Instawork
reviews and complaints

Long story short they’re are withholding earnings that I should’ve been paid out, sadly I saw all the red flags too late before I gave them a chance. Sad to say Instawork blew it, honestly even more sad cause they barely have anymore work shifts to provide anyone from what it seems on their app. I was possibly open to referring companies I know to join Instawork through partnerships as they allow it to grow their own business and only help themselves, obviously as they’re scummy. With the only benefit to you being that you get ‘first dibs’ (their words) on shifts by the companies you refer to Instawork, with the rest of the jobs they provide having issues due to their “shift location ping” they’ll offer 30 jobs and out of those 30 jobs. They will send you 28 jobs that are 100+ MILES AWAY! And maybe 2 that could be anywhere from 8-20 miles away. ( I live in the DC metro area ) Which markets are massive as I work/worked a lot of similar jobs around this area but yet there is no shifts around? I must’ve missed Instaworks good days because I’ve seen some alright amount of people explain that Instawork was actually putting out good amounts of jobs, until early of last year apparently for most people, but I have heard more from people saying they didn’t even get a chance to have a single starting shift. Just as I hadn’t they cancelled my shifts on me prematurely paid me for 1 shift that I ACTUALLY showed up for and was sent home after 30 minutes when they realized they overbooked the event after their extremely long registration process which could’ve taken more than a couple months but only took me a couple weeks to get through after I contacted support and they likely sped up my registration process. I have tried contacting support and was ghosted by someone by the name of “Erric” some support specialist who can’t seem to answer questions or at most vaguely answer one regarding the situation of my missing payments when I brought up the companies TERMS AND AGREEMENTS which state what I was saying was correct and even provided pictorial evidence and got my conversation shut down right after sending the screenshots of evidence. What type of company is this? The 5 star reviews you see are definitely mainly bots or them false positively reviewing. and seriously I would never write a review especially one so long and thought out but I am because of the fact that I had purchased specific clothing and tried to get with the companies workings but got turned around with no type chance, now I’m getting even more so punished it seems now? Multiple cancellation back to back to back? Nothing about this app makes sense, I’m leaving a bad review and taking of my W-2 Info WHICH THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE RIGHT’S TO IN WHICH THEY REQUEST. Anyways hope you all well.

P.S. I’ve seen discussions of lawsuits. If anyone has or knows of anyone in an ongoing lawsuit or is currently starting one please let me know on Instagram (@2cold2lit). Thank you again for anyone who read this all, seriously.

