Cases of prank orders and other incidents that would end up delivery riders being scammed are among the reasons why app-based delivery services put up some measures to protect their partners.
In the case of Grab Philippines, it said the P1,000 order cap was meant to protect delivery-partners from risks of fraud related to cash-based transactions.
"The P1,000 order cap was put in place specifically for cash-on-delivery orders -- allowing a much more efficient turn-around time for COD (cash on delivery) orders, while protecting delivery-partners from risks of fraud related to cash-based transactions," Grab Philippines said in a statement.
The Singaporean company was reacting to the statement of Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers questioning such policy amid complaints of some of the firm's customers.
“The solution offered by these merchants is to do multiple bookings. But that is impractical and defeats the purpose of convenience by ordering through the app especially if there’s a special occasion like a birthday party,” Barbers was quoted saying.
“Talo ang customer! Dapat maayos ito (The customer loses in this! This must be fixed),” he added.
Barbers also stressed that the amount of food that a delivery rider can carry in one order should be dependent on the rider, and not the restaurant.
Grab Philippines, however, said that it always works for the general interest of their customers.
"Grab continues to champion the best interest of its consumers, merchant-partners, and delivery-partners. Apart from that, this mechanism ladders up to Grab's broader agenda of further driving cashless transactions across the platform," its statement read.
In the past, there were cases of videos of delivery riders crying over prank orders and sudden order cancellations that went viral in social media.