With the advancements in artificial technology, there are growing fears that these intelligent machines will render many of our jobs obsolete.
But there’s one job that an intelligent bot will never be able to do effectively: customer service.
And this little tale of an incompetent foodpanda support employee makes this abundantly clear.
Advertisements
An Unfortunate Menu Change
These days, if you’re hungry at 3am in the morning, you don’t have to rummage through your fridge for a 3-day old sandwich that most dogs wouldn’t eat.
With just a few taps of your thumbs on your phone, you can have your favourite meal delivered to your doorstep within 20 minutes.
But that’s not exactly what happened to Facebook user Kitty when she tried to order a McDonald’s meal from foodpanda.
After arriving at the outlet, her rider discovered that they had changed the menu after the order, so they couldn’t prepare the food Kitty wanted.
So the rider informed Kitty, and told her that McDonald’s asked her to cancel the order.
Frustrated, Kitty contact foodpanda’s support team, but her woes would only grow.
foodpanda’s Online Support Replied Like Mark Zuckerberg
Kitty explained the situation to the support team, hoping they would cancel her order for her.
But the foodpanda employee seemed to have trouble understanding what the customer was saying.
Advertisements
Kitty must have wondered if Mark Zuckerberg was working for foodpanda, because his generic, template-like response didn’t address the customer’s concerns.
And this continued throughout their conversation. The foodpanda employee also started calling Kitty dear for some reason, as if he were her grandfather.
What must have irked Kitty is that the foodpanda employee seemed to believe the information on the app over what the customer was saying.
For instance, despite being repeatedly told that McDonald’s asked her to cancel her order, the foodpanda employee insisted that her food was being prepared.
Rider Confirmed The Customer Has to Cancel Her Order
Confused and probably annoyed, Kitty contacted her rider once again and told him about the instruction she was given by the foodpanda employee.
Advertisements
The rider confirmed that the support team needed to cancel the order, as McDonald’s changed their menu and could no longer prepare the meal she ordered.
“Kindly Wait For the Order”
Despite sending a screenshot of her conversation with the rider, the bot/foodpanda employee simply asked her to wait for her order.
Yes, she was told to wait for a non-existent order that would never come.
In spite of her frustrations and hunger, Kitty was thankful to the rider for helping to resolve the issue.
And since the support staff refused to cancel the order, the rider had to deliver her order without any actual food.
Advertisements
At this point, Kitty lost it and asked if the foodpanda employee was human or a bot.
The customer was then given two options:
- Wait for her food to be delivered, even though there was no food in the first place
- Cancel her order but pay for it anyway
Kitty’s post has since been shared over 2,300 times.
It’s unclear if the issue was resolved, but foodpanda has since responded.
foodpanda Investigating the Matter
Speaking to Mothership, a spokesperson for the food delivery firm said that they were “truly sorry for the frustrating incident”.
They are currently investigating the matter and have been in touch with the customer, hoping to rectify the issue.
Advertisements
“We take customer feedback very seriously and are taking steps to ensure that protocols are adhered to by our customer service teams, riders, and merchant partners to ensure the best possible experience for everyone,” the spokesperson said.
I guess we’ll never know if the foodpanda employee Kitty spoke to truly was a human.
Featured Image: ThamKC / Shutterstock.com & Facebook
These five GRCs could see the tightest battle in GE2025; here’s why:
Read Also:
- Trump Exempts Electronics from 125% China Tariffs, Sparing Smartphones and Computers
- Elderly Charity Shop Owner Baffled by Over 50 Boxes of Mystery Donation Blocking Store Entrance
- DNA from Two Men Discovered on Murdered Singaporean Woman’s Clothing as Court Orders Comparison with Main Suspect
- Former Police Officer Convicted in Fatal Maid Abuse Case That Left Victim Weighing Just 24kg
- Teen Arrested in Johor for Selling AI-Generated Fake Nudes of School Peers for RM2 Each
