Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Jun 5: A woman’s late-night food craving turned into a 2.5-hour ordeal, as Zomato came under fire once again for poor service. Shrestha Paul, an Assistant Professor of English from Assam, took to LinkedIn to vent her frustration after facing repeated delivery failures from the food aggregator.

Her post, which gained traction quickly, labelled Zomato as a "headache to order from." Shrestha recounted that she had ordered two mutton biryanis from Oudh via Zomato at 11:30 pm. What followed was a series of back-to-back disappointments.

According to her, the first delivery agent arrived late and handed over the wrong order. Upon raising the issue with customer care, she was offered a coupon as compensation—something she felt trivialized the ordeal.

Undeterred, Shrestha placed a second order, providing clear location details and seeking live assistance. But the second delivery agent reportedly also failed to deliver the food correctly.

“It is now 1:53 am, nearly 2.5 hours later, and not only do we not have our food, but we've had to stay up, coordinate, follow up, and be disappointed twice,” she wrote in her post. Criticizing the refund process, she remarked, “Refunds do not fill a stomach, Zomato.”

Concluding her post with a scathing question—"Dear Zomato - your platform can handle peak orders, but can it handle trust?"—she called into question the company’s reliability, despite its AI-driven support and real-time tracking.

Zomato was quick to respond to the viral post, stating, “Hi Shrestha, your experience truly matters to us, and it's disappointing to hear that it didn't meet expectations this time. Please help us with your registered mobile number over private message so that we can check what went wrong here.”

This is not the first time the food tech giant has faced flak. In an earlier instance, another customer, Nirupama Singh, had posted a video showing a vegetarian order that allegedly included a piece of chicken—once again igniting a debate about delivery accuracy and platform accountability.

As food delivery apps continue to dominate urban dining, such incidents raise concerns about their ability to provide dependable service, especially during off-peak hours.