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[Singapore] - A GrabFood rider's perspective on how Grab overwhelmed LiHo with orders yesterday, but Grab became uncontactable throughout the chaos

UltimaOnline

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Photos & Videos of the Bubble Tea Chaos throughout Singapore :
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-makes-desperate-dash-final-031958415.html



A GrabFood rider's perspective on how Grab overwhelmed LiHo with orders yesterday, but became uncontactable throughout the rush (self.singapore)
submitted 3 hours ago by Varantain

Source: fb dot com /elfyhaikal/posts/10218951606734447
This encapsulates how i felt like at Ground Zero today due the Bubble Tea Shops temporarily halting businesses during this Circuit Breaker period. As a Grabfood Rider, 8.45pm i received order to collect bubble tea from Blk 461 Yishun Ave 6, at that time, i was actually pretty far away near to Khatib MRT, was actually surprised "wah! so far away get order there", as soon as got closer, i noticed a whole stretch of vehicles and bicycles and PMDs and PABs. So there i was at Ground Zero.
Firstly, It was the Liho Staff, They were overwhelmed with non-stop orders and no way to stop it from coming in. There were only 2 staffs working in that outlet and over 400 cups of orders + about 100 grabriders waiting there.. IF there ever was a time when keep social distance failed, it was there and then. (100+ riders confined to a pretty small space)
Secondly, GRAB itself (cannot speak for Deliveroo, but i heard Panda also has this same issue), they were uncontactable, the Liho staffs were trying to call in to GRAB hotline (majority of the riders there were grab riders) to tell them that they were truly overwhelmed and they couldn't get through to grab.
Thirdly, The Riders themselves looking for Rice Bowls (i am pretty sure the Waterway fight also is along this stance) our system is pretty bad actually, say, we have an order we couldn't complete, if we were to cancel it on our end, grab will not compensate us if we were to report it basically "You cancelled, not our pasal" However, if we were to call into grab and ask them to cancel on our behalf, we will be compensated for our time and effort, but, being uncontactable, most of us really have no choice but to cancel, some of us waited almost 2 hours for our orders and customers mostly refuse to cancel (mine was basically :teary eyed: please don't cancel, i don't mind waiting) but to no avail cause that outlet was beginning to run out of time and ingredients so they had to close their shop at 10.50pm. all other orders were rejected, i think over 80 of us didn't manage to get any orders complete, and since we can't contact grab, we basically forfeit our efforts there (2 hours waiting, no compensation)
End of the day, everything combined to a big and epic fail on the side of Singaporeans, this kiasu-ism have to stop. bodoh peh kambing.




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[–]pendelhaven 70 points71 points72 points 2 hours ago (6 children)
Actually imo lah, Grab has to bear the responsibility. Isn't it the responsibility of Grab to let the service outlet have the flexibility to decide whether to take in orders or not?
If all outlets have the capability to stop new orders, you guys wouldn't have a wasted trip.



[–]qwerty198317 6 points7 points8 points an hour ago (4 children)
Problem is the orders can flood in so fast u cant pause it fast enough. Because every kiasu person is going to think the same way, pay a bit more for the delivery guy to queue cos it is going to be 1-2hrs queue. Then they order 3-4 cups each.
Imagine just 10 orders come in, but each order 4 cups, thats 40 cups to prepare. By the time u realize how big the orders are, too late, you are swamped with more orders. Before u can pause the system, u are probably left with a backlog of 20-30 ordera each 3-4 cups.
And not forgetting the walk in crowd.



[–]frumperino 10 points11 points12 points an hour ago (1 child)
This reflects a critical lack of flow monitoring in these systems; over-simplistic models for orders with no built-in threshold alarms or throttle automation. Just watching the rate of backlogged orders growing should be a good decision basis for an automatic alarm to trigger.



[–]Intentionallyabadger [score hidden] 28 minutes ago (0 children)
That’s exactly how reporting systems work on social media platforms.
If your post or channel gets a sudden spike in reports, it automatically gets flagged, and in some instances taken down depending on the key words that are in the reports.
Then the moderators will view the content and decide whether it’s ok.
Not sure why grab doesn’t have this sort of system.








[–]ryuuheii 6 points7 points8 points an hour ago (0 children)
Then grab can institute a system to limit the number of orders that can come in to a shop. Or better yet, let the shop control it. Limit the number of orders/quantity/value that can be ordered/active at a time.
Grab just doesn't want to do so because they want to force the restaurants hand into taking as many delivery orders. And they don't care as the operational fall out 'only' screws over the restaurant and riders but not Grab.






