Chowdeck’s problem is lateness; Glovo’s is support and fees

The headlineChowdeck’s customers complain less, but they complain about the one thing a delivery app cannot afford: lateness

Chowdeck and Glovo are both food-delivery apps with strong review volumes, but their reviews describe very different problems. Among comparable reviews (Chowdeck from 2023 on, against English-language Glovo reviews from 2023 on), 33% of Chowdeck reviews contain a complaint, against 50% for Glovo. 29% of Chowdeck reviews are rated one or two stars, against 47%. Leave signals run at 28 per 1,000 reviews, against 48. All four differences are far beyond chance.

What customers complain about differs more than how often. Chowdeck’s largest complaint is delivery delays, and it is the only major theme where Chowdeck does worse than Glovo (8.1% of reviews against 6.7%). Glovo’s problems are customer support (14.5%), fees (11.1%) and refunds (9.0%), where Chowdeck’s shares are between a half and a third as large. Put simply, Chowdeck has an operations problem and Glovo has a service and money problem.

This article follows that thread through the questions a growth, product or CX team would ask: whether customers are leaving or just complaining, why they threaten to leave and who they go to, how they compare the two brands, what they love and recommend, what they ask for, whether updates help, and whether fixes would pay back.

Leaving or complaining?Neither brand’s customers are leaving faster; Glovo’s are complaining less, and Chowdeck’s are holding steady within a noisy band

Glovo’s average rating rose from about 2.8 in mid-2024 to 3.45 in the latest quarter, and its complaint rate fell from 52% at its peak to 38%. Because Glovo’s review volume stayed flat (about 1,300 to 1,600 a quarter), this is a genuine improvement rather than a change in who writes: complaint reviews per quarter fell from about 756 to 652 in Q2 ’26. Leave signals eased only slightly: 65 in Q2 ’26 against a peak of 74, or 37 per 1,000 reviews in 2026 against 41 overall.

Chowdeck shows no such trend. Its complaint rate has stayed between 32% and 43% since Q2 ’24 (one small quarter in Q1 ’24 reached 50%), and its quarterly rating has stayed between 3.2 and 3.9. The answer to “are customers actually leaving, or simply complaining more?” is therefore different for each brand. At Glovo, complaints are clearly easing and leave signals slightly. At Chowdeck, neither has changed. With only 8 leave signals in 2026, Chowdeck’s leave data cannot yet show a trend.

What keeps coming backChowdeck has an operations problem; Glovo has a service and money problem

Chowdeck’s complaints concentrate in delivery delays (8.1% of reviews), customer support (8.0%), app problems (7.0%) and riders and couriers (5.4%). Glovo’s concentrate in customer support (14.5%), fees and promos (11.1%) and refunds (9.0%). Apart from delivery delays, Chowdeck’s share is lower on ten of the fifteen themes, and not significantly different on four more.

Recurrence sharpens the contrast. Customer support was a top-three Glovo complaint in 12 of 12 quarters and fees in 12, so these are structural. At Chowdeck, delivery delays held a top-three place in 9 quarters and support in 10, but support has eased (from 10.2% to 6.5% of reviews) while app bugs, location and ordering-flow problems rose from 5.8% to 8.8%. At Glovo, app problems moved the other way, from 7.0% to 4.6%.

Why customers leaveSupport is why customers threaten to leave; fees and lateness decide where they go

Customers who threaten to leave give consistent reasons. For both brands, customer support is the most common theme in leave-signal reviews (Chowdeck 42%, Glovo 36%), even though support is only the second- or first-largest complaint overall. After support, the brands diverge. Chowdeck’s leavers cite delivery delays (37%) and refunds (29%). Glovo’s cite fees (27%), app problems (17%) and delays (17%). In 2026 fees become Glovo’s top reason (38% of leave signals, ahead of support at 36%).

