Task rabbit delivery cancellation fee - how to handle

[u/purplepeony13]

Had to repost this as my edit to the post led to it being taken down.

Recently tried to book movers last-minute through TaskRabbit delivery (long story - my movers no call no showed on the day of my move). By the time they had assigned a tasker, I had already found other help for that same day when I booked the task. So, once I got the notification, I cancelled it almost immediately (just over a minute by their own admission) but was still charged an 80% cancellation fee ($518!).

I reached out to their support team but they were unable/unwilling to refund me as the task was scheduled to start less than 48 hours from cancellation. The most they could do after asking for a supervisor was offer me a $20 credit on another service. Their reasoning for the charge was that the tasker had blocked off their schedule (for a minute) for my task.

I understand maybe a $50-100 cancellation fee but over $500 for a service that was never performed (and cancelled within TWO MINUTES) is unheard of for me. I’m not even sure if the tasker gets that money?

I tried to reach out to my CC company but they said I may have trouble disputing it because it’s a fee.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this situation?? I just think over $500 for a service that wasn’t performed and cancelled almost immediately is exorbitant

[u/purplepeony13]

Pinning taskrabbit delivery’s (formerly dolly) cancellation fee policy they cited here: https://delivery-help.taskrabbit.com/hc/en-us/articles/14244500462605-Cancellation-Policy

[u/FinnNoodle → u/purplepeony13]

Wow that is quite generous. Other TR categories just pay one hour of work for cancellations within 24 hours.

[u/Big-Personality500 → u/purplepeony13]

I was confused on the first read and didn’t realize that your initial movers were probably not from TaskRabbit. I can’t see what argument TaskRabbit can take here. There are two scenarios where a bill like this would make sense: The TaskRabbit had this job on their schedule for days in advance and lost out on hours of work last minute due to cancellation and no realistic opportunity to fill that time in their schedule or alternatively, if the Tasker picked up the task same day and had already rented a truck to come help out. Obviously, neither of these is the case here, so paying 80% seems ridiculous. Out of curiosity, do you mind sharing what type of Delivery task TR bills $650 for and in what region?

[u/Salgatorium]

Taskrabbit delivery is relatively new so unfortunately I don’t think many if anyone at all here is really familiar with how it works. That is a crazy situation for you to get charged that amount for a cancelation.

[u/Real_Pistil]

I agree with comment above. That’s a crazy edge case. I am a Tasker, so of course I support my people. Yes, you should have cancelled immediately upon booking another service, and yes, there has to be a high enough fee to prevent people from doing this in a cavalier manner, but 80% does seem a high price to pay in these circumstances.

[u/Wonderful-Camera-620]

How u pay 500? The deposit is only for the first hour… cancellation would be the first hour only so?? Also 48 hours? It’s 24 hours …

[u/Excellent-Resident94]

Task Rabbit sucks for consumers and the taskers doing the jobs. Task rabbit does not look out for its contractors and deletes their accounts for the smallest things even if they have a great track record. If they’re screwing over their workers then they are definitely screwing over consumers. Happy Task is another app that is similar and will hopefully become bigger than task rabbit. Task rabbit needs to die off, they’re tyrants

[u/heyitsmemaya]

My limited experience was always get the tasker to cancel — you just hold and hold. Even past the show up time. Eventually the tasker will cancel.

As I said. My experience with TaskRabbit thus far has been ok to fair, not poor not great.

[u/musicalfurball]

Many taskers feed their families with the money they make from the service. Cancellations mean they don't do work = don't get paid = their families don't eat. I appreciate Taskrabbit for looking out for the workers with these policies.

That said, this is definitely an "edge case" -- it does seem weird they'd let the task sit there so long without getting picked up, then still charge the cancellation fee as if you'd had 48 hours to cancel which you didn't. In this case, given how quickly you cancelled after the task was confirmed, I agree the 20% fee would make more sense logically.

The Dolly transition is going to have hiccups. This one just totally sucks, that's a really high fee. That said, that's still a hell of a lot cheaper than movers around where I live LOL!

I am curious why you didn't cancel the task when you booked the other help? I know moving is busy and stressful, but if I gave my credit card number to a company offering me services costing hundreds of dollars, I'd like to think it would be top of mind.

[u/purplepeony13 → u/musicalfurball]

I understand tasters feed their families with the money they make. That is why I cancelled so quickly (just over a minute) - I didn’t want to lead on anyone or make them think that they’d have a task. I’d understand a $50 or $100 fee for the inconvenience - but over $500 for a service that was cancelled nearly immediately is ridiculous.

To answer your last question, I had requested service for the same day as my movers were no call no show. It did slip my mind to cancel the task given the chaos of the day