Aussie warns of UberEats delivery act that might push you to order direct

You've heard of drivers stealing your order, but this is a little more complicated - and you'd never see it coming.

For many, ordering UberEats is almost an act of desperation. You just want your food without leaving the house - even if it’s a little cold and overpriced.

But, at least at the end of it, the delivery always ends up at your door… except when it doesn’t.

A Melbourne local has taken to Reddit to share his negative UberEats experience, calling it the ultimate scam - and it turns out he’s not the only one affected.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

Image: Andrew Henshaw.

RELATED: Kmart product you should be buying everyone this Christmas

“He just hoped I wouldn’t notice?”

Over the weekend, the poster said they ordered four pizzas via UberEats from a restaurant they’d eaten at many times before with no dramas.

Everything started off as normal - they got the usual notifications that a driver was heading to the restaurant, and then picked up their order.

But then, things started to go awry.

“I'm watching the drivers progress very closely on the app, as I have hungry kids to feed,” the post said.

“I see he is 100metres from my house, so I go outside to meet him - and then see the app say ‘your order has been delivered’.

“I look up and down the street, can't see him at all. I check my neighbours porches in case he got the wrong house - nothing.

“I check the app again for a photo of where he left the pizzas - no photo.”

The poster then went into problem solving mode, calling the driver three times with no response. After lodging a help request in the UberEats app, their phone finally begins to ring - but they never could have anticipated what the driver would say.

“The driver calls me back, and says that somebody already picked up my pizzas at the restaurant!!” they wrote.

“I asked why then he drove all the way from the restaurant to my house if he didn't have my pizzas. He said ‘because Uber wouldn't let me cancel the delivery’, and then hung up on me.”

The poster then called the restaurant directly, who was able to confirm that the order was definitely picked up, instead by a woman who said she was picking it up directly, and had a copy of the pick up information on her phone as proof, so they let her take the pizzas.

Thankfully, the restaurant remade the poster’s order for free, so they had dinner to take home to some hungry kids.

But, they were left with plenty of questions as to how this possibly could have happened - though they had a theory.

“The only possibility here I can think of is that the delivery guy that got assigned my order sent a screenshot of the pickup code to a friend, his friend picked up the order, and then he turned up and went through the motions on the UberEats driver app as though everything was normal, and hoped that somehow I wouldn't notice that he never delivered my pizzas?” they suggested.

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

RELATED: This shopper’s bizarre ALDI fruit find is turning heads

“How rude!”

The poster concluded by asking if anyone else had experienced the same thing, and commenters came out in droves.

One person said they went through the exact same scenario.

“Ordered food. Normal notifications. Maps says they're out front and I get a ‘Your food has been delivered’. Call and the driver cusses me out and tells me the order had already been picked up by someone else, and I say very bluntly ‘why the f did you drive all the way here for without my food?’,” they said.

“I just got a refund through the app but how rude.”

Another said it happened to them too, leading them to delete the app altogether.

“My brother knew the restaurant owner so just called direct and said the order was picked up. The driver literally used the same excuse (I need to drive to your place to cancel) which did not make a lick of sense whatsoever," they said.

"I stopped using uber eat afterwards but my brother is still with their service."

“The driver gets your order essentially for free”

After many people shared their stories, commenters came to one conclusion - the driver must have an accomplice.

“My guess is that the uber driver gave the codes to his partner, had her pick them up? Drivers just fail to deliver and uber eventually stops refunding you,” one suggested.

“Uber driver gives order details to friend who picks it up. Uber driver 'pretends' to pick it up and deliver it, for the sake of legitimising the tracking data. Customer complains, uber would check it out and on the surface it looks alright, must have been pinched from your door. Refund customer,” said another.

“I would imagine it's something you could get away with a few times before they kick you off.”

“My guess would be the same: driver gives the code to someone else, then comes to 'pick up and deliver' and hopes you think your order was stolen off the front step. Even if you ask for a refund from Uber the driver gets your order essentially for free, which is probably more than they'd make delivering it,” said a third.

Is this enough to get you off the app for good?

A spokesperson from Uber said that they encourage anyone who experiences an issue to reach out to their customer service team.

"We are unable to comment specifically on an unverified incident," they said.

"We are committed to providing all customers on Uber Eats with a great experience and we encourage all users to reach out to our 24/7 customer service team through the ‘Help’ section if they have any concerns about their order, including missing items.

"Delivery people are required to follow our Community Guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of food. If an issue does arise, we work closely with the restaurant partner, the delivery person and our customers to investigate the details and take appropriate action.”

Originally published as Aussie warns of UberEats delivery act that might push you to order direct