Where do they go? Only a minority name a destination. At Glovo, Uber Eats (74), Wolt (66), Foodpanda (43) and Bolt Food (42) lead, mostly in markets outside Nigeria. Their stated reasons are fees and support. At Chowdeck, 16 leave-signal reviews name Glovo and three name Jumia Food; refunds and support are the reasons given. The next section looks at the head-to-head more closely.

How customers compareEach app’s unhappy customers name the other as the way out, and the reasons are mirror images

At Glovo, comparing is mostly a form of complaint. Of the 2,100 reviews that compare it with another provider, 76% are rated one or two stars and 21% four or five. Reviews naming Chowdeck, Uber Eats or Wolt are one- or two-star (71%, 71% and 88%). The mildest comparisons are with Jumia Food (46% rated 4–5★).

The Chowdeck-Glovo head-to-head is small but one-sided in both directions. 27 reviews on Chowdeck’s page name Glovo, and 22 of them prefer Glovo. On Glovo’s page, 32 reviews name Chowdeck, and 23 prefer Chowdeck. In 2026, Chowdeck’s page shows 5 of 5 naming Glovo as better, while Glovo’s page splits 6 to 4 in Chowdeck’s favour.

The reasons mirror each other. Reviewers leaving Glovo for Chowdeck mention payment options (bank transfer or wallet; 8 of 23), refunds and money (7) and riders (7). Reviewers leaving Chowdeck for Glovo mention late deliveries (14 of 22), customer service (10) and refunds (8), and none mention payment options. Each brand’s weakness is the other’s selling point.

What they loveSpeed makes customers love both apps; value and service make them recommend

Praise is similar in shape. Fast delivery is the leading theme at both brands (48% of specific praise at Chowdeck, 52% at Glovo). Chowdeck is praised relatively more for food and packaging quality (21% against 13%) and customer service (14%), Glovo for ease of use (23%) and reliability and trust (9%).

Recommendations tell a more specific story. Among reviews that recommend the app for a stated reason, price and value is 2.2 times as common as in other praise at Glovo, and 2.7 times at Chowdeck. Customer service is about 1.5 times as common at both. Speed, the most loved aspect, is not over-represented among recommenders (about 1.0x): it earns the rating, but value and service earn the recommendation. Common recommending phrases include “highly recommend”, “customer service” and “best delivery” at Glovo, and “highly recommend” at Chowdeck. Hedged endorsements are rare: 11% of Glovo recommendations and 3% of Chowdeck’s also contain a complaint.

What they ask forGlovo’s customers ask for choice and control; Chowdeck’s ask to see where the rider is

Glovo has 2,189 reviews with a feature request, led by restaurant, shop and search selection (603 reviews, 4,275 votes), order notes and extras (263 reviews, 3,145 votes), wider coverage (261), payment options (179) and tipping the rider (155 reviews, 2,024 votes).

Chowdeck’s 73 requests are led by payment options (16), live rider tracking and messaging (13, tied for most requested in 2026) and wider restaurant selection (13). Because its biggest complaint is lateness, live tracking is the request that most directly relieves a recurring problem.

Which restaurants do customers ask for? Very few name one. Among 545 Glovo requests about which restaurants, stores or areas are available, 26 name a chain, and KFC leads with 9, ahead of McDonald’s (4) and Chicken Republic (3). KFC has been asked for in every year from 2018 to 2024. In 2026 the pattern is geographic: of 21 such requests, one names restaurants (McDonald’s and KFC, as a pickup option) and the rest ask for places, such as Kampala and Entebbe, Warri and Bayelsa in Nigeria, Oulad Teima and Tit Mellil in Morocco, villages in Dolj county in Romania, and Dubrava. At Chowdeck the named asks are Chicken Republic (2 reviews, 2024 and 2025) and Port Harcourt Hyper City (1); its only 2026 selection request is for a bookshop. Coverage is a geography problem more than a brand problem, so an area checker with a notify-me sign-up serves more customers than a list of chains to recruit; KFC is the one brand worth a partnership conversation.

