Hyderabad: Divya (name changed) was distraught to know that her domestic help, who collected a food order for her while working, was molested by the Swiggy delivery executive. She immediately raised a complaint with the food delivery app, but despite repeated escalations, Swiggy took no serious action against the perpetrator, she said.
The incident took place a few weeks ago, said Divya, adding that on realising that the woman was alone and was a domestic help, he molested her and fled before she could raise the alarm.
After the victim confided in Divya, she talked to their customer service, a bot, for several hours. Several follow-ups later, a human agent replied, asking Divya to continue the conversation over chat and ignoring pleas to get on a call.
“They assured to call me back on the number I gave them but never did,” said Divya.
After failing to get a response from the app even 48 hours after raising the issue, the employer raised the issue for the second time. This time too, the app assured a response and action within another 48 hours, but did not.
“It was then that we attempted to reach the management and the leadership of Swiggy by making use of clout that not many have access to. Then too, they asked for 48 hours and came up with the most indifferent response one could ever have to such an issue,” Divya said.
After waiting for several weeks and being denied proper justice, the domestic help lost hope and asked her employers to give up on the fight. “We had no choice but to trust and respect her discretion,” Divya said.
The domestic help, meanwhile, said, “The guy who molested me is younger than my son.”
When Deccan Chronicle reached Swiggy, it responded saying, “Customer safety is of utmost importance to us at Swiggy, and any complaint of misbehaviour will be dealt with stringent action. We have suspended the concerned delivery executive and are investigating the matter. We have reached out to the customer and will fully cooperate in taking this to the concerned authorities.”
However, the incident left many app users, especially women, shocked.
They say that the bigger issue is not only the criminal conduct of the delivery agent, but Swiggy's failure to bring him to task.
“Which analytics, algorithm or artificial intelligence can help/teach Swiggy to show basic concern to its customers? Was this case ignored just because it doesn't affect the market cap?” said Ruchi Sinha, who regularly uses the app.
