Chowbus : Asian Food Delivery Reviews

by Yunluyingying

I accidentally clicked too fast and order 5 cups of bubble tea which would reserve for tomorrow. I immediately contacted their costumer service and also tried to click the order detail for cancellation. But the web page hung for over 1 min and the customer service didn’t reply as they said ‘less than 5 mins’. Then the agent replied and said they contacted the store for cancellation immediately after seeing my message and the store said they prepared 4 bubble teas already. Excuse me? In less than 3 mins? I have the feeling that they said that for excuse and don’t want me to cancel it. I previously used recipo and had a good experience in cancellation service but came to this one due to the availability of Lady M. Now I plan to go back and cancel my subscription of VIP due to the bad experience of customer service. If a platform only wanted to make money rather than solve unexpected issue for his customer, I don’t think it could survive long.

by Snowball-S

I enjoyed this app like 3 or 4 years when they were just getting started and treated their customers really good. Hence I even subscribed to their membership because I liked the concept of ordering from multiple places all at once.

However, now it feels like this company got enough investment capital so they don’t really care about their services anymore.

My food was delivered 4 hours after it was prepared. I did live 1 hour away from the restaurant, so I would accept a 2-3 hour delivery. However, what I found out was that the driver took my food and other orders, first drove about 1 hour towards me and delivered alone the way (which was ok to me). When he was pretty close to my place, he suddenly turned completely north and drove 1.5 hours away from me to deliver an order that was not even in the route. Then finally drove another 1.5 hours back to my place.

All my food was cold and some were not eatable (basically, they don’t have anyway to manage/maintain the basic food quality for long distance delivery). This probably caused many food poisoning. My wife was pregnant, so she ended up cannot eat any of the food and had to cook for herself at 7pm in the evening.

I ordered almost $200 food and the customer service gave me $5 credit. There is no refund of the order or even no refund of the delivery tips (which I wouldn’t pay any if I know it was going to be delivered like this).

by Annnonymous12

I ordered my food at 5pm and it said it would be delivered between 6-7pm. I saw that he picked it up but was driving around for an hour with my food in weird directions. It literally looks like the company has him delivering multiple food orders to multiple people in different apartments. I can see him pausing at apartment complexes in Chowbus - Specifically 3 apartments throughout the Atlanta area in opposite directions. I am very disappointed by this extremely long delay; my food has been picked up an hour ago and has been rotting in the seat while he drives around. Please fix this. This is unacceptable. Not only that, when I messaged the customer service, the person said “you will be the next one” confirming exactly that they drop off 3-4 different orders. Was excited to try this new app but it has been a horrible experience, and if you use it expect to wait 2.5 hours for your food to be delivered, with 1.5 being the driver driving all over the city with your food.

by LJS_1

I will give 0 star if there's the option. The driver dropped my meal at the gate of my community and sent me a picture without any signs to find it. He didn't notice me at all!!! I called him. He said he was busy and hung up the phone......
What is the most annoying is the customer service' feedback. They stood by the driver and let me pick the meal up by myself. I refused and asked for a full refund. The customer service still insisted to let me pick it up. They even said to send another driver to deliver the dropped meal. I was like excuse me? It's under the covid pandemic. This is how you treat your customer? Let them eat the meal someone dropped?
The customer service was still trying to deceive me even after I insisted on the refund. They said they would refund to my this app account. It's a trap. It's not a real refund. Fortunately I knew the difference. I said refund to my original bank account please. They just ignored my requirement and said they will refund to the this app account. I stressed again and waisted about two hours to get my money back. Before that I had been waiting for my meal for more than one hour, which is more than half an hour delayed than the expected delivery. Will never come back. They don't care about you and your health at all!!!

