Update on Apr. 27, 5:44pm: In response to queries by Mothership, Grab said that users were informed via in-app notification and EDM on March 25.
You can read their statement here:
“Grab customers who have subscribed to the $9.99/month Food Plan were informed via in-app notification and EDM on 25 March, before circuit breaker period, that they could renew their plan for one more cycle and the specific expiry date of their current plan. We constantly review our plans and hope to come back with more exciting plans soon.”
An example of the notification: Do note that the expiry date (in this case, 5 May 2020) can be different for each user, depending on when he/she renewed the plan."
The company has also provided an example of the notification:
One of Grab's subscription plans, the Food Plan (No Delivery Fees), has been discontinued, and some users are complaining that they were not given proper notification of the change.
The plan, which cost S$9.99 per month, gave subscribers vouchers for free delivery on up to 50 GrabFood orders each month.
The vouchers were only valid with GrabFood orders of at least S$10, and were not applicable for long distance and islandwide delivery.
Plan discontinuing catches some users by surprise
A number of GrabFood users have taken to Facebook to complain about GrabFood's cancellation of the monthly subscription.
One Sharon Kwek shared that she had been subscribing for nearly one year when she found that her vouchers were no longer available in the app, without any prior notification to her.
However, he claimed that he checked and informed Grab that he did not receive any information, after which he said they did not respond.
Another commenter also added that she only checked her own subscription after seeing the Facebook post, and realised that hers had also been discontinued, despite only using it twice.
One individual took to Facebook to "thank" Grab and GrabFood for not renewing her subscription, and for cancelling it one full month prior to its expiration date.
"Thank you for cancelling it as a service to people just when we need more free deliveries during this Circuit Breaker period," she wrote.
Another Facebook user, Kelvin Lum, also reached out to GrabFood on Facebook, claiming that his subscription was discontinued without prior notice.
Image courtesy of Mothership reader.
"Looks like your No Delivery Fee plan has expired," read the email, which did not offer the option to renew the plan.
The reader said:
"I understand that profit is the bottom line for businesses. However, during [Circuit Breaker] times when we are all home-bound, this subscription is important.
... I don’t understand why the need to cancel this subscription during [Circuit Breaker]?
How does this help the vendors and delivery riders on grab if customers find it too expensive to patronise Grab further?"
Another Mothership reader told us that he was not notified, neither via the app nor through email, that his No Delivery Fee plan was discontinued.
He only became aware when he happened to check the app to make sure he had input his billing details, and found that his plan had been discontinued and would be ending on Apr. 29.
Image courtesy of Mothership reader.
When Mothership checked on Apr. 27, the No Delivery Fee subscription was not available on Grab's subscription page.
Strangely enough, the plan is listed as a "current" subscription on their site.
Right to make any changes to plans, but users would be notified
One Twitter user Vonnie Li (@li_vonnie) asked why the company stopped offering the subscription this month.
"R u encouraging ppl going out and buy food themselves? I understand in this difficult period that plan may not afford your companies expenses. U can raise the price and come up with the new plans but u didn’t," she asked.
Grab replied to her tweet, saying that the subscription plans offered may change from time to time:
"We are always in the process of developing and designing new plans and we will surely notify when they become available.
We appreciate your understanding."
According to Grab's terms and conditions for its subscriptions, Grab reserves the right to make any changes to users' plans at any time.
The T&Cs also say that users will be notified at least two billing cycles, or two months, prior to any changes being made to their plan, through in-app notifications as well as email.
Mothership has reached out to Grab for their statement, and will update this article when we receive a response.
According to its website, Grab had previously announced in October 2019 that it would be cancelling its popular "commute" and "all-access" subscriptions on Dec. 16, 2019.
Top images courtesy of Mothership readers.