A noble idea gone very very wrong. I sign up on instawork and two hours later I am on my way to a wear house gig 8 miles from my home. I’m my rush to be on time I am pulled over by CHP and issued a speeding ticket. My fault but ouch. There goes the entire pay I was about to earn. Now 20 minutes behind schedule I show up to the gig and am turned away because of my tardiness, “but mr supervisor” I start to defend and explain but nothing I could say would change the mind of this man. I immediately write to instawork and explain what happened only to awaken to a harsh dressing down for my explanation which now has become a no-call no- show. I peruse the app for another gig which I find, am hour away with a 7am start time. I book a cheap hotel near the next gig the night before so surely I’ll be there no problem. I awaken the next morning not feeling that great, i soldier down to be intime and am assigned a position in a freezer with 6 others who don’t seem friendly at all, in fact antagonistic would simply describe the work atmosphere. I work for 4 hours and my Ill feelings have worsened. I talk to the lead and he suggests I go home. With Covid still lingering I accept his suggestion. He’ll let the supervisor know for me and I set out in the hour drive back home. In the middle of this happening between these two false starts, i have been trying to verify my I-9 document that complete my right to work and have been trying to have my W-2 documents verified which is completed through the app. There is a glitch in this process and no one seems to have the knowledge of how to fix it this lack of communication revealed a company not quite running at the efficiency it could. 9 emails through their chat feature lead to no results. I suggest in a communication that I start over with another email address and use a secondary phone number, this communication an attempt at an open dialogue about a fix that they hadn’t suggested. I went ahead and did just that but as my second profile was coming online, I receive a message that my first account was being suspended or deactivated for a violation of their policy. Hmmm I wondered, what policy did i violate? And sent another message asking that very question. I got no response. No matter I figured they know I am opening this second account because I told them 3 days ago in a honest message I sent. The glitch in the system that vexed my effort to get my W2 documents approved wasn’t present in getting my second account up and running. I started to sign up for some more coming shifts. Was thanked in a message from them for verifying my W2 documents and awarded platinum worker status and possibly a higher rate of pay for this accomplishment. I was looking forward to the upcoming shifts I had claimed as I’m hurting for money and my landlord is tripping on the overdue rent that I haven’t yet paid. Unfortunately for me, the instawork Gods evidently don’t want a white masters educated intensive care RN male working for their company and this was evidenced when I opened the app a few days later to see that this new account had been deactivated too. Upset at not knowing what exactly I had done wrong and I still don’t know. The instawork terms and conditions clearly states that if someone is to be deactivated that the company must notify if even by electronic means specifically why the deactivation was deemed necessary in the eyes of the company. All I received is that I had violated company policy but I can find no one available to answer the simple question of which one. Was it leaving early because of the real risk of Covid? Was it being late because of w verifiable incident with an officer or the law which I communicated to them just moments after it happened. Was it signing up for the second account because instawork had made a mistake that they couldn’t seem - no one could figure out how to fix. I feel I was honest and forthright with them from the beginning in each circumstance yet some one with a heavy hand is ruthless when doling out the punishments that only am ounce of empathy could have saved me the opportunity to stave of my landlord and my unstable wt risk housing. With so much work out there and no one to fill it it seems very antithetical to the tenets of this company which is to help both business and worker find a happy partnership. So I violate an policy no one will answer which one even though there own terms and conditions state that they are violating their own terms and conditions they are legally bound to follow.
Beware before you assume that this company cares about you. The company as history testified is in it for themselves and their compassion only extends to the other businesses that they serve and not the workers who make it all happen.

I’m new to Instawork. It seemed like I could make a little extra money on the side. All the gigs that are showing up for me are w-2. Great! Less taxes for me to pay in April! I have to upload paperwork? Sure! I don’t mind! Only it’s not letting me. I can’t upload any documents on my profile where it says w-2. I can only start on the actual gig prerequisites. Ok…I can only put the phone number for who will verify my info. It accepts that then nothing. I get a turning wheel as if it’s loading. It doesn’t matter how long I leave it for, it still won’t go to a different page. I can’t even go back at this point. It’s like the whole app is frozen. I’ve forced restarted the app and tried again. Same result. I’ve restarted my phone again, just in case. I got a message on that page saying “error loading page. The requested url was not found on this server”. Hmmm….I put in my request for help with pictures. It’s been 2 days and my request wasn’t even seen let alone answered. I can’t get any gigs until the w-2 is setup. Can’t get the w-2 setup until someone from support helps me. I’ll give it a week. If after that, I can’t get that fixed, I’m uninstalling. Right now, the app is just dead space on my phone.

This app is great has a very great idea on a new way of working. I believe this app is awesome and very up with the times in the sense of getting instant jobs you can’t work for within a certain time all you have to do is meet requirements. The only thing I do not like is the lack of jobs, different types of jobs, more opportunities and easier access to old accounts. I used Instawork before loved it but not enough to keep it, they send you jobs no where near you most of the time and don’t have any other jobs to offer.
This app fell all the way down since I last used it and if they want to retain a lot of people then actually find ways to keep them in the app more. Have more jobs people can apply to and have the coach when calling be more in-depth with the user if the app. With more questions you guys ask you can figure out much more about the app users than having people (who I personally know) work for janitor or cashier and they are over qualified or not qualified at all because they never done a cashier job….. does not matter who you are and what qualifications you have. If they never did that job do not have people working those jobs, you will not only lose the app user but also your clients because you are not meeting their needs.

