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Some Instacart customers are losing hundreds of dollars on orders that never arrived, according to local news reports.
Instacart users say they have lost or had to recoup hundreds or even thousands of dollars when their orders of groceries and other retail goods never showed up. The causes seem to include Instacart shoppers who start shopping customer orders but then take the goods for themselves and, in some cases, add more items, according to the news reports.
The problem is particularly pronounced for Instacart customers who link the app to their bank account, Zelle, Paypal, or similar payment services where users usually hold a balance, Dave Hatter, a cybersecurity consultant with Cincinnati-based Intrust IT, told local TV station WLWT.
"Just like you can get a bad Uber driver, you can get a bad Instacart shopper," Hatter said.
WLWT cited one customer in Northern Kentucky who recently placed an order worth about $200 at a local Kroger through Instacart. The customer reportedly got a notification that the shopper was on the way with the order. But they never received it, according to WLWT, and her bank account was charged for it.
"I don't think there's any way you can avoid this kind of scam if you're going to use a service like this, especially when you have what are essentially third-party contractors that are probably getting extremely light vetting along the way," Hatter added.
Instacart told Insider that it runs background checks on its shoppers. The company also said shoppers can be deactivated for "fraudulent activity, violating applicable laws, failing to meet acceptable standards of service, or any other misuse of the platform." Kroger did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
One Texas family told TV station KDFW in May that they were charged roughly $850 after an Instacart shopper reportedly never delivered their grocery order. Later, they realized that the shopper added more than $600 worth of products they never requested to their order, which initially totaled $225. Kroger, where the order was supposed to be completed, told KDFW at the time that it was refunding the family.
A more extreme case this month involved an Ohio shopper whom Instacart reportedly charged almost $2,800 — 10 times the value of her actual order. Kroger said at the time that it processed an expedited refund for the customer and offered her a gift card.
Instacart shoppers have had to contend with declining earnings lately. Besides less demand for grocery delivery, Instacart cut base pay to $4 per order from $7, Insider reported last month. The cut is forcing some Instacart contractors to look for other jobs.
Are you an Instacart shopper or customer with a story to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@insider.com.
