Issue with Taskrabbit
August 27, 2023 4:41 PM Subscribe
I had a taskrabbit person put together 2 simple Ikea dining chairs and a bathroom cabinet for me. He was here from 3-4:20. I gave him a 5 star review and a 20% tip. Then I realized the fee for the job was way higher than expected. It turns out he has a 2 hour minimum.
He sent me a screenshot that shows his profile where it does say 2 hour minimum. However I have a screenshot from what I can see on the app that does not show this at all. I am really livid (my outsize emotional response is another story and something I'm trying to work on). What is my recourse? They are closed right now. Can I make it a credit card dispute? I've never done that before. I'm really, really irritated.
He sent me a screenshot that shows his profile where it does say 2 hour minimum. However I have a screenshot from what I can see on the app that does not show this at all. I am really livid (my outsize emotional response is another story and something I'm trying to work on). What is my recourse? They are closed right now. Can I make it a credit card dispute? I've never done that before. I'm really, really irritated.
If the app is showing one thing and the website is showing another (or something like that), then you should probably contact TaskRabbit Customer Support about the issue.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:49 PM on August 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:49 PM on August 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
I think this is your mistake and you need to just live with it. My booking emails from TaskRabbit have always made the minimum number of hours required very clear.
Even if you do somehow “fix” it, they bill in 15 minute increments so you will be paying for 1.5 hours.
I’m sorry.
posted by A Blue Moon at 4:50 PM on August 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
Even if you do somehow “fix” it, they bill in 15 minute increments so you will be paying for 1.5 hours.
I’m sorry.
posted by A Blue Moon at 4:50 PM on August 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
From what I understand from using Taskrabbit, you pay by the hour--so if it's an hour and a half job, you're paying for two hours. Technically there's increments but realistically, unless he was sitting around to pad out the time, he's not ripping you off.
posted by kingdead at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kingdead at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I've had other taskrabbit people hang curtains and put together furniture and neither of them had a minimum.
posted by bookworm4125 at 5:03 PM on August 27, 2023
posted by bookworm4125 at 5:03 PM on August 27, 2023
Minimums seem to be at the discretion of the person doing the work- for instance I see profiles that state that people will charge a minimum if they have to come to my part of the Bay Area.
This person took the job expecting that you read the profile completely and deserves to be paid what they are asking. If you are successful in a chargeback you've basically bilked this person out of their pay for work they have already done for you. I know it's frustrating to not have realized it at the time, but if this person has it in their profile I'm not sure that you have a case. If somehow the profile you are seeing is different then that's a problem with TaskRabbit, but it looks like you have to go through arbitration with them according to their terms and conditions.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:10 PM on August 27, 2023 [15 favorites]
This person took the job expecting that you read the profile completely and deserves to be paid what they are asking. If you are successful in a chargeback you've basically bilked this person out of their pay for work they have already done for you. I know it's frustrating to not have realized it at the time, but if this person has it in their profile I'm not sure that you have a case. If somehow the profile you are seeing is different then that's a problem with TaskRabbit, but it looks like you have to go through arbitration with them according to their terms and conditions.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:10 PM on August 27, 2023 [15 favorites]
I’ve booked a number of people on TaskRabbit. Some have a minimum and some don’t. It is clearly stated on the profile, but I can understand how you could miss it if you’ve never booked someone with a minimum before.
Please don’t ding this person’s rating or try to do a chargeback. They fulfilled their end of the agreement completely and you should fulfill yours. I’m sorry.
posted by kate blank at 6:19 PM on August 27, 2023 [11 favorites]
Please don’t ding this person’s rating or try to do a chargeback. They fulfilled their end of the agreement completely and you should fulfill yours. I’m sorry.
posted by kate blank at 6:19 PM on August 27, 2023 [11 favorites]
How much is “way higher”? He worked for 1:20 hours and presumably you thought he did a very good job. What are you hoping to achieve? Will the difference in payment cause you to suffer hardship? Chalk it up to a lesson learned in reading comprehension.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:22 PM on August 27, 2023 [26 favorites]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:22 PM on August 27, 2023 [26 favorites]
I'd put the focus on "outsized emotional response" here. Have you ever messed something up because you let yourself act on your anger in the moment? I have! This is anger in the moment.