by 10BladeNiuBi

I have to complain about the customer service. The response is very unsatisfying and the attitude is very rude towards the order that was delivered missing some stuff. I ordered Haidilao, and they missed fresh bean curd in the tomato soup and pork in the green pepper soup. The customer service is very slow, and she thought I did not check the order carefully enough. After I explained what food was missing, she said she would contact the restaurant to see if they can refund my missing stuff. Then, I waited 15 minutes, and she said she was waiting for the restaurant to respond. And I asked if the restaurant cannot refund. She said she will refund me with this app credit. Then, why should I wait almost an hour for this? Any point of waiting if I can get the refund immediately? At this point, she did not even say a sorry. The reason I go to customer service is looking for help to my missed order, not being angry with the customer service and wasting my time. I also got the screenshots for our conversation. Her name is Flora. This is my first time using this app and the last. This experience makes me feel like I am begging for help. I will tell all of my friends to avoid Chowbus.

by Franchely

Oh man I really wanted to like this but no. Ordered my food at almost noon (groceries + restaurant) While I was aware that my order would take some time considering that it’s 40 min away plus traffic. I was NOT expecting my order to arrive at almost 7 pm!! Driver passed me (even though I was the closest one) to go to a different delivery more than an hour PAST my house, then to another one even further and another one. It makes no sense that I’m the closest yet left for last. My cold/frozen arrived room temp and melted and my hot food arrived iced cold after being driven around for 4 hours. I made sure I tipped well, this on top of the fees. I tipped 13$ for a hour’s worth of work. He picked up my order around 3 and eta was 3:58 with traffic, seems rather unfair that he picked extra orders and made me wait over 4 hours to get to mine. Tried canceling the order but was denied. Gave me 5$ credit as if I’m ever going to use Chowbus again. Stay away. Not worth it

by Cynthia_yung

Their customer service is non-existent. If you order something from them, be prepared to wait an extra 2 hours on top of the promised time-frame they give you! I also used them for grocery delivery out of desperation for a lack of other apps out there, but my groceries are also always 2 hours later than the timeframe I was promised. How are you 2 hours late to a 4-hour given timeframe of 11AM-3PM???? It is now 4PM and I’m tracking my order with an expected delivery time of 4:55PM...on top of that, I tried to get a refund because they sent the wrong item, which I have an allergy to and would not eat - they rejected the refund and did not offer a replacement either. I also received a fruit with mold on it and they also rejected that refund after i sent images. They obviously don’t have a freshness guarantee. I’ve also never encountered a driver from them that was not rude - which makes me very annoyed that I have to tip them. Please avoid at all costs!!! Now there are a bunch of other Asian grocery delivery services and UberEats is pretty comprehensive - BYE!!!

by Meow_55

I had this terrible experience that my order was late for almost 2 hour and when I finally got it, 1 item was missing....the customer service was completely helpless. After a very messy, tedious and rude conversation, they didn’t solve the problem at all. After waiting for 2hs and no ETA provided, the customer service suggested me to pick up the order by myself...seriously, I really don’t get this. I told them I wouldn’t be able to pick up the order the. they suggested to cancel my order....I mean, I kind of get it, but could you, the customer service, at least to try to solve the problem like call the restaurant and communicate with them? And this is not the end of my nightmare. About 4hs later, I finally got my food, and found out one item was missing!? They didn’t inform me anything! Can you imagine after 4hs waiting and you still don’t get all your food delivered! And the only response they had for this completely messed up order was a $5 credit, available to use in my next order. Do you seriously think I gonna use the service again after this terrible experience?

Except all the aforementioned experiences, I don’t feel any special of being a paid member of them. They just don’t know how to value their customers...time means nothing to them.

If you don’t value your time and wanna your day be ruined, go ahead and get Chowbus. Otherwise try other food delivery service.

by Kyriii

Reached out to customer support as to why the itemized order in the cart did not add up to the total and was told that this is how their app works. The itemized cart breakout showing promotional prices is NOT the actual price you pay for each item and that you’re supposed to read the small font at the bottom of the cart for what discounts you’re actually getting. There is no other legit shopping cart that works this way.