I wish I had checked out the most recent reviews about this app before I signed up. They haven’t even tapped into the Dallas Texas Market. I have no idea why they haven’t don’t that yet. Honestly, it’s not a smart business move. Dallas is a huge market. Even if they plan on it. They are not transparent upfront about the cities they do have markets in. Thus increasing their chances of obtaining personal information from you upfront without giving you all the facts to make an informed decision. It’s really inconvenient to find out after the fact and then request to have my account deleted. I don’t want to wait around for you guys to get it together and have my information sitting there without useful purpose to me as the consumer. Kinda shady if you ask me. Don’t apologize either to the people you’re doing this to, tell us how you’re going to fix it and by exactly when. I would suggest adding a feature where you ask for location permissions to determine if there is even a market for people who are trying to sign up and then, provide an option to send an email to sign up once a market is available in their area. This is a no brainer. Oh wait - you wouldn’t have all their other personal information and registered accounts otherwise right? Riiiight.

Ok first of all. I’m reading complaints from people and they are still putting 5 stars. I wish people would rate accordingly so they can fix the things that are wrong with the app. Second of all there are waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too many people on the platform and not enough jobs. When a gig comes up it’s gone with in seconds and to make it worse the app has difficulty showing the available gig when it pops up. I’m not sure why that is. When I click on earnings or any other tab the information pops up right away. But when I try to see open gigs it can take anywhere from 1-5 minutes to open and by then the gig has been taken. The way they rank people and give certain people priority is really unfair. Also note you are an independent contractor which means they can work you your entire shift without giving you a break or meal break. A lot of the companies take advantage of that they also lie in the add and say free parking and meals provided a lot of that is untrue setting you up for failure. They also have it so other Instawork peers can rate you which I also think is unfair because people can lie to get you off the platform so they can have more work. Almost everything about this app is messed up. They really need to fix it. Hopefully another company comes out with a better version of this app.

The most frustrating thing about this app is the lack of opportunity and income security. Theres often no shifts available and if you want to get even just 16 hours a week you have to book shifts weeks in advance. There is not a way to find coverage through the platform, you have to message individuals on there. You have can not cancel with the intent of working if no one else takes it and you are penalized for canceling shifts well in advance and those shifts are often booked by others within a day. These penalties result in further difficulty securing hours.
There are also connectivity issues that can prevent you from clocking in and out of shifts. I have to re-confirm every shift because 90 minutes before I get a text message that says I am not tracking to the location and will be pulled off the shift in 30 minutes when I have a 40 minute commute. I've also seen someone be pulled off a shift for not confirming while working a shift and we were left understaffed because if it, even though he still arrived because he didn't know it was canceled, they were unable to get him put back on the shift after attempting to get in contact with Instawork Support and he had to go home.

There isn't alternative option out there, not that I've seen. I've tried a few apps and this one is better but it has a lot of flaws.

So I accidentally change my star without changing my review and I see they replied. Instawork is annoying and useless at times. For starters, communication is terrible. always takes days for them to response and just for them to respond with a copy and paste. Second, I want to state that I booked a shift and canceled it within the 15 minutes. Apparently I didn’t cancel it because when I checked again it was still there. I contacted instawork and explained everything to them. I explained that I booked the shift and checked the location and then canceled because it was too far. Any shift we book we have a 15 minute penalty free time to cancel. I use that time to check the location and if I can’t get there I cancel. Even after explaining it to them, they couldn’t do nothing for me. They explained it was a late cancel. I want to state, I canceled those shifts more than 48 hours before the start time. We shouldn’t even get penalized for canceling a shift before 24 hours. Then the agent tells me she asked someone and they aren’t able to fix my late cancellation even though they understand. So you’re telling me you guys can’t change things in your own app? I only came back for instant pay and I worked hard for it and right at the end of the month, this mistake took that from me. I’m so tired of their rules. When I first joined back in 2021 it was so much easier and nice to use.

