Taskrabbit No Show

ricey420

On Monday I bought a TV unit in store from IKEA. It's wallmounted and, being hopeless at DIY to begin with, I didn't want to mess around with the living room wall!

The shop assistant said it can be assembled and fitted by their partner Taskrabbit. The earliest day was Wednesday (today), so I arranged that in store and happy days ... or so I thought.

Taskrabbit say that they'll inform 24 hours before if a "tasker" is unavailable. Booked for 10:30am, I got a message at 6:30pm last night saying that no one was available.

I had taken a day off from work and by 6:30pm I couldn't cancel my annual leave. Taskrabbit's customer service is horrendously bad (and I'd urge everyone to avoid like the plague).

So, my question is, can I claim compensation for this lost annual leave? And who would I claim, the retailer (IKEA) or the contractor (Taskrabbit)?

TIA for any help! I'm at my wits end here...

Sandtree

Why not go onto the Task Rabbit app and look for someone thats available today to do it at a different time?

ricey420

Yeah, I tried that last night but there is no availability on any of the days.

Customers services have asked me to tell them which days suit me and they'll allocate a tasker. But cancelling less than 24 hours before means that I'll likely lose another day's leave.

I've asked them to tell me when someone is available and I'll work round that. But they can't do that for some reason. It really is a poor set up.

Anyway - I was hoping I could at least claim for the day that I've lost. Any thoughts? In my mind it's similar to a delivery no show but not sure...

Sandtree

Sounds like you are doing something via a different route in than simply using the app? 

I'm in London so probably more people to choose from than rural areas but even at this time of day there are 26 people available for today to do flatpack assembly 

Ditzy_Mitzy

Compensation for what?  If it's annual leave you'll be paid for the day by your employer.  The 'wasted day' is intangible, neither Task Rabbit nor anyone else can force your employer to give you an additional day's leave this year.

Aylesbury_Duck

When it comes to these things, isn't the expectation that people don't take a whole day off work just for one short visit like this?  Surely you would have done other things on the day, because the job you describe is perhaps an hour's work.  If they'd have been and gone by 10am, what would you have done for the rest of the day?

Asking for a discount on the service would be reasonable, though.

elsien

Aylesbury_Duck said:

When it comes to these things, isn't the expectation that people don't take a whole day off work just for one short visit like this?  Surely you would have done other things on the day, because the job you describe is perhaps an hour's work.  If they'd have been and gone by 10am, what would you have done for the rest of the day?

Asking for a discount on the service would be reasonable, though.

That's missing the point at bit though. OP has taken one day's leave to no avail, and will now have to take another one.
I don't think that's something they'll be able to claim for (fairly sure I've read similar for delivery no shows) but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Sandtree

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Asking for a discount on the service would be reasonable, though.

This gets complicated though doesnt it with Task Rabbit because only 10% or so of the fee goes to them, the rest of the money goes to the freelancer. So if they offer a 25% discount then at least 15% comes out of the pocket of the freelancer who has done no wrong here and also means that those who are presumably better because they demand a higher hourly rate decide not to take on the job so you are left with those with poor ratings or newbies who are willing to work for the lower money 

Aylesbury_Duck

elsien said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

When it comes to these things, isn't the expectation that people don't take a whole day off work just for one short visit like this?  Surely you would have done other things on the day, because the job you describe is perhaps an hour's work.  If they'd have been and gone by 10am, what would you have done for the rest of the day?

Asking for a discount on the service would be reasonable, though.

That's missing the point at bit though. OP has taken one day's leave to no avail, and will now have to take another one.
I don't think that's something they'll be able to claim for (fairly sure I've read similar for delivery no shows) but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

I agree it's annoying, but was it really to no avail?  I don't know how others work, but I try and 'save up' visits/jobs so if I'm taking a day off, I do several things, I don't spend the rest of the day around one appointment doing nothing productive, even if it's just relaxing and enjoying the time off work.

I think a discount on the service would be fair, and OP can always schedule the fitting for a day when they're off for other reasons so they're not "losing" another day's leave.

pinkshoes

Cancel, get a refund and find a local person to help you who can come one evening? (ask on your local Facebook group)

SheWolf45

It was a no show by taskrabbit for me too - no notice given either, time taken waiting in. Tried to rebook, but no one available.
Had to cancel and get refund.
I phoned ikea and they were simply not interested - I asked for a discount on next purchase etc, couldn't have cared less. Used taskrabbit a few years ago... perfect. Don't know why the service has gone downhill. I suggest ikea stop offering a fitting service.