Which payment options do customers demand? At Chowdeck, 11 of the 16 payment-related requests ask for a different way to pay, and 8 of those 11 want cash or pay on delivery (2 in 2026, in March and May). The other two 2026 requests ask for bank transfer through a Paystack account number, which the reviewer says an update removed, and for international cards. At Glovo, 11 of the 13 payment-related requests in 2026 name a method or ask for more: meal vouchers lead with 4 (Pluxee, Edenred, UpRomania and unspecified meal tickets), then cash or pay on delivery (2), M-Pesa and till numbers (2), PayPal (1) and two that ask for more options without naming one. Over the full history, mobile money (30 of 157) and cash (27) lead at Glovo, followed by cards (25) and PayPal (15); bank transfer (13) is asked for mostly in 2025, which matches the payment gap that sends Glovo customers to Chowdeck. Chowdeck’s edge over Glovo is transfer, and its own gap is cash, so a limited pay-on-delivery pilot is the test that matches its demand.

Which feature to try first? At Glovo, restaurant, shop and search selection scores highest (70), but it is a catalogue and partnership effort rather than a pilot. Order notes and extras comes second (51) and is the best low-effort first test: it targets missing and wrong items, a complaint that travels with support and refund requests. Payment options rank last on the score because few leave signals cite payment, yet they are the most common reason switchers to Chowdeck give, so they deserve a separate, small test. At Chowdeck, live tracking and messaging is the clear first pilot (81).

Chowdeck’s own table, built from the same method, ranks as follows. It rests on very few reviews and should be read as direction only.

How customers behaveA Glovo customer with a problem warns others and asks for money back; a Chowdeck customer reports a bug

Complaining customers behave differently at the two brands. At Glovo, 19% of complaining reviews also warn other customers (24% in 2026), 8.5% say they will leave and 6.8% ask for a refund (12% in 2026). Only 14% report a bug. At Chowdeck, 21% report a bug, 11% suggest a feature, and fewer (13%) warn others. Glovo complainers write to the public; Chowdeck complainers write to the developers.

Glovo’s complaint themes cluster on service. Support appears with refunds (1,193 reviews, lift 1.6) and with missing items (lift 1.5): a failed order leads to a refund request, a stalled support exchange and finally a public warning. The pattern suggests a single sequence rather than separate problems.

Do updates work?At Glovo, updates cut app complaints by a quarter over time but no release can claim it; at Chowdeck, newer builds are going the wrong way

Glovo’s app and ordering-flow complaints fell from 7.8% of reviews on early versions to 5.7% on recent ones, a reduction of about a quarter, in line with the theme’s drop in 2026 (4.6% of 2026 reviews). Across 238 consecutive-version comparisons, only 22 differ significantly (12 better, 10 worse), and with that many comparisons chance alone would flag roughly twelve. No single release stands out. The improvement is gradual.

Chowdeck shows the reverse. The five builds with enough reviews have app-complaint rates of 2.5%, 4.1%, 6.9%, 8.0% and 12.0% for the newest, 2.1.0. The difference between the oldest and newest build is statistically significant, although the sample is small (92 reviews on the newest). Newer builds also coincide with the rise of app problems in Chowdeck’s 2026 reviews.

Reputation and content auditNeither brand is answering reviews now, and what they said when they did shows two different brand voices

Reputation management starts with replying, and neither brand is. Chowdeck has 0% public replies in 2026 and Glovo 0.3%. Glovo replied to about 32% of reviews in 2021 and to fewer than one in 200 since 2023.

The historical replies are a content audit in themselves. Glovo’s voice is a redirect: 98% of its 5,601 replies send the customer to an email address, 51% use a single template, and only 7% apologise and 2% thank. Replies were quick (median 3.3 hours) but contained almost no substance. Chowdeck’s voice is human: 69% apologise and 74% thank, but replies were slow (median 43 hours) and also 58% redirect to email.

The exposure is concentrated in the most-voted reviews. At Glovo, 79% of helpful votes sit on one- and two-star reviews and, of the 20 most-helpful 2026 reviews, 17 are one- or two-star and 18 contain a complaint. At Chowdeck the figures are 9 and 13. A new customer who sorts by most helpful meets the worst experience first, with no answer beside it.

