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- 93.6SAFETY SCORE
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ChowNow: Local Food Ordering App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
ChowNow: Local Food Ordering app received 43 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using ChowNow: Local Food Ordering? Can you share your negative thoughts about chownow: local food ordering?
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ChowNow: Local Food Ordering for Negative User Reviews
✓ TerribleAwful delivery experience. Right after I placed the order I got an email confirming my order, I saw that my card had been charged, and then I received a follow up email telling me when it would be delivered. The delivery time came and went. Then an additional 45 min came and went. I tried to use the ChowNow chat function to figure out where my food was. I was kicked off of their chat twice. No one gave me any information, no explanation, no apology, no refund, nothing. More than 2 hours after I placed my order it was delivered freezing cold. Their expectation management and customer service is awful. If things are going to be late, that’s fine. But you have to tell the customer that. Not surprising that it’s powered by DoorDash and that it’s awful. I guess I should be happy they didn’t steal $600 from me this time..Version: 1.4.0
✓ Completely UselessI ordered food through this app. I ordered it for pick up and meant to order for delivery. Realizing my mistake, I called customer service. They said, “let me see if I can get someone from the restaurant to deliver it because Doordash can't take the order number.” I know the restaurant can't deliver. If they did deliver, I would call them and have them deliver. If I reorder, they could get doordash to deliver the food, but that I would have to pay for both orders because the food from the first order was made. I can call the restaurant, and they can tell me they don't deliver. I can place an order on doordash. It wasn't bad enough that even the concept of this company is a useless waste of human thought. Let's talk about the service. After not finding any place in the app to reach customer service, I searched it on google. After holding for 15 minutes, I got a rude and unapologetic representative who had no concern for this issue whatsoever. He had the gall to blame the restaurant for not having the staff to deliver the food. Zero stars for this platform. Zero stars for the guy working there. Do not use this app, they are THE third party that no one wants..Version: 1.6.0
✓ Fraudulent orders on my accountI was recently a victim of fraud on my chow now account. Chow Now refused to issue a refund directly, and they have no safe guards in place to detect fraudulent orders. The orders placed were in a location many states away from my usual orders, for amounts much higher than my usual orders and twice in a row. My previous order history showed that I had never ordered twice in the same day before. All of these things should have triggered some warning in the system requiring extra validation. I caught it and had to call the restaurants to cancel the orders myself as well as my bank and chow now directly. It was a frustrating and time consuming effort. If Chow Now wants to take the responsibility of holding card information for its users, it needs to have better safe guards in place and processes for fraud..Version: 1.22.0
✓ Customer HelpI ordered food from Burger 7 using ChowNow. I placed my order and submitted my payment. I receiver confirmation that my order was received and should be completed soon. I went to the restaurant to pick up my order, and the restaurant was closed. I NEVER received my order. I called to inquire about my food, and payment that was taken from my bank account. They told me up to 7 business days for a refund. I must wait up 7 days to receive my money back in order to eat? There was no problem taking my money immediately in exchange for their service, but the service was never performed. Misleading, and deceitful business. I will never use their services again. There are plenty other food ordering services that I can use to put up with this terrible service..Version: 1.2.4
✓ AlmostThis app is almost really great. It’s easy to use but missing so much information! I can’t view order history. And once I place an order the only info I have is my email confirmation. The order I just placed is gone from the app. There is also no contact info for any help desk within the app. In the email, they only give you the restaurant to call. Not very good customer service, eh? These things are pretty fundamental and new app or not- customer service should be on point from the start. Customer service hasn’t been bad- it’s just not even available at all....Version: 1.1.1
✓ Doesn’t send the whole order.When I ordered my food for me and my kids everything was great. I got the email for my receipt and the estimated time my food would be done. My kids and I left, drove 20 miles to get our food and then back home we went. Well part of my order that I paid for never got sent to the restaurant. I paid for it, but they didn’t get the order to make it so she didn’t get her food. I didn’t think much of it when I was picking up my food because the total on the receipt was the total that I paid. The meal just got converted to gratuity. I called the place after we got home and asked if it just got missed. My card got charged the full amount and there really wasn’t anything they could do and we didn’t really want to drive 40 miles round trip for her food. Pretty tough for a restaurant to take care of their customers if the apps they are using aren’t reliable..Version: 1.2.5
