Bengaluru news: Swiggy Instamart slammed for adding free tomatoes to order

A post by a Bengaluru-based man has gone viral on social media as he slammed Swiggy Instamart for adding free tomatoes to his order. Although the 500 grams of tomatoes came at no cost, the man expressed frustration over the platform’s design, noting that he couldn’t remove the unwanted item from his cart. In his post, he also mentioned that he had need for tomatoes and called this practice as a ‘dark pattern’.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, a user with name, Bengaluru man, wrote, “Very bad design in Swiggy Instamart, where an item is automatically added to my cart. I don’t want tomatoes but I cannot remove it from my cart. Even if I am not paying for it, this is basket sneaking which is a dark pattern.”
In another post, he added, “Muting this because the idiots of twitter have found this tweet. the problem isn’t that I’m getting tomatoes. The problem is that basic expectations of e-commerce aren’t being respected. I should have full control as a consumer of what I choose to receive, which isn’t happening.”
The post has garnered 68.7K views on X. One user wrote, “Customer must have the final say. Offer freebies but costumer must decide yes or no. Swiggy is losing it’s way & Zomato is becoming very dominant briskly. We need a brand that generates profits for businesses & serves us, the consumer better.”
Another user added, “I’m trying to understand this better – if it’s free, does it still considered as dark pattern? I do understand that you’re unable to remove it”
One user shared his experience on Zepto, wherein he was able to remove the free item. He wrote, “In Zepto, they add the free stuff to the cart but they have a “Remove” button in case you don’t want it.”
Some other user added, “Reminds me of Byju’s free classes vouchers which were added in cart and given with every order on Flipkart 2-3 years back”
Some users highlighted that it could be a bug as they could easily remove the free items.
“I believe it’s a bug because I’ve always been able to remove free items from my cart on Swiggy”
One user highlighted, “Usually you can. Weird – maybe it’s glitching?”
“Generally I was able to remove the free items. Idk if it’s a bug or intended.”
“Yeah this is a bug man. Few days before I could remove some other free items. Better raise a bug report on the app to let them know or tag swiggy here instead of saying idk what dark pattern or whatever”
Some other slammed the user and said, “If you don’t want tomatoes just give it to someone who needs it. It doesn’t do any harm to help others.”
“Whats the issue here ? Its free, they are giving as a freebie. If you dont want it, just give it back to delivery guy or get out if your house and donate it to anyone nearby. There are lots of people who will value 500g tomatoes.”
“I can completely understand. But many here needs some maturity to understand how this free item bothers us,” a user criticised.
One user also correct his statement of dark patter. “Dark pattern would refer to when something you are paying for without your knowledge has been sneaked into your list of ‘needs to be paid’ items. This one is free.”