Content ideasThe questions customers ask are the FAQ hub neither brand has published

1.8% of Glovo reviews contain a question. The most frequent: how to reach support (189), why an account was blocked or not verified (174), whether Glovo delivers to a given area (133), and where a refund is (59). Chowdeck’s list is smaller but the same: refund status leads, then support and delivery area.

Customers’ own recommending language provides the marketing assets: “fast delivery”, “fast reliable”, “best delivery”, “customer service” and “highly recommend” at Glovo; “highly recommend” at Chowdeck. Two content ideas follow directly from the data. First, a refund-timeline page for each brand, because refunds appear in leave threats at both. Second, a coverage checker for Glovo, because “do you deliver to my area?” appears 133 times and coverage is a recurring feature request.

Is the fix worth it?Fixing support and fees would pay back first at Glovo; fixing delivery time would at Chowdeck

The two inputs reviews can provide are how many customers a problem touches and how much likelier those customers are to threaten to leave. At Glovo, customer support touches 13.3% of 2026 reviews and its reviews carry leave signals at 2.6 times the average rate; fees touch 10.6% with a lift of 3.5x. Both are large, widely shared and tied to leaving. At Chowdeck, delivery delays touch 9.4% of 2026 reviews with a lift of 8.0x, the largest and most exit-linked problem it has.

The calculator below turns these inputs into a break-even test using your numbers. The strongest candidates for a quick payback are low-cost fixes aimed at these themes: a visible support route and refund timeline at Glovo, and live rider tracking at Chowdeck. Larger bets (changing fee structures, fleet capacity) require margin data that reviews cannot supply.

Where to startSix moves for the next quarter, by brand

The analysis points to six actions. They are sequenced by evidence strength within each brand.

1. Glovo: rebuild the support-and-refund loop

   Support is the top leave driver (36% of leave signals), appears with refunds and missing items, and the public reply channel has been silent since 2023.

   Owner

   Customer care and operations

   Measure

   Support share of reviews; leave signals citing support; refund-complaint share

   First test

   Publish a refund timeline, give every refund request a visible status and restart public replies on the 20 most-helpful reviews.

2. Glovo: make fees legible before checkout

   Fees are 38% of 2026 leave signals, the top reason, and the share keeps rising.

   Owner

   Pricing and growth

   Measure

   Fee-complaint share; leave signals citing fees

   First test

   Show a one-line fee breakdown in the basket for a test cohort and compare complaints after four weeks.

3. Chowdeck: pilot live rider tracking and messaging

   Delivery delays are its largest complaint, 37% of leave signals, and tracking is the top 2026 feature request.

   Owner

   Product and logistics

   Measure

   Delay-complaint share; support contacts per late order; leave signals

   First test

   Release live tracking with an in-app message option to one city and compare late-order complaints.

4. Chowdeck: stabilise newer app builds

   App-complaint rate rises from 2.5% on the oldest build to 12.0% on the newest, and the theme is its second-largest complaint in 2026.

   Owner

   Engineering

   Measure

   App-complaint share by build; crash-free sessions

   First test

   Add a pre-release test on location and ordering flows and track the app-complaint rate by build.

5. Glovo: pilot bank-transfer payment and refund-to-wallet where available

   8 of 23 reviewers leaving Glovo for Chowdeck cite payment options and 7 cite refunds. Evidence is thin but consistent; payment options score lowest on the priority table, so run this as a small test.

   Owner

   Payments product

   Measure

   Payment-failure complaints; refund-complaint share

   First test

   Test an extra payment method and instant refund-to-wallet in one Nigerian city.

6. Both: publish the FAQ hub customers are asking for

   Reaching support, blocked accounts, coverage, refunds and cancellations are the top question themes.

   Owner

   Content and support

   Measure

   Question reviews per 1,000; help-article views from replies

   First test

   Publish one article per theme, link them in replies and measure the change in question reviews.

Data and methodAbout this analysis