✓ Good Intentions, NOT Easy to UseI was excited for this app because it benefits restaurants but it is HORRIBLE and not user friendly at all. There’s no way to track your current order(s), so we ran into our order not being accepted by the restaurant even though the app sent a confirmation email. You have to turn on a filter to even ensure the restaurant is open (so you can put together an entire order just for them to tell you it’s closed when you want to check out). The app also doesn’t tell you when a restaurant is “offline” until you’re done ordering and ready to check out. I’ve also placed the order, didn’t receive it, and then looked the restaurant up, and it had been shut down completely. I really want to use this app for restaurants, but it is so difficult to order from, and after numerous failed attempts, I’m not trying again..Version: 1.3.0
✓ Fraud ExperienceThis is not just terrible experience. This company is fraudulent company. Here is what you will experience. They will send you fake promo codes for 15% for example. When you place order promptly, be careful and they don’t apply. If you order anything that’s a bit expensive, this will ruin your budget easily! There is no order review at all. If you go through the ordering process as if you are using Uber or DoorDash, you will lose real money. Their customer service is horrible. Orders cannot be canceled even if you call them, both restaurant and chow now immediately after the order, you cannot cancel the order or change the order. When you call chow now, they put you on hold for hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously, they are not going to allow you to apply those fake promo codes that they send you. Everyday, if they get 5 dollars for free from each of the orders put incorrectly under the influence of their fake promo codes, that will make them a fortune already. This seems their business model. Do not use their service. Be very careful..Version: 1.8.0
✓ Worst delivery service!I had a group of people over and we ordered pizza from a local restaurant in town. All was well until the order was 20 minutes late. I held my patience until it was almost a half hour late. I call the pizza place and ask if our food has been picked up and they say it did around 25 minutes ago. I waited for almost an hour and a half and the food has still not arrived. The website now says that our food has been delivered but is no where in sight. I check down the road, infront of the garage, nothing. I emailed and called “Chownow” and got zero response. After around 15 minutes of trying to get ahold of someone, we talked to her and she was extremely helpful. She told us the the driver had put in the complete wrong address and delivered our food to a closed business on the other side of town. Please don’t waste your time and hunger with the app!.Version: 1.20.1
✓ The WORST food delivery appI’ve spent quarantine ordering a lot of food from a lot of apps, this is by far the worst one. The only reason I use it is because a local restaurant I like is only available on ChowNow for some reason. First of all, the app works through DoorDash, another food delivery app that’s way better than this one. When I choose ASAP delivery, it tells me it’ll be 20-30 minutes, then gives me an estimated delivery time of an hour. There’s no way to track your order in the app, you have to use a link they send to your email, which then takes you to DoorDash’s website. There’s no way to view past orders to leave a review, which is BEYOND frustrating when you end up with missing items, which happens 90% of the time when I use ChowNow. Save yourself the headache and get another app..Version: 1.2.6
✓ App needs improvement to competeI like the idea of supporting local restaurants without them being gouged with fees for every order. This app needs more features to compete though. For instance, I receive emails with promotion codes from the restaurants I order from the most but I can’t enter them in this app. I have to use the web version to enter promo codes. It would also be nice to have a history of all my orders in the app and be able to contact restaurants from within the app. The reliance on email for this seems a bit archaic these days. Improve the app and I think more restaurants will join and you can seriously compete against Uber and DoorDash..Version: 1.7.0
✓ Hard to use, very bad UX designThis app is always set to Pickup. I always have to remember to set it for Delivery or after 45 minutes I realize the food isn’t coming and I have to go and get it. It’s also waaaay too easy to accidentally thumb your way out of the restaurant menu and back to the search results, and when you tap on your restaurant again to resume your order, guess what? It’s re-set to Pickup again! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go and get my food or call the restaurant to beg them to bring it. This is glaringly poor design. I can’t find any way to set Delivery as my default option. Please fix, as my favorite Chinese restaurant is only on this stupid app and I’m basically ready to give up and just call them on the phone like a stinking caveman..Version: 1.2.1
