Instacart, DoorDash, and other delivery service customers say their accounts were deactivated because of innocent mistakes

• Some customers of Instacart, DoorDash, and other delivery services have had their accounts randomly deactivated.

• Like the gig workers who power the apps, customers often have trouble getting their accounts unlocked.

• The companies say they can deactivate accounts for potential fraud, among other reasons.

Last month, Ryan Ladd ordered some trash cans, laundry detergent, and other items from Costco through Instacart for the house he had just bought in Denver, Colorado.

But in the moving rush, he forgot to change his address with the delivery service, so the roughly $300 Costco order showed up at his old doorstep. As he tried to work out a solution with Instacart, the service imposed its own: It deactivated Ladd's account, citing "some irregularities," according to an email Business Insider reviewed.

Ladd said he was able to go back to his old address and retrieve most of what he ordered — some meat in the order had gone rancid sitting outside.

"I don't have time to go shop, and so I was so excited to be able to use Instacart," he said. "To see them treat a customer like this, it shocked me more than anything."

Gig delivery apps like Instacart, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and others frequently deactivate their workers — sometimes with little explanation or chance to appeal the decision, as BI reported in October.

But customers can also find themselves suddenly locked out of their accounts with similarly unclear justification, as Ladd's story demonstrates.

Other delivery customers have similar stories. One Instacart customer in South Carolina told BI that Instacart placed a hold on his account last fall after he redeemed a $3,000 Instacart gift card that he had earned through a rewards program at work and placed an order. The customer asked not to have his named used since he was still working to reactivate his account, but he provided BI emails showing his account and interactions with Instacart support.

Instacart asked for a photo of his ID in order to reactivate his account, the customer said. He says he got back on Instacart long enough to place another order — then, the company deactivated his account again.

"They really just shut me out and told me that there was nothing they could do about it because it was a gift card balance," he told BI.

One Reddit user posted last May on r/instacart that their customer account was locked after they tried to use a new credit card to pay for an order.

"I have credit on my account from mistakes they made so the fact they deactivated my account and won't reverse it without letting me prove my identity is frustrating," the post reads.

The problem isn't unique to Instacart. Dozens of DoorDash and Uber Eats users have taken to social media sites like Reddit and Facebook to share complaints about their accounts being deactivated. Many of these users say their account was impacted after they made an innocent mistake, like using the wrong address, or tried to update payment or personal details on their account.