TASKRABBIT “HAPPINESS PLEDGE?”: Readers may recall that I had a negative experience with TaskRabbit. A “Tasker” broke my treadmill, and TR declined to pay for its repair or replacement. I thought about filing a small claims court action, but a friend suggested I file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and try to resolve it informally. So I did. TR responded:

TaskRabbit offers the TaskRabbit Happiness Pledge (pledge.tr.co) as a customer service offering to encourage continued use of the TaskRabbit Platform in the event that a user may have a negative experience. In this particular instance, TaskRabbit provided the Client with a resolution that was in line with our Happiness Pledge (pledge.tr.co), and the Client agreed to accept the offer. He later chose to retract his acceptance, and we are sorry that he did not want to move forward with the process. 

Let’s see. I didn’t “retract my acceptance.” I reluctantly agreed to a proposed resolution, until TR sent me the actual agreement to sign, and I discovered that (a) TR wasn’t actually agreeing that my treadmill would be repaired or replaced; and (b) the agreement had a severe “gag” clause that prohibited me from telling anyone about my negative experience with TR. Does TR understand that one can’t really “agree” to a settlement until one sees the actual, exact terms of the settlement? In any event, caveat emptor.