State of online food delivery websites in India

I have tried a few online food delivery sites in Bangalore, with progressively worse results. Here's my experience.

The first one I tired was JustEat (http://justeat.in/). There were no issues for the first few times I used their service. After a while I found the site was non-functional, not really sure why, but it was not possible to place an order online. Let's assume technical issues on their end (or mine?).

As an alternative I tried Tasty Khana (http://tastykhana.in/). Well, the first (and last) order was a disaster. The order was cancelled, within 30 mins I think, with the reason that the delivery address was out of service range of the restaurant.

For placing the order I gave my address at Tasty Khana's website, Tasty Khana showed me the restaurants delivering to that address, I chose one and placed an order. So how does the restaurant become out of range?

For that matter I live in the heart of south Bangalore. In this case was the responsibility of the Tasty Khana to show accurate list of restaurants.

Next came FoodPanda (www.foodpanda.in). First few orders went fine, no issues, very promising. Then came the disaster. I placed an order, after an hour I came to know that the order has been cancelled, stated reason - order not accepted by restaurant due to non-available items.

I called the FoodPanda helpline and was told that the restaurant refused the order and FoodPanda can't do anything. So I called the restaurant directly next and spoke to the manager, and he claimed they have not refused any orders and actually none were received.

So who do I believe here and who do I blame? I have excellent experience with that restaurant, once they had gone out of their way to deliver a late order, so I believe the restaurant.

I read later that FoodPanda acquired Tasty Khana, so perhaps their service level has gone to Tasty Khana's level!

Well, today I was back at JustEat, the website was working. So I placed an order. And here I am two hours later with no sign of delivery.

So from my end, looks like that they are all going downhill.

The fundamental point with online food delivery is that when someone orders, they expect it to be delivered within the next 60-90 mins.

Its unlike ordering an item from Amazon or Flipkart, where you can wait for a couple of days (Actually, I am spoiled by Amazon-in-a-day delivery, so one day is all I wait now).

Folks ordering food have mostly have skipped cooking any meals in expectation of the delivery, so they are completely at the mercy of the order. This becomes even more critical if the order is for dinner and more so when you have kids. Dinner time mostly means that if an order is not delivered, for what-ever reason, there probably not enough time to place another order as its already late in the night.

Any issues with delivery means a very bad experience compounded by hunger (literally).

In my opinion, these portal have to take responsibility of order fulfillment. Until that happens, I am staying away from them.

And dear FoodPanda, offering a 40% off coupon limited to Rs 100, as compensation for un-fulfilled order is bad joke on the Customer. Try something like your next meal free, if you are serious.