A Customer Went Viral After Showing How A DoorDash Shopper Botched Her Grocery Order. Now, She's Suggesting A Slightly Controversial App Upgrade.

If you're anything like me and your shoulders are constantly sore from lugging several grocery bags back to your house, being able to utilize delivery companies like Instacart and DoorDash is a lifesaver. Unfortunately, if you use these apps, you might also be no stranger to some pretty questionable item replacements or out-of-stock messages from your shopper when the items are normally in stock.

Online conversations around these negative experiences usually come from women claiming that incompetence from male shoppers is the reason why using these delivery apps has become increasingly frustrating.

One of the botched grocery order victims, who goes by @Sammiellenclare on TikTok, recently went viral when she received her DoorDash order and suggested an app update that would solve the problem: allowing customers to choose women to shop for them.

"If you are not the CEO of DoorDash or Instacart, keep scrolling," she starts explaining. "I am begging you to make an update on your app where I can request a female shopper." Her frustration came after she placed an order for five items, and allegedly, only one was correct.

@sammiellenclare / Via tiktok.com

Sammi then begins to unpack her order. First is a quarter gallon of Tuscan brand milk. According to her, she ordered a half gallon of store-brand milk. "You can't tell me that they didn't have store-brand milk because I have never been in there, and they have been out of stock of store-brand milk."

Next up is an "ultimate" Caesar salad kit; the original order was allegedly a "chopped" Caesar salad kit. This one didn't surprise her, though: "I'm not gonna lie; I was expecting this because you have to look slightly harder for the chopped Caesar salad kit, and a man would never. He would just pick the one he sees first."

The third item was a mozzarella log; her original order apparently contained mozzarella pearls. "Again, because you have to look slightly harder for the pearls, and why would he ever?"

The fourth and final "wrong" item was Land O'Lakes Butter with Canola Oil. Sammi had ordered the brand's Garlic & Herb Butter Spread. In her video, she says that she specifically asked her shopper not to substitute the spread if it was out of stock. "I actually messaged him and said, 'Hey, can you just not substitute that one and refund me if you can't find the garlic and herb?'"

@sammiellenclare / Via tiktok.com

The one item her shopper got correct? A jar of store-brand Italian seasoning.

Sammi then reiterates the need for an update to these apps, "I'm gonna need that update to where I can request a female 'cause this is fucking annoying."

@sammiellenclare / Via tiktok.com

As a former Dasher, Sammi usually tries to avoid making a complaint on the app, claiming that the fault often gets pinned on the delivery person. However, in this case, she requested and received a full refund since "this was the driver's fault."

@sammiellenclare / Via tiktok.com

Over 3 million people have now seen Sammi's video, and the comments are flooded with women who have had similar experiences with their male shoppers. The one that truly took me aback was someone who allegedly had their tampons substituted with white mushrooms.

Similarly, this person ended up with napkins instead of pads.

Another poor, unfortunate soul claimed their ground beef was substituted for a watermelon.

And this person received an ungodly amount of bratwurst.

We can't forget about this commenter whose shopper apparently figured bok choy and a single Brussels sprout were interchangeable.

On the flip side, plenty of commenters shared their positive experiences with female shoppers who went above and beyond, from item suggestions to double-checking produce.

In a statement to BuzzFeed, a DoorDash spokesperson told us that negative experiences like Sammi's "are extremely rare on DoorDash." According to them, "less than 1% of grocery orders are reported with missing, incorrect, or defective items." They did, in fact, contact Sammi afterward to give her DoorDash credits and redeliver the items she originally ordered.

We only reached out to DoorDash since it was the platform Sammi used, so we can't speak for other delivery services.

When it comes to replacements, DoorDash seems to function pretty similarly to other delivery platforms. As a customer, you can choose substitutions for out-of-stock items before placing your order or in real time by messaging your shopper. However, shoppers who have worked for DoorDash and other similar delivery platforms have claimed that it actually takes more effort to replace the item in the app versus shopping for the originally requested product. According to them, male shoppers seem to actively choose this option rather than putting in the effort to find the right item.

A quick dive into the r/doordash_drivers subreddit shows that the replacement pop-up looks a little something like this (obviously, this one seems to have been glitching out):

Other posts show prompts that pop up if a shopper marks an item out of stock, like this one that asks them to take a photo of the empty shelf.

While I can't confirm why this pop-up exists, customers have posted about asking their shoppers (who, again, are often men) for photos of a grocery store shelf when they get a notification that their item is out of stock, only to then spot the item themselves.

@tierralamour_ / Via Twitter: @tierralamour_

When chatting with my friend and former DoorDash driver, he told me that it could be somewhat of a "toss-up" whether or not you get a response from a customer about an item replacement. At that point, you have to make a decision "between waiting for a response or being able to get to your next order sooner." As a driver, he said he often felt pressure to get orders done quickly.

Stock updates would also sometimes be inaccurate. Although DoorDash told us they "work closely with our grocery partners to refresh stock availability data daily and sometimes hourly," my friend told me that if a product were marked as "low stock" or "one left," the store would often be completely out.

At the end of the day, it's hard to say whether Sammi's and over 11,000 commenters' experiences are due to incompetence, faulty apps, or maybe even something else. One thing is for sure: Many women across the internet seem to share very similar frustrating experiences with male shoppers and delivery drivers.

What do you think of Sammi's suggestion to request a female shopper on delivery apps? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

BuzzFeed also reached out to Sammi for comment, but did not receive a response.