✓ Never ordering with them again!I placed an order with a restaurant which I often ordered from other platforms with no issues. The order was placed and confirmed at 6:44 pm! At 7:40 I called the restaurant and the manager himself checked the system and told me that they dont have any order from the Chownow on the system. Called their customer service and they simply said the restaurant didn't accept! The representative worked on it and got back to me confirming the order will be delivered in 30 minutes (~8:10). At 8:22 the restaurant called saying the food has been ready for 15 minutes but nobody came for pickup! I again called the customer service and they said the delivery person is on his way. Will pickup by 8:30 and deliver at 8:50. At 9:05 still waiting for my food and it says delivery at 9:20!! They didn't bothered to give a proper explanation or compensate! The food will come after sitting for an hour ready and inedible! $100 order went to waste. NEVER AGAIN.Version: 1.54.0
✓ Not a good serviceCustomer support on this app is a joke. I put in a request and they messaged me back 16 hours later. When I didn’t respond in 12 minutes they closed my ticket and I had to start over. It appears there are too many cooks in the kitchen, Oder on app - then restaurant gets involved - then another third party for delivery. If something goes wrong ChowNow has no power to resolve it. My order was misdelivered and the delivery person ignored my messages. ChowNow couldn’t fix my tip. They actually asked the driver permission to refund my tip which isn’t going to happen. No one is accountable on ChowNow. Do not use it. One star for complete and utter lack of effective customer service..Version: 1.60.0
✓ DO NOT USE THIS APPThis app took my DELIVERY order, sent no confirmation, has no order info on the actual app (the only way I know it was ordered was through my credit card charge) and then when I call to find out where my food is, the “customer service” tells me that I placed a Pick Up order (why would I be calling about a pick up order? Why would I put my full address in for a delivery order?). He then accused me of lying about the delivery order, told me to walk 20 blocks and go pick up the food myself, and then kept me on hold for 20 minutes to report that they cannot reach the restaurant and are unable to refund me. Now I have to go through my credit card company to refute the charges. It should also be noted that the “customer service” “man” laughed at me and talked over me the entire time. This is literally fraudulent and gross. Will never use this app again..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Algorithm errorsI like the overall notion of ChowNow and the offerings, but I find that customizations in orders often end up incorrect in my shopping cart on checkout unless and until I go back several times to fix it. Similarly, it toggles from delivery to pick up to the point where i pay careful attention on check out to make sure it’s still delivery. This time it was clearly delivery and went through as a pick up. I didn’t find out until the order never showed up. I won’t be ordering through ChowNow again unless and until ChowNow sufficiency fixes this glitch and provides assurances it won’t happen again. This space is too competitive between Seamless, Postmates, Caviar, etc to put up with that utter lack of reliability..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Awful experienceI ordered from Mr. Empanada at 11:21am. They just now received my order 12:21pm to actually start working it. The manager of the restaurant originally called me and asked who was coming to pick up the food and I had no idea because I don’t know how the service works. I went to the Mr. Empanada‘s (Lutz) website to order the food and this is the platform they gave me. My frustration is that the manager of this restaurant was extremely rude and frustrated with me because I had no idea why my food wasn’t being received on their end. On top of that I asked if I could just cancel the order and get it refunded and he said he couldn’t do it on his end that I had to go through your company to cancel it. I tried calling and got no one to picked up and your chat feature is not user friendly at all. I would not recommend this platform to any restaurants and will steer clear of any restaurants using it because of the fact that the customer service is horrible not only from the restaurants that apparently use it, but from your app as well..Version: 1.43.0
✓ Better interface neededI would rather have money go to restaurants than predatory apps, which is what I like about this app. Use it carefully though! The app does not filter delivery versus pickup, even though it gives an option, restaurants that do not deliver are still shown and there’s not much indicating that. It also is one click from menu to order... and it needs an extra step. I’ve accidentally ordered pickup and there was no way to cancel other than calling the restaurant. I had to use one of the bad apps to reorder the same food since I didn’t want to ask the restaurant for a refund and have them throw away food..Version: 1.6.0
