Uber Eats Customer Service 0/10

FedUpConsumer2022

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

I contacted Uber via their chat option immediately, I went from 10th to 3rd in the queue then they chucked me out and said they would email me.  They emailed (generic) and I responded within 10 minutes.  As I write this they still have not responded.

Meanwhile, last night, I DM's their support on Twitter.  They responded at 05:57 this morning so clearly not UK based, asked for a bunch of details - email address, mobile number, order number, last 4 digits of card used via separate messages to delay the process.  After a ruined birthday, inedible food and nearly 6 hours of complaining via various channels they offered to refund THE DELIVERY FEE of £2.99.  My order was £46.00.

I asked for details of their complaint policy/escalation procedure - 3 times now - ignored eat time.  I can't find a contact number for them or an email address that is manned by a human.  

Does anyone have an email address for them or any suggestions?  Currently I am considering just going up to their head office as it is a 30 minute drive from where I live!

Frustrated, feeling un-celebratory and annoyed.

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

Aylesbury_Duck

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

I contacted Uber via their chat option immediately, I went from 10th to 3rd in the queue then they chucked me out and said they would email me.  They emailed (generic) and I responded within 10 minutes.  As I write this they still have not responded.

Meanwhile, last night, I DM's their support on Twitter.  They responded at 05:57 this morning so clearly not UK based, asked for a bunch of details - email address, mobile number, order number, last 4 digits of card used via separate messages to delay the process.  After a ruined birthday, inedible food and nearly 6 hours of complaining via various channels they offered to refund THE DELIVERY FEE of £2.99.  My order was £46.00.

I asked for details of their complaint policy/escalation procedure - 3 times now - ignored eat time.  I can't find a contact number for them or an email address that is manned by a human.  

Does anyone have an email address for them or any suggestions?  Currently I am considering just going up to their head office as it is a 30 minute drive from where I live!

Frustrated, feeling un-celebratory and annoyed.

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

Yet you couldn't walk/drive/cycle/wheel yourself to a restaurant only 0.7 miles away yesterday?

The trouble with these services is that they're over-engineered.  You have a restaurant about 15 minutes' walk from your house yet considered it more "convenient" to enter a process involving three separate entities (Uber, the restaurant, the driver) where any slight delay or problem spoils the whole thing.

Suggestion?  Keep pushing them for a refund and once you get it, delete the app and don't use them again.  Thousands of orders are placed every hour, and I assume the vast majority of customers are happy.  Things inevitably go wrong with a small minority of transactions, but luckily Uber don't have a monopoly on food supply so you can shop elsewhere.

MattMattMattUK

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

It has never been there, the statement was attributed to Conrad Hilton, who, in an interview said that whoever said "The customer is always right" was an idiot and any customer who said it was not the kind of self-important person he wanted in any of his establishments.

Bradden

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

I think that went out the window a long time ago...  customer expectations/demands  are not what they used to be... we all make mistakes.. including customers.

TripleH

We made the mistake of ordering pizza through Uber Eats once.

It arrived 2 hours later and cold in an oversized box.

We should have walked as the round trip was probably 40 mins maximum. We didn't as we'd had a long day packing, were exhausted and were happy initially to wait the 30 minutes our order said it would be.

I like cold pizza so wasn't bothered by it not being warm.

Spies

Uber's customer service is literally shocking, the best you'll get is a voucher off your next order, they don't offer refunds.

FedUpConsumer2022

Aylesbury_Duck said:

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

I contacted Uber via their chat option immediately, I went from 10th to 3rd in the queue then they chucked me out and said they would email me.  They emailed (generic) and I responded within 10 minutes.  As I write this they still have not responded.

Meanwhile, last night, I DM's their support on Twitter.  They responded at 05:57 this morning so clearly not UK based, asked for a bunch of details - email address, mobile number, order number, last 4 digits of card used via separate messages to delay the process.  After a ruined birthday, inedible food and nearly 6 hours of complaining via various channels they offered to refund THE DELIVERY FEE of £2.99.  My order was £46.00.

