Review of local Skip the Dishes food Delivery
During this past year, I have seen an influx of Smartphone apps like never before. As well as Smartphone, computers are equally invited to participate using these apps, so my following experience is written with a computer viewpoint.
Have you ever come home from work, hungry yet not interested in cooking and not wanting to have to get in the car again for shopping or takeout? Furthermore, the usual deliveries of pizza, and/or Chinese food just don’t interest your palette.
That’s when I came across Skip the Dishes. I had seen it online when I would search for restaurants, and I decided I wanted to give it a try. The premise of Skip the Dishes is that the company’s employees will go to restaurants (which only accommodate customer pick-up) and offer to deliver their customers' orders for a fee (I assume a % of the order). Given this is offered as a way to increase restaurant revenue without the restaurant having to hire a fulltime delivery person/car etc., it is worth a try. Once the restaurant determines it will use Skip the Dishes, it accepts responsibility for the order as well as the delivery costs and prep time. Skip the Dishes offers the delivery option to independent drivers and once accepted, the drivers receive a base pay as well as 100% of any tip the customer opts to provide.
Once one has chosen a restaurant (using the Skip the Dishes website which contains affiliated restaurants' menus) one will place an order online. Given Skip's secure payment site, I used my credit card (but I still guarded against credit card scams by using my reloadable card). Since the restaurant has predetermined the minimum order cost as well as any delivery cost, it is at this time one may choose whether one wants to include a tip for the driver. Upon seeing the total, one may decide a tip is not optional, or choose to provide a gratuity. Final step - place the order and pay for it.
Immediately one will see a Google-type map showing where the restaurant is, where the chosen delivery driver is, and where one's home is. One may track the entire transaction online while being offered live messaging chat if there are any problems. The first order I placed showed my home in the wrong area on the map, and after checking I realized I had written it incorrectly. The live chat allowed me to quickly provide a correction to the restaurant and driver. The estimated time of delivery is quite accurate, even the time I spent 45 minutes waiting for (what I thought was) a simple order.
I am the first to agree that delivery bumps up the price of the order considerably, but some evenings I just don’t care. If I am craving a specific main dish that can only be had if I go to a specific restaurant, I am willing to pay someone to pick up and deliver my order. The only confusion I was faced with was which restaurant to choose. Skip the Dishes has partnered with so many excellent restaurants, it was difficult to make a final decision.
I have used the company 5 times in the last 3 months. 3 of the 5 times, the experience was great. 1 of the times involved a lengthy (but expected) wait. And my last experience started off horrible, but to Skip the Dishes credit, ended professionally. Regarding the unpleasant order, I was annoyed at not receiving cutlery; part of the order being cold, and an important part of the order was missing. Initially, I was offered Skip the Dishe's credits, but as I pointed out I was so frustrated with the order, using Skip the Dishes again was not going to be a priority on any future To-Do list. Given the order delivered was not appetizing, Skip the Dishes provided a full credit card refund, which I certainly hope the restaurant honors as well.
After the dust settled, I reviewed my overall experiences and have to admit I will use the service again. Given the one time there was an issue, I felt they handled it professionally. So I will have to give the service an 8.5/10.
2 comments:
I have used Skip the Dishes for over a year and I have to say that it has been very convenient in the sense that I was tired of having to pick up my order due to no delivery. The only complaint I have would be that the drivers are to GPS dependent. My address includes the quirky 5 corners and drivers regularly miss my abode. I often beg them to use their eyes rather than rely on some computer telling them that my address does not exist (which they then relay to me). Aside from that, the extra expense of having someone else pick up my order is well worth it. (I do dislike the app's insistence on making me navigate a tip page them automatically wants me to calculate a 15% tip.) Nope, not gonna happen as I already paid extra for the delivery cost. (Hence my $18.00 order came out to be almost $30.00 although this is not a complaint - well worth every penny so I could stay in bed)
Post a Comment