I had just placed my order and so asked customer support to cancel the item that wasn’t being discounted then, but was refused stating the restaurant already received the order (without even attempting to reach out to the restaurant to see if they could). Not to mention the customer support was super snarky about it. I’ve never seen such unprofessional conduct from any other food delivery platform app. As such I submitted a credit card dispute since the itemized breakout should be what you’re ACTUALLY going to charge for the item.

by Jug Gummitnmu

I already wrote to them at the email address they suggested due to their app malfunction which you think applies the coupon but then actually charges you the full price. No response. I’ even emailed them minutes within the problem occurring and sent them a copy of my email and the person in their chat response said they absolutely still would not refund me the $5 off my order. Totally dishonest company. You are responding like you care in the online reviews yet I have actually not received any responses nor my money back. I really made an earnest effort to give you the benefit of the doubt. I placed several orders that never actually went through and we were left hungry. Your customer service said sorry and that they couldn’t do anything and didn’t even encourage me to try again. I just chalked it up to back customer chat person. Still I tried one more time and although this time it went through but without the discount that clearly showed upon my order. Please don’t believe their responses.

by Tonia114

I ordered dim sum at 5:16pm and received my order at 8:30pm. Three hour wait time. I am not joking. I tried canceling the order at 7pm multiple times but was told I can’t but will be reimbursed accordingly. I received $15 credit on an $80 order, that was all soggy and cold when I finally got it. And this wasn’t the first time for a 2 hour wait for food. Couple of things to know about me: I grew up in China so I fully support any platform that gives business to our beloved restaurants in Chinatown. I signed up for membership as soon as I saw Chowbus as a way to support the Asian restaurant community. Another thing, I used to be a waitress so even on this god awful delivery I tipped more than 25%. I think it’s because I don’t blame the drivers. I want them to be compensated for their time. But I think something is seriously wrong with this app logistics and the way they run their business. As of today, I am deleting Chowbus and saying enough is enough. I. Don’t. Have. Time. For. This. Nonsense. I will find other ways to support the Asian restaurant community.

by Cmm1928

They can never delivery on time. I mean NEVER! Many of my orders arrive an hour late. I’ve been using all kinds of delivery apps available in the area and this only happens with this app, like EVERY TIME. And the food often arrive cold or in bad shape as it has been sitting on the backseat for hours with drivers taking too many orders at a time and having no route planning. They refuse to refund any fees except $5 credits than can only be used towards the next order. Why on earth would I place another order with them? To give them another opportunity to ruin my meal? I complained to their customer service many times. They apologized every time but the next time is all the same. I think they simply don’t care. I really don’t understand how can a business consistently feed false promises to customers but don’t have to take any responsibility? Anyways if you want to have your meal delivered on time instead of waiting on a hungry stomach for extra hours, just avoid them.

by Geekay9

While I am so happy to see an Asian-specific food delivery app come to life, I wish they would have given their staff additional training on customer service. Although delivery Apps such as Grubhub and DoorDash tend to take too much of the proceeds from the restaurants, overcharge for deliveries, and inflate the prices by 50%, one thing they do right is customer service. And that’s why so many keep continue to order using their services.

I had one small issue with order and wanted to chat with someone. I wanted the company to be aware of the situation because other customers could experience the same issue. I was met with very rude and condescending attitude and he/she didn’t care to hear my experience at all. Their answer/resolve to my issue was, “You could just ask.” Doesn’t sound very rude right but once you see the context you will understand I was fuming. And the fact that he/she would say, “And again, yada yada” and try to show me screen shots of something they thought was logical when it wasn’t for me.

This is only my 3rd time ordering and perhaps I could have just asked. But who wants to chat with customer service on every order? Instructions should be clear and promotions should be clear with instructions on how to redeem. This is plain and simple. I don’t need rude service and I’d hope you guys would learn to brush up on your customer service so you can thrive. I really am rooting for you guys.

by Mmhaery

[Updated review] It’s a bittersweet experience. this app has a great variety of Asian food that’s not offered by other food delivery service apps in my area. The interface is easy to navigate, although a basic ingredient list for all dishes is highly recommended.

Every instance though, I’ve had something come up with the driver. The first is an angry, non-verbal smoker. The second had no other way of communicating with me other than in Chinese. The third gets lost at my common address and throws a fit over the phone. I give the first two people a pass because they did their job, but after my third delivery, I’m actively avoiding this app as much as I can. I’d like to hope that I just caught them at a bad time, but I’m getting pretty tired of having to deal with rude drivers who I’m tipping at least 20%.