✓ Great idea. Horrible executionPlaced my first order for a local BBQ restaurant. Estimated delivery time was about 45 minutes. No problem. An hour later still no delivery. I checked my bank and my card had been charged. I called the restaurant and was told that my order had been picked up at least 30 minutes before. I live less than five minutes away. As I was hanging up the phone I received my first text update from ChowNow giving me a link to track my order. Basically told me nothing but the driver’s name. 15 minutes later still no order. I call the number on the link and the driver answers. He lies and says that he is at the restaurant right then and would be there in 10 minutes. 20 minutes later, 1:45 after placing my order my wife calls the number for the driver and he hangs up without saying anything. She calls back and no answer. I call the restaurant back and they explain the ChowNow actually collects money and sends them the order. The manager apologizes and remakes my order, even though they will not get paid for the second order. Meanwhile it has been over 2 hours since placing my order and paying a delivery fee and tip. I end up going to get my remade order. The original order never showed up. I will never do business with ChowNow again..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Doesn't work properlyApp doesn't show open restaurants that deliver to your address by default. After manually applying both filters, I went through the trouble of selecting an entire order only to be given an error message that the restaurant doesn't deliver to my address. It's two blocks away and delivery is currently available on competitor apps. This is not user error; I work in tech. It would also be great to see some type of photo or graphic next to the list of restaurants to choose from instead of basic text. I try to use Chownow, because they are more fair to local restaurants, but the app needs to greatly improve UX..Version: 1.15.1
✓ “Noble,” but basicChowNow really bangs the “help local restaurants” drum loudly. Whether their guilt-inducing, almost mob-like advertising (buy from us or the restaurant gets it) works is not the subject of this review. What is though, is the really poor quality and vast incompleteness of the app. We’re all used to the Doordashes, Uber Eatses, and Grubhubs of the world. Yet this app seems to ignore the (not even very high) standards set by those apps, lacking so much functionality and being so user unfriendly that I don’t even feel like getting into details, just like I don’t ever feel like using this app. The direct-ordering mobile web experience ChowNow sells to restaurants is actually so much better than this app. If you want to use a ChowNow service to order from your local restaurants, you’re better off hunting for the restaurant website and ordering directly from there..Version: 1.3.0
✓ Waste of timeMy team wanted to order pizza from a place called Boston Pizza here in Las Vegas. I went to the website and placed my order. When choosing the delivery option, it asked for an address but no phone number. After placing my order I realized it didn’t ask for a phone number. For this reason, I went out about 20 minutes before the delivery time so that I won’t miss the delivery. The delivery time came and it showed that my order was complete. I sent a message to the app asking how I was suppose to identify the driver or the vehicle. They called and stated that the driver, who was an in-house driver, arrived and no one was there and he called. I told them how would you call if there was no option to place a number when ordering from their website? It was pretty frustrating being placed on hold while they communicate back and forth with the restaurant. Finally she asked me if I would like to be directed to the manager at the restaurant, I said yes. They came back on the line and started that the restaurant is to busy to speak with me. I then call the restaurant who said that sit was my fault, the driver attempted to deliver the pizza, and laughed because I was upset, then hung up the phone..Version: 1.52.0
✓ AVOID! TerribleUsed this service after reading that the restaurant keeps a bit more profit, so we figured we would give it a shot. A terrible mistake. Chow Now hosts restaurants but then never takes responsibility when the restaurant acts poorly and unprofessionally. DoorDash and GrubHub take it very seriously when there is an issue with my order (which is rare) despite it not being their fault because they know how to keep customers. ChowNow customer service rep was the least helpful and offered to do NOTHING after they couldn’t get in touch with the restaurant. I waited for my food for almost 2 hours and all the customer service rep said was “I’m sorry, the only thing I can do is try to get you a refund” after he wasn’t able to get anyone on the phone. Unprofessional. Poor service. Clearly not a smooth process like their competitors. We will not order with ChowNow again and will stick to the delivery companies who actually appreciate customer loyalty..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Small fixes could go a long wayI support Chownow’s mission of reducing costs for restaurants and hope they succeed! With that said, there are a couple of glaring problems that would be easy to fix: The app defaults to pickup rather than delivery and defaults to “current location” rather than a preferred saved location (and the GPS is always a couple of houses away at my location). Further, there is no way to update the location/drop-off preference once the order has been placed other than to contact the restaurant directly and hope that they pass along the message to the driver. Unless you’re careful to change both of these settings each time you order, you may be forced to go pickup the food when you intended to have it delivered (like every other delivery app) or, spend the evening with one ear out of the window waiting for the food to arrive at your neighbor’s doorstep. Not ideal, but this could easily be fixed if the app allowed you to save preferences to default to delivery and a preferred address. If they resolve these problems, I would use this app exclusively..Version: 1.7.0
