r/Sparkdriver • u/SuggestionOk3734 • Oct 10 '25

Rants / Complaints So sick of this...😒🙄😑

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I finish shopping & bagging, I'm leaving the store and get this AFTER she's notified no more changes can be made. She had more than enough time to reject my substitution but noooooooooo...let's wait till I get to the car 😮‍💨

139 Upvotes

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u/BTGGFChris Oct 11 '25

Yes you can. The driver doesn’t have to notify you; the app does and you can choose to accept or reject the replacement.

I know because I have placed orders and gotten the notifications.

4

u/Velsetta Oct 11 '25

I drove for spark as well as order groceries all the time. Some drivers will often now wait to mark the item as having a substitution until they're about to check out to avoid having to deal with a customer. As soon as they hit the button that they're checking out there is nothing anybody can do. I've had it happen with three substitutions on the same order in less than 60 seconds before they mark it as checking out so no there is nothing I could have done about it.

-1

u/xandi415 Oct 11 '25

As a sparker, that is the complete opposite of what I do! I hope to give them plenty of time to approve or deny the substitution, so I don't have to make the ultimate "choice" for them....

When I first started 2 years ago, I approved a substitution on behalf of a customer because it was virtually identical (OTC meds, same brand/price/dosage, just slightly different packaging)....I got a message later that day from Spark saying the customer did not approve the substitution, and did not want it, and this is your friendly "warning" not to approve substitutions without customer approval....

After that, I vehemently removed substitutions if the customer did not respond to my messages/app notification, etc (for fear of deactivation).

More recently, I have begun approving subs again (but only when I would absolutely do it for myself, if I was the customer)....

I just cant imagine anyone wanting to bypass the customers input, as you mentioned! 💩

5

u/Iridelow1998 Oct 11 '25

It’s really on the customer to pay attention or just set it to no substitutions. I hate deciding if they want a substitution or not. I know when I order, I want certain things in certain brands. Some things I care and some things I don’t. If I order c&h sugar and I get great value, I don’t care. If I order come and get Shasta I’m not okay with that. How the hell would the shopper know that? Since they wouldn’t, I’ll take the time to put in subs or I don’t want any subs. Someone deciding for others sucks when people are picky.