Are you a die-hard fan of Swiggy, the acclaimed winner of the ET Start-up of the Year which has revolutionized concepts of food delivery across India? Has the app been the only repository of hope for all the times you have had those sudden food cravings but too lazy to go out? Well then, we have some news for you.
If the statements of some of the employees of Swiggy are to be believed, the company is cheating their customers as well as investors. Two former and two present employees have claimed that the company provides wrong information and false promises to such investors and employees.
The statement has claimed that a significant number of Swiggy’s good reviews on the app stores are unethically bought and paid for. It states, “ On social media, genuine reviews (which are usually bad) get immediately removed and buried since they are mostly negative. Instead of working on customer support, we hide customer reviews on social media.”
Also, the Tumblr blog reveals some grave allegations concerning the sales numbers, particularly those for December 2016 to January 2017. It shows that apparently though the sales have dropped in those two months, the investor’s presentations don’t show that at all. The growth is thus projected as false.
Also, the post claims that the owners of restaurants are being taken for a ride. It states, “ We are made to lie about our market share, as well as our order volumes to restaurant owners. The worst part is that instead of helping these restaurants grow their business, we are trained to arm-twist them to increase our commissions every couple of months.”
The post also reveals that some of the restaurants pay the revenues more than their actual net margins. The commission has been reportedly increased by Swiggy from 5% to almost 25% and is present with the aim of further increasing and making it 30% by 2022.
The report also states that the investors are lied to in issues of the order volumes which are shown. Inflated order volumes were allegedly found in the presentation during the time of raising funds. According to the blog, the numbers which are reported to the media is far from the reality, and are always inflated, not revealing what really is happening in the company.
Also, the equity and bonuses promised are allegedly never paid. Even the employees who had been fired claim not to have got their final settlements or any bonuses. The senior management is apparently always busy in plotting against each other and as the blog reads, “feedback is never welcome here. Office politics is the only way to grow.”
The blog reads, “There are unions brewing inside Swiggy’s delivery fleet and there’s a lot of trouble coming- all for genuine reasons. If someone meets an accident, Swiggy doesn’t take any liability for it. Why? Because they are freelancers.”
Swiggy has however quite naturally refuted these allegations claiming that it was meant to malign the company’s reputation. However, the exact truth regarding the matter still awaits to come to light. According to their statements, Swiggy claims, “We are committed to winning together with all our stakeholders who we have always engaged with, in complete transparency and integrity.”