✓ Unable cancel orders, no acct history, slow customer serviceAn incredibly limited app. I placed an order and a few minutes later I realized the delivery option needed to be changed. The restaurant said to cancel and resend. Ok, that sounds easy enough... I went to the Chownow app to do so, but there’s a problem, I can’t find the order anywhere on the app. Poof, it’s gone, then I see the app doesn’t provide any order/acct history at all. I looked for a help interface in the app and..there is none. So I went to their website and used the chat. I wait some 10-15 min b/t the robo interface passing me off and a rep responding. Guess what the rep said “oh just cancel and re-order” How the F am I supposed to do that? Rep offers to reach out to the restaurant. Ok, let’s try it...I wait another 15-20 mins with a “only thing I can do is cancel and get a refund. Want to do that?”. So now Chownow wants to screw the restaurant b/c of their own incompetence in design and operations. At least Chownow ends the IM convo on a winning note “I am sorry you feel that way. Should you need anything else, please chat back in anytime...Have a good one!” “Have a good one”, are you serious? I felt like I was in the middle of a comically cruel scene from HBO’s Silicon Valley. I give it 2 stars since creating the initial order is fine and I haven’t had issues with amounts charged to my card. Which is like giving credit for tying your shoelaces and not drooling on yourself..Version: 1.2.4
✓ The worst ordering app ever created. really.Seriously. any restaurant that partners with these charlatans at CHOWNOW deserve the loss of business using their app will cause. it is literally unusable. after trying to submit an order for one hour and continuously cycled through false error messages I gave up and ordered from a similar but different restaurant that used CAVIAR. Im sure my office’s $425 dollar order is not a big loss to the restaurant...but my future and continuing admonition against people ordering from any restaurant that uses CHOWNOW? well that is going to sting before long. restaurants should sue the developer for loss of business. don’t believe me? just try the app for yourself. but guess what, all these other negative reviews besides mine? wonder why theres so many?.Version: 1.2.4
✓ Didn’t take my order but it sure took my money!!Ruined my FIRST order. It appeared to take my order, my money, and then when I tried to find my order in the app, it turns out my account wasn’t technically created. I signed up, and STILL no evidence of my order was under my account in the app! At least it showed up in my email. I had to call the restaurant to see if the order sent— it didn’t. I should have just called the restaurant, this was a total waste of my time. No help/support links in the confirmation email?? Just passes the buck to the restaurant? Sketchy! I should have read the app reviews first, and my bank shows the charge has gone through. Very upsetting..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Nice Idea Poor ExecutionI really want to like this app. I prefer that it is more friendly to the restaurants. I’ve tried it several times. However every time I use it the delivery expectations are always way off. The food always arrives late and cold even though I tip really well. It will say say it’s delivering at a specific time and then it will continue to go up until it’s like 20 or 30 minutes past when it was expected. No wonder it’s cold. The problem is they are outsourcing to other delivery companies like Uber so your delivery is at the end of their delivery as they deliver other people’s orders first. I’d be better off ordering from Uber and selecting priority delivery if I want my food warm and on time. I’ve saved a few bucks but gotten food not worth eating. I will say the customer service is very good..Version: 1.60.0
✓ Terrible service- never showed upI would not recommend this service. We placed an order through the app for delivery because we can’t leave the house due to broken leg and illness. After 1.5 hours and no delivery, we called the restaurant to confirm the order was received and they confirmed that the order had been ready for over an hour and was supposed to be picked up by Chow Now, but nobody showed. No notification from the company that we wouldn’t receive our food and now we have to start looking for an alternative when we should have had our dinner over an hour ago. The restaurant confirmed that this was not the first time it’s happened. We won’t be using the service again..Version: 1.2.1
✓ Need to stop abusing notificationsI’m going to have the mute this app because of all their ads when I don’t want to. I would like to be notified if my order is going to work or if it’s cancelled for some reason, and that’s all. I know times are tough for restaurants but I’m looking for a job myself and don’t have the time to deal with their constant notifications. They have a setting to stop emails, but not ads via iOS notifications which are way more obtrusive. I will be blocking their app this week if they don’t solve this. Aka give me a notification to let me know you have or I will be moving my orders elsewhere. Thanks for your hard work..Version: 1.2.4
