Spark Driver
reviews and complaints

So I’m a new driver recently signed up and realized that there is no daily pay like all the other apps. Aka instant pay. That’s where you get pay that day after you clock out for the day. I see that if you do a lot of driving then daily pay is essentially needed because you will need gas. You get payed every Tuesday using a third party app called branch app. If you want daily pay then you have to wait till Tuesday around 8pm or how ever late it decided o drop your pay and worse if there’s issues you have up to two week wait for them to fix the issue and refund you the money. What they consider instant payment is in the branch app you can cash out instantly aka wait 3-5 business days for your pay or should I say up to 3-5 days not including weekend so even longer. Yes batches or order are more per pay then lot of the apps I’ve seen but I’ve come across to many times where it says customer tips certain amount and then retracts or reduces the tip after the fact and that’s not cool they have up to 24 hours to change tip. With other apps out there they have option to change tips but never really have I seen them reduce tips more times then not they are like to add tips. Biggest issue for me is there is no way to cash out ernings daily if that was a thing I would be driving for spark more honestly you don’t make much once you come out of new status the incentive disappear and all but go away. If they had daily pay then I would drive more for spark other wise with all the other competing apps out there doing daily or instant pay it makes no sense why they can’t or shouldn’t there dumb for not doing it seeing how much we drive in reality we would have to put 90 percent of are weekly earnings into gas due to having to wait till Tuesdays. Also for me personally I would take more orders knowing I can instantly cash out because I can look at my gas and be like ok take one more order instant cash out pay gas keep working longer. It gives us more incentive to want to drive more and take more orders in a day a ya there may be those that only drive once and a blue moon Judy to get the daily pay but like other apps use a ranking system to give priority or perks or other incentives to drive that work the app more consistently. Just my two cents I’ll drive for spark off and on but honestly it’s not truly worth it if I was making 5-6 hundred a week or more then I think about it but as of right now not having instant pay is a deal breaker unless I’m just missing something and I’m talking the feature where I can get my earnings that I worked for that day deposited into my bank that day not some stupid third party app where you have to transfer and wait 3-5 business days if not longer and wait till Tuesday of the following week. If I wanted that kind of a situation I’d just go work a 9-5 some where else and mostly hate what I do. Us gig workers take jobs like spark and the other similar services because we can cash out that day and take are earnings other wise we never do it because we always be looking at are gas all trying to conserve as much as we can. In summery the way they pay you is stupid and with no instant pay it makes no sense when other gig apps give the option for daily pay and with this type of work you really need daily pay to keep doing the job other wise your paycheck just goes back into gas and that’s sad and wrong on there parts and incentives. Unless I’m missing something about daily transfer to my bank then I’m probably not going to drive for spark for long. If at all the instant pay is a deal breaker for me personally again if I’m missing something please let me know but that’s what’s keeping me from driving with spark or should I say really turning me off and hard to recommend. So I give this a 1 star for that feature alone other wise spark is good if you can get past the why they pay you.