When you've had a good night's sleep are you really, really going to feel happy about the idea of messing with the employment of someone who is an hourly taskrabbit? I bet not - that person has a job that is probably more precarious than yours unless you are also a platform worker, and he is at the mercy of any customer with a chip on their shoulder, unrealistic expectations or just free-floating malice.
I personally am more or less a marshmallow, but a marshmallow who can, like, get really really mad for thirty minutes or so. This situation you're talking about wouldn't make me mad, but I've gotten really mad about frankly trivial stuff before, and I have never felt good later when I've failed to talk myself down.
You're not going to look back ten years later and say, "thank god I tanked the ratings of some precarious worker because he might have misled me about his minimum rate, I couldn't really tell, it could have been my fault, but either way I took a chunk out of his wages and security, good job me".
Save future you the flinches by just being mad now and not doing anything about it. It's fine to be mad, I find that stalking around the room and maybe yelling at the empty air a little can help. Just let it pass off.
posted by Frowner at 6:41 PM on August 27, 2023 [38 favorites]
When you've had a good night's sleep are you really, really going to feel happy about the idea of messing with the employment of someone who is an hourly taskrabbit? I bet not - that person has a job that is probably more precarious than yours unless you are also a platform worker, and he is at the mercy of any customer with a chip on their shoulder, unrealistic expectations or just free-floating malice.
I personally am more or less a marshmallow, but a marshmallow who can, like, get really really mad for thirty minutes or so. This situation you're talking about wouldn't make me mad, but I've gotten really mad about frankly trivial stuff before, and I have never felt good later when I've failed to talk myself down.
You're not going to look back ten years later and say, "thank god I tanked the ratings of some precarious worker because he might have misled me about his minimum rate, I couldn't really tell, it could have been my fault, but either way I took a chunk out of his wages and security, good job me".
Save future you the flinches by just being mad now and not doing anything about it. It's fine to be mad, I find that stalking around the room and maybe yelling at the empty air a little can help. Just let it pass off.
posted by Frowner at 6:41 PM on August 27, 2023 [38 favorites]
I think it’s fair for you to feel irritated. I don’t think it’s fair for the two-hour minimum to not be visible to you.
Can you mentally rewrite the script and encourage yourself to decide to pay him the 2hr minimum as the right thing to do? (Which. Personally I think it is the right thing)
TaskRabbit is really crap about protecting its workers. You can email task rabbit and message support in the AM. But if you do a chargeback or make it personal about the worker, your comments and complaints may impact the worker, who did nothing wrong. I think this may be the cost of doing business with TaskRabbit, unfortunately.
posted by samthemander at 8:40 PM on August 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Can you mentally rewrite the script and encourage yourself to decide to pay him the 2hr minimum as the right thing to do? (Which. Personally I think it is the right thing)
TaskRabbit is really crap about protecting its workers. You can email task rabbit and message support in the AM. But if you do a chargeback or make it personal about the worker, your comments and complaints may impact the worker, who did nothing wrong. I think this may be the cost of doing business with TaskRabbit, unfortunately.
posted by samthemander at 8:40 PM on August 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think your options are definitely around framing how you feel about and act in regards to the sudden price change, and probably answering the following questions would help.
• Did you have a mental budget for this task?
• Did you have misgivings about pushing your budget which this exacerbated?
• Do you feel silly for not having noticed the price before you OKed the fee and chose your tip?
• Would you have been OK saying “it looks like your hourly minimum's given you a 50% tip, so I won't tip anything on top of that”?
• Is it actually a lot of money to you?
I think it would be out of order to do a chargeback on this. Chargebacks are for when there's a breach of contract, and it's a stretch to say that happened here.
posted by ambrosen at 9:59 PM on August 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
• Did you have a mental budget for this task?