I asked for details of their complaint policy/escalation procedure - 3 times now - ignored eat time.  I can't find a contact number for them or an email address that is manned by a human.  

Does anyone have an email address for them or any suggestions?  Currently I am considering just going up to their head office as it is a 30 minute drive from where I live!

Frustrated, feeling un-celebratory and annoyed.

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

Yet you couldn't walk/drive/cycle/wheel yourself to a restaurant only 0.7 miles away yesterday?

The trouble with these services is that they're over-engineered.  You have a restaurant about 15 minutes' walk from your house yet considered it more "convenient" to enter a process involving three separate entities (Uber, the restaurant, the driver) where any slight delay or problem spoils the whole thing.

Suggestion?  Keep pushing them for a refund and once you get it, delete the app and don't use them again.  Thousands of orders are placed every hour, and I assume the vast majority of customers are happy.  Things inevitably go wrong with a small minority of transactions, but luckily Uber don't have a monopoly on food supply so you can shop elsewhere.

Hi Aylesbury Duck,

I think it is very short sighted to make such a comment loaded with assumptions without knowing the situation.  No I couldn't go there myself but in all honesty I shouldn't have to this is why these apps exist.

Very unhelpful response.  

Aylesbury_Duck

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

I contacted Uber via their chat option immediately, I went from 10th to 3rd in the queue then they chucked me out and said they would email me.  They emailed (generic) and I responded within 10 minutes.  As I write this they still have not responded.

Meanwhile, last night, I DM's their support on Twitter.  They responded at 05:57 this morning so clearly not UK based, asked for a bunch of details - email address, mobile number, order number, last 4 digits of card used via separate messages to delay the process.  After a ruined birthday, inedible food and nearly 6 hours of complaining via various channels they offered to refund THE DELIVERY FEE of £2.99.  My order was £46.00.

I asked for details of their complaint policy/escalation procedure - 3 times now - ignored eat time.  I can't find a contact number for them or an email address that is manned by a human.  

Does anyone have an email address for them or any suggestions?  Currently I am considering just going up to their head office as it is a 30 minute drive from where I live!

Frustrated, feeling un-celebratory and annoyed.

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

Yet you couldn't walk/drive/cycle/wheel yourself to a restaurant only 0.7 miles away yesterday?

The trouble with these services is that they're over-engineered.  You have a restaurant about 15 minutes' walk from your house yet considered it more "convenient" to enter a process involving three separate entities (Uber, the restaurant, the driver) where any slight delay or problem spoils the whole thing.

Suggestion?  Keep pushing them for a refund and once you get it, delete the app and don't use them again.  Thousands of orders are placed every hour, and I assume the vast majority of customers are happy.  Things inevitably go wrong with a small minority of transactions, but luckily Uber don't have a monopoly on food supply so you can shop elsewhere.

Hi Aylesbury Duck,

I think it is very short sighted to make such a comment loaded with assumptions without knowing the situation.  No I couldn't go there myself but in all honesty I shouldn't have to this is why these apps exist.

Very unhelpful response.  

I'm not sure how helpful anyone can be.  They've made an error, are not correcting it as they should and they have a reputation for not refunding in these circumstances.  You can only keep trying to get a refund and then resolve to take your business elsewhere.

What other advice were you looking for?

MattMattMattUK

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

I contacted Uber via their chat option immediately, I went from 10th to 3rd in the queue then they chucked me out and said they would email me.  They emailed (generic) and I responded within 10 minutes.  As I write this they still have not responded.

Meanwhile, last night, I DM's their support on Twitter.  They responded at 05:57 this morning so clearly not UK based, asked for a bunch of details - email address, mobile number, order number, last 4 digits of card used via separate messages to delay the process.  After a ruined birthday, inedible food and nearly 6 hours of complaining via various channels they offered to refund THE DELIVERY FEE of £2.99.  My order was £46.00.

