DoorDash

DoorDash Review: Is It the Best Restaurant and Food Delivery Service for You?

By taking your order, sending it off to a restaurant, and assigning a Dasher to pick it up and deliver it to your doorstep, DoorDash is a technology company that promises to help connect the best local businesses to people in their cities.

Whether you sign into their website or app and need delivery to your home, office, or a nearby park for a group picnic with friends, the website advertises that they provide access to a huge selection of restaurants to help you satisfy your cravings. And after your order is placed, you can track it in real time, so you'll know exactly when it's set to arrive.

DoorDash has been in business since 2013 and has grown to serve more than 600 cities, while providing delivery services from 110K restaurants and employing 210K Dashers.

But, have they earned a reputation for always delivering five-star service? Are there other on-demand delivery companies that might provide better value? These are just a couple of the key questions we’ll explore in this brief article.

How Does DoorDash Work?

Overall, DoorDash works a lot like many of the other on-demand delivery services we’ve written about (more soon).

You’ll begin by entering a delivery address on the home screen, which is followed by a screen displaying each local restaurant’s name, the type of food they serve, delivery fee (if any), and current estimated delivery time, which they explain is “based on their evolving algorithm.”

DoorDash emphasizes that you’ll only see options “within a given distance from your location,” to ensure speedy, fresh deliveries. If you have a favorite restaurant outside this distance, you won’t have the option to order.

Clicking on a restaurant’s listing will display its hours and its overall user rating, or what DoorDash calls their "Delight" score. We’re told this aggregates factors like “delivery quality, restaurant popularity, and customer feedback” into a number ranging between one and 10. The higher the score, the more likely it is “you’ll be delighted.”

Dishes, prices, and images accompany all of these details, which can be filtered by Most Loved, Most Popular, and so forth.

Keep in mind that even if you’re able to view a restaurant’s menu, this doesn’t mean that they’re accepting orders.

A “Closed” or “Unavailable” designation indicates you’ll have to wait until they’re open to place an order, and “Busy” means that their “current delivery time exceeds [DoorDash’s] standards for a fast delivery, and [they’re] temporarily not accepting orders for that restaurant.” “Pre-Order” gives you the opportunity to schedule a delivery up to four days in advance.

Availability will also depend on restaurant hours and holidays, although the company begins delivering as early as 8 am and runs as late as 11 pm.

Clicking on a food or dish opens a pop-up box, where you’ll find images and available options, have the ability to instruct the restaurant what to do if they’re sold out of your choice (e.g., go with merchant recommendation, refund the item, contact me, etc.), along with a box where you can indicate any of your preferences. These include allergies, dietary restrictions, substitutions, or special preparations, which the restaurant will accommodate to the best of their ability.

Finally, you’ll add the item to your cart and check out. DoorDash gives customers the opportunity to choose items from different restaurants in the same order, although each restaurant will entail a separate delivery fee. As each order is received, picked up, and makes its way to you, you can track it live on a map in the app or on the website.

You can also adjust, cancel, or change the instructions for your order before the restaurant begins preparation, as well as your address until the Dasher picks up your food. Delivery instructions can be changed at any point during the process.

Although you’ll enter your email address and mobile number when checking out, upon arrival, Dashers will “ask for an ID and use proprietary technology on their smartphones to check the validity of a customer’s form of identification.” As such, make sure you have identification and the card used to make the purchase nearby when they show up.

How Much Does It Cost to Use DoorDash?

The DoorDash FAQ emphasizes that most menu items on the site are the same as you’ll find in-store. “In some cases,” they caution, “menu prices on DoorDash may be higher than in-store prices. We’re working to make prices even lower, so check back often.”

In addition to your order total, DoorDash will also include tax and a delivery fee, which will vary by region and business. At the time of our research, DoorDash offered to waive delivery fees for 30 days for all new customers, with free delivery on orders $15+ thereafter.

Some restaurants will also include an additional service fee of their own, and you’ll always have the option to tip your Dasher (strongly recommended, since they receive 100% of your tips).

You can view a restaurant’s delivery and services fees in advance by clicking on the Delight score from the menu page, as well as on the checkout screen before finalizing your order.

If you indicate special dietary restrictions, substitutions, or special preparations, an extra charge may be required. If so, your order cost will be adjusted after confirming with the restaurant, and they'll email you an updated receipt.

If you order alcohol and the Dasher can’t deliver it, whether you don’t have an ID, aren’t 21+, aren’t the same person who placed the order, or are clearly intoxicated, you’ll be assessed a one-time, non-refundable $20 restocking fee. This is said to cover “the cost of the Dasher's time and the value of the goods purchased from the merchant.”

DoorDash doesn’t have a set-in-stone refund policy, although the FAQ emphasizes that you should visit doordash.com/help if you encounter an issue, and they’ll “do everything we can to make it right.”

What We Learned from DoorDash Online Customer Reviews

Since writing our original article, nearly 40 HighYa readers have provided feedback about their experiences with DoorDash, giving them an average rating of one star. Most complaints referenced less-than-stellar delivery and customer support.

Among more than 330 customer reviews on BrightReviews.com, the company had a slightly higher average rating of about 1.5 stars, with many of the same complaints.

On the other hand, between iTunes and Google Play ratings, 120,000+ users gave the DoorDash apps a meaningfully higher combined average rating of about 4.4 stars. Compliments often revolved around ease of use, quick deliveries from pleasant Dashers, and the convenience it provides.

In addition to those noted above, the relatively few complaints also cited higher prices than at restaurants, along with limited menus compared to what’s available in-store.

DoorDash vs. GrubHub, OrderUp, Uber Eats, Caviar, and Other On-Demand Food Delivery Services

There are several other popular services competing directly with DoorDash, such as GrubHub (3.05% + $0.30 delivery fee per order; other fees vary by restaurant), OrderUp ($3.99 delivery fee), Uber Eats ($4.99 delivery fee, other fees depending on time of day), and Caviar (flat 18% service fee, $1.99 delivery fee).

Like DoorDash, these options provide the opportunity to browse photo menus, order delivery and pickup from local restaurants, schedule deliveries in advance, receive estimated delivery times, and track food after orders are placed.

However, several of other services also deliver additional items depending on your needs, including Postmates (groceries and liquor), Shipt (also includes meal prep), and Google Express (includes home and garden, electronics, sports and outdoors, and home improvement products). Which one should you choose?

Despite the variety of options at your fingertips, the reality is that selecting between DoorDash and another option is going to boil down to two primary factors: 1) If the service offers food from your preferred restaurant, and 2) if their delivery and other fees are worth the convenience of not having to leave home or work.

Is DoorDash the Right Restaurant Delivery Service for You?

The website advertises that DoorDash boasts the largest network among restaurant delivery options, with more than 600 cities currently served. So if you find yourself in a smaller metro region, this widespread presence might make them an ideal option.

On the other hand, DoorDash held an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, based on 220+ closed complaints, as of 8/17/18. Most of these referenced the same issues noted earlier, although it’s important to balance this with the app’s much higher average rating on iTunes and Google Play.

Whatever service you decide to go with, though, just keep in mind that you’re paying a premium for the convenience, so ordering frequently can quickly add up to a lot of extra money spent.