I have so many problems and issues with this app. Like for instance last night I accept this order for 60 items for 53.00$ I think it was and while I’m in store shopping they add another 47+ items to the order so now it’s like like almost 100 items and still the same pay well since they added all those items it took me way longer so as I’m leaving and on my way to customer it cancels the order because a item was past time to be able to serve (rack of ribs) so I call and customer service says go ahead and still go to custom and call back when u get there. So I call then new customer service person tells me I’m not allowed to deliver the items in that I need to take them back after I had just spent over 2 1/2 hours in the store and then unloaded all the groceries out front of this person’s apartment and sit on the phone with customer service for another 45 minutes arguing with him about how much time I wasted and how I had to get an extra 47 items which I should then be paid more money for now having a bigger order than what I accepted and it added on an extra hour maybe an hour 15 minutes and then I sit outside this person‘s house for 45 minutes on the phone with customer service trying to get them to give me the persons phone number so I can call them and tell them I’m here and they would not do it so then I finally after another 45-50 minutes run into someone else that lives in the apartment complex and ask them if they could go knock on the person’s door and let them know their groceries are down here and they did and I had to wait another 25 minutes for the person to come down and get the items and customer service acted like I wasn’t going to be paid extra for all of this nonsense I had to go through which none of this was any of my fault. But many other things have happened to me I have been in the store and shopped for a persons order and then right before I leave they cancel it or somehow it gets canceled and I only get reimbursed in $2.50 or I will wait outside in the parking lot for two hours sometimes longer and they tell me oh well we’re gonna reimburse you and then I’ll look on my thing and I only get $2.50 for wasting two hours of my time plus my gas to get there +2 hours I could’ve been making other money so it all I missed out on how much I was going to make on the order plus the two hours I waited which I could’ve been accepting more orders I feel like you guys need to compensate us drivers way more than what you guys try to do which is the bare minimum because we do all of the dirty work for you guys why are you guys sit back and make millions of dollars and we sit here waste our whole Day and hours a day sitting around waiting or doing this and doing that and having problems and it’s your guises fault not ours and we get treated terribly and barely even get compensated for our time or our own wasted money which is not fair if we pull up to pick an order up and we have to wait longer than 30 minutes then we should be compensated for that full amount of what we were supposed to get from the order in the first place. Or if somebody cancels an order on us we should get compensated all of what we’re supposed to get paid for getting that order and some more just for the hassle of having to go through that and wasting your time. You guys need to do a lot of different things and upgrades and just ways you guys do stuff to treat us drivers way better than how we get treated. and don’t let me forget Sam’s Club I have picked up orders from their four different times and every time I waited over an hour so I got sick of it went inside to go ask what was going on and they told me the order has already been picked up and delivered an hour or so ago and we do not get notified at all that this order has already been picked up and delivered but yet you guys let us accept the order and waste our time driving there and sitting there looking stupid for no reason when the whole time this order was already delivered. You guys really need to look into how you guys run things treat us workers because if it wasn’t for us you guys wouldn’t be in business

Let me start by saying you can make decent money, this isn’t a scam per se. This is long, but if you are interested in doing this, it’s worth the read.

1. TIPPING: Customers are allowed to change their tips up to 24 hours after the order, which opens the door for all kinds of dishonest scummy customers.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve excitedly accepted an order, and was so excited to see such a generous tip only for that tip to be edited to zero (yes, most people edit their tips to zero if they change them). I can easily have a $160 day, turn to $100 once tips have process because of the amount of scummy people who edit their tips to $0 after the fact. I would much rather accept an order with $0 as a tip, and know I’m not getting a tip, than think I’m getting $10 and find out two days later I don’t.

2. SCAM?: When orders are in high demand they add additional money, the way it is presented “earn an additional $5 for accepting this delivery”, is extremely misleading. That additional money it says you are getting is already in the offer, you do not get additional money on top of what you are offered.

To build off that, I have watched the app/developers (?) lie about the amounts. I’ve watched an order go from an “additional $3 upwards of $15” all have the same amount listed, never changed the rate.

They offer incentives, the incentives entice more drivers to drive that day, so not only are you unlikely to get the incentive, but you also make less money typically than when they don’t have incentives. Also, whenever there are incentives there is a major increase in the large “batch” orders, you’ll mainly get offers for the $40 for 40 miles type orders, that eat all your time and make getting the incentives even harder.

3. DELIVERY TIMES: They consistently lie about the times the orders take, which screws you when you are trying to manage your time.

You see an order that says 7 orders, should be delivered within an hour, you accepted it and suddenly the estimated times are 2 1/2 hours to complete the deliveries. So you’re faced with two options: drop the order, and have your metrics negatively affected, or take the order, and waste way more time that the offer is worth.

4. WAIT TIMES: Even if the order is ready, you cannot check in early, so often times you’ll sit there waiting 30+ minutes just to check in, and then you’ll wait another 15+ minutes (give or take the location) to get the order once you’re finally checked in.

5. REJECTIONS: If you get offers and reject them, they prompt you and tell you that you will not receive the order again. Well this is also false, you will continually be offered the same orders over, and over, and over, and over (get the picture) again, until the order is accepted by you or someone else.

6. ORDER MESS UP: If someone cancels their order (even if you showed up for the order), or if there was a glitch and it got double booked, the only compensation you get is a measly $2.50, which is bogus.

7. SHOPPING: The shopping lists are sooo out of order that you will sometimes double the time it should take you to shop. The app will send you to the front, back, middle of the store and repeat all over again, it is not itemized.

