Grubhub Late Delivery Policy (Here’s What To Do)

Using food delivery services like Grubhub is appealing since customers have the convenience of ordering food from their favorite restaurants and getting it delivered to their location.

This convenience begins to fall apart when the process takes longer than expected. I looked into Grubhub’s policy for late delivery, and here’s what I discovered!

Grubhub Late Delivery Policy In [currentyear]

Grubhub introduced a late delivery policy stating customers can get free perks if their order takes longer than expected as of [currentyear]. Under the Grubhub Guarantee, you can request a perk of at least $5 with its On-Time Guarantee that you can redeem when placing a future order. When you get the bonus, you can’t request a refund.

To learn what you need to do when your Grubhub order is late, including who to contact, what to say to them, and more, read on!

Is It Normal For Grubhub To Be Late?

It’s normal for Grubhub to be late under certain circumstances that strain the usual delivery process.

That said, you can expect your Grubhub order to take a couple of minutes longer than usual sometimes, but if it’s taking an hour or more, then something might be wrong.

In this case,  you should contact customer service.

Why Did My Grubhub Order Arrive Late?

As stated above, some situations would make your Grubhub delivery take longer, including the following:

1. There’s a long wait time at the restaurant because they’re busy or short-staffed, so your order takes longer to prepare
2. What you ordered took more time than usual to get ready because it was large or it’s something they had to make from scratch
3. Your Grubhub driver is stuck in traffic
4. It’s taking longer than usual to find a driver to take your order because there are fewer working or you gave a low tip
5. You live far from the restaurant you ordered from, so it’s taking a while for the driver to find your location
6. Bad weather like heavy rain or a snowstorm is making it harder for the drivers to operate
7. There’s a technical issue within Grubhub itself or one of the third parties involved in completing the order, such as payment processors
8. Your driver has accepted more than one delivery on the run that includes yours, and they’re making multiple stops

In most of these circumstances, your order might take a few minutes, and you can track your Grubhub driver to see how they’re moving to your location.

For example, if they’re still at the restaurant, you can assume there’s a long wait time. If they look like they’re driving slowly, you can assume there’s heavy traffic.

Can You Cancel A Grubhub Order If It’s Late?

You can cancel a Grubhub order if it’s late, but you’re going to have to do it early before it leaves the restaurant; otherwise, it will be difficult.

In some instances, when you cancel your Grubhub order, you’ll be required to provide a reason for wanting to do so.

At this point, you can say it’s because it’s late, but you could throw in something about no longer being at the address provided and that you can’t update it.

This way, there’s a better chance of your cancellation request being accepted.

Also, you can contact the restaurant and tell them to cancel it on their end if you can’t do it through Grubhub.

What Happens If Your Food Is Late On Grubhub?

If your food is late on Grubhub, you could go through the guarantee program and report it for a perk or contact customer support for a refund.

With that, when you go through the Grubhub Guarantee (GHG) program, you can use the On-Time Delivery Guarantee to request a perk.

Further, these perks start at $5, and you can redeem them on a future order worth either more or the same amount as the perk.

However, you can only request the perk within seven days of the order, and it expires 30 days after it’s been issued. Moreover, you can’t request a refund when you get a reward.

As for a refund, you can contact customer support and report that your food was late. If it’s serious enough, they might issue a refund, but they may give you credit or a free meal.

Does Grubhub Penalize Drivers For Being Late?

Grubhub might penalize drivers for being late, but not in most circumstances.

That said, you can’t rate Grubhub drivers, so there are very few ways for customers to communicate that a driver was late short of directly contacting the service.

So, when you contact Grubhub for your order being late, you will either need to ask for a refund or request a perk under the Grubhub Guarantee program.

To learn more, you can also read our posts on Grubhub refund policy, why is Grubhub so slow, and does Grubhub accept cash.

Conclusion

If your order from Grubhub is late, you can report it for a perk or a refund.

That said, you can get a perk through the Grubhub Guarantee program, which will be at least $5 and can be redeemed on future orders.

Also, you can only get it for orders placed within the last seven days, and it expires 30 days after you get it.

Moreover, you can request a refund from Grubhub if your order is late, but you’ll need to contact customer service and explain this to them.

If your request is accepted, they could issue a refund, credit, or a free meal depending on how serious it is.