✓ Good in theory but there’s a reason it’s cheapI understand now why we have to pay extra money on other delivery apps. It’s so the food actually gets to us in a reasonable amount of time and so that someone can actually help you when there’s an issue with your order. I like the idea behind this app but overall, I can’t recommend it because you’ll probably end up having no idea when your food will show up (it will probably take a lot longer than if you used other apps) and ChowNow does not provide much support/information to the customer. They just say to call the restaurant. Instead, I’d recommend sucking it up and paying more on other apps or just go order to go from the restaurant itself..Version: 1.29.0
✓ Stay AwayOrdered from this app for the first time. Two hours later no pizza. Called the restaurant and it was still not picked up. The restaurant said we had to call the delivery company. Tried and tried getting ahold of someone through Chow Now. Never answered. it finally arrived after two hours, and there was no doorbell, rang or anything. They literally threw our pizza on our front porch among all the June bugs. It was disgusting. Thankfully the restaurant is going to make it right, but it was actually the delivery company that should have answer their phones and made it right. I will never order through them again..Version: 1.38.0
✓ Decent concept, terrible executionTried a new restaurant for the first time and we were excited; we decided to order through this app which the restaurant is apparently partnering with. 20 minutes after my food was expected to be delivered I called the restaurant who apologized that they were short staffed and that my food would be ready in 5 more minutes. Another 25 minutes past and I called again as this app said my order was still pending pick up. To my surprise the restaurant stated that the drive mr left approximately 20 minutes ago; I called the number on the app and got no where; no answer, straight to voicemail. After another 15 or so minutes I got a notice that my order had been cancelled by the driver. I called the restaurant and they were more than helpful; they even offered to remake my food if I was willing to come pick it up. I eventually was able to reach someone in customer service for this app but they simply just repeated how they are simply a third party service and have no control over the situation. I truly feel bad for the restaurant and their staff in situations like these. I’m sure they are out money, time, and supplies for this all because apps like ChowNow hide behind vague policies and use the restaurants and delivery services as their scapegoats in situations like mine, but rest assured they’ve been paid..Version: 1.50.0
✓ VERY POOR DELIVERY SERVICEThis was my first time ever ordering online for a food delivery. Website was very easy to use and understand but the delivery side of this has been horrible. I ordered something that takes 5-7 minutes to make, it told me 45 minutes wait, okay no big deal I’ll wait. Order confirmation said delivery at 2:28, I’ve been standing in our lobby for 20 minutes waiting and checked the status and it’s reset to order received. I called the place I ordered from and they said the food has been waiting on the driver, so now I’m getting 30-45 minute cold food. I had to use the app because my vehicle is in the shop down the road, and I’m 7mo pregnant and can’t walk to get lunch from where I’m at. Will NOT be using this service or door dash again, as I see chow now is powered by door dash..Version: 1.2.6
✓ Horrible (and costly) user experience.I’ve had so much money go to waste because the app somehow “forgot” that I selected delivery and put my order in as takeout. What makes it even worse is there is no way to contact the restaurant from within the app, which is weird because the whole point of this app is they are working closely with restaurants unlike GrubHub or Uber Eats. It’s obvious the developers spent time and energy making the UI look amazing, they should do the same with the UX. I really want to support local restaurants by using a platform that’s not gauging them with outrageous commissions. This ain’t it though..Version: 1.2.6
✓ No accountability at allI placed an order for pickup at a restaurant called XXX (omitting for privacy). Went to the XXX location, couldn’t find it. Asked around, no one had heard of XXX. Looked up the address and it pointed to YYY. Went to YYY, they said they don’t use ChowNow anymore and they didn’t get any order and couldn’t refund me. Went to ChowNow customer support, they try to contact XXX and get no response. They claim they can’t refund me because the money was already in XXX’s account and that they could only refund it with XXX’s “authorization” (despite it not being an actual restaurant). TLDR: ChowNow will allow fake or deactivated restaurants to take money for orders without providing the food and won’t shut these accounts down or refund your money. ChowNow doesn’t hold itself accountable and doesn’t deactivate fake/closed restaurants but will take your money regardless. You’ve been warned..Version: 1.33.0
✓ Has some issuesI really want to like this app since they say they don’t take fees from the restaurants, but I couldn’t create an account with my email - just kept getting an error that either my email or password was wrong. Finally gave up and got signed in with Google - not my preferred way to do it. After finally getting the account set up and placing my order I discovered the app is geolocating my address incorrectly so I had to call the restaurant to correct it and then figure out where in the app to change it, but it still defaults to the wrong address, so that’s going to be an issue every time if I’m not vigilant 🤦♀️.Version: 1.7.0