But you can select which item you want to scan, and make up the time for yourself, so no biggie right? Wrong, if the item isn’t in stock, you cannot select a substitute or cancel that item on the spot. You can only make changes to the current item it prompts you to use. So you take the chance of skipping the item, and still wasting time going back and forth throughout the store.

8. HOTSPOTS: The hotspots, and bar graph for the volume of orders are wrong. I realize this has a lot to do with the number of drivers present, but you have no way to know which store location is actually busy, and doesn’t have too many drivers.

So you could end up wasting a ton of time and gas driving from store to store, trying to find a store that has orders.

They also will show “busy”, and if you call and ask why you aren’t receiving offers they’ll tell you there are none for that area, for that hour.

9. APP GLITCHES: The app is very glitchy, and has a lot of design flaws. I won’t take the time to point them out, as they are only minor inconveniences, but it can be frustrating, and affect offers you receive.

10. FALSE OFFERS: Aside from customers essentially scamming you, the app will scam you as well. You’ll get an offer for say $22 for 8 miles, you’ll accept it, and suddenly the offer amount is only for $16. Now you have the option to just take the order, or drop it and have your metrics negatively impacted..again.

Okay so some features that I would like to see added to the Spark Driver app is
#1. More shop and deliver opportunities AND the ability for drivers to save certain customers as “preferred customers” and customers be able to save certain shopper/drivers as “preferred shoppers” and for the customers to have the ability to choose whether they want an independent contractor AKA Spark Drivers to go shop their orders or if they want Wal Mart employees to do it. — let me explain why I would like those as my #1… on Target’s Shipt app you can save preferred customers and they can save you and others as their preferred shoppers so if they place an order someone that they know has shopped their order well previously will have first opportunity and receive an increase in pay for that order as they were selected as a preferred shopper.. Preferred customers typically leave better tips for their preferred shoppers.. And it’s usually because the customer gets that comfortability knowing they’re getting better quality groceries like fresh fruits and veggies or the farthest out expiration date on their bread and milk, because they know that this shopper has made sure to provide them with that type of service previously… I cannot tell you how many times I have dropped off orders at customers houses and the fresh fruits or vegetables were covered in bad spots, sometimes they’re completely smashed, sometimes even have mold growing on them… I have delivered eggs that had multiple eggs cracked in the carton… And I recently just delivered to a lady the other day who immediately checked the expiration date on her creamer when she was putting her groceries in her house from the porch and she stopped me to show me how the creamer had expired the day before, and she said this has happened the last two times.. she said that she’s getting frustrated and it’s almost easier to just go get it herself because even though Walmart refunds her she still ends up not having any creamer at home and having to go get it anyways. I let her know that sometimes we are able to shop the orders and to look and see if that option is anywhere for her when she checks out in the future if she chooses to still use the grocery delivery service..

#2. The whole customers being able to remove their tip crap is absolutely absurd… some customers are getting on here and putting that they are giving a $20 tip so that their orders get picked up and delivered in a timely fashion and not delayed while they’re waiting on someone to be willing to deliver their order for low payment whenever they haven’t tipped in the past. So now they’re putting these high dollar tips on their orders and then removing them because they never had the intention on actually paying that kind of a tip to begin with… i’m not saying get rid of customers being able to remove their tips but I’m saying there should be some sort of process that the customers have to go through in order to remove their tip and explain why they want it removed…. And if they say it’s because it’s late then it needs to be looked at whether or not the order was late because the store did not get the order picked on time… Or was it because the driver didn’t arrive to the store on time… Or was it because the driver arrived to the store on time but then had to sit there for 75 minutes waiting on their order to get loaded into their car… if the fact the order was late was beyond the drivers control then I feel like the customer should not be allowed to remove their tip when the driver had done nothing wrong. I feel like if you guys make it more of a process for customers to remove their tip than a lot of the drivers will not be seeing several missing tips on a daily basis… it’s better for everybody involved… The customer will get educated on what it is or is not at fault of the drivers, the drivers will still receive the earnings that they worked hard for instead of being screwed over, and then you guys will retain the good quality drivers instead of having all of them stop working for your service and leaving you with the not so good drivers that are just willing to get whatever money they can as fast as they can..