Horrible app . Horrible APP . This app has thrown me under the bus way too many times . Theres a number of reasons too. One being the communication skills with Instawork itself . If its gonna be an app where you pick up work and you are dealing with REAL money , you should have a fast , easy - access chat system where you can get to customers fast . I have to wait DAYS for an answer, only for them to not help me , rather tell me something I knew already . Another one being the app mechanics itself . The rewards program is flawed all the way - you MISS a CONFIRMATION it will take your rewards away (idk why it even does that , if I click on the shift that should mean I am committing to it) and it says they “care” about if you need to cancel . However if you DONT have anyone to cover for you and you already committed , you will lose your rewards if you click cancel if you cant manage to find a backup. ON TOP of that they will make you wait a whole other month plus just for you to regain a chance to get a rewards medal . They are INACCURATE on clocking your movements “location tracking” and if it isn't able to track you every second it will mark your account reliability lower (EVEN WHEN YOU ARE AT THE LOCATION) . Just a whole bunch of lies when they say they are caring and understand when you need help . They DON’T CARE . I still use this app to this day but there’s a-lot of work that needs to be done for me to even think about putting another star .

This app will get you some great gigs, don’t get me wrong. But they clearly could use some temp workers of their own to deal with all of the technical problems they have. First of all, if anything goes unexpected with your shift don’t expect to be paid for your work. I wasn’t able to clock out for my first shift and still haven’t been paid even though I’ve filed a complaint-this is over a month ago now. Every person I’ve met from Instawork who’s worked at least a few gigs have had this issue. Pretty problematic when you’re expecting hundreds of dollars but those just never appear. Today though, was the trigger for this review. I booked a shift last night and drove over an hour to get here. Over twenty minutes before my shift, while I was 3 minutes away from the l’ovation, they texted me saying I wouldn’t make it so they removed me. So now I’ve invested my time and money but I get removed with no prior notice and no compensation. Of course their app has no means to to address problems such as these (they have preset catatonies of problems that you can choose from, oh and there’s no phone number to call. So yeah def download if you feel like planning on work and pay just to have it, virtually randomly, erased. I know other workers who’ve had shifts they booked disappear with not even a message at the time of occurrence. Clearly they either need to get some better software, or more human help to address the problems that are created with what they have.

You get to work with some great people and great companies and most of the work is really easy! However the instawork staff like the leads and managers and the system isn’t all that great. Most of the instawork leads talk to you like you are be neath them or something! Best example is you’re the prisoner and they are the guards! If you have any questions don’t ask because you won’t get an answer and you just get attitude from them. (Even when you want to clock in they don’t like you speaking to them). Also try your best to not have any family emergency or any type of emergency because if you have a family emergency they will not let you book shifts for a day and if you have a flat tire and are going to be late or not be able to show up you will be suspended from the app for a week or more and if you had shifts already booked they remove them from your profile! When I two flat tires on my way to work and had to call my towing company to tow me and get me new tires I messaged my leads and they didn’t communicate at all they left on read and didn’t ask me hey are you able to make it or anything they continue to leave me on read and I went to see if I could work they marked me as a no show and didn’t let me work a shift and blamed me for getting a flat tires! They also canceled a shift as soon as I got there and I didn’t get paid the 4 hours they claim to pay! Great app idea not really executed probably! Fix these things I just mentioned and they will be solid!

Instawork is a middle man whose sole responsibility should be to connect workers and employers. Instead they view the labor as a resource they control and will unfairly cancel you from scheduling work and strip you of your status which affects your pay, with little to no recourse. I was working for two months and enjoyed the flexibility of instawork, when one morning at 5:30am my car wouldn’t start I contacted the employer who was understanding but when I canceled the shift on instawork I was suspended. This is because no matter the situation instawork wants you to get someone to cover the shift. So at 5:30am, and dealing with a car issue, instawork wants you to magically find someone who is awake and can cover your shift. They have an appeals process but, they are not transparent about how it works and let’s just say the support they offer is lacking in every way. I have been waiting over 12 hours for a response through the app and they claim responses are typically within 2 hours. All the work I scheduled for this week was cancelled and I was disqualified from the reward program which means I will be paid less for jobs and rather then getting paid daily will have to wait two weeks. Again all this because my car battery died. I have receipts, and instawork incessantly tracks you via the app so they know I’m being honest, yet I was still penalized. Name another “employer” in the world other than a pimp with that severe a penalty for missing work for something that was outside of your control. Instawork has a lot of growing to do.