[–]musr [score hidden] 41 minutes ago (0 children)
Simplest solution is to allow each shop outlet two things:










[–]Cactuslife95 27 points28 points29 points an hour ago (3 children)
Grab seem to always become very silent when their employees aka Drivers/Riders need them to solve problems or come up with alternatives. Once during the PMD saga and now this.



[–]InterimNihilist 10 points11 points12 points an hour ago (0 children)
That's the beauty of the gig model. When there's money to be made grab controls the cash flow. But when there are operational issues you can't grab anyone from the company.






[–]SamBellFromSarang -1 points0 points1 point an hour ago (1 child)
Actually this raises a good secondary point. When life is good, we all laugh and say wah deliverman can earn so much, good ah, let's all also sign up. Soon as it all burns down we go at Grab's throat and yell at them for being morons.



[–]sct_trooper [score hidden] 21 minutes ago (0 children)
Because it is the responsibility of the company? I dont praise my company everytime they pay my salary, but should they fail to do so, Im definitely reporting to MoM.
Moreover, Grab is the one holding the information and with the means to implement control measures, the onus is definitely on them










[–]willbassyeah 44 points45 points46 points an hour ago* (1 child)
Now use this bubble tea as an example to why Covid19 is dangerous if a healthcare system is being overwhelmed
Too many order, order unfulfilled. Too many patients, patients cannot get healthcare support=dead
Too many order not enough ingredients to fulfil the order. Too many patients need ventilators not enough ventilators=dead
Only two staff managing as no one foresee the surge demand. We got a limited number of healthcare personnel means nurses/doctors need to look after more patients than normal=dead
Stay at home and don’t be stupid



[–]musr [score hidden] 44 minutes ago (0 children)
Imagine 80 people didn't get their life-saving medicine!








[–]desmuru [score hidden] 49 minutes ago (0 children)
Sigh, capitalism at its finest. While both staff and riders are being compromised, grab gains the most benefit. I feel bad for those that were riders before this covid-19 especially. Having to endure cut commissions is already bad enough but with staff being so overwhelmed with orders, it probably takes longer on average to complete a delivery.
Hope that grab will come up with a better explanation than that bs I saw on their facebook page. Until then, maybe riders should consider switching over to other delivery platforms after cb? (since rn other platforms are equally overwhelmed as well)






[–]diceybubbles -4 points-3 points-2 points 2 hours ago (2 children)
Could this be because Grab has alrd processed the payment and hence MUST fulfil the order?
The concept of a payment or transaction, is to exchange money for services rendered.
In situations like delivery, the transaction can only be completed by delayed fulfilment. And since payment has already been processed, GrabFood MUST fulfil their role (the reason for payment) which is to pass the order to the third party (BBT shop in this case) to fulfil, and upon that completion, pass to the GrabFood rider to deliver to the payer; thereby completing Grab’s end of the transaction.
Grab should have further control over every step to refund if cannot be completed at various stages, seemingly not built into their platform.
For completeness of argument and to provide my own counter thesis, I would also like to add that while we should all be kind to Grab and understand that such a situation may be unforeseen (we are in unprecedented times after all), this excuse is unacceptable for a company that can build surge pricing but not a way for third parties to manage their own incoming orders.
Interested to hear other opinions!



[–]L23846 3 points4 points5 points 2 hours ago (0 children)
Grab only hold the order amount until delivery is completed.






[–]Varantain[S] 4 points5 points6 points 1 hour ago (0 children)
Could this be because Grab has alrd processed the payment and hence MUST fulfil the order?
No, normal businesses aren't obliged to fulfill orders even if "payment" has been made — look at the many cases of pricing mistakes.
Of course, as Grab controls the platform, they are free to penalise either the store or consumer as they see fit — and the most straightforward way for them to settle any dispute is to say that "they're banned from using our platform".
This is why Grab should never be allowed to dominate a market, and why more people should support smaller operators (those that aren't Deliveroo/Foodpanda).








