Food ordering and delivery giant Zomato, one of the most successful in India, has decided to withdraw its so-called 'Veg Mode Enablement Fee', which had invited severe social media backlash against the company. Its CEO Deepinder Goyal has addressed the issue and promised an immediate withdrawal of the charge in a post on LinkedIn.
A LinkedIn user, Rohit Ranjan, brought attention to the issue when he noticed an unexpected fee labeled as the 'Veg Mode Enablement Fee' while ordering vegetarian food through Zomato. Shocked by the additional charge, he expressed his frustration on the platform, questioning if being vegetarian was being penalized in the country.
In one of his posts, Ranjan compares the practices by Zomato with Swiggy by stating that Swiggy does not take any such amount on deliveries when it comes to vegetarian food. He thanked Swiggy for being fair toward vegetarians and further fueled the debate by posting a screenshot of the fee charged.
CEO replied and apologized
Deepinder Goyal addressed the issue to the criticism. He accepted the mistake, thanked Ranjan for correcting him, and apologized on behalf of the company. Goyal further clarified that the 'Veg Mode Fee' was cancelled immediately and assured measures would be taken to ensure that something like this never happens again.
Social Media Reacts
The incident swiftly went viral across the internet; many netizens shared their views with criticism of this decision to launch such a charge by Zomato in the first place. Some appreciated it that the firm responded quickly by offering a public apology, whereas others demanded proper transparency in charges and better interaction with customers through which such kind of controversy in the future will be avoided.
Through the problem, Zomato will regain customers' confidence once again by being fair to every user with regard to dietary habits.
