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By Darlin Tillery
Life & Trends Reporter
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A DoorDash customer’s receipt showing a $34.77 charge for three cups of instant ramen—each priced at $11.59—has stoked outrage, forced a corporate response and intensified scrutiny of delivery app pricing.
The issue was raised by a user named Content_Incident6063 on Reddit, who said they were initially offered a partial refund before the post drew widespread attention.
The ramen, listed as Maruchan Roast Chicken Flavor, typically retails for less than 40 cents per cup. The original order requested Maruchan Chicken Flavor, priced at $1.56 total.
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Instead, the user was charged more than 20 times that amount. When asked why, DoorDash customer support initially pointed to the dasher, then to the store, then offered a $30 credit—less than the markup itself.
'Public attention'
“I wasn’t expecting a price difference,” the customer told support, referencing the fact that the dasher claimed the price was just under a dollar. They also shared an image from a national retailer’s app showing the item’s regular price as $0.39.
In a follow-up comment, the user said they were later refunded for the ramen and given $90 in app credit after the post reached 500,000 views. DoorDash also promised an explanation via email once it completed an internal review.
“Because I got public attention, they finally deemed it important enough to take care of and treat me fairly,” the customer wrote.
They urged other customers to report similar incidents: “You have to consider there were 44 million DoorDash users last year. They only need to scam each one of less than a dollar to make an extra million in revenue.”
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Reddit contributors responded with more than 300 remarks over the past six days.
As the most popular comments declared: "Them offering $30 when the ramen was almost $35 is crazy. À proper resolution would be refunding you in totality for the ramen while you kept the ramen brought to you. DoorDash can afford that too.
Another pundit offered, “I’m wondering if it was supposed to be a markup of 1.59 and someone keyed it wrong. Should have been flagged easily as an error though!”
'Make things right'
DoorDash’s official support site says customers can report incorrect orders by selecting “Missing items” or “Items made incorrectly” in the app or on the desktop version of the site.
The company states, “While we strive to make both your order and delivery experience perfect every time, sometimes mistakes happen. And when they do, we're here to make things right.”
Resolution options listed include app credits, refunds, or redelivery, depending on the issue and availability. Users are encouraged to upload photos showing the items received and any supporting evidence.
One Redditor replying to the post pointed out the common issue of misdirected complaints: “The amount of times I’ve had to repeatedly say it’s not the dasher’s fault is crazy.”
The original customer emphasized that, too, saying they didn’t blame the delivery driver, but rather the platform that allowed the substitution and price to go through.
DoorDash’s support portal offers customers several contact methods but does not specify any standard for flagging extreme pricing differences.
While the customer received a resolution in this case, the price discrepancy has renewed debate over how pricing is managed on delivery platforms—and whether customers have any recourse without going public.
Newsweek has reached out to Content_Incident6063 for comment via Reddit, as well as DoorDash for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
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