✓ Terrible Customer Service and No Added ValueI’m honestly enraged that I can’t give negative stars as ChowNow is a company that provides zero added value with a terrible customer service team. For a convenience company to simply confirm an order without checking with the restaurant leads to the issue of over promising and under delivering which leads down a path of a bad customer experience. To pile on top the customer service team upon following up was rude and attempts to place the sole blame on a small local restaurant. The representative I spoke with couldn’t answer any questions regarding how their process works or how to prevent this error moving forwards. I’m honestly amazed at how terrible my overall experience with ChowNow was and will surely avoid any interactions moving forwards. I’ll be waiting for my failed order refund as I have absolutely no confidence in this company, the way they operate, the way they treat their partners or customers..Version: 1.2.3
✓ Buyer BewareFirst-time users beware: when you install ChowNow it will attempt to draw in your personal info but will not ask you to verify it. The app got my address wrong (pulled it in from the map but identified the wrong street address) and somehow listed as my phone number as the land line I had disconnected years ago. So when I placed my order, it was delivered to the wrong place, the driver called the wrong number, and I had no idea because - oh yeah, this part is great - the app gives you no notifications at all. There’s not even a record of my order (but my credit card was billed just fine). Absolutely horrible user experience. If this is the only alternative to UberEats, the only real alternative is not ordering at all..Version: 1.2.6
✓ YOUR INFO IS NOT SAFE WITH CHOWNOWMy account was hacked two weeks ago. I got charged $130 for noodles from a restaurant on the other side of the country, and even got the email confirmations and a phone call from the delivery driver. I canceled my credit card, asked Chownow to delete my account, and then set up a new account with a new email address. My new account was used today to order food in another state. I tried to contact customer service again, and they told me they wouldn’t be able to delete my account for up to 45 days and to contact my bank about the charges because they would not refund me or the restaurant. I’m now canceling my second credit card in two weeks. The scariest part is that I never saved my card info to my chownow accounts, yet whoever was able to access my accounts were still able to use my credit card. IF YOU VALUE YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION STAYING PRIVATE, STAY AWAY!!!.Version: 1.2.4
✓ Poor accountabilityThe delivery driver picked up the order and then disappeared for a couple hours. When I asked for a refund, they needed to get DoorDash to process it (why are we not using DoorDash then?) but when I received the refund, they had gotten the restaurant to refund their portion but they kept the delivery fee and tip. The restaurant had done their job but the delivery service took no responsibility for their part of it. I am now driving down to give the money back to the restaurant with a huge tip! and explain to them why I’m never using this service again. We all make mistakes, but when they made the restaurant pay for THEIR mistake, that was the end for me..Version: 1.6.0
✓ Great concept, terrible executionI love the restaurant selection and being able to order from local places without going though the predatory competitor apps, so I order from ChowNow as often as I can. That said, the app itself needs some work. Always defaults to a wrong nearby address, even though I have mine saved in there. The filters seem to work only sporadically, so sometimes pickup-/takeout-only options show up in delivery, and it’s not clear from the interface/tags which restaurants have delivery or just takeout (the tags are sometimes wrong). Restaurants say they’re in your delivery area per the location filter and then tell you they’re too far away after you’ve already selected your food and are checking out. There should be a place for restaurants to add a description and delivery notes separate from the menu itself. Also, you can’t add special delivery instructions, which has been tricky for me when I live in an apartment building and need no-contact delivery during COVID. Needs work!.Version: 1.3.0
✓ Level of hatred? 10 out of 10This app needs to get its act together. We used it for the first time today and ended up in a crowd of about 35-50 people - all getting angrier and angrier as we waited LONG past the time your app told us. If it’s going to take an hour and half TELL ME, don’t LIE to me so I wait on the hot sun with my little kid. Meanwhile try to ask a question? So many other people were angry they were swarming, totally ignoring social distancing guideline that were clearly taped off. Holy. Crud. All over bagels? Sad frustrating and a huge waste of time when honestly I needed to be getting ready for the first day of school tomorrow. And what did the angry people on the line say? “I never heard of chow whatever before” “there’s a reason for that!” Next - tell me if you’re going to use my Google name or my credit card name!!! Just put it somewhere in the email to me so we don’t waste time!!! I wish my adorable indie restaurant never tried you..Version: 1.2.6
🙂 ChowNow: Local Food Ordering Positive Reviews
ChowNow: Local Food Ordering works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact ChowNow: Local Food Ordering.
⛔ ChowNow: Local Food Ordering Problems
