Questions

NO REFUNDS for a missed pickup. Why?

Once you pay, the money is the vendor's and the slot is yours. FOODSlot holds your place in line. It does not hold the food.

• Most of our vendors are home cooks and pop ups. They cook to the number of slots paid. There is no shelf of extras and no store to walk into later.
• A slot you do not show up for is food that was cooked for you and nobody else. The vendor cannot resell it in time.
• If a vendor cannot serve a paid order, they cancel it from the desk and refund it in full, fee included. You get a text, and that order's QR stops working. A vendor cannot close a drop early while paid orders are still waiting to be picked up: they refund them first. FOODSlot cancels an order only when the card's bank flags the payment before pickup, or when a vendor cannot serve a drop at all.
• FOODSlot's fee pays for the texts and the board. It is not returned for a missed pickup. It is returned in full when the vendor cancels your order, or when your payment came in after your hold ended.

This page is written in plain words. A lawyer reads it before the first drop that takes real money.

What am I paying for?

The food, at the vendor's price. On top: a service fee per order, the card processing, and sales tax where the vendor charges it. The total is shown before you tap Pay.

How long do I have?

Pick a window and how many, then tap Claim: 30 seconds to tap Yes, I want it. Then 5 minutes to sign in and build your order; you do not need to sign in before you tap. Confirm adds 5 more minutes to pay. Miss a clock and the slot goes to whoever is next in line (they get 2 minutes to take it), then back on the board.

Where do I pick up?

The pickup place and the window are on the board and on your order. Come inside your window; your order also shows its pick up by time. The vendor scans the QR on your order once and hands you the food.

What does "I'm here" do?

It tells the vendor you have arrived. It opens 30 minutes before your window. Tap it when you pull up, then show the QR.

Can I change my window?

No. Your window is set the moment you claim the slot. If the window you tap is full, the hold may land in another window with room; the offer says so before you say yes. Pick the one you can make.

Can I order for a friend?

Yes. Take up to the vendor's limit of slots per person on one drop. The vendor can combine them into one QR so the pickup is one scan.

I missed my pickup.

Every order has a pick up by time: the end of its window plus the drop's pickup grace, 60 minutes unless the vendor set another (never more than 2 hours). Your order and the paid text show it. If you tapped I'm here by then, you are in line: your order is held until 30 minutes after your tap, when that is later. An order not picked up by then is forfeited. No refund: the vendor keeps the money and may hand the food to a walk up.

Texts

We text you a sign in code, a notice when a sign in code is emailed for your account, your paid confirmation, a text if the vendor cancels your order, a text if your payment came in after your hold ended, a text when a slot opens for you when you are next in line, a text before a window you asked about unlocks, and one reminder ten minutes before your window. Drop texts come only from vendors whose waiting list you joined, only if you ticked the box at sign in, and at most one from each vendor in 20 hours. Reply STOP to any text to stop them all, sign in codes included; reply START to turn them back on. Until then you can sign in with Email me a code, once your email is confirmed.

I have a problem with an order.

Open your order (or Orders at the top) and tap Report a problem. It stays open until 24 hours after the order's pick up by time. Pick what went wrong: you did not get your food, it was wrong or missing something, or something else. The vendor gets it at once and has 48 hours to refund you or answer. If they answer, you have 48 hours to tap That's fine or Still not right. If they do not answer in time, a missing or wrong order is refunded in full automatically. An order that was scanned at pickup counts as handed over. If you tapped I'm here by your pick up by time and the order was never scanned, Still not right on "I did not get my food" refunds it in full. Anything else: hello@foodslot.app with the order code.