Ordering experience with FoodPanda

I don't want to wash the dishes.

Usually it's "I don't want to cook" that's lamented when trying to justify getting takeout. But since both my parents are really good cooks and my sister's a chef, I think it's safe to say I don't lift a finger when it comes to zooming around the kitchen, unless it's cleaning time. Hence, I don't want to wash the dishes.

So, I persuaded the other adults in the house for some takeout through this relatively new online food ordering company, very much like citydelivery - Food Panda.



Right off the bat I discovered some bugs and other undesireables whilst using the site. Firstly, I entered my location - since the web app supposedly works best to curate restaurants within your area to ensure delivery.

Entering my location (or opening your laptop's gps) yielded with a small list (understandable since they're fairly new here) one of which is Kitaro. After choosing and entering my details, it said it couldn't process my order because it was "Outside of the restaurant's delivery area". 

Which I don't get, since the restaurant's name showed up when my location was validated by the site.


Thinking it was a kink. I decided to start over again - under the same restaurant, but it still yielded the same result. So I passed.

Next was Chooks to go.


Still outside the delivery area. Ugh. Adjusting my location a bit, to Pasig City main. My order went through and I decided to use the coupon code on the site that makes my orders' delivery free.



And it greeted me with a time constraint. So I can only use said voucher code for free delivery from 2PM to 4PM.

So I tried another restaurant. Within delivery area. Code was accepted. Then while I was waiting for the page to load "Order successful" or something of the like, this happens.



Absolutely fantastic.

I was pretty pissed, and about to just throw in the towel when I gave it another go.
I chose a sure-shot restaurant that's absolutely 100% within service area. Mandaluyong.

Finally.



It checked out.

After all that drama and exasperation, the food came. AND IT WAS NOT WORTH MY FCKING TIME.




Please, save yourself from ordering here. Yes it's cheap. Yes they deliver on time. Yes it's packaged nicely. And the delivery guy may have been good looking. But your neighborhood Karinderya would definitely taste so much better- without me having to taste it. 

It tastes like how it's priced. And let's just leave it at that.


The good points
The saving grace of this online ordering bruhaha, was their customer service. After ordering, I received an email - 2 emails in fact, a text and a call - stating that they just placed their order at my preferred restaurant and will be delivered around so and so. They spoke well too.


Conclusion
Despite having an awesome looking site (I seriously love it) and awesome before and after-sale customer service, the web app/site needs a LOT more work. A lot more.

Payment options are also constrained to payment via credit card and on delivery. But I emailed them asking about a PayPal option which would possibly implemented in the near future, and that's a good thing because I'm a PayPal user.

I wish they had more variety for the choice of restaurants though and were curated first before considering a partnership with them. Because, I would not order there again, for sure.

Do you have some online food ordering stories you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments!


xx,
CJ

2 comments:

  1. I agree with not wanting to wash the dishes and not wanting to cook so I usually eat out (before I go home or when I'm already out of the house) or order some take out or have my food delivered to my home. I order from the usual fast food chains - Jollibee, Greenwich, McDonald's, etc. And the worst service that I have ever gotten was from Jollibee. I ordered two burger meals which isn't rocket science - burger, fries and drinks. But when the delivery guy arrived, order's incomplete (they freaking forgot the drinks) and they didn't have change for my 500 when I already told the lady on the phone that I would be needing change for 500. And when the delivery dude left to get the drinks, I noticed that there was just one pack (?) of fries in the bag. So he had to go back the second time around. And to make things more frustrating, he was late the first time he got to my house.

    Times like this I wish I know how to cook. Hahaha

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  2. WHAT. They left out one pack of fries?!? Can't a girl order some burgers with fries, without having someone fuck up the order? Frequent customer rin ako before ni Jollibee delivery. One time nahiya nga ako because they knew me already which is you know normal, but in my perspective I'm like DAMN I order way too much from this particular establishment...Maybe I should try Wendy;s next time

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