Skip Skip the Dishes

Last week, a friend of a friend found a problem with the food delivery service, Skip the Dishes and I thought you should know about it.

His credit card was denied on repeated attempts to order dinner so he moved on to his debit card. That was also denied. He decided to order a pizza instead and while he was on the phone with the pizza place, six delivery drivers arrived with six separate orders from Skip the Dishes!

There’s no one to call, no one to set it right. It’s an app that was obviously experiencing technical issues, but how was he supposed to know that? The six drivers milled around as they all tried to figure out what to do. The customer accepted the first order and refused the other five – tipping the drivers and apologizing. Then he called his credit card company to get them to cancel the unwarranted charges. He was surprised to find out that they wouldn’t help him. I wasn’t.

Long ago, I learned that credit card companies aren’t on your side. I booked a lakeside cottage after checking its references and noting its “pet friendly” policy. Lee Roy the Border Collie was no sooner putting a paw in the lake when the cottage manager came out screaming at me to, “get that filthy animal out of the water”! In her definition, “pet friendly” meant keeping Lee Roy inside a cottage all day, but he wasn’t welcome on the grounds. (Nowhere was this stated in their policy.) Not only did that defeat the purpose of bringing him with us, it was an especially hot and humid week. Leaving him in the cottage wasn’t just distasteful, it was dangerous. We packed up and left.

The credit card company refused to cancel the payment. If they have their clutches on your money, they will not let go. (Getting scammed and having your identity stolen are the only cases they will forgive.)

If you close a credit card account and forget to inform a creditor you’ve authorized to take an automatic payment from that card, the payment will still come out and you will still get a bill. In that respect, the account never really closes. (I have never had this happen but was recently told it was policy when I closed a card.)

There are two takeaways here. First, no matter what they claim, a credit card company does not care what happens to your finances or your dog. They will not defend you in a dispute over your own money. They’ll happily spend it with interest, even when you don’t want them to.

Second, a caution about using app-only services. When there’s no managing authority you can appeal to, you’re left holding the bag – or, in this case, six bags – if there’s a problem. My friend’s friend appears to be stuck with the entire tab.