#3. There has been numerous times that I have picked up at one of our Walmarts in my zone and they tell me that they are two hours behind in picking orders… And then that’s why several drivers are sitting there taking up spots waiting on orders to get finished because they’re supposed to be picked up at a certain time but they haven’t even got to that order in their queue of orders to be picked… and on those same days I did not received even 1 shop and deliver order, and then they’re sitting there telling me that they’re so far behind that the staff are overwhelmed… so I would like to see a feature in the app set up where if Walmart needs a few more pickers for the day or even for a few hours or during peak hours that spark drivers have the opportunity to go in and pick orders alongside the Walmart employees and then be paid out like per rate of pick or by however many orders we pick within an hour, or however many items we pick within an hour… Something like that. So even though we’re not delivering the orders or getting tips we’re still helping other drivers get their orders on time, so then whenever our signed up “picking shift” is over and we start doing deliveries again we’re not sitting out there waiting for hours for our order to be finished.. like maybe they could send out an offer to go in and pick five orders for $50 or something like that.. depending on order sizes of course…

But yeah those are the main things I really think these part team should look into and would benefit not only just the drivers but the customers and Walmart

Hi.I started working for Spark in January of 2023.My account was unjustly deactivated on August 31st and it was said due to a shared account. I've never shared my account with anyone.As,I have stated through email.I was deactivated.Due,to a false allegation.I believe that a situation should be looked into,Prior,To such actions.Due,to these allegations,I haven't been able to keep up financially.

My account was deactivated on 10/18/23 due to cancelled license. The dmv made a mistake, corrected the mistake and my license was reinstated on 10/18/23. I filed an appeal on 10/18/23 and was told it would take 24/48 hours for a response, and 7-10 business days to be resolved. I have sent emails and called and have gotten no correspondence from spark to date, I’ve been told three times 10/23, 10/26 and 10/30 that my account would be escalated and should receive an email within 24 hours. Needless to say nothing has been done, I’m getting no correspondence from spark just getting the run around.

I was deactivated on Oct.4th. The day before i had to verify my identity. I did not read the notification about being deactivate after three tries.I couldn't find my drivers license at the time. So I grabbed an old phone that had pics of my ID on it. I scanned these pictures with my phone. I had a problem with the back of my ID going through.After three tries I assumed It was accepted. Deactivated the next day.I have appealed, emailed, called,and even emailed the CEO of Walmart.Still no luck.Gonna be a bad Christmas this year.

I received a message that my account was deactivated because I MAY be using third party apps or bots. I was driving for Spark about a year. It wasn't until I did an update on the app that I had to "press and hold" to prove I was a human and I did that. This was my part time job so I didn't accept many orders so I'm not sure how the assumed I was using bots. Then it's no point in trying to fight it because they just keep you deactivated. They don't provide you with any proof of their accusations. SHOW ME WHERE I USED APPS OR BOTS. I don't even know what that means nor do I know how to do it. I never received a warning or anything. They just fire people without valid reason.

I was having trouble with a batched delivery and couldn't find a location and when I went to get help the first person answered then I explained my issue and he never answered again I ended up ending the chat and starting over with a new driver support assistant. I have screen shots of the conversation. The name of the driver support assistant was Mark Anthony

Was deactivated when Chekr did a random check of my driving history and came up with an expired license, information that was wrong. I was deactivated immediately before I could even provide proof the record was wrong, and had already been fixed. Attempts to contact ANYONE at ANY of the email address has proven futile. They have the WORST driver support out there. You CAN NOT rely on this app. We are in a tight spot with money now because these idiots choose to not care about us, BEWARE DO NOT DRIVE FOR SPARK!

Walmart spark has wrongfully deactivated my independent contractor account using false accusations.

Without proper human oversight using issue ridden AI computer software has red flagged my account.

Following many app updates ridden with glitches and issues I was removed from the platform. Accused of sharing accounts.

in the event that this accusation was the result of identity theft or mistake, I reached out the Walmart spark in every form possible. Email, telephone, certified letter. All with no response for over 5 weeks. No evidence provided or reprise.

I am now forced into binding arbitration with Walmart spark and have no clue if my identity or account has been compromised.

Spark had some issues with there verification so I called to get help No one actually gave me an Answer just kept giving me reference number to check back. 3 weeks went by called again finally got somebody who said this is an on going issue let me see what I can do she told me that my complaint were not going to the right department and she will tell me what i need to do. So this morning 10/11/23 I checked it and it was fix. When I get off work I can start spark againYAY! NO I go to the app and my account is deactivated. I can't get no help from nobody.

