In this article, we will be discussing several methods that Postmates drivers can do to get their account restored following a deactivation.
Many people rely on driving for Postmates to make a living. So imagine the shock, anger, and confusion that you will get if you find out your main source of income has deactivated you. Luckily, there are many ways that Postmates drivers can attempt to get their account back!
Keep in mind, Driverly offers Reactivation Services through their Driverly Premium membership, which is an affordable membership which includes lots of driver perks. One of the perks of the Driverly Premium membership is reactivation services, where Driverly will reach out to Postmates, or the gig app of your choice, in an attempt to get your account restored. While this isn't 100% guaranteed, it has worked for many workers in the past.
There are many reasons Postmates can deactivate their drivers and unfortunately the gig app has also been known to ban people for no apparent cause.
It can be a hassle to deal with trying to get your account reactivated which is why we wanted to share some reasons drivers have gotten their account deactivated so you know what to look out for!
We will also be telling you how to avoid making these mistakes to be a top-notch driver!
For those of you who have already gotten your account suspended, we will be telling you some steps you can take to reactivating your account so you can get back to earning as soon as possible!
Also before continuing with this article, keep in mind the Uber owns Postmates so all of the resources Postmates has, including customer support and terms of service, will be the same as what is used for the Uber platform.
Reasons Your Account can get Deactivated and How to Avoid Them
1. Reason: Eating Your Customers Food
After a long day of driving it might sound like a good idea to take a fry from your customer's order. But before you decide to eat that fry, really think about whether that piece of potato is worth losing your job over.
Postmates can deactivate your account if your customer complains they have any suspicion that you tampered with their food.
Unless you have a dash cam, it can be hard to prove that you did not mess with their delivery and therefore Postmates is most likely to side with the customer.
How to avoid: Pack your own food before you start your shift so that you do not get hungry. You can also put the food in the back seat in order to make it less tempting.
2. Reason: Cancelling Orders
A great reason to drive for Postmates is that they allow you to choose the orders you want to accept. If you don't accept a certain number of orders in a row, the app will pause just to make sure that you are actually working and didn't accidentally leave the app running.
Postmates allows you to have around a 20% cancellation rate. Meaning once you get around to the 20% mark, your account could be deactivated at any time.
How to avoid: Only accept orders that you know you can complete. The earnings might be high for an order but if you know you may not have enough time to complete the order for any reason, it is better to not accept it.
3. Reason: Duplicate Accounts
There are many reasons people may think creating a second account is a good idea. For example, if you cannot access your Postmates account you might think it will be easier if you made a whole new account. Do not do this because it could just make the situation worse.
Because Uber Eats and Postmates work under Uber, creating a second Uber Eats or Uber account can also result in getting your Postmates account deactivated.
How to Avoid: Do not create a second account for any reason. If you cannot access your original account, contact customer service so that they can help you.
4. Reason: Customer complaints
Customer complaints is one of the main reasons so many people get deactivated from gig apps. Since this is a customer satisfaction based type of work, your customers can literally be what stands in the way of you having a job or not.
Since Postmates took out their rating system in 2020, your customers reviews have a big impact on your ability to be a great driver for Postmates.
The worst thing that can happen is having your customer speculate why their order is taking long to arrive or gets delivered damaged damaged so they complain to Postmates which can ultimately get your account banned.
How to Avoid: If you want to keep your customer satisfaction as high as possible, communication is key. If you know you are going to be late with your delivery, let the customer know. If something happened to their order, let the customer know. If literally anything happens out of the ordinary with their food, just let them know.
Try to always go out of your way to make the customer experience as pleasant as possible. This can mean being respectful and polite while talking to them. Many customers also appreciate when you are mindful, like when you don't step on their grass when dropping off their food.
5. Reason: Your Photo Cannot be Verified
Like many gig apps, Postmates requires you to take a picture at real time to verify you are the same person who made the profile.
You can get deactivated by submitting a photo that does not look like the picture that you originally submitted when you made the account. You can also get flagged if the picture is too dark or blurry.
Apparently all denied photos are rechecked to see if there was a mistake made but this process can still not be accurate.
If you are going through any facial changes that might make your real time selfie invalid, contact the support team to update your profile photo!
How to Avoid:
Always take your pictures in a well lit area. If you are outside in the dark when they ask for a verification photo, go into a well lit restaurant or store to take the selfie. Take off any accessories that can hide your facial features and never take a photo of a photo. You also want to make sure that your photos are clear.
If you do not follow these guidelines, Postmates can claim that you were trying to deceive their selfie verification system and it could make it harder to reactivate your account.
6. Reason: Delivering to the wrong address
At night it can be difficult to see the house or apartment number of the residence where you should make your delivery. Some drivers drop the food at where their app tells them the drop off location should be instead of taking the time to confirm it is the right place
How to Avoid: Always double check that you are at the right address, even if that means taking extra time to verify with the customer.
In order to avoid a customer falsely claiming that they did not receive the food, make sure you always take a picture of where you left the delivery. If you can, Tty to include the house or apartment number in that photo as well.
How to get your account reactivated
Postmates does not have an official appeal section so in order to try getting your account back you need to email them.
By the way, for those accounts that have gotten banned before 2021, just a reminder a again that Postmates no longer uses the Fleet driver app for their deliveries. So in order to drive for Postmates, you must go through the Uber Driver app.
Postmates Number
Usually the first step people tend to do when they are deactivated is call customer support. Sadly, Postmates no longer has a customer service number for their drivers, so you'll need to contact them using different methods.
Ways to Contact Postmates
1. Send an Email
2. Contact through the App
3. Talk with Someone In Person
4. Postmates Help Forum
Let's go through each option to find out which one is the best for you in getting your account reactivated.
Send an Email
For those of you who feel like you will be better at communicating your issue over email, you can reach out to customer support online in regards to your deactivation.
Because of the high volume of emails that Postmates gets, it can take weeks even months for them to get back to you. Since the process takes so long, you will want to make sure that you construct a strong appeal with as much information as possible so that the account can be reactivated with as little emails going back and forth as possible.
Before sending your email to them, gather as much information as you can to prove why you deserve to get reactivated. This can mean screenshots or dash cam recordings. Anything that can help your case.
Contact through the App
Contacting support through the app is best for problems that arise during the delivery. So if you get deactivated while you are delivering an order, it is best to contact customer support through the app to figure out your next steps.
If you are not in the middle of a delivery and you use the app to contact customer support, they will most likely tell you to email their team to resolve your issue.
Talk to Someone in Person
Greenlight hubs are in person support centers that Uber offers to its Uber, Uber Eats and Postmates drivers.
If you want to talk to someone in person, we recommend finding the nearest Greenlight hub close to you. Keep in mind however, Greenlight hubs primarly deal with setting up your Uber account so they may not be helpful in figuring out why your account was deactivated or if reactivating your account will be possible.
Postmates Help Forum
If you want to find a fast fix in the steps to reactivate your account you can search the word "deactivation" in the Postmates Help Forum.
For those who do not know why they got their account suspended, this is a great place to find out why you were possibly deactivated. If you know you have a unique case, the Postmates Forum may not be the best place to look because you can usually only find questions that are more basic and common.
The Postmates Help Forum is also a great quick way to get answers to any questions you may have regarding the delivery driving process.
Comments