To call out Uber Eats for breach of consumer rights act

[BoycottUberEats]

I'm pretty sure Uber Eats are breaking the law and in breach of the consumer rights act. Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Ordered a takeaway the other day, the driver was noticably drunk (stumbled twice on our doorstep and then could barely enter the code in his phone when told it).

The food was also an hour late and stone cold.

Contacted customer support to complain and their response is that they will speak to the driver but refuse to give me a refund for the cold food because I have made too many refund requests.

For context, I've had 3 partial refunds in the past year for similar issues - cold food, missing orders, late deliveries (1 hour + late)

AIBU to say that this is not on? If I went to a restaurant and was made to wait an hour before being served cold food, I'd get a refund - even if I'd been the previous week and the same thing had happened - it would be in breach of consumer rights not to give a refund in such a situation.

Does anyone else think they are actually breaking the law here?

I don't know how these delivery companies get away with it.

People are mad. You can now order from a supermarket via uber and so on. But there doesn't seem to be any limit on what you can order and its not uncommon for someone to order pretty much a weeks shop, which they are expecting to receive within an hour delivered by bike/motorcycle in most cases. Madness.

I just think the whole business model is bad and doesn't work.

Well it evidently does as they're very successful and make an absolute mint. It's a delivery service though, chances are you won't get a piping hot meal and unless you pay extra they'll probably do a drop off to someone else on the way to you. The alternative should you so desire would be to go out and get it yourself.

Also, one of the Uber drivers in our area does his deliveries on a bike. A pedal bike. It's the luck of the draw if you get him or not.

It's just an appalling company, they also treat their drivers badly, and I think people should stop using it and takeaways should go back to having their own delivery drivers.

So why do you use them? By your own admission, you’ve used them 30 times, I imagine at least some of those are after a bad experience but you went back anyway.

I hate the company and don’t use them. If the restaurant doesn’t have its own driver and I cannot collect, we have something else

However, consumers won't/ can't pursue this because taking it to court costs too much to be worth it. Hence, they get away with it, repeatedly. This is why people should boycott them.

Well, OP, you lead the way...

It's an appalling company that treats their employees badly that you've used 30 times!

and you're only speaking out now because you didn't get a refund on top of your other refunds, fuck all to do with the employees. It's about you!

Slow hand clap! 👏

The point is that the HAVENT refused to keep doing business with her, and of course they are not 'absolutely within their rights' to refuse refunds! They are not above the law!

You probably lost a lot of CRA protection by not rejecting the food when it was delivered. You could have a stab at making a S75 chargeback claim with your credit card provider citing CRA but I would be surprised if it were granted.

YABU for continuing to use a service where you have had to claim for refunds on 3 separate occasions. Why do you continue to use them????

@drpet49 As I said, I am now going to stop using them and wanted to raise awareness and suggest others do the same.

I continued to use them in the past because they are the only way of getting a takeaway where I live, which is a nice treat that I'd rather not give up. The same reason most people like me continue to use them despite their appalling practices.

@nomoredriving Oh OK. You're right. Let's not bother then actually, everyone should keep using them (*sarcasm).

I started a thread saying people should boycott uber eats because they're a shit company and I also mentioned their bad treatment of employees.

If you agree then why are you finding reasons to insult me? Get on board ffs, we're on the same page.

I know - although couldn't really have rejected the food because the driver was in such a state I didn't really want to engage with him any further. I took the bag from him by the handle and he'd left before I'd even registered the temperature of the food.

It doesn't matter though, I don't care about pursuing a refund, I just wanted to raise awareness and I'm going to stop using them. Other people should stop using them too if they feel the same.

People do realise how pre order works right? Or that the drivers don’t put in the order directly with the takeaway of whatever?

You can get this so called preferential treatment by ordering before you arrive. I do this with a very local take away. I call give my order and walk round to collect.

I use Uber for takeaways that would be cold if I went and picked it up and brought it home. Had one issue in all the years I’ve used them. Once CS confirmed with the restaurant I was not only given a refund but also sent out some extra codes. Now you have a crime number for the drunk driver appeal to Uber.

just eat however stopped using them due to way too many issues.

if it’s a big order I go through Deliveroo as they do a free pass via amazon.

@BoycottUberEats I never said I used Uber eats, what makes you think I need to stop using them.

Also if I did use them, I wouldn't stop
Because you had a problem?

UberEats are crap in every way. I'd love to boycott but it's the only thing in my area and I'm too lazy often to cook. I wish my morals were stronger than my laziness.

I know right?! But that's why they get away with this shit. Everyone is the same as you (including me!)

If everyone who felt like us were to stop using them, they'd go out of business and takeaways would have to get their own drivers again.

I am deeply disappointed with Uber Eats' customer service. I recently encountered an issue where I tried to cancel an order but was refused. Not only was I charged for an order I did not receive, but despite providing ample evidence of my attempts to cancel, I was denied a refund. It is extremely frustrating that the customer service team did not prioritize my concerns and failed to address the issue adequately. I have been a loyal customer for years, but this experience has compelled me to withdraw my patronage. They need to put on a stop.

We've not had hot fries whilst eating in. They have rearranged their food collation system to ensure the fries are stone cold.
It used to be fries would remain under the heat lamp and be put on the tray last and then handed straight to customer.

So no more maccy ds for me.

If a driver turned up drunk I'd be ringing 999.

My concern after reading that they swap out delivery jobs to people waiting for their right to remain be given was that are any of these others insured or even licensed?

Presumably you can't cancel food orders though. If they have started making it then who do you think should pay for it?

Well surely the most obvious reason is because not all restaurants do their own deliveries. But also, how did you expect new customers to know that you do? Unless you're the only Chinese takeaway in the area or something. No wonder your profits increased by getting on the platform - in the short term anyway.

Not only is it a faff finding out whether a certain takeaway delivers, most of them also only want cash. No order tracking, don't always pick up the phone etc many a time I've been left wondering where my food is.

After a few months I switched back to the platforms except for a couple of regulars where the food was exceptionally good + great service. The rest were not worth it.

Well surely the most obvious reason is because not all restaurants do their own deliveries. But also, how did you expect new customers to know that you do? Unless you're the only Chinese takeaway in the area or something. No wonder your profits increased by getting on the platform - in the short term anyway.

We've always done deliveries with our own drivers. Which is cheaper because the price on the menu is the price you pay.

People know whether we deliver or not usually by asking on the phone in the past. Now we have a website where you can order and which we have linked to our social media.

But they still have to
a) discover your existence
and b) click on your socials/website/whatever to find out.

A Google search for 'Chinese takeaway' in my area gives loads of results. Asking on local FB also loads. Why would I bother going into the websites of every single one which round here mostly don't deliver direct when I can just order from a platform - and if good, THEN see if they deliver direct?

If there are few takeaways this isn't an issue. in DH's childhood village the only POC were... the chinese and indian takeaway owners. But they still don't have any delivery platforms! Sort of showing that discovery is part of the value proposition.

If food is not kept hot, harmful bacteria can grow in it causing serious illness.

Ah, Uber Eats. We ordered from them one time and one time only, got a pizza with chicken on it instead of the vegetarian one we’d ordered. Uber Eats refused to refund on the basis that ‘the restaurant has the right to substitute items’ even when we explained we don’t eat meat. Restaurant said not for them to sort since we’d paid Uber Eats. Had paid with PayPal so raised a dispute with them, and received a refund. Uber Eats have ever since been emailing on a weekly basis asking for us to ‘clear the debt’ on the account before we will be allowed to order any takeaways or taxis. It’s been going on for about four years …