She lost $55 to Instacart tip baiting, so an Indiana man surprised her with $5,000

When an Indiana man read the story of an Instacart shopper in Oregon who’d been the victim of “tip baiting,” he knew he had to help.

Annaliisa Arambula received an Instacart grocery order in early March that promised a $55 tip, CNN reported. She delivered the groceries — everything on the customer’s list was available — without issue, but an hour later, she noticed something odd.

The tip was gone, according to the outlet. Instead, there was a message explaining the “customer modified the tip post-delivery,” CNN reported. Arambula ultimately made $8.95 for the delivery.

The practice, since dubbed tip baiting, has become more prevalent since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and occurs when a customer lures a delivery person with the promise of a large tip only to modify it after.

Arambula called the experience demoralizing, CNN reported, adding that she’s exposing herself and her family to potential coronavirus transmission by going to the store for others.

“I’m putting myself at risk to complete what once were mundane tasks, but it’s not a luxury service any more,” Arambula told KPTV. “It’s an essential service for many people now with the climate we are in … it’s demoralizing. It makes you feel like your time is not as valuable as someone else’s time.”

Chad Jensen, a business man in Indiana, saw Arambula’s story and was moved to help the mother of three, WTHR reported.

“These Instacart workers are providing just such a fantastic service to people, and I was just so appreciative of these workers,” Jensen told the outlet. “I just heard this story that these people were getting the service from people, even offering these bigger tips, and then pulling [the tip] back financially. I couldn’t get around that.”

Jensen called the news station where he’d seen Arambula’s story and asked them to set up a Zoom call between them, according to WTHR.

“I just wanted to make a little difference in her life and just take something bad and make it positive,” Jensen told the outlet.

During the call, orchestrated by KPTV in Oregon, Jensen told Arambula he had planned to give her a $1,000 tip, but decided to increase his gift to $5,000 after learning that Arambula believes her husband, who suffers from diabetes, has COVID-19, the outlet reported. He was tested on April 16.

The results have not been reported.

Arambula offered Jensen tearful thanks before giving further insight into her family’s struggle.

“This has probably been the scariest 24 hours we’ve been through and we still don’t have the results, so the main thing is just making sure my husband is okay,” she said in the video. “Now we really don’t know how we’re gonna survive, but that’s just such a generous gift, I can’t believe you would do that.”

Jensen said Arambula and her story will stick with him for life.

“I was just so inspired by her,” Jensen told WTHR. “I’ll never forget about her. She is really, really special. We’re just all in this together.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 12:11 PM with the headline "She lost $55 to Instacart tip baiting, so an Indiana man surprised her with $5,000."