[–]escapelife_azzy [score hidden] 20 minutes ago (0 children)
Tdlr
As someone who has been the GF rider, GF customer and worked in their call centre back when Grab dish out PROMO codes for free, I feel sad for the few Singaporeans who whole heartedly rely and support Grab. Everytime I go in the FB group dedicated to GF riders, I only see new videos being posted that sheds really bad impression of the riders or in general, Singaporeans.
Touch your heart my dear GF riders, deep down you know Grab will never prioritise you in its business. Lol you are never their business partner, you are the slave worker who has to work under the hot sun and face off the brutal honesty that is the front line service. GF riders always fail to realise that their so called ricebowl will always be challenge and get eaten up by other competitors. Recently, it was the new GC drivers. Surge in new riders due to many losing their main income. Yet Grab keep pumping in more riders. Your incentives are gone (lowered). Now with more skewed perceptions by the public with recent sagas, do you really want to be loyal to Grab?
On a side note, yes I do still do GF once in a while. But no, if I want to cancel, I will cancel. Damn your AR or CR. No way in hells name will I wait for an hour for an order just because my incentives are on the line. Restaurant has no capacity yet taking in new orders, well good bye, cancelling and wait for next order. Oh kena ban for a while ah? Okay maybe can try Lalamove see if there is slot or maybe I should call it a day.
 
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Hypocrite-The

Alfrescian
Loyal
Considering how bad the economy is n many losing jobs. Only idiots will waste money on bubble tea. Buy one tea is enough for a meal. Guess singkies are just clowns
 

Narong Wongwan

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Considering how bad the economy is n many losing jobs. Only idiots will waste money on bubble tea. Buy one tea is enough for a meal. Guess singkies are just clowns
The economy may be bad but there are many well off people around. The rich poor gap is getting wider.
 

Hypocrite-The

Alfrescian
Loyal
Photos & Videos of the Bubble Tea Chaos throughout Singapore :
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-makes-desperate-dash-final-031958415.html
Its soo funny..
Singapore makes desperate dash for final haircuts and bubble tea. Here are the queues you missed. (Photos)
Coconuts Singapore

22 April 2020, 11:19 am GMT+8
5f20ef212dcd96f8893d94deda2431b1

Singaporeans last night scrambled to buy bubble tea and get haircuts before the shops were forced to close at midnight.
A number of food and drink shops, including dessert shops and beverage-only stores, were taken off the list of essential services along with hairdressing and will no longer be allowed to operate under measures which have been extended until June.
Under yesterday’s revised orders, affected stores had until midnight to operate. Hours after the prime minister announced the news, long queues formed outside bubble tea stores and hairdressers across the country, photos of which surfaced online.
Gong Cha, Liho, and Playmade were just some of the bubble tea stores ambushed by customers and food delivery riders last night in Bedok and Punggol.
<em>Crowd outside a Gong Cha outlet. Photo: Chee Hong Chan/Facebook</em>
Crowd outside a Gong Cha outlet. Photo: Chee Hong Chan/Facebook
<em>Crowd outside a Xing Fu Tang outlet. Photo: Sebastian Ian/Facebook</em>
Crowd outside a Xing Fu Tang outlet. Photo: Sebastian Ian/Facebook
<em>Long queue of Koi bubble tea customers snaking outside Bedok Mall. Photo: Singapore Atrium Sale/Facebook</em>
Long queue of Koi bubble tea customers snaking outside Bedok Mall. Photo: Singapore Atrium Sale/Facebook
<em>Crowd made up of queues for various bubble tea and dessert stores. Photo: Andrew Lim/Facebook</em>
Crowd made up of queues for various bubble tea and dessert stores. Photo: Andrew Lim/Facebook
<em>GrabFood delivery riders outside a Gong Cha outlet. Photo: All Singapore Stuff/Facebook</em>
GrabFood delivery riders outside a Gong Cha outlet. Photo: All Singapore Stuff/Facebook
<em>Arms of a Liho bubble tea staff covered with order receipts last night. Photo: All Singapore Stuff/Facebook</em>
Arms of a Liho bubble tea staff covered with order receipts last night. Photo: All Singapore Stuff/Facebook
At one point, the situation got tense outside the Playmade bubble tea store at Punggol’s Waterway Point shopping mall when an argument broke out between a GrabFood deliveryman and the bubble tea staff.
Videos showed the deliveryman telling the bubble tea staff to come out of the store, accusing the latter of calling him a “fucker.”
Meanwhile, those needing final haircuts mostly queued outside the late-night salons on Geylang Road.
<em>Queue outside Bazaar Hair Salon. Photo: Singapore Atrium Sale/Facebook</em>
Queue outside Bazaar Hair Salon. Photo: Singapore Atrium Sale/Facebook
Related:
 

countryman

Alfrescian
Loyal
I simply dun understand the Sinkies mentality! What's the rush for this stupid bubble tea drink? It's bad for health, it has no nutritional values @all n it's expensive !
 

Sideswipe

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
some of us waited almost 2 hours for our orders and customers mostly refuse to cancel (mine was basically :teary eyed: please don't cancel, i don't mind waiting)

wah lau, it's so sad. fuck pap.
 
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