'AITA for refusing to give back the wrong grocery order to my Instacart shopper?'
"AITA for refusing to give back the wrong grocery order to my Instacart shopper?"
I ordered $160 worth of groceries tonight, and the shopper left the items at my door. When I retrieved the items a few minutes later, I noticed 3/4 of the groceries were not mine. There were some items that overlapped with my order (like eggs and almond milk), but there were some items that I instantly knew were not mine (like plant based burgers and nutritional yeast).
I messaged chat support and the agent told me to 'dispose' of the items, and that they would have a shopper send out a new order for me.
I then got a call from the original shopper acknowledging that he dropped off the wrong order, but he was also asking me to return them to him. Here's the thing... every single item was already sitting on my counter because I had to take a picture for the chat support.
I told the shopper that I had already touched the groceries, but he insisted I place them back into the grocery bags and give them to him so he could deliver them to the correct shopper. I refused under the guise of it being unhygienic. I am a clean person, but I would hate to know that my groceries were already spread out in someone else's home before I got them.
Here's where I think I might be the a%$hole. There were some expensive items in the other person's order, like fish fillets and avocados, so I knew I had stumbled upon an opportunity to get about $80 worth of free groceries, due to the shopper's error.
The shopper kept asking for the items back, and when I held my ground, he called customer service, and placed them on speaker phone. The agent confirmed once again that I was to keep the incorrect grocery order. She also messaged me in our chat thread and stated she was going to report him and block this shopper from my account.
After the shopper left, I started to feel bad because I may have ruined someone's source of income due to my selfish desire for free food. And for what it's worth, this was a Walmart grocery order, not a mom and pop shop. AITA?
From the comments:
cazzawazza1 says:
YTA. Ok it may have been the shoppers mistake, but your actions jeopardized a person's career. You could have been forgiving or put your self in their shoes and helped them out. And then you profited from the situation.
Also, the whole 'i touched them' doesn't really gel with you getting someone else to do your shopping for you... You may not be, but you sound very out-of-touch and quite entitled.
Tricky-Flamingo-7491 says:
NTA Firstly, chat told you to dispose of the items, so you are COMPLETELY in the clear for not returning the items. It would be an entirely different situation if the company wanted you to return the items directly to them (and not for redelivery!)
And it's apparently illegal (so I've been told in a similar situation) for that shopper to retrieve those items and then re-deliver them. It's also against every store policy.
Erthan-1 says:
If the shopper brought the correct order and asked for the other one back I might have obliged. If they just wanted me to give them that order while I get screwed they can bugger right off. NTA
Bitter-Conflict-4089 said:
How were they able to contact you? I got the wrong order once with Instacart. The woman was in her car outside my house when I went out. I immediately noticed I had the wrong groceries. I tried to flag her down with no luck.
I went to the chat and it had closed the second the groceries hit my porch. So, how could your Instacart driver contact you well after the delivery? The app shuts down communication.
Contemplation_State OP responded:
He delivered the order but didn't "complete" the order in the app. I texted him about the order being incorrect, and then that's when I saw him "complete" the order, and then the text chat said "chat disabled". Then he called me because he came back to my home, and asked for the groceries back. He then called customer service in front of me and put it on speaker phone.
littlegingerfae said:
That...sounds incredibly suspicious. Like he was trying to scam Instacart via you, by getting you to give him "free" groceries. I'd even go so far to reconnect with the customer service from Instacart and tell them these suspicions. NTA. This wasn't a safe situation you were in. I'm glad you kept your door shut.
Contemplation_State OP responded:
And he told me he still had my correct order in his van, but he was waiting for me to give back the incorrect order, so I did feel a bit coerced. I'm just curious as to what he ended up doing with my correct order .. would he have taken the items back to the shop, or delivered it to the next house?