that as long as the money is deducted, the problem can be solved. "
In the eyes of the industry insiders interviewed, consumers’ bad reviews have become the reason for management to deduct wages, which is the root cause of the problem. As service personnel, there is no complaint mechanism for bad reviews, and they can only silently accept the results of bad reviews.
"The evaluation system was originally used as an auxiliary means to improve the service level, but the management of the enterprise did not use the evaluation data in this way, nor did it have supporting procedures to improve the service level, which resulted in the service staff or the serviced to bear the relevant contradictions." Of course, the service evaluation system is also important for consumers to protect their rights, Cheng Rui said, and it cannot be said that bad reviews will bring harm to people who are "not easy". If you want to change this situation, you need to further refine the service evaluation system. Bad reviews need to give reasons, and service personnel can appeal and defend. The company can punish service personnel or improve objective conditions according to the specific reasons for bad reviews.
