Verifying Store Availability on DoorDash with Robocalls

What is a Robocall?

A robocall is a phone call placed by an automated voice system to verify whether a restaurant is open or not at a specific time of uncertainty.

Why do we implement Robocalls?

Robocalls are used to minimize avoidable cancellations that can lead to a poor customer experience, which can result in churned customers that are less likely to order again from you in the future. 

Given how frequently restaurant hours/operations are changing due to holidays, severe weather, government regulations, or other extraordinary circumstances, we need the ability to verify whether your store is open.

What should I expect to during a Robocall?

DoorDash will attempt to contact the store up to three (3) times. If the store answers, it can indicate whether the store is open (by pressing “1”) or closed (by pressing “2”). If the store does not answer our attempts, the store will be temporarily deactivated and the store will receive an email notification stating how long the deactivation will last. 

See below for an example of what the email notification looks like:

Stores that are temporarily deactivated by a robocall can always be reactivated on the Tablet (if available), in the Merchant Portal or by calling DoorDash Support (Select Country/Language in top right corner):

• United States (English): 855-222-8111

• United States (Español): 1-855-834-8733

• Canada (English): 1-647-957-7219

• Canada (Français): 1-855-643-8439

• Australia (English): 1-800-958-316 

We also recommend reviewing these resources to ensure you have the proper store hours set up before reactivating to minimize and/or avoid future robocalls.

When do we implement Robocalls?

Below are some examples of circumstances in which we will implement robocalls:

Non-Holiday Store Closed Robocalls

Using recent data of successful and store-closed cancelled orders as an indicator of when we believe your store is open on a given day-of-week, we will proactively robocall stores that are closing earlier than they suggested and opening later than their store open time. We will identify the window in the day where after that time, the majority of deliveries are cancelled because the store is closed. Likewise, we will also robocall if we are seeing orders getting cancelled after a store’s open time.

Holidays & Special Events

On public holidays such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years where there is a high likelihood of varying operating hours that deviate from your regular hours, we will seek to confirm your store hours in advance through a variety of means.

These confirmation attempts include with the help of your Account Manager, reminders sent to your store email address on file, and reminders in the Merchant Portal to self-update your hours in the Store Availability tab.

If we do not receive your holiday hours response (even if they are normal) prior to the holidays, we will proactively schedule robocalls to call your store and confirm your store open status and holiday hours.

Below is our Holiday Schedule (exact dates will vary each year): 

Severe Weather

Severe weather is not always foreseen or predictable, and we will generally follow official regional / local updates before making decisions on actions to take to protect quality metrics and give Customers notice of store availability.

This will usually only impact specific markets that are affected by weather, and only stores we believe may be in the impacted area may be called. 

Other Circumstances

Similar to weather, based on local or national updates on regulations or unique circumstances, we will monitor regional updates and plan accordingly.

This will usually only impact specific markets that are affected by these regulations, and only stores we believe may be in the impacted area will be called.