The company reached out to me concerning the low rating I gave to my third driver, but I’m not reassured that they care or are really doing anything about it. They won’t rectify a bad experience.

by Wzzz In La

I have to complain about the customer service. very unsatisfying responses and attitude towards the order that was delivered missing half of the order. The driver was quite slow to and didn’t pickup the full order from haidilao. I spent 1.5hr waiting for my order and more than half hour waiting for the customer service to find out about the missing items. instead of being apologetic (not even a single ‘sorry’), the customer service was very slow in response and when I requested refund for the missing part of the order instead of asking redelivery, she refused to refund tips. I literally had waited more than 2hrs by then. The hotpot was cold pot already when it was delivered. I would probably choose to leave some tips for the driver anyways but she started by saying I can only refund you 3 dollars(out of 6) tip, which irritated me for tipping at all because of the poor customer service. You would think that they had enough trained drivers and customer service in LA, but this app apparently not...

by 333jo

I was so excited about Chowbus. Great Asian food, and you can combine orders with other nearby restaurants without an extra delivery charge.

I placed my order at 7:45 and delivery was originally projected to arrive between 8:30 and 9:15. When it still hadn’t at 9:20, I asked for an update. They did give me an automatic $5 credit, which was nice, and assured me it was on the way. At 10:00 I received an update that the food would arrive between 11:00 and 11:20, at which time I asked them to cancel. They made me wait another petty 7 minutes before they would issue the refund even though the driver was 11 minutes away and wasn’t moving closer on the map. I later found out that the restaurant had closed at 9:00 anyway.

I’m giving 2 stars instead of 1 because after reading other people’s comments, I do think the customer service department is improving. But 2.5 hours to wait (and then 7 more minutes to make it official) is ridiculous. If they ever get the timing better, I would try Chowbus again mostly because I want to support Asian businesses and the parking is notoriously difficult around this area.

by Hui Lin1

I’ve been using online grocery shopping and delivery since pandemic. this app in general provides fast and convenient grocery delivery and I can see they are working hard to improve their services. However, one function I really hope this app can have (existing in many other grocery shopping Apps) is, automatic refund from the merchandise/shopper’s end. It’s really cumbersome that every time we have to take a photo of receipt and initiate a conversation with customer service to get refund. Also it will be even better if you can offer Replace or Don’t replace option under each item, so we don’t have to get phone call from shoppers every time asking our opinion whether to replace or refund when the store runs out for certain items. All of these manual, inefficient processes shall be improved from Chowbus ’s end.

by ShunSY0

I pretty sure most people here already know this, the price of the food on this app is pretty much the same with other delivery app like urber eat and doordash.

Every restaurant you can find here is also listed in urber eat and doordash. If you have tons of time and don’t mind the multiple hour wait, you can order from some decent places that is really far away where urber and doordash won’t deliver.

How ever if you plan to order from local, please avoid using this app under all cost. For multiple case I order 50$+ food from local restaurants that is about 10-15min away from me. this app will have a estimate delivery of 20min after the food is prepared. But what containue to happen is that I end up wait 1 and a half hour or 2 hour for a delivery that is 2-3 mile away from home. I end up get drinks where all the ice is melted, fry food that is basically cool to slightly warm. And unfortunately unlike urber eat and doordash where they will refund you or cancel the entire order so you can go somewhere else, this app lock you in and force you to pay for the most disgusting cold food that you pay a bunch of money for.

by Aunt Scilly

this app came along for me at just the right time — during the 14 months I was locked down due to the COVID pandemic. Since I wasn’t going anywhere, I couldn’t get to Chinatown, and all the food delivery services I knew about considered me to be out of range. The only Chinese restaurants they covered did not prepare food that was authentic or very good.

When I learned about this app, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. They even delivered from my favorite dim sum place! I spiced up the long months of lockdown by trying out dishes I’d never had before and feeling quite spoiled.

