Dunzo: the Saviour, the Mom, the Best Friend

What is Dunzo ?

Dunzo is an app where things in your To-do list are assigned to another person when you can't (or won't) do them. Currently, it operates out of Bangalore.

Let's see, what can you think of? Picking up your grocery from the supermarket? Finally getting your leaking tap in the kitchen fixed (that you've postponed doing for the past two weeks)? Buying curtains for your home?

You. Name. It. And believe me, they handle mood swings too, at least in my case!

I have a long list of experiences with Dunzo. Every time it has completed a task, it has gotten closer to my heart. As a UX Designer, I know you'll leave this article if it's too long. So, I'll try to keep it crisp.

Why Dunzo?

Dunzo: The Saviour

It was a friend's birthday the next day and I had almost forgotten that anything less than a wish at 12 AM would not cut it. It was 10:30 PM and I had an hour and a half to deliver flowers and cake (Yes, I'm mainstream). I visited every possible site that could do it for me. But each of them had their reasons citing their inability; or in some cases, their greed (an extra 500 bucks) to deliver them. I might have had to yield to their greed, but for the savior- Dunzo. It saved my friendship at a cheaper price. (I know, I know. Friendship is priceless. But when you're living away from home every penny counts.) So, yes. I ordered a bouquet and a cake from Dunzo.

Initially, they found it hard to deliver as most of the shops were closed by then and the friend's place was really far. I requested them on chat and they could see how much I needed to do this. They asked me for some time and within the next 15 minutes, they found an open store. They struggled on my behalf to make things happen. And not just that, the Dunzo guy reached the location 15 minutes before his birthday. Obviously, I got greedy and wished for more. I requested him to wait outside for 15 minutes so that he could ring the bell at 12. But, it's not a fairy tale! Unlike me, he had other stuff to do so he delivered the cake and flowers at 11:45 PM :P. And, can you believe, they charged me just Rs.95 as the delivery charge for this entire task? Even the cab from my place to his place takes 350 one way! And forget about money, Dunzo gives you comfort and they don't charge for it, they only charge for delivery. I couldn't thank them enough that day. They did something that I could not have done myself.

Dunzo: The Mom

One fine day, I woke up with fever and food poisoning. I think I ate salad the previous night which was rotten and no wonder it screwed up my stomach. I ended up puking precisely seven times and almost died of severe stomach cramps. I was dehydrated and wasn't able to stand or even sit. While shivering and lying in my bed under two layers of blanket, I typed a task on Dunzo for medicines and told them about the emergency situation. They usually take an hour to complete a task but when I told them how I'm feeling, they delivered the medicines in 20 minutes. They feel you, they understand you and they get things done for you. Yes, sometimes in 20 minutes. When you're sick and staying away from home and you have someone to do all this for you, you feel someone just replaced your mom. Yeah, moms don't take 20 minutes, but hey, there's no really replacing mom or her chicken soup. (But of course, if you'll order, they'll deliver that too! )

Dunzo: The Best friend during my breakup

Never been in such a bad phase of my life. (Like I said, I'm mainstream). I needed everything to get my pulse rate back to normal, a long, good sleep and someone to tell me that it's not worth crying over. Netflix, Prime Videos, Kindle, nothing was helping me get out of my crankiness. Everything was reminding me of You-Know-Who. And again, I picked up my phone and dunzo-ed a lot of food (the only thing that makes me happy and makes me forget who is around), ice-cream and dark chocolates. All this had costed less than what Swiggy might have charged. I ate everything that I ordered and turned my laptop on. And those chocolates helped my system release some serotonin into the brain after which the same things made more sense -Netflix, Prime Videos, and Kindle! It made me happy, for real.

Then, I ordered the essentials for my curly hair, face masks, body butter, etc. from Health & Glow (famous cosmetic chain in Bangalore). Spent an entire weekend pampering myself from head to toe and was in love with myself (than with anybody else :p ). I smelled like heaven, my hair had the perfect curls (an achievement only a girl with curly hair understands, so I excuse you), my skin was glowing and no one could tell I'm going through a bad phase, I didn't want sympathy from people. And Dunzo helped me like a best friend to realize my worth. I swear I'm not exaggerating. I would have never taken a cab to go out at that moment to buy all that stuff for myself.

Dunzo: When crisis hits

I don't have an RO or an Aqua-guard to purify water at my place. (That doesn't mean I'm poor. Most of the bachelors in Bangalore don't have it :| ). And when you're lazy and a procrastinator at the same time, you don't order another water can till you're dying of water crisis and you've exhausted all your energy asking your flatmates to do it. I had no clue whom to call at 10 PM to deliver water cans. I called at least 7–8 numbers showing up on JustDial but everyone cited their inability, yet again. Shops usually close by 8–9 PM here. I was sure that even Dunzo will find it impossible to locate a store and will end up cursing us for our laziness! But guess what? Dunzo did it. Somehow, yet again. Though they charged some extra amount, we had water that night in our house!

Dunzo: The Personal Assistant

My tax saving department once rejected my HRA documents and a lease agreement. I had to get the new one printed on a stamp paper and get it delivered the same day. After trying all the links of agents on the first page of Google, I ended up texting Dunzo. I told them my requirements and they got the entire document printed from far off land in Bangalore to my doorstep.

Another instance was when a friend forgot his keys at my place. He lives really far (in Bangalore, far means in terms of time). He really needed his keys but then he had important meetings to attend in his office and he knew he would not be able to make time. He sent the Dunzo guy to my office to collect his keys. All that while I was planning to meet him midway in the evening and I could not even think of Dunzo at that time. But that genius used his brain.

Apart from this, there were so many times when Dunzo made the house parties successful delivering all the "essentials", if you know what I mean! I can't explicitly mention what all I have ordered in an emergency situation because I know someday some aunty will turn up to my mom and ask her to read this post.