I hate this app, and the people at the Expo. I drove down there for absolutely nothing ! I wish I could post screenshots and pictures of how those people really are! Their very unprofessional! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! Apparently at the Venetian we supposedly get an hour break, and as a bathroom attendant you get a partner, however! I DID NOT GET A PARTNER, they took her and placed her somewhere else, leaving me by myself in a bathroom with no one to break me! However I went to lunch at the correct time (which at the time was 12pm) but when I got back from my lunch my bathroom was destroyed, and as I began to clean the bathroom one of the managers Sandra came and saw as I was cleaning it. She presume to tell me that I wasn’t in my bathroom as if I wasn’t on my lunch (I’m assuming people leave their post possibly) however I was in my bathroom the entire day, and I didn’t appreciate her trying to convince me that I wasn’t on my lunch or doing my job, and that happened on my FIRST TIME ever working there or at a place like that. Mind you, I was already uptight and on the edge about what was happening around me and the kind of people that I was around, so I didn’t understand her logic on why she would think I just abounded my post when there’s a tracker on my phone for the app. I don’t know what kind of people the Venetian deals with, but I am very professional in the workplace, and I take pride in ALL OF MY WORK. I was very offended and felt highly uncomfortable and disrespected. I ended up leaving early and decided that I WILL NEVER WORK THERE AGAIN!

Scheduled a coach-call (required phone interview), the app canceled my coach-call (I did not), I found out via a text informing me that I should reschedule a call I never cancelled, contacted “customer service” and let them know, received an email back informing me that “they understand I need to reschedule my call” and proceeded to get some weird, passive-scolding for cancelling a call that I did not cancel, I wrote back letting them know this was not the case and never heard back, rescheduled the coach-call (I purposely did not apply for bartender roles and never indicated that I was interested in them via the app) soon as the call started the woman started asking me bartender interview questions, I told her I was not applying for bartending roles and would not do bartending, she informed me that I was in fact going to be interviewed for bartending roles anyways and to please just answer her questions — I’m not kidding, I’m not exaggerating — got a text a few hours later that I had been approved and passed my voluntary and involuntary interviews, about an hour later received a text reminding me to schedule a coach-call (the interview I just did) so I could get started with Instawork and start making money…

The most ironic part about all this is when you get a feel for the different gig-economy apps / companies, they all have a different personality…Instawork is by far the most critical and uses verbiage throughout their app that has an undertone like you have already done twenty things wrong… … … all while being so riddled with holes and unprofessional!

I showed up to work June 10, 2022….when I arrived all my shifts was “gone” management told me to work and that they would update my hours manually….ok cool….I end up talking to customer support later that day and they said “you have been blocked by this employer” huhhh, what did I do? “supervisor discretion policy” wow…this is a blow…but ok, what about my MONEYY? went up to employer June 15th to get a status update…they said “oh we just sent them a message yesterday( on the 14th) like huh…. Ridiculoussss……..So at this point there is no confusion that I worked that day because I’m not a ghost, you guys don’t get NO care…ok I have been messaging Customer support every 3 days….and every last representative BYPASSES and refuses to acknowledge or respond to the information and facts that I have provided.. They keep telling I need to provide proof…HOW! *Who has the cameras? *who has the sign in sheet? *Who is responsible to confirming attendance and shifts that’s been worked? LGS Sky Chefs Tampa Fl does! they refuse to hold the employer accountable for allowing me to work that day and literally refusing to confirm that I worked! this cuts deep because I had been working with this employer for 6 months through a different gig app…was they go to for anything and a hard worker …so it wasn’t like they didn’t know me! ‍ -Advice- 1)Use the app 2)if your shifts disappeared, SO DO YOU! 3)take a picture of the sign in sheet 4)Know that this apps priority is for the Employer not the agent…I don’t care what other reviewers say…..they protect the employer not the agents

It is very extremely difficult to reach customer service when there’s an issue that you need you’re always automatically prompted to the Q&A as if we want to go and read some genetic answers, the reason we want to speak to a human is for real health and results.