I’m not giving up this app now I’m vaccinated and restaurants are serving inside again. I’ve gotten used to being pampered by this app, and I hope they stick around for a long long time!

by Thirteeneightyfour

The interface is well-designed. The ordering process is way much efficient and reasonable. That means you can order anything provided on Chowbus . I don’t mind the waiting time because I can order before the opening hours. Another Asian food delivery app I was using was so ridiculous that you can only order food in a specific time frame and limited choices!! I hope this this app can beat that one and win the market! There is surely a lot of room for improvement such that the deliveryman is not that friendly. I gave 15% tips but he wouldn’t even leave his car.

by Rkzznky

Food delivery app worked well for a couple of Chinese restaurants that were not on any other delivery site.

However, the price for membership is rather high and then if you cancel your membership, they end it arbitrarily instead of making it last a full month. I signed up for my account at 4:01 pm (according to the email), and when I cancelled my account due to the price it just ended randomly at 10 am. It’s a small thing but just shows how cheap the company is.

Also, before signing up they would spam me with discounts and coupon $ off codes but once I paid for a membership I just get 10% off at certain restaurants occasionally. Be more like DoorDash or Postmates and provide incentives for people to want to use Chowbus and get their money’s worth out of the membership (which is why they don’t do it, obviously).

I had planned on rejoining in a couple months but no longer think I will.

by Wynter K.

I have been using Chowbus for a couple week. Chowbus seem easy to use, but not as advanced and functionality as the other major food delivery apps. It seems to work fine in the city, so I recommend one of my friend to try. My friend used my link and placed an order; however, we didn’t receive credit for referring. And also, some items were missing in my last order. I contacted the customer service for refund, they gave me app credit instead of my money back. So... I paid for foods that I never receive, and they are holding my money so I need to order with them again. Guess what? I’m gonna order one last time, delete Chowbus and go back to Postmates, uberEat, Grubhub.

by AskCypress1234

I was ordering lunch shuttle but Chowbus said my credit card info is wrong. The order failed but Chowbus still put two pending transactions on my credit card!! There were two because I tried twice. I was trying to contact the customer service but obviously no one is there. (although they say response is usually within 5 min!) and —- there is no way to change or delete credit card info, you can only add new cards! I have been using Chowbus for pretty long time, there were little things like restaurants cancelling order, wrong lunch shuttle menu or automatically log me out of my account. It never stops frustrating customers who love Chowbus 👎

by Sugar Story I&II

Once a driver came to my store for picking up the food, very rude, sit at the dining area and plug in the phone to charge without asking. I reported his behavior to his supervisor, however his supervisor thought this was a correct behavior and as the store should take it. In addition, this app pulled my store off Chowbus without notifying me, after 14 days, one customer told me he thought my store was closed since this app listed his history purchase which included Sugar Story as “not accepting orders since store was closed”; Sugar Story is actually growing fast and each year, I have a new store open, this app created negative impact and refused to response. This negative feedback is telling the business owner, do not trust this app, they charge 30% of your products but not supported.

by Thelastduet

Currently there’s a Free Delivery “event”. When I was about to place my order (15$) the receipt said 5$ more core Free Delivery. I added 5$ more to my order and the delivery is STILL THERE! Customer service explained that because I ordered from multiple restaurants I don’t qualify and I have to order 20$ all from one restaurant to qualify (despite Chowbus urging me to add 5$). When I asked about that customer service said free delivery for multiple restaurants is reserved for subscribers! Chowbus is LYING about the free delivery at checkout! If I hadn’t double checked my price AND asked customer service for clarification I would have been scammed into buying more!!!!! Horrible service, deliberately misleading interface!!!! How many extra 5$ did they get out of this “event” from non subscribers because the whole promise is a FAKE! Be careful!

by 吃干饭的技术

I tried it out for the first time. The restaurant called me three times, said they didn’t have the dish I ordered, and suggested I go with a more expensive one. I refused to pay more, and asked them for a refund. Delivery guy called before he even reached my block, complained about the restaurant and requested me to go down and get the food from his car. I refused. He said “are you playing with me?” I hang up.

I contacted Chowbus customer service, and they only upset me more. They refused for an apology, saying the DeliveryGuy is not required to DELIVER the food, because he drives a long way. I asked them why would I tip after that attitude, they said, again, he drove a long way.

