To think this person is scum?

[MillyA]

Or do you think it is no big deal?

Bloke in his 20's has discovered a "life hack" to get free food, he says. Any time he orders from just eat he eats his perfectly good meal then puts in a complaint claiming the food was cold on arrival. That results in him being refunded the cost of the meal thus getting it all for nothing.

In the comments he brags that he "hasn't paid for food in ages"

God knows how he has been allowed to get away with it more than once.

@WitchesSpelleas

Just Eat could stop this by saying supposedly inedible meals will only be refunded if returned uneaten, and sending someone out to pick the meal up. If it has more than a couple of bites out of it, no refund. A short term cost for the long term gain of getting rid of thieves like the man in the OP.

This makes sense.

I guess though, it would be hard to prove this, though possibly a photo could be sent of the food. Awkward customers will have a workaround for everything, my immediate thought when reading this was that the dickheads would just say the restaurant is lying, they are pretending more was eaten, etc etc and still get a refund

When I worked in the food industry, we would have people 'pranking' others by ordering like 60 quids worth of food to someone elses house. That one really annoyed me as obviously the food is gone then really, cannot be resold.

The thing about this, is in the end, someone has to pay.
Whether its the staff or the delivery drivers or ppl who have worked hard to produce the meal ( all of whom maybe on very low wages or unfavourable contracts). It is horrible to act in this way.
Maybe though the person doesn't understand the ramification of his behaviour and can only think of his own short term benefit.

Can restaurants not just send someone. round to collect the 'cold' meal and then refund once they have it?

That would soon stop chancers

@VulvaPerson

I had asked during the meal "is everything alright with your meal" and they had responded that it was grrrr

Tbf that doesn't mean that much, I think default reaction for most is just 'yeah its fine'. I have said that a few times then kicked myself for it as I could have brought up an issue and maybe had it sorted, but didn't as it seems awkward. Never tried to get a refund for it though. And would never expect one unless I had had literally one or two bites. Thoush who polish off the plate them whinge are just ridiculous.

Businesses are between a rock and a hard place though really, as so much weight is ut on social media reviews and such. The options are generally lose money now, or lose more money later, and all for the crime of serving an arsehole.

Well yes, but to be honest if you had said you had a problem with it I would have bent over backwards to fix it and not minded. I think its fine to kick yourself, but not fair to kick the waitress (literally or metaphorically). People that feel too awkward to politely mention their steak au poivre needs more pepper, but not too awkward to kick up an almighty fuss about it afterwards (I dont mean you) are a mystery.

YANBU

He should ashamed of himself, so petty all for the sake of a measly £16!!

Incidentally I also found that the really awkward "can I speak to the manager" types could be almost any age and any gender. You could sometimes tell from how someone acted when they came in that they were going to be difficult but never from how they were dressed or their hairstyle. The absolute worst person I dealt with, who I will also remember, was a middle aged man in a suite. I only mention this because its one of the reason the "can I talk to the manager haircut" jokes and the "Karen" meme really annoy me.

@MadameBlobby

He’s a cunt but the fault is with just eat for pandering to this shite in the first place.

It's the fault of all hospitality companies that are only too willing to comply to this blackmail. Stand up for yourselves, refuse unreasonable, repeated demans and be prepared to defend poor reviews, including the name of the complainer. I once stayed in a chain hotel and got locked in the room, the reception came up, got someone to sort the problem and sent up wine, cheese and fruit. When we were checking out they said they were discounting over half the cost of our stay and they wouldn't take No for an answer, I felt really bad.

Wasn't there once a pair of homeless men whose food supply came entirely from discreetly gatecrashing wedding receptions? They invested in smart suits, and sneaked into every wedding reception they could find, taking the view that any leftover food would go to waste anyway. They kept it up for years, and it proved very difficult to prosecute them.

Surely word gets around, and he'll get blacklisted? They get to know their regulars, and it should be straightforward enough to make a note (not sure about circulating details to other establishments, that might be considered slanderous I guess!)
My local takeaway greets by name on hearing "Hello, is that xxxxxx Tandoori?" and I get a Christmas card from them every year.
I appreciate that this does not reflect well on my domestic standards.....

And then on the other hand I once complained (nicely) at Five Guys that my burger had bacon on when I ordered it without. I was expecting them to redo it, wasn't expecting compensation at all as it just meant I had to wait a few more minutes for my food. Not only did they redo it, they also refunded me and gave me free fries.