I have been barely driving for Spark for 3 weeks, and recently while on a delivery window a message popped out nowhere on the app stating my account has been deactivated. There was no warning or reason given. Everything seemed fine before then.

I was directed to a FAQ page to fill a form for reactivation, but nothing positive has happened since, not even some form of communication by them. I wish they would treat drivers with decency.

My account was closed on 10/10 for false information and I am a previous manager at several different grocery stores I know the proper way to handle alcohol. I last at Rouses market and Mains Market for years with out incident. It was drilled in us to check everyone's ID and that still applies. As a matter of fact the couple approaches Mr as soon as I pulled up with 🆔 out so where are these accusations coming from. Then you can not even speak to a real representative or get a response but they quickly deactivated my account

I were deactivate on October 1,2023 without any explanation I have reach out to customer support and they keep telling they do not know why do to my privacy I also file appeal and requested a arbitration conference phone call to try to get this resolved still nothing no reply nor a call they just deactivated your account without doing a investigation and when you requesting for a explanation they send you a email after saying they review your request and the deactivation still upheld but refuses to give any reason to the driver ask to why

There is absolutely no assistance whatsoever for drivers with account issues. The call center employees, or "driver support" are just plain rude and have no knowledge of how to resolve ANY account issues. They obviously don't have the tools they need to handle those types of calls either. It would probably also help if the call in take was handled by someone fluent in the English language. Then maybe they would understand enough to at least care. Spark Driver is misleading and unsupportive. They make you feel stupid for even trying.

I signed up to drive and did one delivery with two stops for $40. It took me less than an hour so I was thinking this is great. When it came time to get my money I found out spark has run some kind of scam on me. They said the only way I can get paid is with a Branch account and yet I did not have one. Spark told me to contact branch to get one set up. Branch told me to contact spark because my application information was incomplete. After one week of going back-and-forth with spark and branch. I finally got tired of it and said forget it. They got a free $40 out of me and I hope nobody else gets scammed like I did.

My account was deactivated without reason and the best part about this? You don’t get updates, they essentially want you to sit around not knowing if you’ll even get your account back for almost 10 days.

I had no warning or heads up, I show this company nothing but loyalty and hard work then in return I get deactivated. I’ve called countless times and been lied to by many agents saying my issue will be resolved in 24 hours.

Yet I’m still here it’s been 5 days and no progress

Proof of delivery photo clearly shows spark driver attempted to conceal package seal was completely opened. The top of package was rolled down. At 4:26pm delivery promised at 5:44pm. At 4:30pm text indicated delivery was complete. Concerned the contents were contaminated. Description of item ordered “ multipack 4” quantity 2. I received 8 separate items. Lacking substitution notification for approval.

Spark/Walmart is allowing drivers to use bots, multiple phones to deliver orders. They’re illegal immigrants with no driver license or identification. There’s a guy who picks up the groceries and load them into different cars with drivers. He hands them 2 phones and places each order with different drivers. He bragged about making $400 per driver, per day. We complained to Walmart/Spark and they said we know it’s going on but we’re not going to fix it. I guess when a customer gets raped or killed they’ll do something. Because you have no idea who’s coming to your home.

I was deactivated on August 17th 2023 due to a background check that was reported in ERROR. The charge has been removed by Checkr, they have confirmed with me that they have provided Spark with the correct information on 2 separate occasions. I appealed this but have been denied with no explanation as to why. The charge that caused my account to be deactivated was reported in error. Everything else that stands on my background was disclosed when i started back in October of 2022. There had been no other changes except what was reported in error. Over 1 month later and I am still deactivated. It's been more than 10 business days and no reply from my latest appeal. Gig worker beware! Spark does not care about their driver. There is no one you can get assistance from in anyway. We are disposable to Spark.

Like other Drivers I was Deactivated on 9/5 for no reason, So I called support and started the process, I was told 7 to 10 days for a reply, I sent them an updated proof of insurance, driving record and vehicle registration all in good standing .no contact as of yet (2 weeks later) . My metrics looks good so if im going to reprimanded on something tell the person what it is so it can be rectified