• Did you have misgivings about pushing your budget which this exacerbated?
• Do you feel silly for not having noticed the price before you OKed the fee and chose your tip?
• Would you have been OK saying “it looks like your hourly minimum's given you a 50% tip, so I won't tip anything on top of that”?
• Is it actually a lot of money to you?
I think it would be out of order to do a chargeback on this. Chargebacks are for when there's a breach of contract, and it's a stretch to say that happened here.
posted by ambrosen at 9:59 PM on August 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
Would it have taken you 2 hours or more to ut together your items from Ikea? Then you got a good deal.
posted by brookeb at 10:57 PM on August 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by brookeb at 10:57 PM on August 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
I've had things like that happen. I feel taken advantage of, cheated, powerless, etc. Sometimes it's been a problem because I literally had trouble affording the higher price and would not have booked if I had known.
However. I've also worked in people's homes, and transportation eats up a lot of money and especially travel time that could otherwise have been spent working. (Also it's often boring and exhausting.) A minimum is a very reasonable thing. Also keep in mind that this guy is probably not making a huge living: unless he's just doing this on the side in addition to a regular job, he has to charge enough to cover sick days, slow days, days on which nobody at all books him, national holidays, possibly vacation days, retirement savings (hah) and other payroll tax-type stuff, and so on. Unless he's very successful or has independent wealth or family funding him, my personal experience is that low income arriving in unpredictable spurts (and from people who often begrudge it or try to haggle) can be a very stressful way to live.
If your suspicion is that he changed his terms after you booked him, you can check the site/app to get an identical current screenshot of the area he sent you and send the two to taskrabbit to compare (or send them to him first, if you want to give him a chance). On the other hand if there's something technical going on, like taskrabbit displaying different information on the website versus the app or whatever, that's a complaint against the platform, not the person.
If you want to feel better emotionally - consider whether you too are living enough on the edge that this cost difference is genuinely a hardship for you, or whether your feelings are more abstract. If it's the latter, let yourself feel rich. I've lived on the edge and also (slightly) above the edge, and when I'm (slightly) above the edge and no longer stressed about money all the time and able to actually absorb unexpected costs like this, or able to afford to think about the other guy's financial situation and not just my own - that feels like being rich to me. It feels luxurious. It's a hell of a thing.
posted by trig at 1:35 AM on August 28, 2023 [11 favorites]
However. I've also worked in people's homes, and transportation eats up a lot of money and especially travel time that could otherwise have been spent working. (Also it's often boring and exhausting.) A minimum is a very reasonable thing. Also keep in mind that this guy is probably not making a huge living: unless he's just doing this on the side in addition to a regular job, he has to charge enough to cover sick days, slow days, days on which nobody at all books him, national holidays, possibly vacation days, retirement savings (hah) and other payroll tax-type stuff, and so on. Unless he's very successful or has independent wealth or family funding him, my personal experience is that low income arriving in unpredictable spurts (and from people who often begrudge it or try to haggle) can be a very stressful way to live.
If your suspicion is that he changed his terms after you booked him, you can check the site/app to get an identical current screenshot of the area he sent you and send the two to taskrabbit to compare (or send them to him first, if you want to give him a chance). On the other hand if there's something technical going on, like taskrabbit displaying different information on the website versus the app or whatever, that's a complaint against the platform, not the person.
If you want to feel better emotionally - consider whether you too are living enough on the edge that this cost difference is genuinely a hardship for you, or whether your feelings are more abstract. If it's the latter, let yourself feel rich. I've lived on the edge and also (slightly) above the edge, and when I'm (slightly) above the edge and no longer stressed about money all the time and able to actually absorb unexpected costs like this, or able to afford to think about the other guy's financial situation and not just my own - that feels like being rich to me. It feels luxurious. It's a hell of a thing.
posted by trig at 1:35 AM on August 28, 2023 [11 favorites]
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posted by warriorqueen at 4:47 PM on August 27, 2023 [56 favorites]