I’m a manager in hospitality. People do this and abuse the system regularly, saying items are missing/cold/damaged etc. when it’s simply not true.

It’s not surprising; it’s very common.

I agree op

Yes he's scum. Karma will get him.

I detest the word 'hack"

@NosleepInTheHeat thats the thing, 95% of the time if you complain about something politley/ask for something nicely people will be happy to sort it no problem. I have never understand why people feel the need to start of so agressive unless its a power thing.

They eventually block you from doing this anyway. A pal had a series of disastrous orders and after the fifth complaint they stopped giving her refunds (even though hers were all legit complaints).

Many restaurants will reimburse, but I had an annoying incident a few years back. Very posh gastropub, we'd taken my Godmother to lunch for her birthday (we went every year). Asked before ordering whether the dish I wanted had any tomato in it, as it makes me very sick, and supposedly after checking with the chef I was assured there was none. Meal came, the sauce had bits of tomato in it which I only found after having had a couple of bites.

When I complained, they did apologise & offered me an alternative main free, but there was no suggestion of anything more. It was embarrassing spoiling my dear Godmother's treat, and I had stomach cramps all afternoon & evening. They didn't even suggest free coffee, or anything to make up for the others having to pause their meal while I had another meal cooked.

I've had a couple of friends who have had their Uber eats accounts blocked as they've complained about missing items too many times. I always worry it'll happen to me when I complain but so far it hasn't. I'm surprised it hasn't happened to him.

Well yes, but to be honest if you had said you had a problem with it I would have bent over backwards to fix it and not minded. I think its fine to kick yourself, but not fair to kick the waitress (literally or metaphorically). People that feel too awkward to politely mention their steak au poivre needs more pepper, but not too awkward to kick up an almighty fuss about it afterwards (I dont mean you) are a mystery.

Yes, I wouldnt dream of not saying anything and eating it all then starting whingeing on to get a refund. I had a friend who would go to TGI fridays quite regularly. She did pay for her meals, however she bragged that she pretended something was wrng with the meal (despite eating it all) as they apparently gave her a free desert , and sometimes a drink, as she was 'so reasonable' as to not want the meal for free!

I know if theres an issue I should just say. It always feels awkward though, and as if I am critizing the staff of something..hence..aslong as its not a huge problem (ie. undercooked chicken) just ignoring it really.

Working in pubs/restaurants were the more stressful days of my life. I loved it, but so many of the customers were dicks just for the sake of it.

@hansgrueber
It's the fault of all hospitality companies that are only too willing to comply to this blackmail.

I think this is an unfair comment. Hospitality companies are working on a tight budget. They cant afford to send someone back to collect food that will be subsequently thrown away.
Also the person send will have to more senior than a delivery driver and be able to asses the food.
Also you may lose business from actual customers by such a policy.

I assume they feel this happens relatively little and the cost of just giving them the money is a better use of time and funds.
It is a shame cause we all wanted those who cheat to get their karma.

Companies can't afford the bad reviews if they stop pandering to these, but they have to stop pandering to these to get rid of "I will write bad review unless...". It's now really complicated to break this cycle of pander and blackmail.

@arethereanyleftatall

When I worked in customer service I was told by my boss to 'find out what they want, give them it (even if they were wrong), get them off the phone as quick as you can and get on with other stuff' . It was so fucking galling to have to say to an absolute bellend 'I'm so sorry sir, please accept this voucher.' You'd know he was crowing at the other end 'customer is always right.'

Why was it galling? Did the money get deducted from your wages?

Customer service has gone down the tubes. It’s so rare that you tell endless people about it when you experience it. Obviously that doesn’t apply in this case although scum is a bit strong.

Jesus what a complete utter twat. He can’t amount to much surely. And then the audacity to post it!

If a restaurant has its own drivers, and they take orders direct as well as through something like Just Eat...then yeah often they will refund only when they have collected the mostly/wholly uneaten order. This does tend to put off scammers like this.

Repeat offenders can be blocked from ordering via the system and their number flagged if they try to order direct with the takeaway.

If they are ordering from somewhere that doesn't have its own drivers its much more likely Just Eat or Deliveroo etc will refund and will be slower to block repeat offenders.

Well it won't last very long because it will show on his account that every order he has has supposedly been cold

Ocado for example keep a record of every customer. If somebody claims to have missing items on a very regular basis don't expect a refund