I asked for details of their complaint policy/escalation procedure - 3 times now - ignored eat time.  I can't find a contact number for them or an email address that is manned by a human.  

Does anyone have an email address for them or any suggestions?  Currently I am considering just going up to their head office as it is a 30 minute drive from where I live!

Frustrated, feeling un-celebratory and annoyed.

WHERE IS THE "The customer is always right" THESE DAYS?

Yet you couldn't walk/drive/cycle/wheel yourself to a restaurant only 0.7 miles away yesterday?

The trouble with these services is that they're over-engineered.  You have a restaurant about 15 minutes' walk from your house yet considered it more "convenient" to enter a process involving three separate entities (Uber, the restaurant, the driver) where any slight delay or problem spoils the whole thing.

Suggestion?  Keep pushing them for a refund and once you get it, delete the app and don't use them again.  Thousands of orders are placed every hour, and I assume the vast majority of customers are happy.  Things inevitably go wrong with a small minority of transactions, but luckily Uber don't have a monopoly on food supply so you can shop elsewhere.

Hi Aylesbury Duck,

I think it is very short sighted to make such a comment loaded with assumptions without knowing the situation.  No I couldn't go there myself but in all honesty I shouldn't have to this is why these apps exist.

Very unhelpful response.  

These apps exist to make Uber money, that you get some food as part of the process is secondary. 

In general it is pretty simple, Uber charge for delivery and/or a service charge, they mark up everything on the menu and they act as a middle man who does not really care about either the restaurant or the customer. Uber always refer complaints back to the restaurant, according to the contract they are the ones at fault, the restaurants normally ignore the complaint as they do not have a direct relationship with the customer. According to their supply contact the restaurant is supposed to keep the food suitably warm until pickup, at which point it will go into an insulated bag for delivery. 

Depending on the food I find it slightly odd that it was cooked, packed and ready for collection in 13 minutes, however a hot meal would not be freezing cold in 28 minutes either if suitably packaged, although 18 minutes under a heat lamp is a bit long it is not going to go cold in that amount of time, nor in the 10 minutes for delivery whilst in an insulated (and sometimes heated) bag. 

This is one of the reasons why many local pizza, Indian, Chinese etc. food places offer local delivery for free, with the food cheaper than via one of the delivery companies, it also is generally delivered in a similar, or quicker amount of time. The reality is with almost all food delivery it will never be as hot and certainly not as well presented as when it is served in the restaurant, it is unlikely to be as hot or as well cared for as when delivered by the restaurant's delivery service, I would hope that pretty much everyone should know that by now. 

biscan25

Uber Eats is horrible. If they actually paid out for complaints, they would lose a shed load of money as in my experience, it goes wrong more often then not. They delete your account when you complaint one too many times too.
Deliveroo is slightly better, but we order direct/pickup where possible. My local curry house throws in some beers and poppadoms if you go direct and pick up (as well as not having the markup), I think the owner just loves chatting to customers.

DullGreyGuy

FedUpConsumer2022 said:

I ordered a birthday meal from a local restaurant (0.7 miles away) yesterday.  The order was accepted at 17:36, ready at 17:49 but not collected by Uber until 18:07 and delivered at 18:17 FREEZING COLD.  28 minutes to collect and deliver.

What's more confusing is 28 minutes it went from presumably piping hot to freezing cold in 20C+ temps... how did it even get to freezing temperatures in 20C+ temps even if it took 24 hours? The only real option for that statement to be true is if it was freezing cold after it had been prepared which would be the restaurants not Uber Eat's fault. Uber promise to get it from A to B not that restaurant A is amazing or that they quality assure the produce. 

As a former customer service person I have to say that melodrama and incorrect finger pointing are not two things that tend to get the most sympathetic responses.

Ultimately log a ticket for cold food, they will give you a credit unless you complain that there is an issue with every order in which case they may decide instead that its better for both of you not to accept future orders.