Uber Eats refund required - any help?

JimboBmh

Yesterday evening after nearly 8 weeks in lockdown, we decided to treat ourselves to some KFC via UberEats delivery service.
We placed our order, and got the notification through the UberEats app that the order was accepted, together with the "estimated" and "latest" delivery time for the order.  The restaurant is about a mile away from our home, so although it said 45 minutes we thought it may be quicker, but were prepared to wait until the latest delivery time.  The tracking facility on the app showed that at the point at which it was due to be delivered the driver was adjacent to our apartment block and "0 minutes away".  Yum Yum time - except it stayed that way for a good 10 minutes.  We thought that perhaps he was delivering to someone else in the block first, so we waited.  I attempted to message him through the app to ask whereabouts he was - no response.  15 minutes later I called him - "I am just around the corner, I will be 4 minutes".  10 minutes later "Yes I am right outside your block" (except he wasn't because we can clearly see the entrance and all possible approaches).  We then saw him ride up on a moped and saunter into the block.  He knocked on the door, as expected for a contactless delivery, and as soon as we opened the door he disappeared back to the lift lobby.   The bad was ripped open, with food spilling out of it, all of which was stone cold as by this point we were about 1hr 15 minutes after we placed the order.  The driver was in the lift by the time we went out to challenge him, and wouldn't answer his phone when we tried calling him.  So we took photos, tested the temperature of the food (with our contactless forehead thermometer which wouldn't register the temperature as it was too low) and called the KFC restaurant.  They stated that we would have to take it up with Uber (as expected) so we tried to use their online help (which was really difficult to do) with no luck.  We then tried to find a number to contact them and speak to them.  After about 20 minutes of googling, calling, navigating various phone menus etc we managed to speak to someone who then took some details, said "Sorry" from a script and told us a representative would call me back to arrange a refund.
Needless to say no phone call but a rather lack lustre email  saying that they would not give a refund but that they are would try to be better next time.  Cutting a (getting longer) story short, I have been emailing back and forth all day to try to get the money refunded (£38 - sounds a lot but it's not difficult to spend that much believe me) but to no avail and they simply aren't interested in helping, despite the fact that the food was late, cold (and therefore possibly unsafe to eat), unappetising, the packaging damaged and left on our doorstep, and the delivery agent lied and was rude to us and would not discuss our concerns with the delivery.

Does anyone have any advice on what (if anything) I can do next - would my bank be able to help get the money refunded?  I know these delivery services usually say that the "delivery" is their part of the contract and that the food is down to the restaurant, but we spoke to the restaurant and they said that the food was dispatched within 20 minutes of the order being received, therefore the 45+ minutes after would have solely been down to the delivery driver.

Jumblebumble

JimboBmh said:

Yesterday evening after nearly 8 weeks in lockdown, we decided to treat ourselves to some KFC via UberEats delivery service.
We placed our order, and got the notification through the UberEats app that the order was accepted, together with the "estimated" and "latest" delivery time for the order.  The restaurant is about a mile away from our home, so although it said 45 minutes we thought it may be quicker, but were prepared to wait until the latest delivery time.  The tracking facility on the app showed that at the point at which it was due to be delivered the driver was adjacent to our apartment block and "0 minutes away".  Yum Yum time - except it stayed that way for a good 10 minutes.  We thought that perhaps he was delivering to someone else in the block first, so we waited.  I attempted to message him through the app to ask whereabouts he was - no response.  15 minutes later I called him - "I am just around the corner, I will be 4 minutes".  10 minutes later "Yes I am right outside your block" (except he wasn't because we can clearly see the entrance and all possible approaches).  We then saw him ride up on a moped and saunter into the block.  He knocked on the door, as expected for a contactless delivery, and as soon as we opened the door he disappeared back to the lift lobby.   The bad was ripped open, with food spilling out of it, all of which was stone cold as by this point we were about 1hr 15 minutes after we placed the order.  The driver was in the lift by the time we went out to challenge him, and wouldn't answer his phone when we tried calling him.  So we took photos, tested the temperature of the food (with our contactless forehead thermometer which wouldn't register the temperature as it was too low) and called the KFC restaurant.  They stated that we would have to take it up with Uber (as expected) so we tried to use their online help (which was really difficult to do) with no luck.  We then tried to find a number to contact them and speak to them.  After about 20 minutes of googling, calling, navigating various phone menus etc we managed to speak to someone who then took some details, said "Sorry" from a script and told us a representative would call me back to arrange a refund.
Needless to say no phone call but a rather lack lustre email  saying that they would not give a refund but that they are would try to be better next time.  Cutting a (getting longer) story short, I have been emailing back and forth all day to try to get the money refunded (£38 - sounds a lot but it's not difficult to spend that much believe me) but to no avail and they simply aren't interested in helping, despite the fact that the food was late, cold (and therefore possibly unsafe to eat), unappetising, the packaging damaged and left on our doorstep, and the delivery agent lied and was rude to us and would not discuss our concerns with the delivery.

Does anyone have any advice on what (if anything) I can do next - would my bank be able to help get the money refunded?  I know these delivery services usually say that the "delivery" is their part of the contract and that the food is down to the restaurant, but we spoke to the restaurant and they said that the food was dispatched within 20 minutes of the order being received, therefore the 45+ minutes after would have solely been down to the delivery driver.

Have you contacted KFC head office who may care more about helping you than their franchise ?

johnsof75

We have had a refund from Uber Eats before for a similar experience. Unfortunately we had to be quite aggressive , ask to speak to a manager , show how often we had used them and threaten to go elsewhere etc . Also might be worth leaving a review online as sometimes they respond better  publicly than in private to you? If you google Uber Eats reviews you might see what others have said about them. It  is frustrating when you have paid a relatively large amount for poor service and the customer service people just don't seem to care. 

JReacher1

I enjoyed the bit about testing the heat of the chicken with the contactless forehead thermometer. 

I’m not sure that cold KFC is unsafe to eat. Unpleasant yes but unsafe seems unlikely as the food was despatched hot only 45 minutes before it arrives. 

The bank won’t do anything and if Uber refuse to refund you’re basically limited in your options. You could try the small claims route but that maybe a bit of an overkill. 

prettywowers

I had an issue with Uber eats a couple of weeks ago - the restaurant messed up my order and gave me something I couldn't eat. 
I sent Uber eats a message on their app, supported with photographs, and put in a PayPal claim at the same time.
My refund was through within a day. Can't grumble, as I was refunded for my drinks as well.

andy_poulton

Interesting thread exactly what I have just experienced.
Delayed, cold food on Saturday [greasy fish and chips]. [Ordered a few times before from this local pub I use best dealt with direct but had an UBER eats 50% voucher [which ended up as 35%] usually stunningly great food.
Put up a really good case as UBER Eats even texted me to say it was delayed [1 hour 10 minutes] as they were delivering other orders as well to keep costs down and low prices for customer.
Not at all happy as could not heat or eat it.
After 16 emails got a refund of 79p. ADAMANT that their policies prevented any refunds.

Surely we all have a very good case.

In the end they told me to leave a bad or poor review for the Restaurant as it was their fault.
It was not as I spoke to them and they told me what had happened]

Now they are blanking me after requests for an escalation and a full refund. [Even got n email BOT replying very naughty.]

Spoke to AMEX my card holder. Very sympathetic and did a charge back. So we will wait and see.

Cheers Andy

pbartlett

i wouldnt use uber eats to order food for my dog, let alone anything else...

sorry, correction - my mistake - my dog has just informed me she doesn't mind cold chicken...