In the last decade, food delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy have transformed the way people eat. From convenience to variety, they strive to give everything at the touch of a button, creating a vast ecosystem that connects restaurants, delivery partners, and customers. To retain customers and encourage frequent orders, many food delivery apps provide subscription-based services. For example, Zomato has Zomato Gold, and Swiggy has the Swiggy One subscription. These premium subscriptions offer free delivery, additional savings, and special offers at partner restaurants.
Although they were typically utilized to get rid of complicated costs that the platform charged for each order, these subscriptions had some flaws that frequently annoyed users. Similarly, a Zomato user recently shared how, despite having a gold subscription, he is not getting free delivery. Nonetheless, the food delivery giant clarifies why it happened:
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User says he is not getting free delivery despite having a Gold subscription
A Mumbai resident, Vaibhav Jadhav, recently vented his frustration on X, formerly known as Twitter, about how he was unable to avail free delivery on Zomato despite having its gold membership. On X, he shared the screenshot of his gold membership and food bill, along with the caption, saying,
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@zomatocare why there is delivery fee i have gold account and restaurant is near to my location.
@zomatocare why there is delivery fee i have gold account and restaurant is near to my location pic.twitter.com/RWuNZWah2F
— Vaibhav (@Vicky_the_cool) August 24, 2025
How did Zomato react to Vaibhav’s allegations?
Upon noticing the tweet, the Zomato company reacted to the incident, clarifying why it happened. The food delivery company said that it happened because Vaibhav’s Zomato ID is possibly logged in on more than 1 device. Speaking about this, Zomato replied,
Hi Vaibhav, we’ve reviewed the issue. You’re unable to avail free delivery because Gold benefits are not applicable when the same membership is used on more than two devices. We recommend logging out of your account on other devices to continue enjoying the Gold benefits. We hope this clarification helps. Let us know if you have any further queries.
On this, Vaibhav replied,
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Oh my family member cannot use my account and suddenly you remember this….i am buying gold for more than one year and i am buying food from last one year.
Oh my family member cannot use my account and suddenly you remember this….i am buying gold for more than one year and i am buying food from last one year
— Vaibhav (@Vicky_the_cool) August 24, 2025
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What did the Zomato rules say about free delivery under gold membership?
Zomato Gold is a membership-based program that is exclusive to certain locations and gives its members access to a variety of deals on ordering and receiving food from a number of restaurants that have partnered with Zomato, as well as dining in.
In India, Gold members can receive a complete waiver of delivery fees, including base, surge, and distance fees. However, it will apply only if the restaurant is within a particular distance, the order has a minimum order value, and the restaurant is not specifically excluded from the policy. The first three points are that if we override the 3 above-mentioned conditions, we cannot avail the gold membership. The first three points are that we cannot use the gold membership if we violate the three aforementioned requirements.
Regarding the reason the aforementioned Zomato user, Vaibhav, cannot take advantage of the offer, Zomato only permits Gold customers to do so on a single device. It means that if a person is logged in on several devices, offers will not be valid.
Another peculiarity of Zomato Gold membership is that, even for Gold customers, the corporation may still impose surge fees during periods of high demand or bad weather.
What do you think about such rules? Do share your thoughts with us in the comment section of this article.Â
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