There. That’s what you get with $4 delivery fee and $5 tips on top of that.

by Eustino

They do multiple deliveries in a route without notification. One time their customer service representative lied that their driver got lost, when he was actually delivering for other customers. Another time their driver forgot picking up my order as he had too many orders to bring at the same time. This time customer service rep had to admit that they made multiple deliveries in a single route, insisting that “it was financially not viable to deliver a single order.” It’s like your uber driver picks up a few more passengers and makes detour without telling you—and forgot you’re in the car as well.

I deleted my account and app. It’s sad since many restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown stopped partnering with other delivery services since this app emerged. I would pay more to get food from Chinatown restaurants, but never with this app however cheap it is.

by Hzhang12

Worst service. Never delivers on time, and it’s not the driver’s fault, this app doesn’t know how to organize their own logistics and customer service is no help at all. They will send notification that the food is picked up, but when I have been waiting for a long time and called the restaurant, they said the food has been ready for 40 mins and no one showed up. Customer service lied to me, saying the driver is waiting for the food at the restaurant?! And when you ask to cancel, they flat out ignore you. Worst service ever, don’t spend your money here!

by Mi5sy0203

Chowbus can be a bit confusing. I’ve only had it for a week. For example you do not get the 10% off unless you are a member and it’s only for the first time you visit that restaurant. It also does not do a good job of providing restaurant info such as location and hrs. If a restaurant is new to me and it’s nearby it’s helpful to provide the ability to look it up without leaving Chowbus . The experience is jarring if I have to leave. Also in the 2 pickup orders I’ve done so far, they have been off with the actual progress. The restaurant did not know about the order until I came. Both times I arrived when it said it would be ready and it’s not. For pickup, I suggest they study competitor app - Ritual.

by Qwerty13141516

UPDATE: customer service apologized and delivered extra the next day to make it up. Will give them another chance. ORIGINAL: Booked a set lunch from lunch shuttle a day before, everything seemed fine until I showed up at the location and found no bus. Contacted Customer service, said they canceled the shuttle, without any notice??? That’s NOT acceptable. Plus, communication with customer service representative was difficult- what does “don’t be so upside” even mean??? I was really looking forward to the lunch, but ended up getting nothing nor any apology from this app. Stay away from Chowbus if you want to have real food for lunch.

by Lddghkiyv

Delivery was late. No one at customer service responded my message. Btw, you can only leave message but cannot call. You can’t even cancel an order. Now it’s twenty minutes past my delivery time(almost 2h after I put the order) but Chowbus shows that no driver has picked my food. Chowbus is unreliable. Last time I used it they did not bring my milk tea. When they redeliver the drink half an hour before my schedule delivery time, the driver couldn’t wait two minutes and left my drink outside the building.

by Ken Ellorando

This is the best food app out there. I was apprehensive to use another food app, but I ended up using it so much I purchased the subscription. I love that restaurants can be grouped together so you can always have variety.

Chowbus itself is well designed and fluid. The photography of the food menus are better than others as well. The fortune cookie thing you get after you place an order is also really cute, I always share mine.

Absolutely recommend you download NOW.

by Hungry Angery

Order lunch at 10:30am. We were waiting for almost two hours, and it was still “preparing food”.
Call the customer service they said they would deliver Lunch Shuttle first, then our order. I don’t quite understand why we paid more delivery fees than Lunch Shuttle but get much worse service. I am still waiting my food when I writing this review.
The slowest delivery I have experienced. Not recommended.

by TUTUTJI

Great experience! Customer service is really nice! Order from them almost everyday for lunch. Affordable and reliable. It’s a startup so of course there’s going to be some issues along the way and I’ve had a few instances that I’ve waited for a longer than I expected but the customer service always give me coupons and fix their problems very quickly.

by Liyulinnn

I started using this since last August, when they first launched in Philadelphia. It is mind-blowing that you could place just one order but get your food, bubble tea, and even dessert from different restaurants. Just couple clicks and the company does all the job. It is so nice that they actually covers all the best Asian restaurants in Philadelphia. Their service is also great! Sometimes they will provide discount coupons and also have this really cool membership. So that you only pay about 10 bucks to have your delivery fee for free.
Recommend to all the people who is craving all Asian food in Philadelphia. I also think they are in different cities too.