Big change coming to Uber Eats after ACCC investigates unfair restaurant contracts
Getting a refund on your Uber Eats food delivery could become more complicated after an investigation by Australia’s consumer watchdog.
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Refunds for cold, messy or late food deliveries from Uber Eats may become harder to get soon following an investigation by Australia’s consumer watchdog.
Tech giant Uber has agreed to let restaurants off the hook for some types of consumer refunds following the probe, which looked into whether Australian outlets should be held financially responsible for food once it had left their establishment with an Uber Eats “delivery partner”.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said Uber’s contracts with local restaurants had unfairly penalised small businesses for things that happened to customers’ food once it had left their restaurants.
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“We consider these terms to be unfair because they appear to cause a significant imbalance between restaurants and Uber Eats — the terms were not reasonably necessary to protect Uber Eats and could cause detriment to restaurants,” he said.
Mr Sims said restaurants could still be held responsible for problems such as missing items or incorrect orders, but they would be able to dispute responsibility for other consumer issues.
Uber Eats will make the changes to its contracts “shortly,” Mr Sims said, with a complete overhaul finished by December. News Corp has contacted the company for comment.
Despite the popularity of food delivery services in Australia — estimated to rake in $2.6 billion every year — Uber has recently come under scrutiny for its practices, including calling itself a “technology services provider” rather than logistics provider, and charging restaurants a 35 per cent commission for food deliveries.
Earlier this month, the head chef from what was once one of Uber Eats’ most popular restaurants, On It Burgers in Sydney, also blamed the service for deprioritising his restaurant and effectively shutting it down.
A spokeswoman for Uber Eats said the company would “strongly defend those claims”.
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