I appreciate the opportunities. I’ve made so many great connections, and her have worked with some really amazing businesses and people, however they were kind of tardy on saying you set it up for Insta pay for you to automatically get paid after each shift and it still makes you wait 10 days for your money that is very annoying. They also show me shift leads that I cannot book because my status does not qualify for them, so if I do not qualify for them, why are they even made for me to even season I should not even get a notification in the app about it they should not pop up in my notifications or in my text messages.

Also, they just love to bombard me with shifts that are over 70 miles from my home. Meanwhile I had my location set up to 30 miles I live in New York, but they continually wanna show me leads in Pennsylvania, Delaware the end of jersey Massachusetts smh. They really need to do a better job as a company.

I had an issue the other day which they claimed I would get a response within 4 hours. It’s been over 4 days.

It’s just ridiculous.

Also why do you need to track my foot steps. That’s a very rude & evasive request. I do not “track my steps” (or my heart beat or my breath for any apps) there’s no reason to. Please change that. If I allow you access to always track me, that should be good enough

TLDR: this app robs you, is stressful to work for, has illegal workers on it, and does not look out for you at all. Use literally any other temp service app out there and close this app down.

Everyone who uses this app knows that instawork does not care about the users at all. They don’t back their workers and do everything to make sure they can pay you as little as possible. I have had shifts cancelled and their policy is they won’t reimburse you. So you have to constantly stay on your phone all day everyday hoping you see a job populate and hoping yours don’t disappear. Even while on your shifts or driving because if a shift cancels they don’t care about you.

The only responses you get are form responses where they clearly do not read or care about your actual issue. They use a system to make sure that half the time you cannot respond to what their bots tell you.

You will also never receive overtime on these apps, despite the fact the app charges their clients overtime so they get the money for your extra work.

Further this app employees illegal workers constantly. They do not properly vet their users and people use fake names and SSN’s to work on these apps. I have personally met multiple people who have been removed for poor work and they come back with faked information.

If you go to the ComplaintsBoard.com you’ll see numerous complaints about their policy and how they treat their employees. If you dare about yourself at all don’t use this app.

There are other apps like wonolo, quick, and many others if you’re a culinary worker, specifically, to use. Choose literally any other app.

Problem 1: Misleading and Unrealistic Tiered Membership Requirements

Missed qualification for the tiered Instawork Gold for cancelling a shift within 20 minutes of booking it and well before the 24 hour mark. Didn’t think it would be a problem as it says the requirements for Instawork Gold state having one early cancellation is fine. I wake up on the 1st of the month stunned to find that I have not qualified for the month. I message the customer support team to receive an explanation 3 days later. I do not think this was made clear and I read and searched before I cancelled.

Problem 2: Battery Life

I have walked into an 8 hour gig with 70% battery and found my phone dead with 2 hours to go. The only way to make it through the shift for me was to charge my phone to 100% turn on battery saver, and turn off the notifications. Even then I still had 30-40% battery left. I don’t much care about my battery being drained except it leads to problem 3

Problem 3: Location Tracking

The app requires your location to be tracked the entire shift. I’ve worked 6 shifts on this app and the only one where my battery has not died was the one aforementioned when I took all the measures to prevent my battery to be drained. So I am penalized in app for my phone dying even though the app drinks phone juice like crazy. Either plan on leaving your phone on charger on site, bring a battery back, or turn off all notifications.

The app is smooth and seamless, but I feel wronged by this app. Not to mention I am echoing the other comments that support is lackluster. Which makes all of these problems worse to solve.