Delivery driver rang doorbell at dawn, store's rating drops from 4 to 1 star... Customer power abuse controversy

A delivery person is pressing the doorbell. The photo is not directly related to the expression of the delivery person.
Photo by Getty Images Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A controversy has erupted among netizens over a customer's attitude who deducted stars in a delivery app review simply because the delivery person rang the doorbell in the early morning.

The protagonist of this story, Mr. A, posted on an online community on the 21st, saying, "I ordered delivery, but the doorbell (shared entrance unit call button) was pressed at 1 a.m." Mr. A said, "So I felt bad and gave 4 stars."

He added, "The store's notice says not to leave a review unless you are going to give 5 stars even if you received a review event, but that's one thing, and I thought I should say what I have to say." Then Mr. A asked, "Do you think I should change it to 5 stars?"

Mr. A said that when he placed the order, he wrote the shared entrance password and a request saying "leave it at the door and send a text" in the special instructions. He did not leave a separate request asking not to ring the doorbell.

However, the delivery person entered the building by pressing the unit call button instead of the password at the shared entrance.

The delivery person did not ring the doorbell at the front door and left the food and sent a text as requested by Mr. A.

Mr. A expressed his displeasure in a comment, saying, "Is it normal to press the (shared entrance) call button at 1 a.m.?"

On the 21st, an online community Instiz posted a message titled "I ordered delivery, but they rang the doorbell at 1 a.m. and gave a 4-star rating."
[Photo by Instiz capture]

Later, Mr. A posted an additional message saying, "The owner called the delivery person and asked, and it was confirmed that 'I pressed the doorbell because I was too lazy to enter the password,'" and said he protested to the restaurant and got a refund for the food. Mr. A added that he revised the rating to 1 star.

Some netizens who saw this story reacted by blaming the delivery person's mistake. They argued that the delivery person should have considered the fact that the password was written and the late hour.

However, they also pointed out that the target of the protest was wrong, saying, "It's not the restaurant's fault, so why give such a rating?", "What fault does the owner have?", and "The delivery person is not related to the store. Know who the real troublemaker is and deal with them."

On the other hand, many netizens expressed the opinion that the delivery person was not at fault, citing that Mr. A did not clearly specify the request.

They responded, "If you didn't clearly write not to press the call button, it could be pressed by mistake," "Pressing the bell at dawn can be annoying, but you need to write the request clearly so the delivery person won't misunderstand," and "The store got unfairly downgraded without fault."

Some criticized Mr. A's refund review as an act of 'gapjil' (abuse of power).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.