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It looks like your food delivery may not be safe in the hands of the delivery driver after all.
Since a Twitter sleuth posted a video revealing his unfortunate experience with Uber Eats, a bunch of other people have commented with reports of the same scam happening to them.
A typical example seems to be that when the driver arrives at the door to drop off the parcel, they will walk up to the door/reception and “drop it off”, taking a photo to upload to the app and prove that the food was delivered.
Except they will pack the food away in their delivery bag again and take it for themselves.
Given the sheer volume of Uber Eats orders across the country each day, these are clearly few and far between. For the most part, drivers are doing their job diligently and being paid poorly while doing so.
Tip your Uber drivers and Uber Eats delivery people, if you can.
Chris Vick tweeted about his experience, which he was quick enough to catch on camera:
Interesting @UberEats scam: driver does drop-off, takes a photo outside our door, then puts the food back in his bike and drives off with it. When we SMS to ask him where the food is, he sends the photo from outside our door — but doesn’t know Big Brother was watching. Bastard. pic.twitter.com/M21cZhO01P
— Chris Vick (@chrisvick3) January 26, 2022
As The Citizen reported, others soon came forward with tales of their own misfortune with Uber Eats:
Newzroom Africa journalist Aarti Mtongana responded, saying she was scammed twice.
Power FMhost and political analyst Lukhona Mnguni also reported a similar incident.
“One pulled such stunt on us the other weekend. So annoying really, pretending to be lost. Never made it into our complex. Glad big brother was watching here,” tweeted Mnguni.
Another user managed to capture a culprit, seemingly from Takealot or Mr D Food, on camera:
this happened to my colleague last week. pic.twitter.com/6LbIPK6ha7
— Ntokazi (@Ms_luyanda) January 26, 2022
These delivery apps often require the delivery person to submit a picture before closing the order and moving on to the next. It is also a sneaky way to pass the blame on to another supposed robber walking by and seeing the food at the door.
More folks and their stories:
@UberEats @Uber_Support @chrisvick3
This happened to me today, app says dude tried to call me but that’s a lie, took a picture , the delivery address is different to mine , they clearly havent watched any of my movies pic.twitter.com/pmW2DXEYEJ— JohnWick (@JohnDubulaWick) January 28, 2022
The same thing happened to me twice with a fever named Sharif pic.twitter.com/sSkFD7u2AV
— ALT CINDERELLA
(@IAmKea014) January 26, 2022
One Twitter user suggests not using the “leave at door” option for delivery, but rather the “meet at door” or “pick up outside” option.
Paying with cash is also an option, making sure that the driver meets you to get what’s owed.
However, there were complaints that when paying the driver in cash, the driver would end up pocketing it and then Uber would send messages saying that money was still owed.
Some even complained of delivery drivers threatening them.
Uber Eats has responded to these complaints, usually with something like this:
We understand this experience was less than ideal. Please send us a DM with the phone number associated with your Uber account, so we can assist you further.
— Uber Support (@Uber_Support) January 26, 2022
Not that people are really taking to Uber’s niceties:
I’m done using Uber. In the public eye they’ll say these things like “we understand this was less than ideal”, “sorry for the inconvenience”, “let us help” and then you DM them. Next thing they seem to hit a brick wall. Then they ghost you.
— The Fresh Prince of Ballyclare (@immmpilo) January 26, 2022
Uber Eats has a lot to contend with here, especially considering how they mark up the restaurant prices quite substantially, add a service charge and delivery fee, and then expect a tip for their “partners” in delivery, rather than paying the drivers sufficiently.
Then again, that’s the high price of convenience for you.
[source:citizen]
