foodpanda PHL cites glitch in riders’ 10-year suspension

foodpanda sent an open note to the media explaining the “offboarding” of some Davao City food delivery riders who complained about their reduced earnings.

foodpanda said the 10-year suspension imposed on the complaining riders was due to a technical glitch.

Here is the full explanation:

Dear friends in the media,

There’s been a lot of stories written about foodpanda in the past weeks. We’ve heard the feedback, and feel it might be helpful, and important for us to share the following with you, to provide more facts, and explain the factors contributing to these scenarios.

1. On July 13, 2021, foodpanda made the difficult decision to offboard 37 riders who were found to have violated the agreement which all foodpanda riders agree to. These violations included making fake bookings and instigating other riders to jointly breach their agreements with the company.

As of July 26, all the riders who were offboarded have been invited to small group dialogues with the foodpanda team to openly discuss the situation on each case, and the possibility of reboarding them.

2. The 10-year suspension message was sent to the riders due, in large part, to a system glitch: due to violations of the agreement described above, foodpanda’s intention was to inform the rider that they have been offboarded. In fact, this offboarding is mentioned in the accompanying text to the suspension message which states (in part): “Ang actions mo ay in violation of the said Agreement. Dahil dito, nais naming ipaalam sa iyo na offboarded ka na mula sa foodpanda.”

Unfortunately, our rider software did not recognize the offboarding option and instead, sent out the message for the 10-year suspension. Our technical team has taken all the necessary steps to address this error and we have explained the same to riders who have attended our invitations for open dialogue.

3. Rider fees are dynamic,and are calculated based on multiple factors that include the route and distance of the delivery, making the payment structure more organized and fair. Riders’ earnings on each order are transparent at the point of their accepting each order before proceeding. If an order falls under a Free Delivery campaign, foodpanda shoulders the full delivery fee so riders still get their full fee for those orders.

As a company, foodpanda is always working hard to keep operations running smoothly everyday – so that restaurants can get orders, riders can deliver them for a living, and customers receive satisfactory service. There are complex areas of balance that are critical so that everyone can be fairly compensated and satisfied. There are times when we fail to communicate better and we’re always open to feedback for improvements, but please rest assured that all communication channels are open especially to our hard working riders to express their concerns and feedback. We will continue to initiate and continue with regular dialogues to help riders better understand their earnings structure, and other benefits available to them.

We hope this gives you a good glimpse into the circumstances surrounding these recent stories, and help contextualise these incidents and the sentiments surrounding it.

Sincerely,

foodpanda Philippines