Careem has been facing backlash from food delivery competitors Talabat and Deliveroo, along with UAE social media users over their new ‘Dirhams for Delays’ campaign, with many expressing concern over delivery rider safety and increased job stress.
Earlier this month, super-app Careem announced that it was offering AED1 for every extra minute of delay in food delivery, with a maximum payment limit of AED10 per order. The money would be transferred to the customer’s account in credit through the Careem Pay wallet.
The promotion is valid until June 8, but any credit earned will remain available in customer’s wallets.
Careem has responded to the latest criticism of the cashback policy, with Alex Golden, the super-app’s GM of Food, stating the firm has “the strongest safety record of any food delivery app in Dubai.”
“Our commitment to our Captains and being a positive force in the community is ironclad. Our Dirhams for Delays campaign is about promises made and promises kept, not speed. Careem Captains cannot see the ETAs we promise customers, and are not incentivised nor penalised in any way by delivery time. We’re not promising faster ETAs, we’re promising accuracy,” Golden told Arabian Business.
“We’re confident in our ability to deliver on time because we never batch orders; each customer gets a dedicated Captain to deliver their food. In contrast, Talabat packs multiple customers’ orders together which delays orders and hurts reliability,” he added.
“But don’t take my word for it, actions always speak louder than words. The most important way that Careem guarantees on-time delivery is by treating our Captains better than anybody in the market. Careem Captains earn significantly more than Talabat riders and enjoy a lot more flexibility in their schedules. We won’t settle for anything less. Just a year ago most of Talabat’s riders walked off the job in a dispute over bad working conditions and poor pay, not a single Careem Captain stopped riding.”
Golden’s comments followed criticism from both Talabat and Deliveroo, who, along with Careem, make up the three biggest food delivery platforms in the UAE.
Talabat
On Friday, the CEO of Talabat, Tomaso Rodriguez, expressed his disapproval of the campaign.
“It is not safe and it is not something we believe in,” he told Arabian Business.
“We don’t want to do campaigns like this because at the end of the day, I think they just hurt the riders because they get more pressured to deliver faster.
“We just believe in providing the best experience but we will never incentivise faster delivery and put that on the riders.”
Deliveroo
Earlier this week, Deliveroo’s GM for the Middle East, Anis Harb, also told Arabian Business that Careem’s decision was sending out the wrong message.
“We don’t believe it’s the right message to send out and I don’t think it’s something that we want the Deliveroo brand really too closely connected to as well. The whole idea of just delays and implications… I think it’s something that we have veered away from in the past,” Harb said at the time.
“Personally, I think a marketing campaign that is centred around delays has implications, implications in consumers’ minds, and maybe wider in the network. I’m aware of some of the backlash but I don’t think too much about their campaign.”
The ‘Dirhams for Delay’ campaign will end on June 8, but it was not immediately clear if the policy will be extended or amended. After immediate backlash early last month, Careem clarified that the policy would not affect drivers financially or in terms of safety, as the Captains use a separate app for deliveries and do not incur the charges or any punishment for the late payments.
Careem Food is the largest service on the firm’s Super App beyond ride-hailing. Careem Food’s customer base and order volumes in Dubai have more than doubled in the past year. Across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Careem Food has added 9,600 new F&B outlets over the year, so that customers now have access to over 17,000 restaurants across all markets.
The company said that is focuses on “providing honest and accurate estimated delivery times,” which it does by working closely in tandem with restaurants to ensure “there’s always a Captain ready as soon as your food is prepared, and avoids grouping multiple orders together like other food delivery companies.”
Follow us on
