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Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

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Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#1

Post by flycatcha »

I'm in the Bay Area. We don't order using apps often, but when we do we find that so much of the selection consists of mediocre looking Chinese, Indian, pizza and Mexican.

Using the current Android mobile app, you can't actually drill into and read reviews which makes assessing the actual quality of the restaurant difficult.

And I've found that restaurants will run their own "ghost kitchen" shadow restaurant out of their main (poorly rated) location. This delivery specific restaurant has good reviews on DD, but when you Google that restaurant name nothing comes up aside from listings on the app. And then the food arrives and it's terrible and you match up the physical address and realize it's a poorly rated Indian restaurant by a different name.

Or, you order from one of these weird ghost kitchen brands and the actual restaurant doesn't actually get your order (despite the app telling you they confirmed it) and your second driver finally tells you to cancel the order.

Is it asking too much to have a service that's transparent, functions well and have the end product taste good?

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#2

Post by throw03172019 »

This is very common on UberEats. I’d say well over 50% of the restaurants are ghost kitchens. I usually Yelp the names. Some of them are low ratings (1.5 stars) but on UberEats they are 4.5…

Very frustrating to “search” on UberEats. Fine if you know the restaurant you want to order from ahead of time.

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#3

Post by Victerius »

I understand and I sympathize. But... you could also cook. Prepare rice in a cooking pot and chicken in a frying pan with onions or shallots. 20 minutes. Or cook pasta and an egg. 10 minutes. Or fried potatoes with sausages and boiled eggs. 15 minutes. Or an omelette with spices and an avocado on the side. 10 minutes. Or a big sandwich if you're in a hurry. And half or more of those times will be spent waiting for the food to cook and monitoring them and stirring them.

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#4

Post by nullhack »

Victerius wrote: post #3

I understand and I sympathize. But... you could also cook. Prepare rice in a cooking pot and chicken in a frying pan with onions or shallots. 20 minutes. Or cook pasta and an egg. 10 minutes. Or fried potatoes with sausages and boiled eggs. 15 minutes. Or an omelette with spices and an avocado on the side. 10 minutes. Or a big sandwich if you're in a hurry. And half or more of those times will be spent waiting for th…

Transparent: Moreso than Restaurant + Delivery!

Functions well: How dutifully can one shop, and hand/machine-wash plates after eating?

End product tastes good: taste food while you're preparing it (and the food is safe to eat)

Home-cooking is a good start to OP's requirements

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#5

Post by woutr_be »

One of the absolute worst dark patterns I’ve seen was on Foodpanda. When you’re just browsing, you see prices crossed out, with a cheaper price below it, which seems to indicate there’s some sort of promotion.

You can continue browsing a specific restaurant, and order a “discounted” item, your total price will be the sum of the discounted items. That is, up until you actually want to check out, suddenly your total jumps back to the sum of the original valued of the items. Because, apparently, that discount was only for “pro” users. It’s nowhere mentioned that is the case. And since I’m logged in, they already know I’m not a pro user.

This pissed me of so much, I documented and reported this to the local consumer council, but haven’t heard back yet.

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#6

Post by libraryatnight »

My wife and I enjoy figuring out the origin restaurant. Sometimes it seems like an attempt to appeal to a different customer. We found one that traced back to a sports bar with a kitchen. The fake profile was more generic family appropriate in tone. We didn't try it but we didn't feel that was all that nefarious if that was the goal. We've also found places that were gross trying to masquerade as new and not gross. Once an address that resolved to apartment complex, which was weird.

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#7

Post by pcthrowaway »

libraryatnight wrote: post #6

My wife and I enjoy figuring out the origin restaurant. Sometimes it seems like an attempt to appeal to a different customer. We found one that traced back to a sports bar with a kitchen. The fake profile was more generic family appropriate in tone. We didn't try it but we didn't feel that was all that nefarious if that was the goal. We've also found places that were gross trying to masquerade as new and not gross. O…

Possibly taking a page from this:

> I sold microwave meals on Deliveroo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k47u9tduwb8

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#8

Post by autoexec »

My guess is that either DoorDash doesn't want to invest in preventing what is basically fraud on their platform or they've discovered that they actually make more money if they enable it and let it continue no matter how terrible the experience is for the people who order food.

Uninstall DoorDash and the problem goes away for you, and if enough people uninstall DoorDash the math changes and the problem goes away for everybody. As a bonus you'll save a fortune by not paying the higher food prices and fees and you'll stop giving up some personal information in the process.

Re: Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

#10

Post by flycatcha »

nullhack wrote: post #4
Victerius wrote: post #3

I understand and I sympathize. But... you could also cook. Prepare rice in a cooking pot and chicken in a frying pan with onions or shallots. 20 minutes. Or cook pasta and an egg. 10 minutes. Or fried potatoes with sausages and boiled eggs. 15 minutes. Or an omelette with spices and an avocado on the side. 10 minutes. Or a big sandwich if you're in a hurry. And half or more of those times will be spent waiting for th…

Transparent: Moreso than Restaurant + Delivery! Functions well: How dutifully can one shop, and hand/machine-wash plates after eating? End product tastes good: taste food while you're preparing it (and the food is safe to eat) Home-cooking is a good start to OP's requirements

Absolutely, my wife and I cook most of our meals. The bad experience I had with DoorDash earlier today was exacerbated by the fact that we're both at home recovering (suffering) from COVID at the moment and so using their service was more out of necessity than anything else and they really fell short.
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